Online Masterclass 4: Mark Applebaum on Musical Discipline

In a four-part series of online masterclasses for Sounds Unheard, Mark Applebaum – composer, performer and instrument creator – discusses Musical Disciplines: Jazz Improvisation & Beyond.

In his fourth online masterclass Mark talks to us about his composition Aphasia, a work for hand gestures synchronised to sound that was once deemed unplayable. What kind of discipline is needed to learn and perform a piece of music the same way every time?

Here’s a short excerpt from the Aphasia score. You can see a representation of the taped audio part, the rhythm the performer needs to follow and some of the pictograms representing the gestures to be performed – ‘shakey hands’, ‘saw wood’ and ‘Rubik’s cube’.

This is the final masterclass in Mark’s series for Sounds Unheard. In the comments below you can post your suggestions for future masterclass topics, along with any questions you have for Mark.

Happy inventing and happy practicing!