Composition - GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Experience as a composer and improvisor was an important background for me in entering the music therapy discipline in which freely improvised music plays an important role. When improvising, certain forms of structural thinking take place, and the awareness of material, interaction and more can be trained by means of exercises (see Intuitive Music. A Mini-Handbook). Composition has also, to varying degrees, been a part of the discipline of intuitive music (see Sound is Multi-Dimensional).

Composition and improvisation are kinds of research into the medium of music and what it can do. They contribute to define, establish and expand the fundamentals, even if their technical aspects are not directly a part of a psychological context.

Here at VBN are given some examples of works, with the complete playing material and in some cases with several recordings for each so as to make it possible to get an idea of the variability of the structural idea in question. See the entries having titles beginning with "Composition..."

Especially since 2000 publication has taken place through www.vbn.dk and other internet sources. Before that time, compositions were published on paper by www.edition-s.dk In some cases, however, publication may still be with edition-s. A few older works have been included here.

Sharpening the Process is an article discussing the interactive, collectively creative aspect of ensemble improvising and the meaning of using composed structures at all in improvised music. Since around 2000 some works put special focus on tightening the interactional aspect beyond a more general indeterminate or loosely sequential situation - for instance Opportunities, Strategies, Cue Rondo, Cue Wheel.

Further examples may be found in published fonograms (CD+DVD) (see bibliotek.dk - librarians Danbib/Netpunkt) together with playing material published by edition-s.dk or listed in the database of the Royal Library. See the Royal Library's database REX (www.kb.dk), Carl Bergstroem-Nielsen's Archive at the Royal Library, the database of Aalborg University Library Primo and "Værkdatabasen" at www.snyk.dk. Additionally, the work database at the Danish copyright organisation KODA which is, however, not open to the general public. Please note that my father had exactly the same name. He published Danish literature.