TRANSIENT:
CONTRAPUNTAL AESTHETIC VALUE SYSTEMS
IN TRANSCULTURAL COMPOSITION, IMPROVISATION AND PERFORMANCE
Doctoral Research Project
Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki
This interdisciplinary practice-based research (Candy, 2006) aims to create methodologies for the composition, improvisation and performance of musical forms that source musical elements from diverse musical aesthetic value systems (Reijonen, in press), conceptualized in this context as dynamic mutable information systems or bounded but permeable fields (Kramer, 2019) which are governed by and reflect internal hierarchies of aesthetic values. By questioning representational aesthetic dichotomies while examining both the challenges and creative potential of negotiating and integrating aesthetically diverse perspectives, the research seeks to stimulate and innovate new discoveries of musical expression, seeking forms perhaps fully representational only of themselves.
My work draws from the fields of music composition and improvisation, music theory, musicology, psychology of perception, narrative theory and semiotics from within the frame of reference of composer, improviser and musician whose cultural hybridity (Bhabha, 2012; Croucher & Kramer, 2016) is a reflection of my formative life phases in northern Finland, Jordan, Tanzania, Oman, Lebanon and the United States.
Through a resultant evolving creative praxis that does not neatly fit into explicitly defined categories of aesthetic representation, I seek a musical corollary of this hybridity by examining an intersection of cultural fusion theory (Kramer, 2019), theory of musical narrative (Almén 2008; Meelberg 2006; Micznik 2001; Reyland 2013), theory of musical semiotics (Tarasti, 1994) and acoustemology (Feld, 2015). As composer, improviser and performer exploring the creation of musical form, I apply this theoretical-conceptual framework to the recontextualization of musical elements and phenomena related to aesthetic practices from my autobiographical environments: Levantine and khaliji Arabic art and folk music, Zanzibari taarab, American jazz, and European and North American art and popular music.
My research output will consist of three artistic components presenting new music in hybrid album/video/concert format made available to the public; two peer-reviewed articles analyzing uncovered musical-aesthetic phenomena and developed compositional/improvisational methodologies; and a summary thesis aiming to re-examine notions of aesthetic representation and provide tools for composers, improvisers, and/or performers liminally positioned between aesthetic value systems.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
To what degree is it possible for musical elements sourced from multiple diverse musical aesthetic value systems to become so emulsified in new musical forms that they are all viscerally present, yet indistinguishable or inseparable from the whole?
How can a methodology of recontextualizing aesthetic elements and phenomena of Levantine and khaliji Arabic art and folk music, Zanzibari taarab, American jazz, and European and American art and popular music prompt the creation of new musical forms that transcend representational aesthetic dichotomies?
What more generally applicable insight can be extracted to contribute to research and education in the fields of music composition, improvisation and performance that isn’t conditional on the interaction of these specific traditions?
KEYWORDS
transculturality, music composition, music improvisation, music performance, musical narrative, musical semiotics, aesthetic value systems, acoustemology
REFERENCES
Almén, Byron. 2008. A Theory of Musical Narrative. Musical Meaning and Interpretation. Indiana University Press.
Bhabha, Homi K. 2012. The Location of Culture. 2nd ed. Taylor and Francis.
Candy, Linda. 2006. Practice Based Research: A Guide.
Croucher, Steven M., and Eric Kramer. 2016. “Cultural Fusion Theory: An Alternative to Acculturation.” Journal of International and Intercultural Communication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2016.1229498.
Feld, Steven. “Acoustemology.” 2015. In Keywords in Sound, edited by David Novak and Sakakeeny, Matt. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Kramer, Eric Mark. 2019. “Cultural Fusion Theory.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia, Communication, ahead of print, April. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.679.
Meelberg, Vincent. 2006. New Sounds, New Stories: Narrativity in Contemporary Music. LUP Dissertaties. Leiden University Press.
Micznik, Vera. 2001. “Music and Narrative Revisited: Degrees of Narrativity in Beethoven and Mahler.” Journal of the Royal Musical Association 126 (2): 193–249. https://doi.org/10.1093/jrma/126.2.193.
Reijonen, J. (in press). Contrapuntal Aesthetic Value Systems in Transcultural Instrumental Composition: A Narrative Interpretation. Perspectives of New Music.
Reyland, Nicholas. 2013. “Negation and Negotiation: Plotting Narrative Through Literature and Music from Modernism to Postmodernism.” In Music and Narrative Since 1900, edited by Michael L. Klein and Nicholas Reyland. Musical Meaning and Interpretation. Indiana University Press.
Tarasti, Eero. 1994. A Theory of Musical Semiotics. Advances in Semiotics. Indiana Univ. Press.
https://orcid.org/0009-0003-2173-3457
Three Seconds | Kolme Toista (2022) score.
