The contemporary jazz composer: the importance of the conception of the source material in the compositional process

• Main Author: Subatin, Javier
• Publication Date: 2019
• Format: Master thesis
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Download full: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.21/11013
• topic: Processo composicional; Composição de jazz contemporâneo; Criatividade; Improvisação; Compositional process; Contemporary jazz composition; Creativity; Improvisation

ABSTRACT - This study is focused on the compositional process of current jazz composers, more specifically on the starting idea and the conception of the basic material for a new composition, or as Ed Neumeister named it when describing his compositional process, “the source material”. The aim of the exploratory study is to attempt to find an initial approach to a comprehensive way of understanding how jazz composers deal with the creative process in the first stage of composition. For this purpose, a qualitative research was performed interviewing 6 Portuguese jazz composers with a distinguished career. Taking the above into account, the ultimate objective of this project was to try to develop a variety of compositional methods that can help dealing with the creative aspects of the starting point of a new composition. The results allowed to design a map that can be applied as a composers’ guideline to approach the compositional process, at the same time as for the analysis of the creative process of the first stage of composing music. Finally, the above-mentioned map was used to analyze one original piece regarding the compositional process during the conception of the source material.