Multitemporal movement and embodyment through Rhythmic Design
An artistic resarchproject by Peter Bruun 2023 - 2025 at The Danish National Academy of Music
What goes on in the minds of creative people when they work is still largely a black box. Some hints of what might be happening can come from observing them in action, but these will be guesses, leaving both creative practitioners and teachers wondering if they really know what they are doing. For researchers, this black box is a land of opportunity. By venturing here, they will be true explorers.
Whatever they find will be prized by those who regard creative thought as one of the most difficult and important human capacities.
- Charles Dobson , Wandering and Direction in Creative Production
I'm a musician. I really don't know what I'm doing
- Peter Bruun
Preface
It has been a little over two years since I embarked on this project, and I am deeply grateful for the time I have been given to immerse myself in deep exploration together with a large number of highly skilled and inspiring musicians and composers.
Trying to present both my personal discoveries and a structured insight that might be inspiring for the individual practices of others feels a bit like cycling to Mars. In my view, such a task is only possible to a certain extent without both dialogue about the artistic process and an artistic project where inspiration is incorporated, tried out, developed, and embodied through sensory understanding.
I will do my best to guide you through the seven sessions, including a number of spontaneous detours. I present a substantial amount of material and offer a bit less conclusive argumentation. If you find an inspiring needle in the haystack, I warmly encourage you—in the spirit of knowledge sharing—to use the chat attached to this page, where I am available for dialogue and questions - maybe in relation to your own artistic project.
introduction
The project Multitemporal Movements and Embodiment through Rhythmic Design is an artistic investigation into how rhythm can function both as a structural framework and as a sensory starting point for compositional and performative practice. Through seven different sessions with musicians and composers, the project has explored and refined a repertoire of structures—a field of rhythmic designs and tempo-dynamic models that serve as both material and method.
Three focal points formed the foundation of the investigation:
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Structure Repertoire: The development of metric and form-shaping rhythmic designs—or tempo design, as the term has often been tempting to use. This involves creating fluid, multidimensional tempi within a steady pulse, where points of gravity, fields of tension, and rhythmic displacements form the basis for interplay and composition.
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Artistic Method and Process: The pursuit of a purposeless and resultless space—a conscious shift away from aesthetic decisions and rejections, allowing the material to be sensed and embodied without needing to "become something."
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Meta-reflection: The idea of the artwork as a window into a process—and the more radical (and likely paradoxical) question: can the process itself be presented as a work? Can one create an artistic focus that is not about the result, but about the act of creation itself—and about the human, artistic work in motion?
Each session has, in its own way, illuminated and challenged these focal points—from playful purposelessness to precise structural tensions, from bodily exploration to compositional transmission. Together, they form a multiperspectival portrait of rhythmic design as practice, method, and a space of possibilities.
session 1:
core ensemble / juniper fuse
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Development of a Structural Repertoire
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Playful, Purpose-Free Practice
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Opening Possibilities—Potentials Opening Potentials Opening Potentials
Play is a free and unstructured experience of a non-goal-oriented attitude, a kind of formless and relaxing state. And it is from this incoherent and planless mode of experience that all organization emerges
Martin Morsing, DET TALER
The aim of this session was not to create a musical result like finished pieces of music, but to explore and develop a structural repertoire: strictly composed polydimensional metric designs, where layers of tempo relations and underlying pulse coexist and form a multidimensional rhythmic field - a rhythm design.
The musicians were introduced to the structures through notation and visual explanations that pointed to "portals" between different metric experiences. The ensemble—two prepared pianos and two percussion setups—worked within a continuum between strict rhythmic precision and free, textural play.
A key element of the practice was what we called “autonomous examination”: a sensory-based, intuitive approach where each musician freely engaged with the tensions and centers of gravity that arose in the music.
Embodiment in this context was not merely motor memory, but a sensory and intuitive experience—an internalization that emerged not only through repeated play, but through shifting perspectives and intuitive walks within the continuum between strict rhythmic precision and free, textural play.
The paradox of trying to explain and grasp a complex system while relinquishing purpose and aesthetic ambition generated confusion, resistance, and moments of deep flow. Bodily understanding took root as musicians moved between dimensions—listening, sensing, responding.
A focal point approaching the structures was to steer clear of aesthetic choices—though never entirely avoidable—was aligned with the nature of the structural repertoire itself, which was designed not as a finished form but as a set of potentialities: possibilities opening possibilities opening possibilities.
read more about the structurerepertoire HERE
The structure repertoire (LINK) was the central outcome of this session, but I have chosen to highlight this – in my opinion, quite telling – excerpt from the core ensemble’s work with it. A small window into the workspace. We were working with Concept II: the 9–15 beat circle and the perception of a dynamic pulse, over which an instantly composed melody was laid.. On one hand, the hopelessly vast distances between bodily understanding and the – at times chaotic – attempts to structure rules and roles for who investigates what, in which layers, are very clear.
