Musical research, musical culture

The practice and teaching of musical composition in Brazilian universities configure some of the most intriguing examples of what Paulo Costa Lima calls “asymmetrical reality” in his thought-provoking initial question for this debate. On the one hand, we live a time of plurality and creative freedom, far from nationalists or universalists who prescribe the right way for musical thought, and our emphasis is almost entirely on the individuality of each artist. On the other, I think we can mostly agree on the presence among us (tacit and maybe authoritative) of certain aesthetic, ethic and even pragmatic precepts regarding our métier, which we borrowed more or less fortunately from the north hemisphere.

Thus, as far as musical composition is concerned, I believe it would be reasonable to consider the omnipresence of a certain pantheon that continuously permeates our activity, impregnating what we could call the “contemporary music imagery”. After all, associating twentieth-century music with relatively tortuous lines of succession coming from Schoenberg, Stravinsky, and the like, is not only a vestige of unresolved modernity, of which we are constantly remembered in Brazilian congresses and festivals, but also a sign of an interesting paradox for us, Latin Americans. The emerging question here may seem, at first sight, naïve:

should we pay such attention to the western musical tradition?

There are, however, considerable conflicts hiding behind it, and they cannot be answered neither ignored collectively. Nevertheless, we should at least contemplate them, bring them to the surface, and maybe arrive at some suppositions fruitful enough to deal with what Paulo Costa Lima calls “the political and theoretical challenge of transformation” of our reality. One of such conflicts can be expressed like this:

are we part of this western musical tradition?

Again, a collective answer would be a trap. Of course, if our universities, festivals and seminars encourage us to integrate the contemporary music imagery, a dialogue with that tradition will be, and is, inevitable and in some cases very healthy – I would even risk saying natural, thinking of the level of internationalization achieved by some Latin American composers and performers, many of them indeed currently living in the north hemisphere. However, a critical account of our presence in studies of musical theory, particularly those originated in the north hemisphere and in many cases serving as basis for our own, the answer to the question above could be given in the simplest way possible: no.

Yes and no. At this very moment, such a paradox is critical for the specific case of Brazil, because we crave for international acceptance and praise, for leaving behind our stigma of Banana republic and assuming some major role in the global scientific production. And, in that sense, there is a tendency in emphasizing the yes, which is logically followed by a belief that our little representativeness is due mainly to the immanent and overall quality of our research, still low but ascending continuously. So, staying at course and hard working seem to be our prescription for the next few years, and the example seems to come from the USA (as in many cases before for our universities), where the theoretical research on classical European music assumes an increasingly preponderant role.

Nothing prevents us, however, from considering also the no, that is, from exempting us of the assumed responsibility of reflection on the western musical tradition, seeking no longer to look ourselves as its extension. To put it briefly: nothing prevents us to step aside. The question, in that case, could be surprisingly appropriate:

what if we just go bananas?

An Italian composer once argued with me that a flutist interested in contemporary music could not ignore Sciarrino’s work for that instrument. At that moment I was not in the mood for any ideological discussion, but I kept wondering what would flutists I know in Porto Alegre have to say about it. The idea of coming back home and announcing the necessity of studying Sciarrino, of being “up to date”, seemed somewhat amusing to me back then.

The question above may seem extreme, but it may also be exciting if taken by its positive side. It is not about denying, forbidding or even turning our backs on anything – as I said, nationalists and universalists are (or should be) extinct. My point is that research in musical composition should be more centered in what is actually happening around us, implying in a potential earthquake to our contemporary music imagery, thus affecting the status of our pantheon, and maybe decreasing our obsession for music that is rarely discussed, played or studied around here — if ever. In any case, what is at stake is not so much what we have to lose, but what we need to gain urgently: a research paradigm based on music less as a science than as a cultural phenomenon, abstracting from this perspective questions that are able to propel both our theory and our professional issues.

Once and for all, my questionings here cannot be answered neither definitely nor collectively, and my opinion (as a composer, as a researcher, as a student) has no prescriptive value in such a generic debate. Nevertheless, the future is still to be shaped, and I hope that our decisions, diffuse as they may be, serve to promote our scientific development along with our cultural expressions.