12 Musicians from another place

12 Musicians from Another Place explores the relationship between folklore, improvisation and score music based on the environmental diversity and cultural background of 12 musicians, and the synergy between notation and improvisation, ear and presence in the music that arises from the musicians' individual starting points in their own environments. Through dialogical artistic experiments, the aim is to formulate concrete strategic models for the development of transparent works and collaborations, creating a framework that can constitute a clearly defined starting point for further work within and explorations of the field.

It is largely based on his own experiences that Thommy Andersson develops the understanding of the strategies that are analyzed and compared in the project. Thus, it is the composer, educator and performing artist, Thommy Andersson, who places himself at the center of the project. The broader anchoring of the project, and the resulting enrichment of his field of practice, is ensured by combining reflection on his own practice with the study of other musicians' experiences of the artistic encounter with foreign environments, as well as personal interviews with the participating musicians.

In this project, the key to the creation of music through the meeting between people is found if the musicians dare to stand by their own background, while respecting others, in bringing each individual's voice into the music without compromise. Reflecting on a new sound creates creativity, but also decision-making problems. The desire to develop a tonal language and sense of form creates new compositional constraints and further develops Andersson in his work as an artist. It opens up new possibilities to create. Folklore and human environmental interest, as well as acceptance in the broadest sense, are the fundamental elements of this project. Basic knowledge and expertise in innovative orchestration, form and notation are deeply integrated into the compositional process. As a professional arranger, Andersson will use his orchestral knowledge and further develop it with a focus on new knowledge about sound formation in this transparent orchestra. The notation itself will be new, as some of the musicians do not necessarily read Western notation, play only by ear, or have their own way of notating music.

The project invites diversity. Integrating musicians with atypical instruments who do not normally have their "voice" established in a larger orchestra.

The project is funded through a grant from the Danish Ministry of Culture.

The project maturation has been based on a series of visits and interviews with musicians from different communities and cultures. The interviews were documented on video and audio.

Experiences, impressions and knowledge gathered from the meetings with the individual musicians have subsequently been analyzed and catalogued in order to compile an overview of new knowledge relevant to uncovering challenges and potentials in relation to the development of a composition methodology aimed specifically at intercultural ensembles.

The interviews revealed different expectations of the composer as either a kind of supervisor or a creative artist for the musicians to decode. Furthermore, the role of the composer also changes due to the pre-compositional work that takes place in the meetings with the musicians, as the acquired knowledge about each musician opens up the possibility to compose music that addresses the musicians' individual and cultural preferences. This points to a dialog-based collaboration between musicians and composer, which is more of a creative collaboration with the composer as an objective facilitator for the release of a specific ensemble's musical potential.

The main findings of the analysis relate to the following elements:

Redefining the role of the composer from traditional, subjective and sovereign creator to objective facilitator for the release of a specific ensemble's musical potential.

As a methodical approach, the composer can move from his or her own subjective starting point to a more objective starting point in an overview of the participating musicians' field of expression and "comfort zone". The facilitator role is largely about translating the individual musician's preconceptions (in the project, the 12 musicians come from 12 different geographical and cultural traditions) into modelable artistic material that makes it possible to release and communicate the ensemble's potential to all participants.

The compositions are initially person-specific, but the composer's role is to ensure that the result is an artistically valid and richly faceted collective expression.

The composer's methodical preparation of a systematic catalog (composer's toolbox) of the specific musicians' preferred field of expression (amplitude, rhythmic characteristics, dynamics, harmonic universe, end note preferences, etc.)

Musical exercises that the composer can use to get an overview of the sounds and possibilities of an orchestra. The exercises have been tested in interaction with the interviewed musicians and with students from DNA of Music.

This redefinition of the composer's role raises the following questions for further investigation:

• What is the composer's more precise role as a supervisor? There will be a need to clarify the division of roles in the artistic process in the (co-)creative work.
• What strategies can be used to challenge and expand a field of expression that is based on the musicians' established preferences?
• How can the composer ensure that the method used can be both based on experience and at the same time create space to let go of experience?
  

In addition, the study points to the following needs for development:

• several different types of toolboxes that, based on different parameters, can make each musician's artistic and personal cultural values frame the process.
• A simpler and more precise notation, as well as the human dialog in the creation of music.
• a deeper qualitative systematization of the method's dialogue between musicians and composer

Central to the knowledge gained from the maturation process is the fact that when a deeper insight into the diversity and differences of musicians becomes the basis for the compositional process, a new approach emerges for the composer. An approach where the dialog is central to developing and letting go of problems in already existing knowledge. The composer's role is defined more as a facilitator who can let go of their creation and enter into a dialog with those involved in a more direct way, rather than starting with ready-made techniques that would work on paper.