CMT’s artistic-educative constellations and its music-making practice

Abstract

What does composing music mean today? What is the role of the composer in today’s musical world? Can we continue to talk about “composing music” in every situation of musical creation? Or should we consider recourse to other expressions? What is the composition process in the case of museum exhibitions, or installations? Can a sound artist be considered a composer of music? Is the creation of sound art a form of musical composition? Furthermore, can real-time coding or free improvisation be considered forms of instantaneous musical composition? In a world where technological means make musical creation accessible to all, what is the role of the “traditional composer”?

Music is today more diverse than ever before. The range of genres, practices, techniques and technologies, forms of dissemination and reception have changed the way in which music is composed. Music is now almost omnipresent in our society spanning concert halls, museums, digital media, as well as public and private spaces. For each of these listening situations, someone conceives and composes the music, creating the sound and organizing the musical discourse through means of a diversity of approaches, knowledge and technologies. All of these means are crucial given their influences over the final outputs.