The “self ” particle: A time traveler's account of how one doctorate in music composition would have benefited from a better awareness of autoethnography

Lists

Szafranski, Bartosz (2024) The “self ” particle: A time traveler's account of how one doctorate in music composition would have benefited from a better awareness of autoethnography. In: The Routledge Companion to Music, Autoethnography, and Reflexivity. Routledge, London, UK, pp. 161-184. ISBN 9780429330049

Preview

PDF (PDF/A)
Szafranski Bartosz -The 'self' particle - A time traveller’s account of how one doctorate in music composition would have benefitted from a better awareness of autoethnography.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives.
Download (316kB) | Preview

Official URL: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9...

Abstract

This chapter uses evocative autoethnography to present a reflexive account of elements of the author’s work on a practice-led, Doctor of Music degree in composition between 2015 and 2019. With the aim of recognizing and embracing the benefits of a fully nonlinear approach to research and composition, the account employs a creative fusion of fiction and fact (i.e., faction) to reimagine reality from the perspective of a time traveler. While it is inspired by scientific inquiry, the concept of time travel is implemented only as a vehicle for a more vivid and engaging presentation of the author’s experiences as a composer-researcher striving for a healthy relationship between theory, practice, and poiesis (Aristotle’s notion of the making, the production of art). A key reason for this narrative design is to explore, as a post mortem, how the doctorate could have been improved had the author been more aware of autoethnography and its purpose to communicate in a style more direct, imaginative, and engaging—from a more personal point of view. Periodically assuming a conversational style, the paper is also a statement in support of including in autoethnography-guided research ideas sparked by looser, though not entirely free, association with the main topic. They have the potential of making the story less sterile and more vivid. Included are references to two of the compositions from the author’s DMus portfolio to connect theory to practice: Eight for piano, string quartet, and electronics (2017) and Intensity X for soprano saxophone, electric guitar, two violins, and electronics (2019).

Item Type:	Book Section
Identifier:	10.4324/9780429330049
Keywords:	autoethnography composition music research performing arts education and teaching
Subjects:	Education Performing arts
Depositing User:	Bartosz Szafranski
Date Deposited:	21 Mar 2025 15:35
Last Modified:	21 Mar 2025 15:36
URI:	https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/13344

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Actions (login required)

View Item

References

Anderson, J. (1995). La note juste: Julian Anderson appraises the work of the enigmatic Giacinto Scelsi, The Musical Times, 136, 22–27.

Anderson, J. (2002). Harmonic practices in Oliver Knussen’s music since 1988: Part I. Tempo, 221, 2–14.

Billone, P. (2020). 1+1=1. Retrieved from https://www.pierluigibillone.com/en/texts/1plus1equals1.html (accessed November 30, 2020).

Bochner, A. P., & Ellis, C. (2016). Evocative autoethnography: Writing lives and telling stories. Routledge.

Bodman Rae, C. (1999). The music of Lutoslawski. Omnibus.

Edmonds, E., & Candy, L. (2010). Relating theory, practice and evaluation in practitioner research. Leonardo, 43(5), 470–476.

Ellis, C. (2013). Carrying the torch for autoethnography. In Holman Jones, S., Adams, T. E., & Ellis, C. (Eds.), Handbook of autoethnography(pp. 9–12). Routledge.

Feldman, M., & Friedman, B. H. (2000). Give my regards to Eighth Street: Collected writings of Morton Feldman. Exact Change.

Floros, C. (2014). György Ligeti: beyond avant-garde and postmodernism. Lang.

Ford, C. (2016). György Ligeti: “I always imagine music visually, in many different colours.” Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/feb/02/from-the-classical-archive-gyorgy-ligeti-interveiw-1974 (accessed November 19, 2020).

Freeman, R. (1991). Tanmatras: The life and work of Giacinto Scelsi, Tempo, 176, 8–18.

Gouzouasis, P. (2006). A reunification of musician, researcher, and teacher: a/r/tography in music research. Arts & Learning Research Journal, 22(1), 23–42.

Gouzouasis, P. (2008). Music research in an a/r/tographic tonality. Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, 5(2), 33–58.

Gouzouasis, P. (2019). What are ABER and CAP?. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 18(2), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.22176/act18.2.1

Gouzouasis, P. (2020, June 17). Autoethnography: A reflexive research process [Paper presentation]. “The autoethnography of composition and the composition of autoethnography,” University of Glasgow, UK.

Gouzouasis, P., & Bakan, D. (2018). Jamming on a tune: Arts-based educational research in community music. In B. L. Bartleet & L. Higgins (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of community music (pp. 573–592). Oxford University Press.

Griffiths, P. (1972). Morton Feldman, The Musical Times, 113, 758–759.

Griffiths, P. (1983). György Ligeti. Robson.

Griffiths, P. (2010). Modern music and after (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.