What eventually became an important realization for the rest of the project was how unpredictably the sense of the structure repertoire’s potential would appear. In the midst of total confusion, as we tried to make heads or tails of the structural framework, the output – for better or worse – was almost liberated from aesthetic intentions (or at least the conscious decision to include or exclude them).
The oscillation between being lost and finding our way back into structure feels like building a metaphysical bridge between uncharted, alien terrain and a meeting place of sensory familiarity – a foundation for embodied preconception (or an intuitive framework that shapes how you experience or act before you’ve fully articulated it).
This session, along with countless others like it, has lodged itself as both a sensory imprint and an undefined yet distinctly musical sense of potential within the multidimensional metric designs.
to the right: exploring the layers of different metric perspectives
Below: the session leading up to the clip above
Being rather lost
When working on a problem, many people do not like being lost. They don't like wandering about, trying to figure out where to go next. For this reason, they often decide quickly what the final result should look like, then head straight for it. Experienced designers recognize that any potential solution should be held lightly. They are wary of making a beeline in the direction of an early idea, no matter how attractive it may be. New information arriving along the way should be allowed to alter a destination."
Charles Dobson , Wandering and Direction in Creative Production -
session II
juniper fuse – “
jointures
work by Matt Choboter
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Aesthetic framing
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Structures in the Context of Matt’s Narrative Composition
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Knowledge sharing as an artistic practice
I asked Matt Choboter to compose a piece for Juniper FUSE (the same line-up as the core-ensemble extended with saxophonist Lotte Anker) Freely inspired by the structural repertoire and our joint venture in investigating potential potentials within it.
Jointures is composed as a score that spans both concrete structures from the repertoire and inspired rhythmic designs created by Matt himself. The musical narrative of the piece is carried by his harmonic and aesthetic language, but nourished and animated by the polydimensional tempo movements from the structural repertoire.
Most importantly, the work functioned as a practice-based sharing of knowledge—not only of methods and structures, but as a fusion of bodily experience, artistic process, and collective creation.
It confirmed that the rhythmic designs can serve as an open, non-prescriptive canvas that invites interpretation and further development. I wouldn’t change anything about this session—it was a gift to witness how the structural repertoire could take on new form through Matt’s independent and deeply musical approach.
People:
Lotte Anker : SAX
Simon Toldam, Matt Choboter: keys
Matias Seibæk, Peter Bruun: Percussion
jointures
by Matt Choboter
My Worms now advance, waving their antlers, each of witch drolls a Ganges from its tines
My dreambody weights thousand of tons
as if to seach means to densify
Jointures is rooted in the work and experience of the structure repertoire. One example can be found in the rhythm design from My Dreambody Weights a Thousand Tons (as pointed out below)
Left: approximate polyrhythms, as displayed in the structure repertoire KONCEPT III and the “walking beats.”
comment by Matt choboter
The writing process was challenging. To what degree do/should my personal aesthetics play a role? And how do my personal aesthetics merge with a seemingly nebulous or loosely-defined state of being? Those are a few questions that can arise in the multi-temporal gestures of Peter’s rhythmic universe. Somehow there was a tension in integrating my own rhythmic language - more based in the rhythmic precision of Karnatik classical music - with the somehow highly subjective, sometimes sloppy feeling, yet beautifully fluid multi-temporal designs of Peter.
In “My dream Body weighs thousands of tons” I literally made an orchestration of one of Peter’s multi-temporal designs. Somehow that streamlined the whole process and was rather straight-forward. In most of the other pieces I needed to confront the inherent tension between philosophies of rhythm that seemingly clash or rub up against another. And listening back to the music now - an experience that I am still surprised about and sometimes even in disbelief - it’s largely that inherent tension that fuels my ongoing curiosity in the music and how we might create it afresh, ever new, each time we play the repertoire.
The nebulous or loosely defined state of being that is experienced rhythmically was what I was subconsciously looking for but without knowing it. That ability to convey the soup-like in-between states that are so common and instrumental in personal reality.
Session III: Petter Eldh
Beat-Oriented Production
potential 1
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Beats
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intuitive polyrhythms
- potentials for aesthetics
My collaboration with Petter Eldh goes back to 2005, and our shared practice has long revolved around rhythmic design as both an artistic and analytical concept. It was also Petter who introduced me to Mulle Holmqvist’s Reference Rhythm Method—a method that has been highly influential in the development of my own structural repertoire.
