2021 IASJ Jazz Research Conference, 11 and 12 November
Session 3, Friday 12 November 2021, 7 p.m.

Title

The IASJ Research Journal

Introduction

Why another jazz research journal? What will be the content? Who will publish it? Who will read it? Will it be in print or online? Who will be the editors? How to contribute? What is ‘applied jazz’ research? What are the 'Ongoing Dialogues' at IASJ Jazz Meetings?

Opening

Wouter Turkenburg and Wojtek Justyna welcome the about 20 online participants to the last session of the 2021 IASJ Research Conference.

Wouter Turkenburg opens by stating that during this conference there appeared to be a great the willingness to collaborate and to exchange ideas in the various fields of jazz research. In many other fields of research there is competition and rivalry and doors are not so open.

Where to go from here? What will be done next? What will the IASJ Jazz Research Journal be? Who can contribute? Who wants to help organize the journal?

Kurt Ellenberger explains that Grand Valley State University Libraries, Grand Rapids, MI,USA, will host the online journal. They have the resources and the personal to produce the journal. Although the administrative side is taken care off, it is not decided yet how the journal will look like. As of now there will be no printed versions of the journal.

Next steps are putting together the editorial board, sending out a call for papers, asking the participants of this conference to contribute. The content of the journal will be balanced: pedagogical, scientifical, artistic and all other types of research. Projects that are now purely in the ‘scientific research’ realm should be transferred to the ‘applied research’ realm in order to show to others how things can be accomplished, be applied in the daily practice.

Emiliano Sampaio is willing to distill from his dissertation an article that could be called ‘How to conduct large ensembles in the 21^st century’. He thinks that the timing for the IASJ Research Journal to come out in the summer of 2022 is very well because it fits in with next to other publications such as the ‘Journal for Artistic Jazz Research by Michael Kahr. There is still a lack of places where jazz researcher can publish their works.

Toni Bechtold, Switzerland sees the need to transfer the outcomes of the scientific research on rhythm, on groove, into an article with pedagogical purposes. He has some experiences by applying the research data in a number of workshops but till so far not written an article about it.

Ed Sarath is interested to write about ‘the new horizons in jazz research’. This would be an article on observations and trends in jazz research, based on what he has heard during this conference. Ed Sarath states he thinks that the story of improvisation in jazz has yet to be told. We are still in the beginning phase of that story. He also states that the journal should really stress that there is something, new in jazz research: ‘applied jazz research’.

Kurt Ellenberger states that by now, after four decades of teaching jazz at various institutes there is a wealth of experiences and visions at a lot of jazz schools. These experiences and visions should be exchanged. During the ‘Ongoing Dialogues’ of the annual IASJ Jazz Meetings the experiences were and will be presented but in an informal setting and without reports or further dissemination. The IASJ Research Journal will be the forum, the platform to bring these great experiences and knowledge to the world.

Maybe the IASJ Research Journal should become a part of the ‘Research Catalogue’, based in Europe and supported by a large and growing number of institutions, Wouter Turkenburg brings up.

Kurt Ellenberger states that the IASJ Research Journal should not be integrated in other existing catalogues. Often these catalogues force the authors to hand over the publishing rights in order to monetize the content. With Grand Valley State University Libraries this will not be the case. Articles published can be republished elsewhere and gain interest from more readers. He stresses the importance that the IASJ Research Journal does not become a storage body, a mere library, an endpoint of jazz research, but becomes the beginning of ongoing, further and new research. 

Gary Keller foresees that master students of Miami University and other institutions will use the IASJ Research Journal to publish their papers.

Wouter Turkenburg sketches a possible timeline for the journal. The first one should be out around the summer of 2022. The second one is foreseen two years later, in 2024. In between, the ‘Ongoing Dialogues’ take place at IASJ Jazz Meetings in New York in 2022 and Helsinki in 2023. The Ongoing Dialogues could generate new content for the second edition of the journal as well. In August 2022 in Amsterdam the conference ‘Rhythm Changes’ takes place and some of the participants of that conference might also be willing to contribute to the IASJ Research Journal. Also, a next IASJ Conference will take place at some time in 2023, before the publishing of the second issue of the IASJ Research Journal. The second issue of the journal will contain a report of the second conference.

Wojtek Justyna as a performer would like to see a clear direction that is taking by explaining what ‘applied jazz research’ is. It should be made clear how ‘applied jazz research’ can be attractive for performers, after graduating, and how they can become involved. Setting a trend and showing possibilities is as important as a collection of excellent articles. Applied jazz research should be very concrete, inviting and inspiring.