Harrison, B. (2007). Cyclical structures and the organisation of time: A commentary on my recent compositional work. PhD dissertation, University of Huddersfield.

Harrison, B. (2012). Scanning the temporal surface: Aspects of time, memory and repetition in my recent music. CeReNem Journal, 3, 59-71. Retrieved from http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/16261 (accessed November 28, 2020).

Heet Sound Products (2020). The amazing Ebow. Retrieved from https://ebow.com (accessed November 28, 2020).

Hollingworth, L. A. (2020). A woman who writes music: A creative feminist autobiography. PhD dissertation, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Holloway, R. (2004). Ligeti’s half-century. The Musical Times, 145, 54–64.

Hughes, E. D. (1996). Softly, softly. The Musical Times, 137, 21–23.

Ilić, I. (2015). Away from the big cities: Morton Feldman interviewed by Jean-Yves Bosseur. Retrieved from https://www.musicandliterature.org/features/2015/10/28/away-from-the-big-cities-brmorton-feldman-interviewed-by-jean-yves-bosseur (accessed November 23, 2020).

Interstellar (2014). Directed by C. Nolan. Paramount.

Klangforum Wien (2013). Giacinto Scelsi revisited. May 2. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/USk6UrE8cuI (accessed December 2, 2020).

Leedham, C., & Scheuregger, M. (2020). The Purpose of the Written Element in Composition PhDs. In Wiley, C. & Pace, I. (Eds.), Researching and Writing on Contemporary Art and Artists (pp. 65–90). Palgrave Macmillan.

Montali, A. (1998). Conceptual reflections and literary evolution in Giacinto Scelsi’s works. In F. Sciannameo & C. Pellegrini (Eds.), Music as Dream: Essays on Gicinto Scelsi (2013) (pp. 53–82). Scarecrow.

ProducerSphere (2020). What is a DAW? Retrieved from https://www.producersphere.com/daw-definition/ (accessed November 30, 2020).

Reiprich, B. (1978). Transformation of coloration and density in György Ligeti's Lontano. Perspectives of New Music, 16(2), 167–180.

Ross, A. (2009). The rest is noise. Listening to the twentieth century. Harper Perennial.

Rutherford-Johnson, T. (2017). Music after the fall: modern composition and culture since 1989. University of California Press.

Saunders, J. (2008). Modular music. Perspectives of New Music, 46(1), 152–193.

Saunders, J. (2009a). Bryn Harrison. In J. Saunders (Ed.), The Ashgate research companion to experimental music (pp. 283–292). Ashgate.

Saunders, J. (2009b). Interview with Bryn Harrison. Retrieved from www.james-saunders.com/interview-with-Bryn-harrison/ (accessed February 14, 2020).

Scelsi, G., & Mollia, M. (1983). Giacinto Scelsi: (Ohne Titel). Perspectives of New Music, 22(1/2), 265–272.

Sciannameo, F. (2001). A personal memoir: Remembering Scelsi. The Musical Times, 142, 22–26.

Searby, M. (1997). Ligeti the postmodernist? Tempo, 199, 9–14.

StarTalk (2014). Neil deGrasse Tyson discusses time travel in “Interstellar”. December3. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/YIJoyh5PY4Q (accessed December 2, 2020).

Stucky, S. (1981). Lutoslawski and his music. Cambridge University Press.

Szafranski, B. (2017). Eight. Retrieved from https://www.bartoszszafranski.com/eight-six (accessed November 28, 2020).

Szafranski, B. (2019). Intensity X. Retrieved from https://www.bartoszszafranski.com/intensity-x (accessed November 28, 2020).

Szafranski, B. (2020). Identification and application in original composition of the devices required to construct and maintain a coherent musical form with a very slow distribution of structural sound events. DMus dissertation, University of West London.

Szmytka, J. (2018). f* for music. Retrieved from http://www.jagodaszmytka.com/works-f-for-music.html (accessed November 30, 2020).

Templeton, D., & Adkins, M. (2016). Borderlands: an exploration of contemplation in creative practice. Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies, 12(2). Retrieved from http://liminalities.net/12-2/borderlands.html (accessed April 2, 2020).

ThinkBigger (2017). Neil deGrasse Tyson explains a tesseract and blows our minds. October12. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/TapAplvGtQY (accessed November 30, 2020).

Uitti, F. (1995). Preserving the Scelsi Improvisations. Tempo, 194, 12–14.

Wiley, C. (2019). Autoethnography, autobiography, and creative art as academic research in music studies: A fugal ethnodrama. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education, 18(2), 73–115. https://doi.org/10.22176/act18.1.73

Woolston, C. (2019). PhDs: the tortuous truth. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03459-7 (accessed November 28, 2020).

Zoller Seitz, M. (2014). Advice to young critics. Retrieved from https://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/advice-to-young-critics (accessed November 30, 2020)

Tools