Practising composition through performance: playing to compose and composing to play

This thesis comprises a folio of twenty compositions, a critical commentary and a video presentation, including performances and discussion. The primary location of knowledge in the thesis is in the music itself, articulated through the critical commentary and video. The compositions explore:The place of composition in my creative praxis, the ways in which the folio may fit within historical currents in jazz practice and the context of an emphasis on improvisation in critical discussion of jazz;Methods of composing music using approaches of jazz traditions with an emphasis on composition rather than improvisation;My own creative processes, including methods or effects which I use when composing and their connection with my life experience as a means of musical self-expression.An additional purpose of the thesis is to examine creative processes of composing using a practice-based methodology, in order to shed light upon the place of composition in jazz, particularly regarding the role of instrumental practice in the process of composition. The folio compositions originated and were refined through practice using piano and voice, in conjunction with development of musical concepts such as arrangement for other instruments, and in one case the formulation of lyrics and a lyric-based melody, away from the piano.Whilst the folio compositions reflect my interest in the work of a number of composers, the principal inspiration for these compositions emerged from pieces which I had composed between 1982 and 2001. Lead sheet examples of these compositions have been included along with the folio of compositions in order to demonstrate their connection with the folio. I have arranged nine of the folio compositions since 2014, recording several of them in 2015. Manuscripts of these arrangements have also been included with the dissertation, as demonstration of my long-term objective of performing the folio long after its current purpose has been served.To gain understanding of the processes by which these works took shape, several approaches have been employed. The first is analysis of the compositions in order to ascertain characteristic musical approaches and attributes, along with contextualisation of the folio within my broader catalogue of compositions, and comparison of my processes and approaches with those of other composers, especially several whose work has inspired my own development as both composer and performer. Second, daily logs were kept during the composition of the folio. These accounts were thematically analyzed, eliciting a series of conclusions with regard to compositional processes, importance of form and structure, as well as the impact of non-musical factors and circumstances.