Jari Perkiömäki states that it should be made clear at all times want the differences are between applied jazz research, practice-based research, artistic jazz research and the other terms and definitions that are around. Wouter Turkenburg agrees that the term ‘applied jazz research’ should be explained and the explanation should be repeated time and over again. He has developed a one-liner: ‘applied jazz research is feeding and fed by jazz performance and jazz education’. A logo should be developed in order to have a visual representation of ‘applied jazz research’.

Kurt Ellenberger replies that from his experience of going to the IAJE Conferences, the JEN Conferences, he saw and heard many ‘slick’ presentations of research presented. Going to the Ongoing Dialogues at IASJ Jazz Meetings he saw research that was more connected to ‘the street’. The IASJ presentations had high-level content as well. As a result, the content was paired down to something that could be of use. Often with an ‘activist’ character or a ‘street-vibe’ feel, but with a definite connection to the real world.

The IASJ Research Journal, he states, could take many directions and contain many ideas. The journal could be talking about marketing, advertising, management, how to put a group together, how to put music theory into practice. The scoop is wider that existing academic journals that not allow such a wide range of topics.

Massimo Cavalli asks if articles will be peer-reviewed, who will consist of the editorial board, what the organizational structure of the journal will look like.

Wouter Turkenburg replies that the structure is discussed with Grand Valley State University Libraries and is left open as much as possible while maintaining high standards. All types or reviewing that exist and are possible. Reviewing will depend on the kind of content of the articles and contributions. Kurt Ellenberger and Wouter Turkenburg will start as the chief editors but are wide open to anyone who wants to join the editorial board. Be it the participants of this conference or anyone else in their networks that fits in.

Kurt Ellenberger adds that the rigid scientific peer, double-peer and double-blind peer reviewing might not be needed at all times with the IASJ Research Journal. Of course, the journal will have high standards but will be more ‘open’ and friendly. The journal, as he sees it, is the next step for the IASJ in maturation, inviting a younger generation of jazz musicians and researchers to step in and take over.

Conclusion

In this session important remarks were made about what the IASJ Research Journal should become, about contributions and contributors, the way it will be set up and its position in academia. Clearly noticeable was the open mindedness and willingness of all participants to help to make the journal a success.

Despite the many open ends and unanswered questions, there is enough solid ground for a take-off of the IASJ Research Journal.

The inevitable comparison with playing a jazz composition was made: we will start the music with the whole band and time will tell how the following solos will sound.

Follow-ups

An extended report of the 2021 IASJ Research Conference will be made and send to all participants.

A condensed version of this report the opening article in the first issue of the IASJ Research Journal.

Thanks

Wouter Turkenburg thanks all the participants, among others Gary Keller who has attended and has contributed to all session.

Special thanks go out to Kurt Ellenberger and Wojtek Justyna.

Thanks to Bas Schollaert for the sound recordings and the Zoom broadcasting.

Also, thanks to the institution that supported this conference: The Royal Conservatory in The Hague, ACPA in Leiden, and the Unit 2 – ‘Nieuwe Energie’ in Leiden.

Who is who

Toni Bechtold, saxophone, researcher at HSLU, Lucerne; Switzerland

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Massimo Cavalli, double bass, Lusìada University, PT

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Kurt Ellenberger, piano, publicist, Grand Valley State University, Michigan; USA

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Wojtek Justina, jazz guitarist, IASJ Conference Producer; NL/PL

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Gary Keller, saxophone, University of Miami; USA

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Emiliano Sampaio, guitar, trombone, composer, conductor; Austria; Brazil

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Ed Sarath, trumpet, University of Michigan; ISIM (International Society for Improvised Music); USA

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Jari Perkiömäki, Sibelius Academy, Helsinki; FI

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Wouter Turkenburg, University Leiden, IASJ; NL

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2021 IASJ Jazz Research Conference, 11 and 12 November
Session 2, 11 November, 5 pm

Title
Jazz research and multi media

Introduction
Insight in the creative process of The New Immigrant Experience, a multimedia project in which the speech patterns of the 'Dreamers' are translated into musical themes.

Presenter:
Felipe Salles, saxophone, conductor, composer, UMASS AMHERST, USA

Topic
The New Immigrant Experience by Felipe Salles (UMASS, AMHERST)
Felipe Salles, professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, presents an insight into the creative process of ‘The New Immigrant Experience” - a multimedia piece combining video documentary and jazz composition, inspired by conversations with ‘Dreamers’. The documentary style video interviews and the original live music stand at the same level and are an equal partner in facilitating and connecting the intellectual and emotional discussion about immigration and identity. Musician and activist Teresa Lee was the inspiration for this project and is the original ‘Dreamer’. Her undocumented migration to the United States led to the DREAM Act, which was introduced to provide a pathway to legal status for unreported youth who came to the U.S. as children.

