Playing Schumann Again for the First Time

This artistic research project exposes Robert Mitchell's attempts to layer musical materials from the core of the classical piano repertoire - in this case, materials from scores and sketches of Robert Schumann - to create ever increasingly larger spaces in which improvisatory practice at the piano can take place.

The research constists of the following steps:

Step 1: Choose strands of musical materials: melodies, harmonic patterns, figurative patterns, etc.

Step 2: Layer these pieces of 'debris' in unforeseen ways and realize the result through pianistic practice.

Step 3: Evaluate the sounding results and repeat the process with a conscious awareness of processing musical materials in a way that increasingly bears my own sonic signature.