- Part of 'A topology of musical encounter' (summary) -
When you guide a musical process with diverse musicians on board it requires an intelligent and flexible approach from the composer if you want to see your musical views realized. One has to enter into the understanding of the individual musician to be able to coach him, and possibly lead him in a direction that is desired. Working with a heterogeneous collective means having heterogeneous tools and even ways of speaking to your disposal to comfort the musician. Therefore a mediator is essential, because from the individual musicians such an overview is, in most cases, too much to ask and maybe not desirable. During the development of my concertseries ‘De wereld aan blokkendoos’ I worked with the Iraqi percussionist and ney-player Sattar al-Saaedi. He is the kind of musician who feels at home in any musical context, and contributes to the musical creation with great effort and genuine enjoyment. Still he was absolutely unable to step out of his personal musical reality, which is strongly rooted in his skills and knowledge of the Iraqi classical music tradition. Any attempt to enrich his playing with sounds or techniques that were not directly related to this musical perspective was in vain, not out of obstruction from his side, he was simply unable to do it. His value in the musical creation will flourish if you carefully compose with his collection of rhythms and sounds. The way to seduce a musician like Sattar into unknown territory lies in interpreting his fixed musical material in a creative way, step by step leading him into a new surrounding.
The opposite approach I have encountered in the Senegalese percussionist Mamour Seck. His musical point of view is based on an incredible musical intuition, contrary to the well-structured, clear cut ‘modes’ of Sattar’s playing. Mamour was able to go into any direction with his drums, and make any kind of musical situation he found himself involved in into his own, always contributing his groove and his rhythmic refinement, but not limited by any pre-structured patterns of thinking. In his case there is a firm musical back-up for his flexible behaviour, and in the creative process one should be aware that this is his musical genius. That means that there are thing that he will naturally do very well and understand instantly, and there are other things that shouldn’t be presented to him. He will not be able to work with a prestructured composed idea that needs to be executed as the composer has conceived it. Under influence of the position in the collaborative spectrum the musicians take - their tendencies toward flexibility or stability – it requires different strategies how to bring about a movement.
The musician’s possibilities to move within the creative process need intelligent treatment from a musical mediator and need to be respected in their limitations. The development of a collaboration into any next stage is dependent on a clear judgment what every musician needs to feel comfortable. From this trust within the collective a group can start to grow towards a collective centre. During the encounter new insights might arise for certain musicians, being confronted with other musical views and methods. These insights could be translated in a more adventurous position that the musician dares to take, engaging in musical ideas and techniques that are new for him. Such flexibility might have developed as a result of the collective work by realizing that such an attitude is needed to achieve the best musical result, or maybe out of sheer curiosity inspired by the encounter with new and interesting ways of dealing with musical problems from the other musicians. We are not dealing here with a natural tendency of a musician to take a flexible or stable position, but with a next level where the initial position has shifted under the influence of the encounter itself.
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