Together with producer Meghan Rossman, Felipe conducted 11 interviews with activists who are members of the Dreamer community. The initial interviews were held off camera and dealt with topics such as legal status, immigration, cultural identity, family and language. In the end 9 subjects were chosen to represent an array of nationalities, cultures, ethnicities and languages. With the assistance of Fernanda Faya, Brazilian cinematographer and documentary filmmaker, a visual identity was created and the final interviews were filmed in close-up to “put a face” on the issue. Transitional footage that connects the interviews and binds the stories together is related to mobility, migration, relocation and family. Fernanda and Felipe edited the final interviews down to about 5 minutes and each conversation was studied and key motifs, which served as an inspiration for the music, were extracted.

For the basis of the composing process Felipe drew out musical motifs from key words, such as names of the Dreamers, as well as rhythms, patterns and phrases based on their speech. There are two types of motifs that inform the work: specific motifs that only appear in the movement they belong to and overarching motifs that appear multiple times, across many movements and tie the narrative musically. The piece was composed for The Felipe Salles Interconnections Ensemble with specific musicians and their musical strengths in mind.

In his presentation Felipe gave specific examples of the various types of motifs, presenting them first in their most basic forms (bare note sequence without rhythm) and then in their fully orchestrated arrangement. Explanations on the relationship between themes and form, the reoccurrence of individual motives, their musical and stylistic variations and how they intertwine in the overarching themes were given based on specific parts of the musical work.

The ambitious The New Immigrant Experience combines multimedia, activism and cultural dialog with the fusion of elements of world music, jazz and 20th century classical music. It was released as a CD/DVD set, in March 2020, to critical acclaim, including a 4.5 stars review from Downbeat Magazine, making the magazine’s list of best albums of 2020. This work was made possible by the support and generosity of The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and The University of Massachusetts Amherst. Due to the pandemic, it has been performed live only a few times and is available in its entirety online.

Contact Felipe Salles
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The New Immigrant Experience EPK
https://youtu.be/N16BVbioxpA

2021 IASJ Jazz Research Conference, 11 and 12 November
Session 1, 12 November, 3 pm

Title
Jazz Research in Belgium and The Netherlands

Introduction
What kind of research is executed during the master studies in conservatories?
What kind of research must one do in order to obtain a PhD degree at universities? How does the Dutch-Flemish consortium ‘docARTES’ work?
A panel gives insights in the various types of research.

Panelists
Felix Schlarmann: Royal Conservatoire in The Hague: ‘Learning Pods: Harnessing peer-learning and collective processes in Conservatoires’;
Paul Craenen: head of the research group Music, Education and Society, Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, guest professor at Leiden University;
Casper Schipper: The Research Catalogue;
Marcel Cobussen, ACPA: the Academy for Creative and Performing Arts (Royal Conservator, Leiden University; docARTES (BE/NL).

Opening
Wouter Turkenburg and Wojtek Justina welcome the about 20 online contributors and participants. A special welcome to Marcel Cobussen and Casper Schipper who are ‘live’ in the conference room.

Wojtek Justyna studied jazz guitar at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, graduated in 2010, works as a performing musician in his Wojtek Justyna Trio, and teaches the business of music to young musicians.

Wouter Turkenburg remarks that a large number of names are used when it comes to music research: artistic research, practice-based research, research in or through the arts, scientific research, applied research, musicology, ethnomusicology. These names and labels have overlapping fields of interest and approaches. The goal of this session is to have a closer look at the overlaps and to find out how bridges can be built in order to reinforce the jazz research that is been done.

