The expansion of improvisation in mainstream contemporary classical art music today is an area that can be traced back to the many compositional experiments and converging musical styles of the 1950s. This is addressed in my recent PhD which introduces guided improvisation into a notated and composed ensemble context. The main research outcomes are scores and recordings of over an hour of music written for a variety of different ensemble configurations. The composed works are based on many of the innovations and techniques of pioneering composers Edgard Varèse (1883–1965) and Charles Mingus (1922–79).

Varèse’s treatment of space went beyond the vertical space between instrumental registers and horizontal space of rhythm, to the idea that music be open enough to allow a musical thought or sound to pursue its own direction. In parallel to this, Mingus’ collective improvisation was evolving to incorporate methods and effects borrowed from modern concert music, including adopting extended instrumental techniques to create layers of sound effects and writing episodic pieces. My composed works incorporate many of Varèse’s manifestations of sonic space, and inspired by Mingus, these have been extended to provide the players with a new realm of freedom. The research includes the development of an original framework of instructions to encourage the musicians to vary the playing techniques of written notes, including altering joins, sustain length and horizontal placement. These are augmented by written performance actions to steer the negotiation and interaction in the ensemble, including how to adapt, fragment, reincorporate and deviate from materials within a work.

Ensemble Density performed many of the works created during this research.

MacInnes, C. (2021). Laura Karpman: Compositional direction and purpose’ in Women’s Music for the Screen – Diverse Narratives in Sound ed. F. Wilcox. New York: Routledge.

Laura Karpman’s compositional voice is immediately recognisable whether she is writing for film and television, interactive gaming, theatre or the concert stage. Her musical vocabulary challenges preconceptions of genre by blending orchestral, jazz, electronics, samples and spoken word, and by combining media across a variety of platforms. This chapter examines Karpman’s mastery of the recording studio as multi-faceted instrument for the layering of disparate sound elements, and refers to several of her major works – Taken (television series), Regarding Susan Sontag (documentary), Paris Can Wait (film), EverQuest II (video game), and Ask Your Mamma (concert work).

Karpman’s sense of direction and purpose extends beyond techniques of composition. She is committed to instigating positive change in industries that are only now starting to acknowledge the gendered limitations that have traditionally limited women’s contributions. Along with a growing list of credentials lecturing in film composition at major American universities, she is the first female to be elected to the music branch of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors.

Traditionally, the musical score is regarded as a type of paper blueprint – beginning at the top left, keeping to a designated tempo, and adhering to specific instrumentation. Sustain is my interpretation of sound ecology and includes looking at what else can constitute a score. Images, stories, patterns, social processes, objects or words all qualify as coherent scores – they all suggest a particular musical mood, density, history, style and form.

As an example, discarded objects – and their graphic- and text-based interpretations – can become invitations to collaborate. These are arranged in a way reminiscent of what concrete poetry inventor Eugen Gomringer labels a “play area.” [1] Gerald Bruns describes this as a multidimensional place for occupying, and in the words of Lyn Hejinian, one moves through a work “not in straight lines but in curves, swirls, and across intersections.” [2]

In recent years, contemporary art music groups are beginning to explore a more collaborative approach to composition, improvisation is returning to the technical toolbox, and listeners are no longer being regarded as passive observers. These shifts coincide with emerging research on energy humanities, for example in the literary criticism and network theory of posthumanist researcher Katherine Hayles. [3] My research project aims to explore sustainable alternatives to the earlier chamber and symphonic – and resource-rich – compositional model of fixed instrumentation and progress through the invention, development, and dispensing with themes. Musical motifs and ideas are not only assembled and repurposed from existing materials, the instrumentation and personnel are designed to be modular and portable. The players and performance stimuli alike are locally sourced, based on the resources at hand.