In this session, we worked collectively as composers, musicians, and producers. The aim was not to create a finished work, but to explore and clarify the potential of a possible aesthetic direction—one that diverges from the more improvisation-based, interplay-driven ensembles of the coming sessions. The focus was on how elements of the structure repertoire could be translated into beats and grooves through processes of precise editing, distortion, and transformation.
I had hoped that this session would form the foundation for a more thorough production and post-processing. Instead, the material is presented as it appeared after one week in the studio and thus stands largely as a set of starting points—open sketches from which one could imagine many different directions and treatments. Perhaps this is, in fact, a fitting reflection of the exploratory nature of the investigation.
KONCEPT III:
+ Ornamentation :
potential 2
Koncept III
KONCEPT III
loop switching between 7 over 3 (wobbly approximation) and 5 over 3 (wobbly approximation). with the sensation of slowing down
potential 3
potential 4
4:
5:
Walking beat 3 over 7
and:
Session IV: Piano Trio
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autonomous exploration
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gravity(points)
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continuum between structure and open form
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atemporal form and composition
The concept of the “atemporal composition” emerged retrospectively from this session. It describes a form in which music does not move horizontally from A to B, but instead unfolds as simultaneous rhythmic and harmonic layers—a vertical state of being in the music, rather than moving through it.
We began with the structural repertoire and a few notated examples, but the forms were developed collectively through intuitive improvisation and “instant composing.” The different rhythmic dimensions became fields one could move between.
A physical pendulum, approximately six meters in length, was introduced as an external, physical rhythm generator—an additional tempo perspective that could be chosen as a reference for playing. The pendulum emphasized centers of gravity both as a musical concept and as a physical reality, creating a new rhythmic dimension to step into.
The musical state became evident: the calm to experience, and the movement between affect and conscious choice.
The session suggests that atemporal composition can serve as a framework for practice-based, shared sensory reflection—a musical state that does not necessarily need to be understood, but experienced. I wish to explore this further in collaboration with cross-disciplinary expertise, to help identify concepts for the bodily knowledge that arises within this open, non-linear musical form.
People: Benoît Delbecq , piano / Jonas Westergaard, bass / Peter Bruun, drums
Atemporal form:
A musical form in which the traditional vertical timeline of sequential progression is replaced by a horizontal field of simultaneous rhythmic and harmonic perspectives. Rather than unfolding step by step (A → B → C), the composition presents these perspectives side by side, creating a space to inhabit rather than a path to traverse.
click the note for SOUND
FRAME
Frame
The frame for the examination was shaped by different perspectives to and within the material: within the material itself, through the polydimensional structures that can be experienced as either cohesive or contrasting (feel like they fit together or like they stand in opposition); and to the material, through a multi-perspective play in which one could freely move or position oneself along the continuum—or choose to bring in the pendulum as an external, pulse-giving physical center of gravity and source of inspiration (Perspective 1, 2 and 3) .
TO the material
WITHIN the material (example as in video 4 , below- KONCEPT III)
We began each day of our session with an open improvisation. This created a sensory experience of a shared musical language and aesthetic, giving us an intuitively cohesive framework from which to examine the structure repertoire in open forms. It also defined one extreme in the continuum between open improvisation and fully executed structure.
We explore the material in an open space—where bodily investigation and the development of experience take place between different perspectives on the structure. These perspectives, in turn, are situated along a continuum ranging from completely autonomous open improvisation to the execution of the structure—or variations of it, both rhythmically and tonally.
This creates a musical state for exploring potential, as opposed to starting from a defined progression or a fixed form and timeline as the foundation for a meaning-making musical narrative. Quite literally, there is neither head nor tail to it, but rather a space in which one can navigate freely and intuitively according to points of energy and tension, without being constrained by a set direction or a shared expectation of arriving somewhere specific with the material.
As in Concept I, we explore the material with the structure as our starting point. Here, the initial focus is on executing the structure, framed by ostinato and melody. The aim is to place ourselves at different points along the continuum between open improvisation and fully executed structure: the bass executes, the piano moves from execution to variation to freely responding to fields of tension and energy, and the drums jump back and forth between the two positions.
As always, reality is far messier than the planned game, which is why the above simply sets the frame for an entry point—a sensory encounter with the material’s potential. As a perspective outside our metaphysical continuum, we also work with a physical pendulum as a very direct generator of pulse and center of gravity.
