Biography
Gonçalo Prazeres, saxophonist and composer, was born in Lisbon in 1978. He studied Performance at Berklee College of Music in Boston and at the Luiz Villas-Boas School of Hot Clube de Portugal, where he is currently a teacher. . In 2014, he completed a master's degree in Music with a focus on jazz at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa, and in 2016, a master's degree in Musical Education at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. Currently, Gonçalo is a Ph.D. student at Universidade Nova de Lisboa in the field of Ethnomusicology. His research focuses on the dynamics of musical interaction in improvisation, the development of musical identity, and creative processes in the context of Jazz and Improvised Music Gonçalo had lessons with various musicians he considers significant in his musical journey, including Tony Malaby, Steve Lehman, Ohad Talmor, George Garzone, Jorge Reis and Ed Tomassi. He leads several projects in the jazz and improvised music realm and is part of the world, tribal, experimental, alternative band: Club Makumba. He regularly performs in diverse musical projects, with a notable presence in L.U.M.E. – Lisbon Underground Music Ensemble, playing on the major European jazz festivals.
Doctoral Project
Title
Improvised Music: Interaction processes and their relationship with musical identity
Advisor
Abstract
Interaction, along with improvisation, is a unique and defining characteristic of jazz and improvised music (Sawyer, 1992; Berliner, 1994; Monson, 1996; Hodson, 2007). The development of the musical identity of improvising musicians is influenced by their interactions, much like our individual identity is an ongoing process constructed through various interactions and daily social situations (Frith, 1996; Hargreaves et al., 2002). This study aims to investigate the various processes of musical interaction that occur in real-time during improvised music of the jazz idiom (Dias, 2019) and its relationship with the musical identity of each improviser. Artistic practice will be utilized as a source of ethnomusicological research, carried out through multiple performances of improvised music by study groups from different social and geographical contexts. The improvised performances will be recorded for subsequent analysis and critical listening with the participants, enhancing semi-structured group and individual interviews. The context of improvised music presupposes an intensification of improvisation and interaction, fostered by the limited number of musical restrictions (Hodson, 2007), making it a fertile ground for this study (Bastian & Hostager, 1988; Sawyer, 1992; Borgo, 1997; Sawyer 2006; Sawyer, 2017). There is also the intention to develop knowledge applicable to other areas of human activity.
Keywords: Interaction; Musical Identity; Improvised Music; Improvisation; Jazz; Practice Research
