Tongue of the Invisible – Co-creative processes between composition, performance and improvisation

A discussion of Liza Lim’s Tongue of the Invisible, a work written for improvising jazz pianist, Uri Caine, baritone Omar Ebrahim and 16 musicians of musikFabrik (premiere Holland Festival, June 2011).

The paper explores compositional relationships between constraint and freedom in a work employing improvisational strategies and various degrees of performer input in the formation of the work. Documentation of the work, from sketch to workshop stage to performance(s) including interviews and recordings, was carried out by Prof Eric Clarke and Dr Mark Doffmann as part of their AHRC-CMPCP project on ‘Distributed Creativity’. This documentation forms the basis for a discussion of the ways in which the 'feedback' mechanisms that are negotiated in rehearsal between composer and performers have an impact on the final work and how performance-practice knowledge is co-created in highly interactive situations.