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| 2. |
- Johansson, Karin, et al.
(author)
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Towards a virtuous circle - Third Cycle artistic research in the conservatoire as creative dialogue, critical reflection and discipline development
- 2015
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This presentation addresses questions concerning the relationship between 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycles in higher music education (HME), and the transformative possibility of artistic research in conservatoire contexts. In the conservatoire tradition, knowledge and experience of music as both a craft and an art is held, transmitted and developed. Previous research shows that young students of classical music entering this system often encounter tensions between, on the one hand, the task to reproduce and continue the tradition, and, on the other hand, the demand to create new and original artistic expressions. Such tensions may be balanced and articulated by means of productive and visible 3rd cycle artistic research projects; as suggested in the AEC Handbook to Third Cycle Studies in HME, the introduction of doctoral programmes in conservatoires may have a positive effect on the other two cycles. Experiences from a decade with a Third Cycle artistic research programme at our conservatoire point to how it certainly builds upon and feeds back into the previous two cycles, but also that it has the role of posing challenging questions that may slightly push the system out of its comfort zone.After an introduction to how artistic research programmes may be a possible instigator of creative dialogue, critical reflection and discipline development, this session comprises three case descriptions of PhD projects which are all influential in the shaping of tomorrow’s 1st and 2nd cycle conservatoire training. The PhD candidates are all former students at our academy who combine high-ranking artistic careers with doctoral studies and teaching in HME. Their projects investigate and develop fundamental issues in Western European art music as a cultural practice; relationships to (i) written scores, improvisation and instruments, (ii) performance practices and (iii) audiences. In simultaneous contact with students, professional musical practice and contemporary artistic research, they all relate to questions such as: What roles can be played by professional musicians of tomorrow? How will they relate to life long learning and entrepreneurship on the open media market?As living examples of how the interrelationship between cycles can be enacted, the three presentations picture inspirational as well as disturbing consequences of 3rd cycle artistic research and point to how these may be used for the development of a coherent structure of acquisition (1st cycle) – application (2nd cycle) – generation of new knowledge (3rd cycle) in HME.
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| 3. |
- Olofsson, Kent, 1962-, et al.
(author)
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Play always as if in the presence of a master
- 2021
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In: Seismograf. - Köpenhamn : Seismograf/DMT. - 2245-4705.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In classical music performance, if the only tool to sustain the great tradition may be seen to be perfectionism, it may hijack artistic expression and freedom. Possibly it will also limit the expressive potential of the performer. Taken together, the vast repertoire, the pressure to compete, and the institutional demands levied in order to make a career leave very little room for exploring new and radical parameters in performance or interpretation. ‘Potential space’ was Donald Winnicott’s term for an inviting and safe interpersonal field in which one can be spontaneously playful while at the same time connected to others. This audio paper by Kent Olofsson and Francisca Skoogh is a sound composition focusing on portraying performance as a potential space, with interpretation as play material. In it, we hear Skoogh, a pianist with many years of experience performing Western classical music, express her performance values, i.e. how she manages emotions connected to expected behaviour on stage and to the repertoire. The authors proceed to transcribe Winnicott’s potential space into artistic practice in order to challenge both the relations between score and performer, and expected concert traditions. It explores one of the great sonatas of the piano repertoire, the Piano Sonata Op. 11 by Robert Schumann.
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| 4. |
- Skoogh, Francisca, et al.
(author)
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Performance values - an artistic research perspective on music performance anxiety in classical music
- 2019
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In: Jased. - 2535-2857. ; 3:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Music performance anxiety (MPA) has been studied mainly within the field of psychology and has been defined as a sub-type of social anxiety. Musicians suffering from MPA are commonly referred to individual psychological treatment, but the condition is not yet researched from an artistic perspective. The hypothesis put forward in this article is that the issues concerning MPA are part of a complex system of interactions between performance values and perfectionism and that musicians in general are not given the necessary tools to tackle the anxiety. One of the challenges is that Western classical music performance has many built-in values that need to be problematized and researched in order to address the problems with MPA. Hence, MPA is not to be considered as solely an individual problem but should rather be seen as the result of a wider structural issue related to the commodification of classical Western music and its focus on perfection and virtuosity. This article gives an example from the field of artistic research on how it is possible for the performer herself to develop methods to understand and emotionally regulate the impact of perfectionism in Western classical music.
