The Musician&#x27;s Path

open.substack.comBegin Here"Graphic" Scores in theory and practice

22 Jan 2025

I'm going to start writing about my interests in music of the postwar avant-garde, with longer-form essays on Substack, videos on Youtube, and shorter posts here. Here's the start: open.substack.com/pub/nandreww...

nandrewwalsh.substack.comIn Which I Indulge in an Unreasonably Angry Rant about Document FormatsOr, Inferiority Complexes in the Humanities

I've had the good fortune of having two proposals for book chapters accepted, which has given me occasion to go way overboard in complaining about my field's habit of using absolutely garbage-tier software tools for document production: nandrewwalsh.substack.com/p/in-which-i...

acud-theater.deDas Klang Büro | | ACUD-TheaterACUD-Theater Spielplan 2026

For those of you in Berlin this weekend, I've put together a series of three concerts featuring graphic scores, played by my ensemble, Threshold Kollektiv. Here's the website of the venue with more information: www.acud-theater.de/programm/573...

28 Aug

Reminder! The Rathenower Tage für Neue Musik are this weekend, starting tonight and running through Sunday. I'll be performing on Sunday but there for the whole festival. Program, directions, more information here: rtfnm.de.

rtfnm.deRathenower Tage für Neue Musik 2026Webseite für die Rathenower Tage für Neue Musik

13 Aug

For those of you in northern Germany, at the end of the month I'll be taking part in the Rathenower Tage für Neue Musik, an excellent small festival for new and experimental music. Several of my own graphic scores are on the program, along with a lot of other interesting guests. rtfnm.de

14 June

As I keep working on my drawing skills, I'm trying a bunch of different subjects. Here are two versions of the same basic image: the one on the left is the earlier version; the one on the right is a significant improvement.

9 May

Now that I've given them both out as presents, I can also share a couple pen-and-ink drawings I've done over the last month, working on my visual skills:

open.substack.comThe Ethics of Free ImprovisationGroups, individuals, and communities in music

7 May

I've also written a much longer rumination about what are, for me, some of the underlying ethical issues that inform my approach to improvisation: open.substack.com/pub/nandreww...

nandrewwalsh.substack.comPerformancesThese are various performances I’ve done over the years, mostly as an improviser on contrabassoon.

7 May

I've now posted the lightly edited audio from my performance last night at Ausland, along with a (very blurry) screencap from the video: nandrewwalsh.substack.com/i/182457870/...

28 Apr

For those of you in Berlin next week, I'll be playing a "blind date" improv session on the 6th at Ausland Berlin. It's going to be an interesting show, playing spontaneously with people from a bunch of different backgrounds. Here's the link: www.ausland.berlin/event/38th-s...

ausland.berlinEvent

open.substack.com"Wer für Geige schreibt…"Writing within, about, and against tradition

26 Mar

As the last couple weeks here in Berlin have been host to the excellent MaerzMusik festival, I attended a talk this week on some of the dilemmas facing new music. I wrote an essay on it, because some of it bears discussing: open.substack.com/pub/nandreww...

20 Mar

Just completed: my most recent score, an untitled quartet of mixed-media A4 sheets.

nandrewwalsh.substack.comPerformancesThese are various performances I’ve done over the years, mostly as an improviser on contrabassoon.

8 Mar

For those of you who missed our performance at Richten25, I've now posted the audio from the session to my blog, to which you can listen here: nandrewwalsh.substack.com/i/182457870/...

richten25.deExperimental Music and Art Events in Berlin | Richten25Join us at richten25 for weekly interdisciplinary events showcasing experimental music and art. Experience unique performances and creative collaborations in Berlin's vibrant cultural scene. Don't mis...

21 Feb

If you're in Berlin this week, I'll be performing together with my duo partner at Richten25 this coming Friday the 27th. The show is a double bill, and we'll be on the second half, so probably quite late. The information is here: richten25.de/events See you there!

nandrewwalsh.substack.comPerformancesThese are various performances I’ve done over the years, mostly as an improviser on contrabassoon.

24 Feb

If you'd like a preview, here are some audio clips of our rehearsal/session from this last weekend: nandrewwalsh.substack.com/i/182457870/...

