Imagination - The Power of Music

Responsable(s)

Mónica Pustilnik

Équipe

Partenaires

Jean-Yves Haymoz, HEM - Geneva

Bor Zuljan (assistant du projet), HEM - Geneva

César Arias, luthier

Date de début: 2017

Présentation du projet

What effect does improvised music have on the public?  By positioning itself in the field of Renaissance music, where the subject of ‘the power of music’ was important, this project proposes to find answers to this question both in the writings of humanists in the past, and in a more modern approach in the field of affective sciences. We are going to work on the improvising of the polyphonic instrumental imagination for lute, keyboards and harp.  A study of the sources will make it possible to better get to know the aesthetic, philosophical and technical context of the Renaissance imagination, and will lead to the forming of a method of improvisation.

A multi-disciplinary experimental research project will also be necessary, in order to

  • test our hypotheses on the teaching of improvisation to students, and discuss them with experts (teachers and researchers in psychology),
  • test the quality of our improvised works,
  • in particular test new sounds on the lute that are more in line with the descriptions from the past,
  • test how well-received the improvisation is by the public in terms of expressiveness and emotionality.      

The second part of the project was dedicated to the dissemination of the results in the form of a colloquium and a publication, and formed the subject of a fresh application in 2018.

The project will take place in several phases:
Phase 1: 2017 - 2018
Phase 2: 2018 - 2019  

The colloquium "The power of music and improvisation in the Renaissance" will take place on 18 and 19 October 2019 at the CPMDT in Geneva.