Abstract
This paper reflects critically on changes to the author’s notational practice brought about by dialogue with performers, in particular the pianist Emilie Capulet and the harpsichordist Jane Chapman. Notation in several compositions is examined from the perspective of both composer and performer supported by rehearsal recordings and extracts from the author’s journal. The changes identified embrace aspects of indeterminacy and show how ‘traditional’ and experimental compositional practices may combine fruitfully, acknowledging the permeability inherent in all Western notation [Butt 2002] and harnessing it creatively. The above research is discussed in light of work on creativity in composition, notation and performance, for example [Burnard 2012; Frisk and Östersjö 2006] and the term ‘dialogue’ is opened out to encompass the expanded sense of self characteristic of collaborative creativity [John-Steiner 2000; Sawyer 2007]. Viewed in these theoretical contexts the notational practices described may be seen as the author’s attempt to address the composer/performer split that still characterises much contemporary musical practice [Wishart 2002].