KONCEPT I
OPEN IMPROVISATION
KONCEPT II
As in Concept I, we explore the material with the structure as our starting point. Here, the initial focus is on executing the structure, framed by ostinato and melody. The aim is to place ourselves at different points along the continuum between open improvisation and fully executed structure: the bass executes, the piano moves from execution to variation to freely responding to fields of tension and energy, and the drums jump back and forth between the two positions.
As always, reality is far messier than the planned game, which is why the above simply sets the frame for an entry point—a sensory encounter with the material’s potential. As a perspective outside our metaphysical continuum, we also work with a physical pendulum as a very direct generator of pulse and center of gravity.
KONCEPT III
TIME MAKING
KONCEPT VI time making, This concept places points of gravity within the musical flow. We worked on a sketch of a piece that, unlike most of the other examinations, began from a harmonic starting point and a written bass line constructed in relation to these gravitational points.
Session V: quartet
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Composed tempo progressions / points of rhythmic gravity within fixed solo forms
In this session, the focus emerged on solo performance layered over bass–drum cycles with built-in polymetric relationships. The work landed somewhere between compositional exploration and the material’s potential within open form.
Compositional ideas developed partly from some of the tonal frameworks explored in Session 3, but it is now clear that this aspect of the work connects more directly to Session VI, where the starting point is fully formed compositional structures.
The most significant finding—and the moment when the potential of the approach became most apparent—was in the tempo-dynamic and polymetric solo forms brought to life in the hands of Julie Kjær and Susanna Santos Silva.
In practice, the rhythmic structures were quite literally “set to tone” through rhythmic and ostinato-based cycles that were fixed in form yet open enough to respond sensitively and resonate with the improvisational elements. The rhythmic designs and structures were constructed from sequences of different components within the structure repertoire, testing—in a relatively stringent form—the potential of “composing” a dynamic tempo on top of the written pulse / the original tempo.
People:
Susanna Santos Silva: Trumpet
Julie Kjær: reeds
Jonas Westerggard: Bass
Peter Bruun: Drums
On this track we worked with two different solo forms, both centered around a fixed bass (the first solo form begins at 1:07 after a short introduction). I remain unsure whether it makes sense, in the context of this presentation, to display the scores and structural diagrams as shown below. My concern is that doing so may steer the focus toward a purely structural reading of the music, rather than encouraging an intuitive listening into the tempo-dynamic journey shaped by the soloists Julie Kjær and Susanna Santos Silva. Fortunately, it is not really possible to “follow along,” since the actual sequence of cells and repetitions within the second solo form will remain forever a secret! (but maybe to be safe: Close your eyes while listening...)
first soloform:
(fixed line)
second soloform:
(concept)
Session VI: quintet
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Stringent compositions with clear sequences
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Polydimensional rhythmic structure and coordinated polymeter
In this session, I worked with composition based on the structure repertoire and its concepts of multiple simultaneous metric dimensions—each with its own movement pattern and pulse trajectory. These rhythmic layers formed a coordinated polymeter, mutually generating and sustaining the field of tension in which the music unfolded.
The compositions were built around anchor points and “portals”—transitions between rhythmic dimensions that the musicians could step into and out of. This created a complex rhythmic situation: some musicians maintained one rhythmic line, while others perceived that same line as a distorted movement—written in a different metric dimension. To make their own rhythmic phrasing “fit,” they had to intuitively adjust and shape their playing in response to what they sensed—never aiming for a perfect, quantized result.
The session demonstrated how rhythmic structures can function differently depending on the metric dimension one plays from: for some, the structure is a precise system; for others, it is a shifting field to be sensed into. This simultaneity between logical construction and embodied interpretation forms the foundation for a complex and living musical form.
I named the five pieces from this session WINDOWS—openings through which I could look back on the previous sessions and revisit the extensive work we had shared in the core ensemble.
People:
Marc Ducret - guitar
Christopher Dell - vibrafon
Uli Kempendorff - clarinets and saxophone
Jonas Westergaard - bass
Peter Bruun - drums
window I
form shaping Rhytmic Design as a composed dynamic pulse / points of gravety. Fully written within the meter. (unlike Windows no V where we work on the same rhytmic design from different dimensioins)
window II
a key element working with this structure was the to differnt dimensions and perceptions in the relation between the bass and the melody. build on a wobbly 6 over 7
window III
Found in Koncept II, the topline is a composed 16-beat accelerando stretched across 36 beats, followed by its mirror image: a 16-beat ritardando over 36 beats.
window IV
this song is build on Koncept no II
With a bass line in the same dimensions: a palindrome constructed by emphasizing every third beat of the grid.
window V
This is the same rhythm design as in Window I, but here the relation between bass and melody is shaped by an intuitive perception of the pulse—as if it were speeding up and slowing down.
comment by Uli Kempendorff
The Windows/Rhythm Design Session at Karma Studio in June 2025 was an engaging and highly enriching experience for me on many levels.
