Auktorskap och musikaliska resurser – experimentellt musikskapande i samverkan

Abstract in English

This dissertation aims to contribute knowledge about how collective music creation can be designed with a focus on artistic dimensions. The study is situated at the intersection of artistic and educational research and is based on an autoethnographic method, in which I, as a composer, examine my own practice in the role of both creative participant and analytical researcher. Over the course of one school year, I conducted ten workshops in a primary school, where students actively participated in music creation based on themes and conditions that I designed and coordinated with the students’ music teacher. The research method used is analytical autoethnography, which includes five central characteristics: the researcher is a full member of the social environment; the work is characterised by analytical reflexivity; the researcher is made visible as a social subject; a dialogue is conducted with participants other than the researcher alone; and the study has a clear analytical focus. The theoretical framework of the dissertation is based on two main orientations: creativity theory (Burnard, 2012; Sawyer, 2003) and social semiotic multimodal theory (Kress, 2009; Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001; van Leeuwen, 2006). The empirical material consists of my written plans, accounts, reflections, and evaluations of the workshops carried out, auditory and visual musical documentation, as well as my own compositions. In the analysis, this material is related to the theoretical framework of the dissertation and my artistic experiences as a composer and musician. The results of the study show that auditory and visual resources, such as emoji symbols, can function as powerful stimuli in collective music creation by offering ideas, creating expectations, and enabling interaction between different forms of authorship. According to the study, the interplay between different authorships promotes innovation and artistic dimensions in music creation develop when there is a balance between freedom and structure—where bodily engagement, contrast, variation, and surprise contribute to a sense of musical unity and completeness. The study shows how artistic expression and musical authorship can be developed in collective music creation, where co-creators are given space to contribute their own ideas, and where autoethnography enables a deeper understanding of the interplay between artistic intentions, semiotic resources, and the creative contributions of music creators.