Reimagining the Saxophone: Preparing Works by Six Irish Composers for Performance – A First History

Abstract

This thesis examines the processes involved in the performance preparation of works for saxophone by six Irish composers: John Buckley (1951), Bill Whelan (1951), Benjamin Dwyer (1965), Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin (1950-2018), Conor Linehan, (1971) and Kenneth Edge (1965). All of these compositions were either written for me, or as in the case of Linehan’s Three Pieces, adapted for me. The compositions chosen for this thesis represent a reimagining of the saxophone as a solo instrument across a spectrum of intellectual and compositional concerns, and through my artistic research I examine the embodiment processes from within the works. Incorporating knowledge from the scientific fields of expertise in performance, embodied cognition, sports psychology and autoethnography; the philosophical fields of the ‘work concept’; the positive psychology field of ‘flow’; and the artistic fields of performance, notation, interpretation and sound recording; I have created a first history of the performance preparation for the works under discussion in this thesis.

Although this thesis is concerned with preparation rather than performance, I include sound recordings of the world premiere performances of the works by Ó Súilleabháin, Buckley and Linehan as research artefacts.