UC San Diego

This dissertation explores the notion of authenticity in relation to the performance practice of scores in the experimental music tradition. A wave of eight academic publications from 2009 to 2016 has firmly established a critical discourse on experimental music. However, in these publications, only one chapter of one book is written solely from the perspective of the performer, concerning performance practice. As a result, performers today who wish to study experimental music are left with little guidance from this perspective. How can authenticity be defined so that performers, whether well-versed or inexperienced, can approach the performance practice of experimental music with confidence and a well-informed sense of creativity and purpose?

Experimental music arises out of a series of direct processes or experiments. Authenticity, then, is defined and manifested through six of the most common processes found in experimental scores: indeterminate, contingent, social enactment, failure, impossibility and direct action. A diverse array of scores spanning from 1964 to 2013 are used as examples, in addition to accounts from Alvin Lucier, James Klopfleisch, Alex Waterman, Pauline Oliveros, and personal accounts of the author’s experience with these processes.

The conclusion of this examination brings forth the idea that experimental music is itself a catalyst to redefine authenticity, wherein the choices of the performer, their intellect and personal preferences, are in themselves authentic and sufficient.