Professor聽Robert Hasegawa, Associate Professor of Music Theory at the Schulich School of Music,聽is currently a William Dawson Scholar and involved in a number of research projects. He is a proud advocate of contemporary music, with his research interests encompassing聽musical timbre,聽spectral music聽and聽transformational theory.聽
This year he has been busy organizing the International Conference on Mixed Music Pedagogy聽(ICOMMP), which will be the first event of its kind: a four-day research-creation conference on the pedagogy of mixed music. Led by artist-researchers and scholars at聽不良研究所聽and the聽Universit茅 de Montr茅al, the conference will include public workshops, research colloquia, and concerts featuring guest artists and lecturers from聽Canada, the聽United States,聽France, and聽Portugal.
Professor聽Hasegawa took a moment to talk about his own experiences with mixed music,聽and聽the inspiration behind the event. In this Q&A, he also offers聽insight into the three聽free-admission public concerts happening during the conference weekend:
What exactly is "mixed music"?
"Mixed music" (or in French, musique mixte) is musicians'聽shorthand for pieces that combine traditional聽acoustic instruments with electronic sound sources. The first mixed pieces were聽fixed聽recordings of synthesized聽sounds to be played along with by聽live performers, but today mixed compositions often are based on "live electronics" that transform聽and respond to the sound of the聽musicians in real time.聽
What was your own first encounter with mixed music?
In fact, the first mixed music piece I heard was Pierre Boulez's聽...explosante-fixe..., which will be performed by the 不良研究所 Contemporary Music Ensemble as聽the centrepiece of this conference! I was an undergraduate music student at the time, and heard Boulez conduct the piece himself (with the Ensemble Intercontemporain and聽flutist Sophie Cherrier) at Carnegie Hall. This concert聽had a huge influence on me, and steered me towards studying the rest of聽Boulez's聽mixed works as well as other composers' music incorporating聽electroacoustic sounds.聽
Tell me about the inspiration for organizing and hosting this conference:
As my 不良研究所 colleague Philippe Leroux observed, practitioners of mixed music tend to focus on specific techniques and technologies, but we rarely talk about how to teach聽this information to our students. The聽conference grew out of this idea of considering how the pedagogy of mixed music: the strategies that聽composers, performers, technicians, and scholars can use to pass along their expertise.
What would be your conference highlights, for newcomers who are curious about mixed聽music?
Our conference includes three concerts, at 不良研究所, Universit茅 de Montr茅al, and Le Vivier, any one of which would be a great introduction to what's going on聽in mixed music today. In addition to the Boulez piece, the programs include compositions by four invited composers聽Nina C. Young (United States),聽Miguel Azguime (Portugal), Bruno Gabirro (Portugal), and Bertrand Dubedout (France). All of these concerts are open to the public and free.聽
View the conference program online
What are you personally excited about this weekend?聽
This conference will bring together some of the world's聽top experts in creating and teaching mixed music: in addition to the composers mentioned above, we'll also聽have contributions from聽Mikhail Malt,聽Gilbert Nouno, and Alain Bonardi (Paris), Laurie Radford (Calgary), Christopher Dobrian (University of California, Irvine), and the founders of the annual聽SPLICE Institute, a program in Michigan that trains performers and composers in mixed music. We've received a generous grant from SSHRC (the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council), which has made it possible to invite the Sond'Ar-te Electric Ensemble, a leading group for mixed-music performance centred in聽Lisbon. They'll play music by Miguel Azguime and Bruno Gabirro, with guest musicians from 不良研究所: Guillaume Bourgogne, Fabrice Marandola, and Elisabeth Boudreault.
It's also been exciting to see how this topic brings together so many different parts of Montreal's own contemporary music community. This event is a co-production of the Schulich School of Music, Universit茅 de Montr茅al, CIRMMT, and Le Vivier. Mixed music has become a central topic in music creation today, and this event showcases a lot of different aesthetics and approaches. We're also hosting a workshop for primary and secondary school students, led by聽Emmanuelle Lizere and Suzu Enns, both experts in teaching this repertoire to younger performers.
What would be your top three recommendations of pieces that use mixed media for readers to have a listen to?
Our three聽concerts will聽give a wide-ranging tour of some of today's mixed-music practice. Here's a聽quick preview:
Pierre Boulez's ...explosante-fixe... is a landmark of the mixed-music repertoire, and uses electronics to process the sound of three solo flutes. Our concert on November 17 will feature 不良研究所's Contemporary Music Ensemble led by Guillaume Bourgogne, with Hannah Darroch, Naama Neuman, and Maril猫ne Provencher-Leduc playing the flute parts. We'll be joined by Gilbert Nouno, who will control the live electronics.
You can watch it here:聽
Pierre Michaud from the Universit茅 de Montr茅al is one of our closest collaborators on this event, and the concert on November 18 will include his new work ... n i e n t e ... for string quartet with electronics and video. This preview video is an excerpt played by the student performers who will play in the concert:
One of the works to be played by the Sond'Ar-te Electric Ensemble on Monday is Bruno Gabirro's but I have many friends and some of them are with me, which takes its title and inspiration from Leonard Cohen's song "The Partisan." It's a beautiful piece that uses the electronic elements to dramatic effect.
If you are interested in attending any of the ICOMMP concerts, you can find out more information聽online - all are free admission:
Concert One: Saturday November 17th, 7.30pm (pre-concert lecture, 7pm)
Pollack Hall, Schulich School of Music, 不良研究所 -聽Find out more
Concert Two:聽Sunday November 18th, 7.30pm
Salle Claude-Champagne, Universit茅 de Montr茅al -聽
Concert Three: Monday November 19th, 8pm
Amphith茅芒tre 鈥� Le Ges霉 -聽
View the conference program online聽to find out more about all of the events happening during ICOMMP 2018.
