| Matthias Rauh, Music for People Europe (non-CC) |
CBN (b. July 28, 1951) is a Danish composer, hornist, musicologist, educator and music therapist.
Can you tell a bit about your background that is relevant to your practice? Does past education is important for what you do now?
I have inspirations in my background — a basic school which taught much music and later music studies. Much of my activity with fellow students outside of the official program at Copenhagen University in the nineteen seventies became decisive also for later concert activity and teaching improvisation to music therapy students. So background matters and independence from it certainly also.
You have experience both in concert music and music therapy. Do you have tips for people who would like to switch between the two fields (or broaden their expertise)?
Music therapy adds psychological understanding to music making and culture, and concert music adds musician's know-how and inspiration. "Good music" can be made within both fields.
How do you approach the relation between theory and practice in art? Any book or article recommendations?
Oh! I am very curious to know what others do and think about free improvisation and open compositions and their histories, inclusive of the new PhDs coming out. And I am fascinated by the Western history of ideas and philosophies and art developments taking place right from the oldest Greeks and up to now. Here is an extremely short text by me:
https://p-artweb.net/P-ARTWEB/2BERGSTR/BERGSTR.htm
— and look here for much more, mainly by others:
https://intuitivemusic.dk/iima/legno1uk_add.htm
You co-established the Improvised Music - Open Scores journal, where a lot of new writing is gathered. As a traditional question for journal editors: Can you give some sneak peek into the editorial process, especially as for acquiring pieces for publication?
Regarding myself, I have compiled repertory and literature knowledge over the years and could draw on that — most of the time working alone. I think something similar is the case with Joe Scarffe, he is a great specialist and knows really a lot, not least from his PhD research previously. As to the articles, I and Joe also have broad orientations as a base. Jukka-Pekka and I were both inspired by the earlier journals Source Magazine and Musics. And I have been grateful for readers' proposals. — I also remember local radio work earlier — a recurrent question when we had some idea of a subject could be "who can we ask"? And as I like to say, the privilege of making a journal is that one is allowed to be contemporary, not just scientific — to search for current issues, for current viewpoints, for people working currently with the stuff, to note relevant arrangements taking place. This way it can nourish the environment for our music.
How would you describe your field and artistic context? Do you accept labels like ‘experimental’ or ‘avant-garde’?
I like/accept such notions as experimental, avant-garde, non-idiomatic, self-idiomatic, free improvisation, pointillism, the crude sound phenomenon …
Do you have a favourite game? Or a game genre/mechanic?
I do not think of myself as a gamer, but I have liked the idea of comparing open compositions to games ever since I began with experimental composing. Of course, I like to play such pieces.
As I young man, I practiced poker with one of my friends. There is a nice tension about all the stages of a bid round.
What music do you enjoy? Is there a difference between what you perform and what you listen to? Any guilty pleasures?
He-he… guilty pleasures may include various pop music (even playing it for fun) and some rock classics. I do practice background listening sometimes, but most often I like silence better.
Please, tell us a few words about your most recent project. How long did it take, and how many people were involved?
Most recent project leading to performances was my residency in Athens last year (to be repeated now this May). It took one months' stay but convenient work with talks before and two very different concerts, with rehearsing before. Around 110 people involved, maybe. — This is a lucky situation. For us artists, much could be said about our projects of immensely varying lengths in time (from a few hours to almost a lifetime) and in the number of elements it comprises (from one-off ideas to representing a festival or institution for long) and the degrees of success.
As the follow-up round of questions is in May, can you tell how the reprise of the Athens went? Do you have a favourite workshop format? Please tell. Is its duration counted in minutes or in days?
My Athens stay is going towards its end and I think I have had the workshops for now. It is simply a great place for collaborations — my open compositions are well known with a number of people. Again we had a fine concert well visited and with a great atmosphere.
Regarding improvisation workshops, I like to propose minimum 2 or 3 hours and maximum 12 participants. It varies according to circumstances and demand. Several days are interesting, the longer, the deeper one can go. At Aalborg University it was nice to see students right when they started and then repeatedly a year after.
What do you value most in collaboration? Do you work with amateur artists, or do you prefer professionals?
Both groups are important. I need the specialists among colleagues to get inspiration, but I also value the freshness of amateurs making discoveries and the being together.
Do you see something missing from the current landscape of music/game intersection? Or something you'd like to see more of?
The world of gamers and that of experimental musicians and their educators are too separate from each other in my view. I was indeed surprised to learn about the existence of experimental music gamers not so long ago.
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