Rowley, C (2025) Studio/Stage: entangling private and public creative spaces through interdisciplinary composition. PhD thesis, Bath Spa University. doi: 10.17870/bathspa.00017516
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Abstract
In this practice-based research project, I have used an autoethnographic approach to investigate the effects of entangling a composer's private and public creative spaces - Studio and Stage, respectively. To do this, I have used documentation of my own composition practice as material in new interdisciplinary works and made my private composition notebooks publicly accessible online. In defining the spaces of Studio and Stage as centred on the artist and their actions, I suggest that Studio space can be represented by documentation of the artist's actions. This definition has been crucial to my use of documentation to entangle these two spaces. To establish these definitions, I have drawn on theory from multiple disciplines regarding space, place, the everyday, private and public, and I have also investigated the reasons why making private work public so often invokes the emotions of vulnerability and embarrassment. Understanding the sources of these emotions has helped me to develop strategies to build resilience and manage my response to them. In this research, I propose an original framework for categorising documentation of creative practice that may be encountered as content in musical works. Additionally, my notebook publication project has yielded models for those considering publishing their own composition notebooks: my model of using overwriting in combination with legible text, which supports both the composer's need for privacy while working with written language, and the practicalities of making that work public; and my publication model, which not only makes individual pages from the notebooks available to peruse but also provides filters that bring to the surface information about the development of individual pieces and the composer's broader working habits. My work demonstrates that aspects of composition practice that are usually hidden may become available to a public audience by entangling the Studio and the Stage. These aspects include timescales, locales, tools, habits, personas and the emotional experiences of composition. It is my hope that this research might contribute to discussions relating to the visibility of composition practice and provide models for composers and composer-performers wishing to engage with this area.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) |
|---|---|
| Note: | A portfolio of practice research work, the figures, and the appendices relating to this thesis can be found via the University's data repository, BathSPAdata, by following the links under 'Related URLs'. |
| Keywords: | PhD by practice, autoethnography, studio space, stage space, music, composition, composition practice |
| Divisions: | Bath School of Music and Performing Arts |
| Related URLs: | |
| Date Deposited: | 12 Jan 2026 14:18 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Jan 2026 11:00 |
| URN: | https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/17516 |
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