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Michael Edgerton

Professor

Professor, Teachers (Malmö Academy of Music)

Phone+4640325476, +460738021961

Personal profile

Artistic work

Michael Edgerton is an active composer with performances around the world. His compositions have received international prizes and recognition including the important German award, the Kompositionspreis der Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart for his composition the Tempo Mental Rap, a series of six variations for guitar based upon a Steve Vai transcription of a Frank Zappa rap. Michael’s compositions utilize a broad range of musical influences such as European avant-garde, American experimentalism, progressive rock and world music. Since the mid-90s Michael’s compositions have been informed by scientific models and metaphors. Initially stemming from his studies with voice science and dynamical systems, he’s built a body of work that explores the integration of nonlinear concepts applied to sound production and compositional constraints. While the methods and systems he develops are often influenced by science, it is his intuition – his ear that gives birth to the music.

Michael Edgerton is at the forefront of vocal exploration by extending the technical and expressive capabilities of voice. As composer, researcher and performer, he has presented new developments in the search for the limits of sound production. Notably, he has systematically investigated extra-normal singing using the tools of voice science and psychoacoustics. This approach has earned Mike considerable renown for those interested in the present and future of modern (experimental) voice.

Michael has received prizes for his compositions and his music has been performed around the world by ensembles including 441 Hz Chamber Choir, AuditivVokal Dresden, Berliner Cappella, C Asean Consonant Ensemble, China-Asean Youth Orchestra, Ekmeles Ensemble, Ensemble Ars Nova, Ensemble: Either/Or, Ensemble Proxima Centauri, Evergreen Experimental Music Ensemble, Guangxi Symphony Orchestra, Kairos String Quartet, Landesjugendchor Saar, Loadbang, Merle Noir, New Music Coop’s Combo Ensemble, St John’s Vocal Exploration Gatherings, Southwestern University (China), Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, Quartet New Generation, Via Nova Choir (Munich), VocalX Choir, Works-in-Progress Ensemble and by artists Almut Kühne, Andreas Fröhling, Angela Rademacher-Wingerath, Argenta Walther, Chatschatur Kanajan, Gary Verkade, Hu liu, Jan Heinke, Jeffrey Burns, Joshua Hyde, Mats Möller, Matt Hinchliffe, Matthias Bauer, Mattias Johansson, Moritz Ernst, Philippe Arnaudet, Rebekka Uhlig, Simon Strasser, Stefan Östersjö, Stephanie Aston, Timo Kinnunen, among others.

Olaf Katzer, Artistic Director of AUDITIVVOKAL DRESDEN has written, “Forty years after Luciano Berio’s “Sequenza” the American composer Michael Edward Edgerton has illuminated in his study “Anaphora” the expressive potential of the human voice. A kaleidoscope of 56 different categories of vocal multiphonics shows the wealth that the human carries in vocal expression. It pays to listen closely because simply there are many never heard before sound landscapes, in which multiphonic and polyphonic sound cosmos appears, although they are given by only one woman. These sounds are based neither on witchcraft, nor cast by a mystical spell, but are the result of scientifically based research in the field of voice, made by the composer himself and in his book “The 21st Century Voice”. Since the publication of his book “The 21st Century Voice” (2004), the American composer Michael Edgerton has become one of the leading experts in the search for the expressive possibilities of contemporary voice. No other composer has so systematically and unconditionally applied a compositional approach to every possibility of the human voice. “Anaphora” is at the same time a sound study, in which is presented his research on 56 different classes of vocal multiphonics, opening up a new sound universe.”

Research

Michael is engaged with research. In 1995, Michael was asked by Barney Childs and Philip Rehfeldt to contribute a book on modern vocal techniques to the New Instrumentation Series. Since his approach has been to focus on the mechanics of voice production, Michael applied for and received a three-year Postdoctoral Fellowship from the National Center for Voice and Speech to study voice science and participate on research projects that included: reinforced harmonics, chant, ingressive airflow phonation, vocal violence. In 2005, THE 21^St CENTURY VOICE was published by Scarecrow Press, with the second edition being released ten years later with Rowman & Littlefield. The book proposes continued exploration of vocal production based within the framework of voice science. Michael has also published scholarly articles on music composition, the extra-normal voice, nonlinear phenomenon and multidimensional scaling in sound production. Michael was recognized in the “Marquis Who’s Who in the World” since 2015. His creative and scholarly outputs has significant impact as evidenced by citations in books, articles and dissertations/theses.

