Dual Role of a Composer-Performer: Creative Collaboration in New Australian Saxophone Music and Large-Scale Works

Abstract

This PhD thesis examines the dual role of a composer-performer in various creative collaborative contexts. It is presented in two parts: (1) the role of a composer-performer in relation to one’s own compositions, and (2) the role of a composer-performer when performing other composers’ works.

Part 1 focuses on how my role as composer-saxophonist influences my compositional writing for saxophone and other instruments. Gestural production through the use of contemporary saxophone playing techniques to form the main motivic framework is discussed in relation to my saxophone concerto, saxophone orchestra, and didgeridoo and wind symphony work. Composition analyses illustrate avant-garde saxophone gestural effects in delicate, melodic solo settings, and in mass, fusion, textural sound block formations to create different sound worlds. My improvisatory stylistic composition approach and score graphic notation methods - including sensory aural and visual gestural devices and unconventional player positioning – allow for different ensemble interpretations, increased ensemble collaboration, surround sound spatialisation and enhanced audience communication.

Part 2 addresses the following interrelationship themes between composer and performer practice: performing composer acting as creative contributor; rarity of performer influencing the aesthetic structure of composers’ works; composer-performer interactional mechanisms to create a collective sharing approach; and score function acting as an important collaborative tool. Focus is placed upon the commissioning, creating and recording stages of new Australian saxophone music. Investigation into creative collaborative activity between composer-performer and composer during the rehearsal process highlights specific saxophone idiomatic issues that arose leading up to the international premiere performances and recording of the composers’ works for a 2019 ABC New Waves saxophone podcast and my ABC Classic solo saxophone album.