Silent form: embodied structure in transitional jazz performance practice

这是一个为期24个月的研究项目，将调查爵士乐的过渡时期，跨越了20世纪50年代后期和60年代初，在此期间，主要的音乐家-包括钢琴家塞西尔泰勒，萨克斯管演奏家奥内特科尔曼和约翰柯川-制作的音乐，试图打破许多在前几十年建立的方法规范。这个过渡时期的音乐通常被认为是20世纪60年代中后期“自由爵士乐”运动的先驱。虽然过渡爵士乐的一些关键支持者会继续表演自由爵士乐-这两种类型的实践经常被混为一谈（例如，参见Jost（1974））-但存在一些关键的方法论差异。这个项目将分析这些差异，并考虑这样做对我们理解和语境化的方式的影响1）科尔曼和Coltrane在这一时期的工作主体2）对我们理解随后的自由爵士乐运动的方式的更广泛的影响。20世纪60年代中后期的“自由爵士乐”运动的音乐，文化和政治影响已经被广泛研究，但在爵士乐的这一过渡时期所创作的音乐的重要性仍然没有得到充分的体现。该项目的主要目的是增加我们对过渡爵士乐的文化和历史意义的理解，因为它与20世纪50年代末和60年代初之间发生的更广泛的文化变革以及随后的60年代末的自由爵士乐运动之间的关系。该项目的一个更广泛的目标是促进新兴的话语，突出体现知识和群体互动的因素，是根本的爵士乐即兴创作的理解，从而挑战传统的理解组成和即兴之间的关系。该项目将强调爵士乐研究的研究方法，结合传统和实践为主导的方法的价值，突出的意义，音乐外的因素，不能仅仅使用传统的音乐学手段来理解。该项目的另一个目的是探索如何将实践导向的研究问题和成果传达给学术界以外的爵士乐观众。以实践为主导的研究将与伯明翰组织Jazzlines和TDE Promotions合作举办的一系列演讲/音乐会密切相关。一个开源的转录资源将允许研究人员开发新的洞察力的方法实践和小组互动的过渡20世纪60年代的爵士乐实践。以实践为主导的研究将用于调查“无声形式”的概念，以便为标准爵士乐表演实践的知识如何影响自由即兴创作提供新的线索。通过收集科尔曼和Coltrane乐队20世纪60年代早期关键录音的转录作品集，通过使用传统和以实践为主导的方法阐明和研究“无声形式”的概念，并借由结合实践研究者和非学术表演者的专业知识，这个项目强调标准爵士乐形式的具体知识，作为向自由爵士乐过渡以及随后类型的爵士乐表演实践的核心组成部分。通过对受众参与和对研究问题的反应进行系统研究，本研究还将增强我们对影响策略以及实践与研究之间关系的理解。

This is a 24-month research project that will investigate a period of transition in jazz that spanned the latter part of the 1950s and early 1960s, during which key musicians - including pianist Cecil Taylor, and saxophonists Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane - made music that sought to break down many of the methodological norms established during the preceding decades. The music of this transitional period is generally recognised as a precursor to the 'free jazz' movement of the middle to late 1960s. While it is true that some key proponents of transitional jazz would go on to perform free jazz - and the two types of practice are often conflated (see, for example, Jost (1974)) - there are some key methodological differences. This project will analyse these differences and consider the impact of doing so on the way we understand and contextualise 1) the body of work made by Coleman and Coltrane during this period and 2) the wider implications for the way we understand the subsequent free jazz movement.The musical, cultural and political impact of the 'free jazz' movement of the middle to late 1960s has been widely studied, but the significance of the music made during this transitional period in jazz remains underrepresented. A primary aim of this project is to increase our understanding of the cultural and historical significance of transitional jazz in terms of its relationship to wider cultural changes that occurred during the period between the late 1950s and early 1960s, as well as the subsequent free jazz movement of the later 1960s. A broader aim of the project is to contribute to the emerging discourse that foregrounds embodied knowledge and group interaction as factors that are fundamental to the understanding of jazz improvisation, and consequently to challenge traditional understanding of the relationship between composition and improvisation. The project will emphasise the value to jazz studies of a research methodology that combines traditional and practice-led methods by highlighting the significance of extra-musical factors that cannot be understood using solely traditional musicological means. A further aim of the project is to explore ways of communicating practice-led research questions and outcomes to jazz audiences beyond academia. The practice-led research will be closely linked to a series of presentations/concerts in partnership with Birmingham-based organisations Jazzlines and TDE Promotions. An open-source transcription resource will allow researchers to develop new insight into the methodological practices and group interaction in transitional 1960s jazz practice. Practice-led research will be used to investigate the concept of 'silent form' in order to shed new light on ways that embodied knowledge of standard jazz performance practices can influence free improvisation.By amassing a portfolio of transcriptions of key early-1960s recordings by the bands of Coleman and Coltrane, by articulating and researching the concept of 'silent form' using both traditional and practice-led methods, and by drawing on the combined expertise of practice-researchers as well as non-academic performers, this project emphasises the embodied knowledge of standard jazz forms as a central component in both the transition towards free jazz as well as subsequent types of jazz performance practice. By incorporating a systematic study of audience engagement with, and reaction to, the research questions, the study will also enhance our understanding of impact strategies and the relationships between practice and research.