The material and concept behind it needed to be understood and embodied. For this process I met with two of the other ensemble members who also live in Berlin for preliminary rehearsals in Berlin.
Even though the five day studio session provided us with ample time to get the material on tape, rehearsing together beforehand gave us a necessary head start in order to not just play the material but start to play with and inside the concept and to listen more deeply.As we played the scores with the full ensemble it was less a recording than a development, looking at the material from different angles and exploring it further, letting things sit and develop them on a different day. For me, this process helped to bring out the interconnectedness of the material (some of the pieces share the same or very similar rhythm designs) and to be more flexible within it. Aside from the material the sonic make-up of the group was an interesting space to
negotiate both in the recording situation per se and the sonic space in the music. We all shared the same room and played without headphones or monitors which required a disciplined approach in order to be able to hear everyone. I feel like the ensuing precision and concentration translated onto the recording and brings out the chamber-music-like character of the compositions as in that the melodic and rhythmic roles and “duties” were evenly distributed between the musicians. While “normal” studio sessions are often focussed on the final result and getting things done, this more research-based approach had the interesting effect to really open up and show possibilities of the compositions and the underlying concepts while moving within
them more and more freely.
In my opinion, the process as well as the product merit further investigation and I look
forward to seeing where we can take this.
Walpole, N.H., August 24, 2025
Session VII: PULSAR festival
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Workshop and Course with Students from the Royal Danish Academy of Music
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The structure repertoire as a rhythmic compositional starting point
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individual approach
Session 7 served both as a conclusion to the project and as a practice-based knowledge exchange with master’s students in classical composition (Royal Academy Of Music, Copenhagen). The aim was to introduce the structure repertoire in a purely compositional space—without demands for stylistic adaptation—and to let the students use it as methodological inspiration.
The course consisted of an introductory lecture, individual online sessions, and a joint midterm workshop, where the composers presented their works to me and Juniper FUSE, who also functioned as the ensemble that would perform the pieces. The framework was deliberately kept open, with the overall goal of maintaining focus on the potential of rhythmic design and on each composer’s personal relationship to rhythmic structures as formative forces. The only non-negotiable rule was that the first part of the compositional process could only deal with rhythmic design, and only at the halfway point could attention begin to shift to expression—instrumentation, dynamics, melody, and so forth.
The structure repertoire was presented through examples and scores, but primarily as inspiration. Each student was invited to take ownership of the material—to work with rhythmic design from their own assumptions and imagination. This resulted in four very different works, all premiered at the PULSAR Festival in Copenhagen, alongside Matt Choboter’s Jointures.
For some, the repertoire served as a concrete starting point; for others, as a more conceptual backdrop. The experience showed that the structure repertoire can act as a framework for developing compositional practice with a focus on rhythmic identity—particularly in dialogue with the classical tradition, where timbre and form often come first.
Here, rhythmic design was not a method to be mastered, but a foundation: a way of preparing the canvas upon which the composition could later be painted.
people:
composers:
Jingsong Teng
Lyle Cohen
Håkon Guttormsen
Jens Rønsholdt Madsen
structure repertoire
The structural repertoire consists of rhythmic designs and tempo-dynamic structures that function as open templates – or architectural frameworks of movement. It serves as a point of departure for improvisation and composition in both open and closed musical forms. It is not a method to be mastered, but a material to be explored – with the body as an active participant.
Structural repertoire can be understood as a set of rhythmic designs that propose form-giving and tempo-dynamic structures. These function as open templates – architectural frameworks for musical movement. The repertoire is not a fixed method but a material open to exploration.
The repertoire contains seven related concepts, each staging structures in multiple metric dimensions simultaneously. Within a steady pulse, new tempi are composed – accelerating, decelerating, or irregular. These tempo-dynamic structures are both connected to the underlying pulse and may also be perceived as independent pulses. In this way, polydimensional rhythm emerges, displacing the perception of time and opening ambiguous rhythmic perspectives. The music becomes a field rather than a line – a resonant space where multiple dimensions of time shape the perception of movement.
A central method in working with the repertoire is autonomous examination: a practice in which the musician is released from the demand for correct execution and instead engages intuitively and physically with the tensions and gravitational points of the material. The aim is not to reproduce the structure precisely, but to let it shape the way one senses and plays. Autonomous examination can be seen as a method of embodied exploration, where material itself guides perception and action.
If the structure is a river, autonomous examination is like throwing stones into the water and letting the disturbance create its own rhythm – with focus on experience, not understanding.
