Inbetweenness: Transcultural Thinking in my Compositional Practice

Abstract

This thesis explores the notion of ‘in-betweenness’ through transcultural thinking in my compositional practice as a commentary to my portfolio of compositions. My thinking has been inspired by Tim Ingold’s philosophical idea of ‘wayfaring’ as a way to navigate processes by which insights emerge from collaborative investigations. My portfolio makes an original contribution to music by engaging with Malaysian Chinese and Indigenous cultural materials in fresh ways with a focus on music and dance collaborations with Indigenous Malaysian references, aural/oral traditions in Hakka poetry, and traditions of pattern making related to Borneo bead work. These projects have enabled me to deepen my experience and understanding of notions of entanglement and of how highly diverse elements can be unified through collaboration, presenting a series of case studies that also vary in style and the modality of discussion used. The discussion focuses around four main aspects related to intercultural exchange and collaboration: the value of negotiation, the meaning of ambiguity, strategies for navigating cultural meanings, and processes of cultural and musical transmission. Through these, I gain insights into the perception and practice of cultural exchange to find a new creative threshold for opening up new cultural dialogues in my compositional work.