SUPERVISORY TEAM
Dr. Kristiina Ilmonen (chair), Professor of Folk Music, Sibelius Academy;
Dr. Lauri Suurpää, Professor of Music Theory, Sibelius Academy;
Dr. Sergio Castrillón Arcila, Lecturer of Global Music, Sibelius Academy
SPECIALIST ADVISORS
Dr. Eero Tarasti, University of Helsinki;
Dr. Katarina Miljkovic, New England Conservatory;
Dr. Nima Janmohammadi, New England Conservatory;
Dr. Paolo S.H. Favéro, University of Antwerp;
Dr. Nizar Rohana, independent researcher;
Simon Shaheen, M.M., Berklee College of Music;
Ahmad al-Khatib, M.A., University of Gothenburg
COLLABORATING MUSICIANS
Jason Palmer (USA) | Hermon Mehari (USA) – trumpet, flugelhorn
Robin Eubanks (USA) | Bulut Gülen (Türkiye) – trombone
Layth Sidiq (Jordan/Iraq) – violin
Naseem Alatrash (Palestine) – cello
Utar Artun (Türkiye) | Maxim Lubarsky (Ukraine) – piano
Kyle Miles (USA) – bass
Keita Ogawa (Japan) – percussion
Vancil Cooper (USA) | Zach Mullings (USA) – drums
+ others to be included as research progresses
ARTISTIC OUTPUT
1. Three Seconds | Kolme Toista
Album released October 14th 2022 via Challenge Records International;
Doctoral concert February 24th 2023 at Louhisali, Espoo, FIN
A 42-minute, 5-movement transcultural narrative suite for large ensemble (trumpet / flugelhorn, trombone, violin, cello, fretted/fretless electric and classical guitar, Arabic ‘ud, microtonal piano, acoustic and electric bass, percussion and drum set).
Role: researcher, composer, arranger, orchestrator, guitarist, Arabic ‘ud player, producer
Format: album audio recording (CD/LP/digital); video documentation (YouTube); score (print/digital)
Dissemination: album licensed to Challenge Records International (streaming and physical); video documentation available on YouTube; concert performances in Finland, USA, Germany, United Arab Emirates (2022-2023); score available through my website; case study analysis for peer-reviewed article (Reijonen, in press) and summary thesis
Portfolio | Audio | Video | Score
2. Sayr: a memory palace for solo string instrument
Albums sayr: salt | thirst and sayr: kaiho – live in helsinki released October 24th 2025 via unmusic;
Doctoral concert September 19th 2025 at Musiikkitalo, Helsinki, FIN
A memory palace for solo string instrument; composed/improvised in real time based on pre-selected gestural musical cells.
Role: researcher, composer, improviser, guitarist, Arabic ‘ud player, producer, graphics designer, video co-editor
Format: Album recording (CD/LP/digital), video documentation (YouTube), score (print/digital)
Dissemination: album recordings available on Bandcamp; video documentation available on YouTube; solo concert performances in Finland; score; case study analysis for peer-reviewed article and summary thesis
3. Large ENSEMBLE RECORDING [title TBD]
Recording projected February 2027; album release projected November 2027.
Role: researcher, composer, improviser, guitarist, Arabic ‘ud player, producer, graphics designer, video co-editor
Format: Album recording (CD/LP/digital); video documentation (YouTube); score (print/digital)
Dissemination: album recordings available on Bandcamp; video documentation available on YouTube; score; case study analysis for summary thesis
WRITTEN OUTPUT
Reijonen, J. (in press). Contrapuntal Aesthetic Value Systems in Transcultural Instrumental Composition: A Narrative Interpretation. Perspectives of New Music.
Application and expansion of musical narrative theory (Almén, 2008; Meelberg, 2006; Micznik, 2001) to musical forms in which multiple musical aesthetic value systems interact contrapuntally. Case study: Three Seconds | Kolme Toista: I. The Veil.Reijonen, J. (projected 2027). sayr: Improvising a Sonic World in An Acoustemological Memory Palace.
Case studies: sayr: salt | thirst and sayr: kaiho - live in helsinki. To be sent for consideration of publication in international journals such as Perspectives of New Music, Music Theory Spectrum, Journal of Music Theory, and others.
Reijonen J. (projected 2028). Summary Thesis.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers (ISJAC) Symposium 2024
Vanderbilt Blair School of Music, Nashville, TN, USA
18th May 2024
Three Seconds | Kolme Toista:
III. The Weaver, Every So Often Shifting the Sands Beneath Her
"First Takes" presentation focusing on transcultural composition, musical narrative, polytemperament, temporal elasticity and polycyclic rhythmic counterpoint. Other presenters included Danilo Pérez, John Clayton, Anat Cohen, Oded Lev-Ari, John Beasley and Mike Holober.
Doctors in Performance Festival Conference 2025
Sibelius Academy at University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland
4th September 2025
Weaving Connective Threads:
Musical Narrative as an Integrative Device in Transcultural Instrumental Composition
ORPHEUS DOCTORAL CONFERENCE 2026
Orpheus Instituut, Ghent, Belgium
16-17 April 2026
Sayr: Improvising a Sonic World in An Acoustemological Memory Palace
PROJECT FUNDING
Kulttuuritalo Korundi, Rovaniemi, Finland 27.2.2023. | L-R: Kyle Miles, Zach Mullings, Hermon Mehari, Bulut Gülen, Jussi Reijonen, Naseem Alatrash, Layth Sidiq, Maxim Lubarsky, Keita Ogawa.