Title: Creative processes in collaborative musical performance: interview with Nicolas Donin
Abstract: reflective processes, and to 20th-and 21st-century theories of composition and genetic criticism, without neglecting listening as a practice in itself.Donin specialized in the history, creative processes, and aesthetics of 20th and 21st century music.As the leader of his ircam team, Donin supervises master's and doctoral dissertations at the School of Higher Studies in Social Sciences (ehess).He was the chief scholar of the collaborative research projects "mutec" (Musicology of contemporary composition techniques, 2009-11) and "gemme" (Musical gesture: models and experiences, 2012-16), both funded by the French National Research Agency (cnrs).From 2011 on, Donin has organized the international conference "Tracking the Creative Process in Music" (tcpm), which takes place every two years.He is the author and co-author of over 100 articles, editor and co-editor of 19 books, multimedia listening guides and documentaries, in addition to being editor-in-chief of a book series dedicated to different aspects of contemporary music.The following interview with Nicolas Donin was conducted remotely, by video conference, in October 2020.On that occasion many topics were tackled, among which his intellectual path as a researcher and musicologist and (in more detail) aspects of his methodologies as applied to music analysis, with a focus on collaborative practices in music -performance, improvisation and composition.Another important aspect of the interview is his stance towards music analysis: Donin conceives of it first and foremost as a collaborative practice, in the sense that two or more researchers, when working together on a musical piece or a certain composer, bring different backgrounds that enrich analytical approaches and discussions.Therefore the research points towards results and conclusions much more diversified and intelligible.It is our sincere hope that this stimulating interview will inspire musicians, music students, musicologists and other professionals to further reflect on the issues addressed therein.To Nicolas Donin, we endorse our sincere appreciation and warmest acknowledgments for his kind attention and professional camaraderie.