Collaborative Processes

In the late 1930s, clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman (1909–86) represented the epitome of swing music and the American entertainment industry. Around the same time, he also added classical repertoire to his performance and recording portfolio, even commissioning numerous composers to write new pieces for him (counting compositions by Bartók, Milhaud, Hindemith, Copland, and others). In this paper, I examine a yet unnoticed but crucial figure in that context: Eric Simon (1907–92), a Viennese-born clarinetist and conductor who fled the Nazi regime in 1938 and, along with multiple other activities in the New York music scene, became Goodman's teacher for classical clarinet technique in 1940. Although scholars such as Walter Pass, Gerhard Scheit, and Wilhelm Svoboda (1995) as well as Horst Weber and Manuela Schwartz (2003) have described elements of Simon's biography in the context of migration studies, his relationship with Goodman has not yet garnered more than a footnote in the literature.


In 1941, Goodman turned to Simon for recommendations on which composers to ask for new clarinet concertos. Drawing on his own involvement in European immigrant networks, Simon suggested Paul Hindemith and Darius Milhaud, and then negotiated the contractual terms with them in Goodman's name. Newly found sources, in the form of fascinating correspondence preserved at UCLA and the Hindemith Institute Frankfurt, shed light on Simon's position as an intermediary in these collaborations and reveal how Simon balanced diverse interests: Goodman's, the composers', and, not least, his own. A major part of Simon's career was dedicated to the promotion of new music and European modernist composers. Bringing these together with an icon of American music served this purpose very well.


In addition, I compare the Hindemith/Milhaud projects with Goodman's very first classical commission: Bela Bartók's Contrasts (1938/39). This was mediated by the violinist Joseph Szigeti, aiming to support the financially struggling composer, as recently shown by Bartók scholars Tibor Tallián (2017) and Vera Lampert (2018). Goodman's early commissioning projects, as I argue, were primarily instigated by intermediaries, using their own networks and realizing their own agendas. Taking up on Howard Becker's socio-cultural concept of art worlds (1982), I not only present a new perspective on the described examples but also more generally on artistic collaborations and labor division in the sphere of Western art music in the twentieth century.

Founded with an aim to "reimagine the expressive potential of the human voice," the vocal octet Roomful of Teeth has ventured into non-Western and non-classical singing traditions. The group's occupation with idiosyncratic singing techniques requires its singers to work closely with composers to collaboratively design compositions that suit individual vocalists' technical abilities and preferences. This close interaction between the singers and composers often results in compositional details that are present in performances but absent from the score. On the surface, such devoted collaboration seems to challenge the ideal of Werktreue (Goehr 1992), since a written score and composer's intentions do not necessarily stand as authoritative. Yet, William Robin argues that under the conditions of neoliberalism, specially devised pieces serve as a significant brand identity for an ensemble to distinguish itself from others in a crowded marketplace (2018). Such conditions thus authorize Roomful of Teeth's performances and recordings of compositions written specifically for the group, while hindering other vocal ensembles from delivering sanctioned interpretations. In this sense, collaborative working relationships between composers and performers lead to practices that re-subscribe to, instead of denouncing, the Werktreue ideal. 


This paper examines the power dynamics between contemporary composers and performers through the compositional and rehearsal processes of composer Mary Kouyoumdjian's Mustard Sweatshirts are Forever (2019) for Roomful of Teeth. My research combines score and recording analyses with an ethnographic study of the group's residency at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in 2018, as well as interviews with the group's composers, singers, and music director. Such close collaboration between composers and performers create complexities of authorship, when the authenticity of a work depends on its "original" performers as much as its composer. It presents an alternative mode of musical creativity in the new-music scene, suggesting different pathways toward producing, presenting, and canonizing classical music in the early twenty-first century. 

This paper concerns musical composition as intellectual practice on the Swahili coast. The late Kenyan Swahili musician Zein l'Abdin (1932-2016) developed an "Arabic" (kiarabu) style of the Swahili taarab music that blended elements of Egyptian, Yemeni, and coastal African musics. During the 1970s in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, Zein developed his "Arabic" repertoire in collaboration with a fellow transplant from the northern-coast island of Lamu, the renowned Swahili poet Ahmed Sheikh Nabhany (1927-2017). Zein and Nabhany shared a vision of Lamu as the wellspring of an authentic Swahili culture that was fast disappearing. Anthropologist Kai Kresse (2007), drawing on indigenous Swahili conceptions of philosophy (falsafa), has described Nabhany's efforts to "preserve" (kuhifadhi) Swahili culture through poetic composition as a form of "philosophizing." In the first part of this paper, I argue that the musical settings that Zein composed in collaboration with Nabhany constitute a musical strand of Nabhany's philosophical project, and should therefore be understood as works of musical philosophizing. My ethnographic data reveal that Zein articulated a theory of Swahili culture in sound that was fully comprehensible to his collaborators and fans, even if it was not translatable into words. The second part of this paper works to bring Zein's musical philosophizing into dialogue with written scholarship. Taking a hermeneutic approach to his compositions, I describe how he situated musical style as a medium for reflecting, and reflecting on, what may be called, borrowing a coinage from Jean-Loup Amselle (1998), the "originary syncretism" of Swahili culture.

In March 2019 Janelle Monáe inducted Janet Jackson into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  During her speech Monáe spoke about Jackson's third album _Control_ (1986) saying, "Working with her trusted collaborators, her tribe, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, she created a unique and unforgettable sound…it was like a big bang happened…_Control_ is one of the greatest breakout moments in music history..."  _Control_ blended elements of pop, R&B, hip hop, electro, industrial, and funk into something fresh that crossed over genre lines and appealed to diverse audiences.  Thematically the album tied messages of personal and artistic control to a strong feminist philosophy.  This presentation traces the intersection of two musical journeys and examines how diverse experiences and sounds allowed the musicians' involved to finally assert their "control."


Janet's story thrust her into the limelight when she was only seven years old, appearing on television with her brothers in The Jackson Five.  She signed a recording contract at sixteen, but the "Jackson" label overshadowed her own artistic vision.  During a now infamous appearance on _American Bandstand_ in 1984, Dick Clark talks to her about her family before telling her, "I think you're just the sweetest little thing I ever saw."  Janet looks uncomfortable - that's when she goes to Minneapolis.  The second story traces James "Jimmy Jam" Harris III and Terry Lewis through several bands in their hometown of Minneapolis, MN, and into the orbit of rising superstar Prince as members of the band The Time.  While there, Jam and Lewis further developed the "Minneapolis Sound," a synthesizer fueled musical stew that sidestepped musical and racial stereotypes.  Once Jam and Lewis left Prince, they worked on their own sound, producing artists including Climax, The S.O.S Band, Cheryl Lynn, and The Force M.D.'s.  Then they connected with Janet.


A final analysis of two key songs from the album, "Control" and "Nasty," demonstrates how Jam and Lewis refined their songwriting and production into a perfect counterpart to Janet's lyrical and melodic mastery – combining elements of both musical journeys and asserting their own destiny.  This is a story about control.  Are we ready?