UKÄ subject classification

Music
Biophysics

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37 Artistic work
9 Article
5 Book chapter
4 Chapter in Report

A multiphonic harmonic on vibraphone (pedagogy – video)Tzschoppe, O. & Edgerton, M., 2021 Sep 8Research output: Non-textual form › Other Open Access

A report on influences from superfluid turbulence in Der Rufer for percussion quartet

Edgerton, M., 2021 Sep 9, In: Art and Science . 5, 3, p. 51-62 11 p.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article Open Access

Der Rufer (e106) (webpage)

Edgerton, M., 2021 Oct 19, Word Press.

Research output: Other contribution › Web publication/Blog post › Research Open Access

Der Rufer (recording on Soundcloud)Edgerton, M. & Tzschoppe, O., 2021 Oct 16Research output: Non-textual form › Web publication/site Open Access
Entrelacé (e108): Le son multiphonique au vibraphone Edgerton, M., 2021Research output: Non-textual form › Artistic work

6 Active

Malmö Academy of Music in cooperation with Seoul National University Edgerton, M. & Choe, U.2021/08/01 → 2022/07/31Project: Network
Collaboration between European Spallation Source (Weisend) and the Malmö Academy of Music (Edgerton)Edgerton, M. & Weisend, J.2019/11/21 → 2024/02/16Project: Network
vibraphone – multiphonic harmonic Edgerton, M. & Tzschoppe, O.2019/11/13 → 2023/03/16Project: Research
CROCUS Kulturens rum och kreativitetens villkor Fredriksson, C., de Wit Sandström, I., Warkander, P., Andersson Cederholm, E., Willim, R., Lyrevik, A., Houmann, A., Sjöholm, C., Skovbjerg Jensen, C., Umut Aslan, D., Bjerg, D., Saaristo, E., Högdahl, E., Severinsson, E., Hoff, E., Säwe, F., Skoogh, F., Olsson, J., Enevold Duncan, J., Dahlqvist, J., Lindqvist, K., Gradén, L., Espersson, M., Ledendal, M., Nehl, M., Edgerton, M., Bergmasth, M., Thufvesson, O., Rasmussen, P., Wolgast, S., Lebech, S., Andersson, M., Loodin, H., Hofvander Trulsson, Y., Dahlqvist, J. & Landau, F.2019/06/19 → …Project: Network
voice research Edgerton, M., Brusoni, F. & Herbst, C.1995/06/12 → 2025/08/24Project: Research

13 Performance 7 Organisation of festival/exhibition/concert/performance 6 Supervision of PhD students 4 Public lecture/debate/seminar

25% PhD Seminar: Fernando Garnero with Mauro Lanza (discussion)Michael Edgerton (First/primary/lead supervisor)2021 Oct 21Activity: Examination and supervision › Supervision of PhD students
25% PhD Seminar: Fernando Garnero (artistic presentation) Hybrid Flux Michael Edgerton (First/primary/lead supervisor) & Kent Olofsson (Second supervisor)2021 Oct 20Activity: Examination and supervision › Supervision of PhD students
25% PhD Seminar: Bertrand Chavarría-Aldrete with Stefan Östersjö (discussion)Michael Edgerton (First/primary/lead supervisor) & Kent Olofsson (Second supervisor)2021 Oct 15Activity: Examination and supervision › Supervision of PhD students
Artist introduction | Bremer Schlagzeugensemble Michael Edgerton (Organiser)2021 Oct 6Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Organisation of festival/exhibition/concert/performance
GAGEEGO! & ELEFANTÖRA IN CONCERT Michael Edgerton (Organiser) & David Riebe (Organiser)2021 Oct 12Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Organisation of festival/exhibition/concert/performance