TRANSIENT:

CREATIVE AFFORDANCES OF RECONTEXTUALIZED MUSICAL ELEMENTS
IN TRANSCULTURAL COMPOSITION, IMPROVISATION AND PERFORMANCE

Doctoral Research Project
Sibelius Academy at University of the Arts Helsinki

This interdisciplinary practice-based research aims to create methodologies for the composition and performance of transcultural music that challenges representational cultural in-group/out-group aesthetic dichotomies, perhaps being fully representational only of itself. By examining the challenges and revealing the creative potential of negotiating and integrating culturally and aesthetically diverse perspectives, the research seeks to stimulate and innovate new discoveries and forms of expression.

Drawing from the fields of music theory, musicology, psychology of perception, musical semiotics, anthropology and acoustemology, I position myself within the frame of reference of a third culture individual (Useem & Downie, 1976; Moore & Barker, 2012) whose idiosyncratic cultural hybridity (Bhabha, 1988, 1994) defies and arguably transcends explicit in-group/out-group binaries. I seek a musical corollary of this hybridity by examining an intersection of affordance theory (Gibson, 1979/2014), cultural fusion theory (Kramer, 2019), modular theory (Tenney, 1988) and theory of musical semiotics (Tarasti, 1994) and, as composer and performer, its applications to the recontextualization of musical elements and phenomena related to aesthetic practices from my autobiographical environments: Levantine and khaliji Arabic art and folk music, Zanzibari taarab, American jazz, and European and American art and popular music.

Proficiency will be demonstrated through two new longform compositions for transcultural ensemble and their respective studio recordings and one improvised solo studio recording made available to the public, two peer-reviewed published articles focusing on analysis of uncovered musical-aesthetic phenomena and developed compositional methodologies, and a summary thesis aiming to re-examine notions of aesthetic representation and to suggest potential tools for composer-performers liminally positioned between cultures.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

  1. To what degree is it possible for multiple culturally diverse musical aesthetics to become so emulsified in new music that they are all viscerally present, yet indistinguishable or inseparable from the whole?

  2. How can a methodology of recontextualizing aesthetic elements of Levantine and khaliji Arabic art and folk music, Zanzibari taarab, American jazz, and European and American art and popular music prompt the creation of new original transcultural music that transcends representational cultural in-group/out-group aesthetic dichotomies?

  3. What more generally applicable insight can be extracted to contribute to research and education in the field that isn’t conditional on the interaction of these specific traditions?

KEYWORDS
transculturality, music composition, music performance, affordance theory, musical semiotics, aesthetic representation, acoustemology 

CONTACT
Jussi Reijonen
jussi.reijonen@uniarts.fi

Three Seconds | Kolme Toista (2022) score.

SUPERVISORY TEAM
Dr. Kristiina Ilmonen (chair), Professor of Folk Music, Sibelius Academy;
Dr. Lauri Suurpää, Professor of Music Theory, Sibelius Academy;
Dr. Sergio Castrillón Arcila, Lecturer of Global Music, Sibelius Academy

SPECIALIST ADVISORS
Dr. Eero Tarasti, University of Helsinki;
Dr. Katarina Miljkovic, New England Conservatory;
Dr. Nima Janmohammadi, New England Conservatory;
Dr. Paolo S.H. Favéro, University of Antwerp;
Dr. Nizar Rohana, independent researcher;
Simon Shaheen, M.M., Berklee College of Music;
Ahmad al-Khatib, M.A., University of Gothenburg

COLLABORATING MUSICIANS
Jason Palmer (USA) | Hermon Mehari (USA) – trumpet, flugelhorn
Robin Eubanks (USA) | Bulut Gülen (Turkey) – trombone
Layth Sidiq (Jordan/Iraq) – violin
Naseem Alatrash (Palestine) – cello
Utar Artun (Turkey) | Maxim Lubarsky (Ukraine) – piano
Kyle Miles (USA) – bass
Keita Ogawa (Japan) – percussion
Vancil Cooper (USA) | Zach Mullings (USA) – drums
+ others to be included as research progresses

ARTISTIC OUTPUT


  1. Three Seconds | Kolme Toista

    Completed 2022-2023

    A 42-minute, 5-movement transcultural suite for trumpet / flugelhorn, trombone, violin, cello, fretted/fretless electric and classical guitar, Arabic oud, microtonal piano, acoustic and electric bass, percussion and drum set.


    Role:     researcher, composer, arranger, orchestrator, guitarist, oud player, producer

    Format:
    album audio recording (CD/LP/digital);
    video documentation (YouTube);
    score (print/digital)

    Dissemination:
    album (2022) licensed to Challenge Records International;
    video documentation (2022) available on YouTube;
    concert performances in Finland, USA, Germany, United Arab Emirates (2022-2023);
    score available through my website;
    case study analysis for peer-reviewed article and summary thesis


    Portfolio | Audio | Video | Score

  2. SOLO RECORDING

    Projected 2025

    Role: researcher, composer, improviser, guitarist, oud player, producer
    Format: Album recording (CD/LP/digital), video documentation (YouTube), score (print/digital)
    Dissemination: album recording, video documentation, concert tour, score, case study analysis for summary thesis

  3. ENSEMBLE RECORDING

    Projected 2026

    Role: researcher, composer, arranger, orchestrator, producer
    Format: Album recording (CD/LP/digital); video documentation (YouTube); score (print/digital)
    Dissemination: album recording, video documentation, concert tour, score, case study analysis for peer-reviewed article and summary thesis

WRITTEN OUTPUT

  1. PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLE #1

    Weaving Connective Threads: Narrative Counterpoint as a Cohesive Device in Transcultural Composition

    Projected 2025.
    Case study of Three Seconds | Kolme Toista.
    To be sent for consideration of publication in international journals such as Music Theory Spectrum, Journal of Music Theory, Journal of Musicology and others.

  2. Peer-reviewed Article #2

    Topic TBD.

    Projected 2026.
    Case study of artistic component 2.
    To be sent for consideration of publication in international journals such as Music Theory Spectrum, Journal of Music Theory, Journal of Musicology and others.

  3. Summary thesis

    Projected 2027.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS


  1. International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers (ISJAC) Symposium 2024

    Vanderbilt Blair School of Music, Nashville, TN, USA

    18th May 2024

    Three Seconds | Kolme Toista:
    III. The Weaver, Every So Often Shifting the Sands Beneath Her     

    Invited to ISJAC to give a "First Takes" presentation on my piece "Three Seconds | Kolme Toista: III. The Weaver, Every So Often Shifting the Sands Beneath Her", focusing on transcultural composition, musical narrative, polytemperament, temporal elasticity and polycyclic rhythmic counterpoint. Other presenters included Danilo Pérez, John Clayton, Anat Cohen, Oded Lev-Ari, John Beasley and Mike Holober.

    More info 

PROJECT FUNDING


  • Sibelius Academy at University of the Arts Helsinki

    Salaried Doctoral Researcher, MuTri Doctoral School | August 2023 – July 2026
    More info


  • KONE FOUNDATION

    Expenses of 2nd and 3rd Artistic Components | January 2025 – July 2027
    Salaried Doctoral Researcher, MuTri Doctoral School | August 2026 – July 2027
    More info

 

Kulttuuritalo Korundi, Rovaniemi, Finland 27.2.2023. | L-R: Kyle Miles, Zach Mullings, Hermon Mehari, Bulut Gülen, Jussi Reijonen, Naseem Alatrash, Layth Sidiq, Maxim Lubarsky, Keita Ogawa.