Practice-based research has gained increasing prominence in the field of creative arts enquiry. Its engagement has fueled disruptive discourse on its nature, methodology and application in music research. Textbooks and journal publications on practice in arts-based research and a host of eminent practitioner-scholars have contributed to this nascent field of study. Several of these publications focus on the creative arts industry with fewer discourse on practice-based research approaches in the subdomains of music. This article deliberates on the multi-facets of practice-based approaches in performance, composition, and interdisciplinary music research. It shares the process of crafting methodological designs that encapsulate research in and of practice. Keywords that frame practice-based techniques include terms such as praxis, divergent and multi-methodological processes, design thinking, and research about/through/for practice as represented by performative-compositional artefacts a.....

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This article provides an insight into a composer_s creative process through a reflective understanding of the self (the composer as creator) and the other (the composer as analyst). In (re)presenting musical meaning by deconstructing the Schenkerian process of musical analysis, Depth explores the notion of crafting and unfolding the musical content of a creative task from a reverse paradigm of designing the components as if they already belong to a musical whole - the only difference is that the piece is yet to exist. What then would an ensuing piece sound like if the Foreground, Middleground and Background constructs have been delineated? What would the score look like and how would it sound _different_ each time it is played? Depth evolves from these inquisitive ploys, to which it is now the object of reflection.   Keywords: musical deconstruction, quarter-tone notation, Schenkerian analysis, symbolism..

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Asian cultures and aesthetics of music and music making were significant influences on Cage_s ideas on indeterminacy and chance-controlled music. His interest in Indian philosophy and Zen Buddhism in the late 1940s paved the way for his creative output a decade later. It also changed the way in which music composition is perceived, constructed and received, influencing the direction and craft of new music. Drawing common ground with Cage, this paper reflects on how the author embraces oriental philosophies in her compositional approach. Applying practice-led methodology, it extrapolates the manner in which elements of Hindustani and gamelan music have been applied in the creation of _Ragaslendro_, a work which has lent itself to multiple transformations in different performance settings in (re)presenting time, space and musical shape.   Keywords John Cage, ragaslendro, oriental philosophies, raga, gamelan..

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