5 Jan

Happy to have received this quarter's issue of Berlin's Field Notes bulletin (covering the independent new-music scene in the city), which features one of my scores (right) on the cover (left).

field-notes.berlinfield notes Magazin #45: Januar/Februar 2026 | field notes

5 Jan

If you haven't subscribed to Field Notes (which you should if you want to stay informed about the lively scene here), you can also find the online version here: field-notes.berlin/magazin/fiel...

open.substack.comRehearsing Indeterminate ScoresMethods from research in the field

3 Jan

I've now published the third article in my series on my research project this summer on graphic scores. This one deals with how you go about rehearsing these scores, when you have no goal for how the score should sound: open.substack.com/pub/nandreww...

open.substack.comThe Avant-Garde at the Academy: Rejecting InnovationAn ongoing series of preliminary findings from the field.

16 Dec 2025

I've now completed my second essay presenting results from my research project this summer, dealing with the concept of institutional innovation, and how a Conservatory confronts challenges to its identity: open.substack.com/pub/nandreww...

open.substack.comHistorical Research: The Avant-Garde at the ConservatorySome preliminary findings from the field

1 Dec 2025

I've just finished writing up a short summary (which will probably be the introduction to a series) on my research this summer into the performance and teaching history of graphic scores: open.substack.com/pub/nandreww...

bam-berlin.orgBAM! – Berlin's Festival for contemporary music theater 2025Berlin's Festival for contemporary music theater 2025

19 Nov 2025

Tomorrow night is the opening of the BAM! festival for new music-theater here in Berlin, and I'm really looking forward to both the theme ("where do we go from here?") and the collaboration with a lot of artists and groups from Poland. Here's the (English) festival page: bam-berlin.org/en

27 Oct 2025

For those of you in Berlin, I'll be giving a public lecture on the 24th of November, 18:00 at the Department of Theater Studies of the Freie Universität Berlin. The topic is "Interpretationsgeschichte grafischer Partituren" ("performance history of graphic scores") and will be in German. Info below:

25 Oct 2025

To improve my skills with a pen, I also sometimes draw more … representational images. Drawing realistic scenes with pen and ink takes a lot of practice, and I'm still learning. One of my projects is a gift for some neighbors: a scene from a summer evening around a fire. This is the first version:

25 Oct 2025

This is the second version, after I spent a couple months drawing the score I've been posting. It's a bit blurry, but you can probably see that the details are more complex, the shading is better, and I (hopefully) have a better repertoire of textures and marks.

25 Oct 2025

I also bought a pair of magnifying glasses over the summer, which helps me draw a lot of the small detail work. I don't know how I'm going to draw any of the figures here (I still haven't figured out postures or faces), but we'll just have to see.

8 Oct 2025

It's barely visible here, but buying that set of draughting tools last week enabled me to complete the final step of this score: I fed some silver metallic ink into the nib and added a few silver highlights. With that, the piece is finally finished.

6 Oct 2025

I've finally finished collecting all the tools I wanted for my pen and ink work. This last set: an extra Graphos with a removable reservoir for alternate ink, some ruling pens, and an extremely well-kept set of compasses. Most of this stuff is probably 50 years old or more.

nandrewwalsh.substack.comCompositions, PerformancesIt’s been pointed out to me a few times that there are very few examples of my work accessible online, and that it might be a good idea to rectify this situation, so here below are a few examples of m...

6 Oct 2025

I'm putting the finishing touches on the score I've been working on over the summer, and now I'm at the last step: a few highlights with metallic ink, using a newly-acquired set of drawing tools. But I've posted pictures of a few sheets here: nandrewwalsh.substack.com/i/160921049/...

open.substack.comMaryanne AmacherSome scattered reflections

24 Sept 2025

I'm currently writing an essay, together with musicologist Emma Devillé, about electronic sound artist Maryanne Amacher. It's brought up a lot of chaotic reflections that I've tried to put together in this brief essay: open.substack.com/pub/nandreww...