Multiple perceptions can exist simultaneously. One musician maintains a rhythmic line, another perceives it as a displaced, fluctuating pulse movement, while a third engages in autonomous examination. This coexistence of perspectives is conceived as a form that enables a deeper and more flexible embodiment than that which arises from motor memory. In this process, the investigation itself becomes an artistic statement.
Each concept carries its own color and frame.
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Pages with a full frame unfold the concept itself – its definition, language, and inner logic.
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Pages with frames only in the corners offer musical ideas, points of departure, and glimpses of the concept in practice.
"Walkingbeats"
In addition to the Structure repertoire I have made a collection of polyrhythtmic beats in a three pitch structure. Kind of like backbeats unfolded in various tempi in relation to the native puls. The relation goes from 2 beats over 7 to 8 beats over 4 (relation two to one). the polyrhythmic relations are made only with 16th notes or 8th-note tripplets and display unregular veriations when it's possible - as a "wobly" alternative to quintuplets, septuplets etc. .
missing links
Koncept V is not exemplified in any of the seven sessions. I have included it because it was a very strict rhythmic design that shaped the album Thēsaurōs and played a significant role in the method that led to this research
Session III became part of the investigation in order to present a different method and aesthetic framework than the sessions focused on interplay, embodiment, and improvisation. All Too Human – Because You’re Worth It emerged from this framework, and can be seen as a more thoroughly developed version of the potentials in working with rhythm design
context
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Theoretical Context
The project operates within a methodological framework informed by two theoretical and compositional approaches.
Mulle Holmquist – Reference Rhythm Method
Holmquist’s method works with complex rhythmic progressions anchored by a central reference track, functioning as a fixed, coordinating element within a poly-rhythmic field. This allows for the simultaneous existence of multiple tempi and metric layers, while enabling musicians to navigate freely in relation to the reference point.
Joseph Schillinger – Rhythmic DNA
Schillinger’s system theory of music introduces the concept of “rhythm as DNA,” where rhythmic patterns can be analysed and generated as genetic codes that mutate, combine, and form complex structures. His work with permutation, proportion, and rhythmic multiplication has been a central influence on poly-rhythmic compositional models. It is presented in BOOK I of Schillinger System Of Musical Composition
In the reflective process I have been mainly inspired by Charles Dobson, Donald Winnicott, and Ellen Dissanayake.
Charles Dobson – Wandering and Direction
Dobson describes the creative process as a movement between focused direction and open-ended exploration. He warns against committing too early to a fixed result, pointing to the value of letting new information alter the course along the way. This approach parallels the project’s concept of autonomous examination, in which structures are not followed rigidly but experienced and shaped within an open field.
Donald Winnicott – Play and the Resultless Space
Winnicott highlights the importance of play as a creative, transitional space that is not bound to a goal or result. His perspective has inspired the project’s emphasis on the value of dwelling in a resultless space, where exploration itself becomes the creative act.
Ellen Dissanayake – Aesthetic and Affective Reflection
Dissanayake understands art as a deeply human, embodied activity—an aesthetic way of “making special.” Her ideas have inspired the project’s focus on sensory and affective reflections between musicians, particularly in the collaboration with Benoît and Jonas, and in the shaping of atemporal compositional form.
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Aesthetic Context
The project is situated at the intersection of contemporary music, improvisational practice, and experimental composition, within a field where structure and freedom are continuously negotiated. Rather than adhering to a single style, it belongs to a broader discourse that treats rhythm and form as autonomous artistic materials across both fixed and open formats.
Its context spans traditions of free improvisation, where music emerges in real time through interaction and energetic impulses, and contemporary composed music, where structured rhythmic models frame exploration and variation.
In line with the project’s practice-based foundation, the most immediate aesthetic context is embodied by the eleven participating musicians, all of whom are leading performers and composers on the international scene for contemporary improvisational music.