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| 5. |
- Skoogh, Francisca
(author)
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The Element of Play in Interpretation and Classical Piano Performance
- 2017
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Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- “The stage is a playground, it’s not a serious place where you have to be at your best, ... it should be a playground.” Nir Ben Gal, choreographerDuring my years of study, and later as a performing artist, performance was never discussed conceptually and questions regarding audience interaction and stage fright were seldom raised. Further, musicians suffering from stage fright are most often referred to psychological research and solutions drawn from it, mainly as a way of coping with fear of performing and how to reduce it. They are rarely introduced or encouraged to artistic ways of approaching the act of performing in a salutogenic, proactive process, but rather as a reactive response to something dysfunctional. Pianists and musicians can benefit from experimenting, reflecting and widening their sense and conception of an audience and of performing on stage.This presentation is concerned with the psychological processes, neurological pheno- menon and sociological structures that are part of musical interpretation of classical music, but are rarely, if ever, addressed amongst musicians and that are to some extent incompatible with the performance demands of today. Can artistic research contribute to the exploration of these fields and also spark new approaches to musical performance?My research focuses on the traditions and ceremonies of classical performance, such as the piano recital, and how they affect me as a performer. What happens in the process of learning, interpreting and performing music and why do I experience a gap between preparing to perform and performing?My cooperation with composers Staffan Storm and Kent Olofsson revolves around the Sonata op. 11 by Schumann. The project aims at exploring the performance of classical iconic repertoire through theories and concepts of projective identification, mentaliza- tion, social responsiveness, werktreue and (AON) action-observation network.Storm’s piece Unbekanntes Blatt aus Endenicher Zeit – 5 Sätze für Klavier will create a musical reflection on Robert Schumann’s relation to life and art, the concept of “Werk- treue” as well as imaginary and real ghosts of the past, as seen through the lens of one of his last diary entries and some notes that he made during the time he spent in the mental asylum in Endenich.With Olofsson I explore the possibilities of working with sampled fragments of the, where the compositional process involves building a new instrument which allows me as performer to explore the performance situation and expand beyond the normative performance behaviour expected on stage.
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| 6. |
- Skoogh, Francisca
(author)
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Transforming Performance : An inquiry into the emotional processes of a classical pianist
- 2021
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Artistic work (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This artistic research PhD project challenges classical music performance culture through a series of experimental collaborative projects. My particular interest lies in how this culture shapes the psychological experience of performance from the perspective of the individual musician. The project’s aims can be further defined through the following research questions: a) How can I better understand the psychological impact that the traditions and ceremonies of classical music have on my performance? b) Departing from my own practice, what other factors affect me emotionally during performance? c) How can experimentation with the traditions of performance culture in classical music provide different modes of emotional regulation in staged performance? This thesis is a compilation of projects and publications in which I explore classical music performance through my individual experience as a soloist. Selected concert performances of classical works, experimentation with performance settings, and the creation of two commissioned works, play central roles. The method and design builds on the qualitative study of several case studies of my practice as a concert pianist in collaboration with other musicians, choreographers and composers. The methodological approach entails combinations of autoethnographic methods, stimulated recall and thematic analysis. The theoretical framework is twofold, and rests on psychological and psychoanalytical perspectives as well as on a socio-historically driven analysis of the music-theoretical concept of Werktreue. Some artistic results are available online in The Research Catalogue and others are published on the CD Notes from Endenich (Daphne Records). The combined outcomes of the project suggest, that musicians can benefit from an increased awareness of factors that affect the western classical music performer. While this thesis is specifically directed towards other musicians, it is also my hope that the findings can be valuable also in other research fields. Without the active contribution from musicians and artists into the investigation of how they function as performers, and of the values that accompany them on-stage, it is difficult to understand which needs should be addressed scientifically. For music researchers, there are many opportunities to dig into the different aspects of performance, but it is vital to let musicians show the way by collaborating within the field of Artistic Research, and thereby, together with musicians, find new ways to transform their experience of performing.
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