In the IASJ a start was made in the 1980 with jazz research by discussing jazz research topics in the Ongoing Dialogues during the annual IASJ Jazz Meetings and in the magazine ‘Jazz Changes’.
In the first decade of the 21st century, the Bologna Declaration form 1999 was implemented in higher music education in Europe. Academies, conservatories and universities kept their specific identities but now shared a common ground: research. Till today there is a large variety from institution to institution and and from country to country in terminologies, approaches, acknowledgements and names of the degrees and titles, as well as in workloads and in judgement systems of the research executed. This session is meant to give more insight and clarity in the wide diversity of music research in Belgium and The Netherlands.
Panel
Marcel Cobussen is professor in auditory culture and music philosophy at the ‘ACPA’, the Academy of Creative and Performing of the University of Leiden, The Netherlands. The ‘ACPA’ is part of the Faculty of the Humanities of Leiden University. Marcel Cobussen studied jazz piano at the Rotterdam Conservatory. Combining performance with studying philosophy and cultural studies led to ‘artistic research’.
Nowadays he focusses on improvised music as well as on improvisation in all kinds of music.
Marcel Cobussen gives an overview of the various types of research in The Netherlands and Belgium. At the Royal Conservatory research is done in the bachelor and master studies. Before playing a final performance exam, master students have to present their research to an international committee. Bridging the gap between the academic world and arts institutions is the ‘ACPA’, the Academy for Creative and Performing Arts. The ‘ACPA’ is entitled to provide PhD degrees once a sufficient amount of individual research has been done, often four or more years. Unlike musicology and other arts studies, the practice of music is ‘key’ in all research done at ‘ACPA’. The ‘research question’, the central question during the study, is always a practical question coming out of the performance practice of the student. ‘ACPA’ in Leiden is working together with the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, the Amsterdam Conservatory, the Antwerp Conservatory and the Orpheus Institute in Ghent. This collaboration is called ‘docARTES’. Three days a month seminars and meeting are organized for all PhD-students in which information is provided and progress of the research is shared with peers. A balance has to be found between keeping up with the performance practice and the writing of a text bases thesis.
Graduation takes place in two parts. The first part is the lecture-presentation which contains a performance section as well. The second part, usually one day later, is the defending of the thesis. The format of the thesis is not fixed. The format can be text, but also a website, a blog, or even a series of documentaries.

Most of the graduations take place at ‘ACPA’ in Leiden University but can also be done at the Leuven University, the University of Antwerp or the University of Amsterdam. Granting an PhD, the highest title given in The Netherlands and Belgium. This title can only be granted by ‘research’ universities and not by ‘arts’ universities.
Very little jazz musicians are doing the PhD program. This may be based on the misconception that during the study one has locked oneself up in a room and read as many books as possible. This is not the case. The personal performance practice has to be at the center of the study, of the research. With the personal performance practice as point of departure, social, political and cultural ‘knowledge’ can be researched as well. The research has to be relevant, has to an addition to what already has been done, and has to be placed in a context.

Casper Schipper is the administrative officer of the ‘Research Catalogue’. He supports master students at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague by helping them documenting their research papers in the ‘Research Catalogue’. Casper Schipper has a background in electronic music.
The ‘Research Catalogue (RC)’ is relatively young, experimental and is still developing. It contains knowledge that is in the practice itself. What makes the RC interesting, is the open multimedia format that does justice to the artistic practice. Texts, video’s, audio recordings, graphics, music notations, links to websites can be mixed in any possible constellation. The music practice researched is determining how the various formats are used and put together in a suitable way.

Felix Schlarmann, did his master study at the Amsterdam Conservatory and focused on the music of Mel Lewis in his research paper. He is performer and jazz drums teacher at the Royal Conservatory. He talks about the ‘research group’ that he takes part in together with Susan Williams, a baroque trumpet player and teacher. The main focus of their research is on ‘peer learning’ and on ‘collective processes’ in the conservatory in The Hague. Although this conservatory has many different departments under its roof, electronic music, classical music, baroque music, jazz, dance, composition, the school is regarded as a collective. There are parallels between the ‘collective processes’ in the conservatory and the collective project called ‘Splendor’ in Amsterdam of which Felix Schlarmann is also part of. In ‘Splendor’ composers, classical musicians, jazz musicians, electronic artists, cross-over artists, tap dancers and multi-media artistic collaborate and set up performances.
Peer-to-peer learning is taking place in duos formed by students of five different departments. The duos had to perform after working together for one day. Larger groups were formed as well. Groups discussion, questionnaires and interviews led to data on how peer-to-peer learning and group dynamics worked in these duos and ensembles. Outcomes are still in the process of being finalized. One of the results is that working without teachers in the room and without students from the same department in the duos and ensembles, gave way to working in a relaxed manner, and were triggering large sources of creativity. A video is in the make and the final results will be published in the ‘Research Catalogue’. Felix Schlarmann finishes by saying that executing the research was a lot of work but extremely inspiring to do as well as inspiring for himself as a musician.

