Sounding the Everyday: Working with Objects in New Music Practice

Abstract

Sounding the Everyday: Working with Objects in New Music Practice is an examination of how everyday objects can expand the music practices of composers, performers, and improvisers. I identify with each of these roles in my own creative practice, and my artistic research includes creation, critical enquiry, analysis and reflections of new and original work with everyday objects. I focus on the appearances of everyday objects in music from my perspective as a flutist, and my artistic research is exploratory and experimental. The unconventionality of everyday objects in music can be surprising and comedic, and creating space for them in this context can invite the unexpected. It is through this approach that I realise working with everyday objects as a form of collaborating with the nonhuman. I acknowledge the historical and current practices of everyday objects in new music by conducting a context scan of existing literature, recordings, practitioners, and documentation, which helps me to position my own artistic perspective within the field. Theoretical models that level both humans and nonhumans as equal assist my research of expanding a music practice with everyday objects, and I discuss the ethical implications of the word use in a collaborative context. Considering these theoretical concepts, I present a Categorical Framework through which to approach working with everyday objects, and I apply this framework to the analysis of recent works by contemporary composers, performers, and improvisers. The practice-based component of this research is a portfolio of 15 original works and other performances of both notated and improvised music, and I discuss and reflect upon the creative processes in my findings. Major themes from my artistic work emerge in my reflections—the unexpected, collaboration, and function—and I present the practical considerations of working with everyday objects through the perspectives of composer, performer, and improviser. It is through these headings that I discover how the multisensory qualities of everyday objects can expand a music practice.