Abstract
This paper discusses how commissioning new music served as a means of musical narrative inquiry into the performance of the authorʼs identity. Traditionally, musicology has centred on the identities of composers; their lives, working practices and philosophies. Meanwhile, the identities of performers have remained inaudible. Challenging this conventional narrative, the commission project foregrounds experiences of identity and subjectivity of the author as performer-researcher. This paper introduces the innovative methodology of musical narrative inquiry used in this project, in which lived narratives of identity are told and re-told in collaboration with the composer to explore what it means to be, or become, a classical guitarist in the current musical landscape. The author considers whether narratives of identity are important for how and why artistic practices may continue to be carried out in the 21st century.
Recommended Citation
Myers, L. (2023). I Felt Unfettered and Alive: A musical narrative inquiry into identity through commissioning and performing new music for solo classical guitar. In R. Torres, A. Brandon, & J. Noble (Eds.), Proceedings of The 21st Century Guitar Conference 2019 & 2021 (pp. 54-63). https://digitalcommons.du.edu/twentyfirst-century-guitar/vol1/iss1/6