Paul Craenen is a classical musician and composer. He is research professor at the Royal Conservatory and guest professor at the Leiden University. His tasks are to support and facilitate the research of all master students, develop the curriculum, and lead the research groups such as the one explained by Felix Schlarmann. Teachers at the conservatory have to write a proposal in order to be admitted to the research group. In the research groups teachers from various departments are combined. The goal of the research group is to go beyond your own disciple and present the results. These results are now just starting to come in.
Paul Craenen has studied and analyzed all research papers of the master students of the Royal Conservatory that were uploaded in the RC so far. Typical for jazz research is that there are hardly books mentioned. The center of the jazz researches are recordings. Jazz researchers uses auditory sources instead of manuscripts and scores as used in other types of research. Another aspect is that at the center of jazz research most of the time is a performance of a famous jazz musician playing in a certain style of jazz. Transcriptions are often used which means that jazz research relies on music notation as well. Another important element is that jazz researchers try to implement the results of the research in their own daily practice. Jazz research is characterized on one side by the specific jazz auditory practice and on the other side by the conventional notation practice. In the research papers the master students bridge these two practices.
Tendencies emerging in jazz research: interests in other disciplines, interests in one’s own cultural roots, and attempts in repositioning one’s own practice by placing it in a wider cultural perspective.

Question, Answers, Remarks
Jari Perkiömäki, saxophonist, Sibelius Academy, Finland explains that Sibelius Academy changed their status from academy to conservatory in the 1930’s but kept the name. In 1980 the conservatory changed to university. In 1983 the jazz department started and he was one of the first students. Later in the 1980’s the doctoral studies started when the title ‘doctor of music’ was licensed. The first doctoral studies in jazz started after 2000. In the 2002 Jari obtained the title as one of the first ones. Until now some 10 doctor titles were granted.
Compared to The Netherlands, the main difference is that research starts after the master degree. Some text is required in the master study, either a small thesis of 20 pages or an extended program leaflet of the master concert. The doctoral studies are finished by performing in five concerts or handing in five recordings and a written thesis. The combination of concerts and the thesis are regarded as the dissertation. In 2013 the Sibelius Academy merged with the Theater Academy and the Fine Arts Academy to become the University of the Arts.
The students of the Theater and Fine Arts Academy are more active in the ‘Research Catalogue’ that the music students. The reason is that the thesis of the theater and fine arts students are more philosophical, abstract and theoretical that the ones of the music students which are more related to practical issues.
Post-doctoral studies are possible as well but so far nobody in jazz in Finland has undertaking this kind of research. Continuing performing and teaching is preferred above doing a time-consuming post-doctoral study. Apparently, it is more in the DNA of the jazz musician to perform rather than having to step back from performing in order to do the research in the post-doctoral study.

Gary Keller, saxophonist, University of Florida, USA, informs that at his university offers two degrees, the PhD and the DMA degree which is focused on performing or composing. The essays written cover all sorts of different topics. In the last five years the emphasis has moved towards the performance part of the DMA and away from the essay part that has to be written according to certain standards. The interest in obtain an DMA is growing since it is required to have master diploma in order to teach at a university.

Kurt Ellenberger, piano, Grand Valley State University, adds to the remarks of Gary Keller that in the USA in most placed the prescribe course work is fixed whereas in Europe there is much more flexibility in the study programs.

Casper Schipper confirms these observations by underlining the open character of the Research Catalogue, which financed and supported by a large number of universities and conservatories. Anyone can share their research and can publish in the RC. Statistic shows that the works published the RC is consulted a lot, helped by the fact that the Google search engine finds the topics that are asked for. He hopes that more jazz research will be published because of the special kind of ‘knowledge’ that is imbedded in jazz research.

Marcel Cobussen adds to the remarks of Casper Schipper that the RC is not a fixed format. Often requests of the supporting institutions come in to alter the RC and to expand the facilitations. In the last few years, upon request of the institutions the audio quality as improved a lot.

Conclusion
Research in jazz music comes under a wide range of names and notions.
Institutions of higher music education, such as academies, conservatories and universities offer a wide range of studies, diplomas and titles as well when it comes to jazz research.
Study programs vary from strictly theoretical, text-oriented work to almost completely performance-oriented work.
Networks, collaborations, and archives concerned with jazz research are relatively new. There is a great potential of growth in jazz research: in topics, in research executed, in collaborations, in insights and practical benefits for jazz performance.

Wouter Turkenburg and Wojtek Justyna thank the speakers Marcel Cobussen and Casper Schipper and contributors and participants.

Who is who
Marcel Cobussen, ACPA; NL
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Paul Craenen, Royal Conservatoire, The Hague; Leiden University; NL
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Kurt Ellenberger, Grand Valley State University; USA
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Wojtek Justina, IASJ; NL
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Gary Keller, University of Florida; USA
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Jari Perkiömäki, Sibelius Academy, Helsinki; FI
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Casper Schipper, The Research Catalogue; NL
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Felix Schlarmann, Royal Conservatoire, The Hague; NL
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Wouter Turkenburg, IASJ, NL
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