musicians
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Lotte Anker – saxophone
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Simon Toldam – piano / keyboards
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Matt Choboter – piano / keyboards
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Matias Seibæk – percussion
- Benoît Delbecq – piano
- Jonas Westergaard – double bass
- Susanna Santos Silva – trumpet
- Julie Kjær – reeds (clarinet, saxophone, flute)
- Petter Eldh – bass / producer
- Marc Ducret – guitar
- Christopher Dell – vibraphone
- Uli Kempendorff – clarinets and saxophone
composition students DKDM
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Jingsong Teng – composer
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Lyle Cohen – composer
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Håkon Guttormsen – composer
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Jens Rønsholdt Madsen – compose
Recording and mix
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Peter Hellesøe
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John Fomsgård
Full Discography List – For Independent Assessment and Nuancing of the Aesthetic Context
Lotte Anker – saxofon
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1989 • Beyond the Mist • Stunt
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1993 • Being • Stunt
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2001 • Poetic Justice • Dacapo
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2005 • Triptych (m. Taborn, Cleaver) • Leo
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2008 • Alien Huddle • Intakt
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2009 • Live at the Loft • ILK
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2009 • Floating Islands • ILK
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2013 • Birthmark • Clean Feed
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2014 • What River Is This • ILK
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2014 • Edge of the Light (m. Fred Frith) • Intakt
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2017 • Plodi • Klopotec
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2018 • His Flight’s at Ten • Iluso
Simon Toldam – piano/keyboards
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2012 • Stork • ILK
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2014 • Kig Op 14 • ILK
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2019 • Omhu • ILK
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2024 • Alt er Luft • ILK
(Samt projekter med Han Bennink Trio, Eggs Laid by Tigers, Laura Toxvaerd, m.fl.)
Matt Choboter – piano/keyboards
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2019 • Spillimacheen • Matt Choboter Band
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2021 • Anima Revisited • Hypnagogia
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2023 • Postcards of Nostalgia • Bandcamp
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2024 • Unburying, from Liminals, Emerging • ILK
(Se også Locusts and Honey, Sleep Inertia, Samskaras)
Matias Seibæk – percussion
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2013 • Water Cycles • Self-released
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2014 • Works for Drums and Keyboards • Dacapo
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2019 • Old Light – Music by J.S. Bach • Dacapo
Benoît Delbecq – piano
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1992 • Kartet – Hask Adda • Deux Z
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1995 • The Recyclers – Visit • Deux Z
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1999 • Pursuit • Songlines
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2001 • Dice Thrown (duo Houle) • Songlines
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2003 • Phonetics • Songlines
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2008 • The Bay Window • Songlines
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2010 • Circles and Calligrams (solo) • Songlines
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2011 • Balance des blancs • Sofa
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2013 • Fun House • Songlines
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2015 • Ink • Clean Feed
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2017 • Spots on Stripes • Clean Feed
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2021 • The Weight of Light (solo) • Pyroclastic
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2023 • Unclosing (Illegal Crowns) • Out of Your Head
Jonas Westergaard – double bass
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2008 • Helgoland • ILK
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2010 • Sleeping With the Enemy (m. Erdmann/Rohrer) • UFA
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2019 • Grammar II (m. Dell/Lillinger) • PLAIST
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2021 • Positioner/Positions • ILK
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2023 • Thēsaurós (m. Bruun, Delbecq) • ILK
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2025 • Beats II (m. DLW) • PLAIST
Susanna Santos Silva – trumpet
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2011 • Devil’s Dress • Clean Feed
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2013 • Almost Tomorrow (m. Zetterberg) • Clean Feed
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2015 • Impermanence • Clean Feed
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2016 • Rasengan! • Self-released
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2016 • Life and Other Transient Storms (m. Anker, Sandell m.fl.) • Clean Feed
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2017 • Metamorphosis (LAMA) • Clean Feed
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2019 • Arrival (Fire! Orchestra) • Rune Grammofon
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2021 • Road (Fred Frith Trio) • Intakt
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2023 • Laying Demons to Rest (Fred Frith Trio + Silva) • Intakt
Julie Kjær – reeds
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2014 • Akrostik (Pierette Ensemble) • Gateway
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2016 • Dobbeltgænger (Julie Kjær 3) • Clean Feed
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2016 • Live at Café Oto • Otoroku
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2019 • Baglæns ind i det forkerte rum • Gateway
Petter Eldh – bass / producer
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2016 • Somit (Punkt.Vrt.Plastik) • WhyPlayJazz
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2019 • Y-OTIS II • We Jazz
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2020 • Y-OTIS TRE • We Jazz
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2020 • Koma Saxo (self-titled) • We Jazz
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2023 • Enemy – The Betrayal • Edition Records
(Plus produktioner med Lucia Cadotsch, Jameszoo, Sun-Mi Hong m.fl.)