29 Aug 2025

Ignore the fuzzy-caterpillar thing in the upper left, and the thick, wobbly lines along the bottom right. I took a different approach with my marking here, and it got an effect I've been trying to achieve since I started. Instead of solid figures on a flat plane, this feels like it has depth.

29 Aug 2025

Rather than everything being on the surface, here it feels more like some of the lines are fading away into a hazy, indistinct background. And something else I wanted from this, there's a feeling that the perspective isn't quite real, that things have different vanishing points.

29 Aug 2025

I don't yet know how I might integrate this with the inking work I've done on the other sheets from this series, but I feel like this is more interesting material to work with than the previous stuff. I'm not sure how the watercolor will factor into this, but we'll see. Progress!

Follow-up: the two sheets with color. I re-did the original (left) because I didn't like the shape or the color of the yellow and orange: they both look flat and uninteresting, and lack dynamism. I'm not much happier with the colors of the re-do (right), but at least the shapes are a bit better.

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But this also shows how hard it is to have any control when working with watercolor: even though I'm using pencils and adding water after, getting the shape I want is difficult. Getting the exact color (or blend) seems almost impossible. I'm happy with the blue, but the orange and yellow less so.

I'm still trying to figure out what repertoire of visual forms I want to use for this score, still struggling with how to draw things that aren't "signs" but can still be interpreted musically. Maybe I need to spend more time studying Haubenstock-Ramati's scores.

The original also had some gray added around the edges that you don't see here. I'm not sure if it's needed on the re-do, since there's generally more ink on the page.

One the left, the first version of the inking for my current page. On the right, the second. I wasn't happy with how the watercolor turned out on the former, so I'm redoing it. But now I feel like some of the forms/textures were better in the first one.

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I haven't done the watercolor for the second yet, but I'm redoing it because the colors on the first version were flat and uninteresting. So while I've been re-drawing the ink, I've also been remixing the colors, trying to get better shades.

But I think there's already too much ink on the second version, so I'm going to stop there, and start laying down the watercolors. Sure hope I don't end up having to do a third version of this page. A4 turns out to be a lot of open space to fill.

For one, in the first version the large forms along the left side are more to the left, leaving more open space in the middle. In the second it's more crowded. There's generally more separation, leaving more room for the colors.

8 Aug 2025

My two most recent pages for this score, both A5 format.

3 Aug 2025

A good example of how I'm still learning how to make scores like this. On the left is my first attempt at using mostly purples and doing some more shading. But the colors are too vivid and blotchy, there's too little ink, etc. On the right is my second attempt.

3 Aug 2025

You can see the same basic structure framing both: the empty box, the slightly off-center cardinal lines, the general dominance of purple with a contrasting highlight. But the one on the right is better balanced, with more depth and variety in the ink, better color mixing, etc.

3 Aug 2025

I'm still pretty terrible at this, but at least I'm getting a bit better the more examples I have of how the various media work together. I think the next step is I need to do the gray layer all in one go, so it's less blotchy. Still: progress.

31 July 2025

With heavy heart I close the door on my office on my last day at the institute. It was a lovely three months, but alas! at its end. I'll be writing about the project on my substack, now that I suddenly have a lot of free time.

26 July 2025

I now have at least one complete set of all three sizes of this score I'm working on (though I'm not yet decided whether I want to add A3). The rainbow score and the one top-left here were both attempts to replace the first score I posted from this series. I think this one works.

simpk.deInterpretationsgeschichte grafischer PartiturenDer Komponist und Musikwissenschaftler N. Andrew Walsh, zur Zeit Gastwissenschaftler am SIM, über erste Ergebnisse seiner Forschung im Bereich der Aufführungspraxis grafischer Partituren.

23 July 2025

www.simpk.de/ueber-uns/ve... I'll be giving a lecture/presentation tomorrow at 15h here in Berlin (see below) on my research project of the last three months. It's at the institute, next to the Philharmonie. It'll be in German and about an hour. Sorry for the short notice!

19 July 2025

Well, it wasn't my intention to make a score this … colorful. I've really been trying to limit my palettes. But I got carried away with the watercolors and oops I inadvertently made a rainbow-colored graphic score. Happy Pride, everybody.