Style and Genre Synthesis in Music Composition: Revealing and Examining the Craft and Creative Processes in Composing Poly-Genre Music

Abstract

Enhancing new musical works by referencing style and genre is a well-established practice in music making around the world. Audiences and artists of the past century were particularly exposed to music of many styles and genres through the growth of information and knowledge transfer as a result of travel, various media and the Internet. This musical and cultural interaction was, as Nettl (1986, p. 371) characterized it, a “prevailing force in musical innovation.” Aubert (2000, p. 4) states that the “generalization all over the planet of the cultural hybridization process observed today is a phenomenon without precedent.” Alongside this is the “need to investigate musical hybrids” that Leavy sees (2009, p. 105) as having “increased exponentially with globalization and the multidirectional cultural exchange it has fostered.” My work as a performer and composer is deeply influenced by music hybrids, with genre and style synthesis integral to my creative practice. In my search of the literature to place my work in style and genre synthesis, I was unable to find a systematic description of content, process or operational philosophy. This study aims to examine and reveal the technical and creative concepts and processes I use to generate new cross-genre compositions. The research is carried out through the composition of new works as examples of genre synthesis, and through reflections on, and analyses of, the particular processes of synthesis occurring in the new works. The research furnishes evidence of the use of new and conventional concepts, strategies and terminology, and offers a model for the creative practice of composing with styles and genres.