ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the issues through an analysis of the commissioning, composing, rehearsal and performance processes of a work for piano quartet, The Scattering of Light. In a study of the communication processes of a professional string quartet, the distinctions between cooperative and collaborative communication strategies were found to rest in the degree to which the strategies facilitated cohesive performance or facilitated 'creative developments in the interpretation of the music'. Richard Sennett outlines the ways in which learning to live together be underpinned by cooperative rituals that transcend and/or negotiate racial, ethnic, and religious differences. Further data sources include initial email communications between the composer and commissioner, video data of the first rehearsal, and composer notes and reflections on the composition process. Consequently a key aspect of collaboration was the issue of voice, both recognizing the characteristic features of a voice and beginning to establish an ensemble voice that drew on the features of individual players working within a collective.
