Extended performer: evolution and change of the musical performer’s role: towards an expanded music

Abstract

This article aims to be an analytical-reflective approach to the role of the musical interpreter in the field of contemporary and experimental music today. From its origins and from the moment in which the interpreter was separated from the figure of the composer, their functions and ways of approaching music, their study and interpretation have been changing. These variations, however, remain closely linked to the changes of currents and compositional visions and how they define the concepts of musical idea, creative process or sound result. The term used to describe this new type of performer, extended performer, refers to how this function has been extended, expanded, beyond the limits of an instrumental or performative practice. Profiling the historical origins of the musical performer and going through the paradigm changes that took place during the 20th century with the different avant-garde currents and with proper names, such as John Cage or Pierre Boulez, we will reach the aforementioned extended performer of the present, exemplifying this new figure through current compositional movements, the importance of digitization in art and how it has raised a new relationship between the performer and their instrument.