Abstract
As a non-performing composer who writes primarily for acoustic instruments and voices I use staff notation as the principle means of forming my musical ideas and presenting them to musicians. Much of my work, therefore, conforms to a model of compositional practice that tends to place composition and performance in a hierarchical relationship leading to a dichotomy that is at best unusual (within the long tradition of Western classical music) and at worst damaging to the acceptance of new music by both performers and audiences. Since 2009 I have been gradually adopting the less determinate notational practices found in experimental music in order to move towards a practice that places greater value on dialogue and collaboration between composer and performer(s). This change in my practice and conceptualisation of composition has raised many oft-posed music philosophical questions: the nature of, and the relationship between, composition and performance; the identity of a musical work; the creative function of notation; the point at which a work is complete. This paper does not aim to be comprehensive but, rather, to offer glimpses of an individual’s practice-led responses to such basic questions; in so-doing it underscores their importance in the continuous process of renewal that should characterise any tradition of music-making.