Das hörbare Hören

Every time a composer writes a score, they open up a new playing field. The characters—their positions, listening perspectives, lines of sight, and movements—are constantly rearranged in new and different ways. But it is not only those who bring the music to life who are entangled in and through the musical text. Those who listen to it also have a wide variety of ways of engaging with the performance. In five essays, composer Jan Kopp explores the question of what constellations between listening and playing are established through the writing of scores, and what consequences composing has for aesthetic practice. Among other things, the discussion addresses the usefulness of program notes, the possible courses of action for “informed listeners,” how to make listening audible, and how whistles, tin buckets, and balloons, when used as musical instruments, alter the sound of an ensemble.

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