Marc Ducret – guitar
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1987 • La théorie du pilier • Label Bleu
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1991 • News from the Front • JMT
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1997 • (détail) • Winter & Winter
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2009 • Le sens de la marche • Illusions
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2011–2014 • Tower Vol. 1–4, Tower-Bridge • Ayler
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2015 • Metatonal • Ayler
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2019 • Lady M • Illusions
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2023 • Palm Sweat • Screwgun/OOYH
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2023 • Ici • Ayler
Christopher Dell – vibrafon
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2013 • Grammar (DLW Trio) • PLAIST
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2013 • Typology (D.R.A.) • PLAIST
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2014 • Art of Making (m. Jörgensmann/Ramond) • Tribute
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2016 • 3rd Critique (D.R.A.) • PLAIST
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2018 • Boulez Materialism (Dell–Brecht–Lillinger–Westergaard) • PLAIST
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2021 • Beats (DLW Trio) • PLAIST
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2021 • Alterity Stream (solo, recop. 2000) • Edition Niehler Werft
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2022 • Monuments (DLW + Mat Maneri) • Edition Niehler Werft
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2023 • Spirituality (m. Wuchner & Sommer) • PLAIST
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2024 • Extended Beats (DLW + Klangforum Wien m.fl.) • PLAIST
Uli Kempendorff – clarinets/saxophones
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2013 • Let Me Go With You (Field) • WhyPlayJazz
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2016 • Heal the Rich (Field) • WhyPlayJazz
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2021 • Someone Talked (Field) • Unit Records
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2025 • Who Are You Sending This Time? (Field) • Unit Records
(Medvirker også på ECM: Julia Hülsmann Quartet Not Far From Here (2019), The Next Door (2023), Under The Surface (2025).)
Reference List
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Schillinger, J. (1946). The Schillinger System of Musical Composition. New York: Da Capo Press.
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Holmqvist, M. (2010). The Reference Rhythm Method. Stockholm: Mulle Holmqvist.
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Dissanayake, E. (2000). Art and Intimacy: How the Arts Began. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
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Dobson, C. (2004). The Wandering and the Direction: Explorations in Musical Process. London: Independent Publication.
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Winnicott, D. W. (1971). Playing and Reality. London: Tavistock.
Reflections and Future Directions
The Structure Repertoire
The starting point of this project was the structure repertoire, conceived as a tool to investigate aesthetic possibilities through rhythmic design. My initial intention was to use it consistently as a template across the different sessions, to see how it might open and shape distinct artistic directions. What emerged, however, was something different. Rather than remaining as separate experiments around predefined rhythmic designs, the sessions unfolded as one long, interconnected process. They gradually converged towards the final compositions, which were less isolated explorations and more the culmination of a collective and fluid movement of ideas.
This deviation from the plan was not a loss, but rather an enrichment. The extended timespan of the project allowed the process to breathe, and the many perspectives, backgrounds, and responses of the musicians added a depth that could not have been foreseen. The conversations and experiments became less about systematically testing a framework and more about discovering what was possible when rhythmic design encountered the living realities of sound, interaction, and embodied imagination.
It is important to acknowledge that the structure repertoire itself was only explored partially and sporadically, never in its entirety. Still, I have chosen to present it in full here. It is not meant as a method to be followed step by step, but as a reservoir of inspiration – a collection of seeds pointing toward the potential of a deepened engagement with rhythmic form-shaping design. Whether in composition or improvisation, in metric grids or layered temporalities, the repertoire holds the possibility of becoming a generative tool for further work, both for myself and, hopefully, for others.
Towards Atemporal Compositions for Belonging
One of the most significant discoveries that emerged from this process is the idea of atemporal composition. Instead of unfolding linearly – from A to B to C – this form rests on the simultaneous presence of several perspectives on the same material. Rather than a journey through time, the music becomes a space to inhabit.
It opens the possibility of creating shared spaces of listening, where intuition, embodiment, and affective resonance guide the music as much as notation and structure. It makes music less about narrative and more about inhabitation – a place where meaning arises not from where we are going, but from how we are together, here and now.
The next step in my artistic research will be to take this discovery further in the project Atemporal Compositions for Belonging. Here the central question is: how can composition actively stage a shared, affective, and embodied reflection? In collaboration with a piano trio (piano, bass, drums), I will explore how atemporal form can intensify the experience of presence and belonging, and how theoretical reflections – such as Ellen Dissanayake’s concept of making special – can provide a framework for understanding music as a practice of social connection, ritual, and shared meaning.
This future project builds directly on the work done here, but also moves beyond it. Hope to be granted the time to invite you into that space in the near future
Closing Perspective
Looking back, the process has been both more diffuse and more fruitful than I imagined. The original intention – to systematically examine the structure repertoire – gave way to something less controlled but perhaps more alive: a movement through time, dialogue, and experimentation that continually surprised me and killed my expectations over and over again (thanks!). This openness has not only generated finished works but also pointed toward a future practice: one where rhythmic design, improvisation, and compositional form converge with questions of belonging, presence, and the human capacity for shared meaning.
In that sense, this project is not only an ending but also created an endless platform a lot of new beginnings.
