In the most general terms, the conclusions of Beyond East and West found that maximal specificity in transcultural collaboration is essential to successful collaboration and outputs. Details in the music, of the original language, and musicians’ transmission practices all need to be taken into account. The degree to which the project was relevant for and impacted both traditional makam musicians and Western practitioners was captured in interviews at various stages. One musician asserted this was the ‘first time anyone from outside wanted to actually learn the details of our music’ (post-workshop discussion, 2017).
At the same time, several principles based on project experience are applicable to wider transcultural methodology
1. Workshopping, interviews, and collaboration as essential parts of the process for any composer working transculturally. Intensive study of singing and playing techniques, ornamentation, knowledge of traditional playing and repertoire, and absorption of oral tradition aspects in workshops represent key parts of the work’s gestation process.
2. Workshop approaches which attempt to facilitate transfer and absorption of the contrasting perspectives of participants are most likely to be successful. An example of this was PI’s notation of bozlak, which, after many attempts, conformed rather closely to the style of ‘lead sheets’ scores as notated traditionally in Turkey.
3. Training of players in specific skills demanded was also important; allowing western players to attempt aspects of ornamentation using a more detailed, notation approach, alongside focusing primarily on non-notational, aurally transmitted elements and listening facilitated more meaningful exchange than if faced with completely aural transmission, while makam players absorbed aspects of Western practice such as changing meters, multiple textural layers and the possible presence of a conductor.
In conclusion: blending key understandings from recent, more general work on resonance with traditional makam framings, Beyond East and West ultimately resulted in streamlined ways of conceptualising makam tuning, as well as integration of more elements transmitted orally (‘multidimensional sound’). This complements more recent work in Turkey into the conceived identity of makam as a world-relevant language with unique characteristics. Meanwhile, Beyond East and West’s development of broadly applicable core principles and methodologies for transcultural collaboration (as outlined in the project book and shown in practice) should facilitate realisation of future work across any number of musical cultures.
