ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses briefly two sets of observations of the practices of experimental musicians. The first set is based on participant comprehension and relies on one's experience as a participant in a local music community in Switzerland between 1996 and 2013. The second set of data consists of observations of the activities of a Chinese musician which it collected using participant observation and in-depth qualitative field work between 2003 and 2004 in Beijing. The chapter illustrates how experimental music, practiced in a developing country, is a fascinating object of study for scholars interested in the various guises of ignorance as an asset. Exploratory methodologies used by experimental musicians are techniques of dealing with the (re)production of non-knowledge, where ignorance, failures and misuses play a central role as both expected and unexpected elements in the production of surprises.
