Challenging perspectives on artistic research in and through experimental discourse “Truth happens to an idea.” So wrote William James in 1907; and twenty-four years later John Dewey argued that artistic experience entailed a process of “doing and undergoing.” But what do these ideas have to do with music, or with research conducted in and through music—that is, with “artistic research”? In this collection of essays, fourteen very different authors respond with distinct and challenging perspectives. Some report on their own experiments and experiences; some offer probing analyses of noteworthy practices; some view historical continuities through the lens of pragmatism and artistic experiment. The resulting collection yields new insights into what musicians do, how they experiment, and what they experience—insights that arise not from doctrine, but from diverse voices seeking common ground in and through experimental discourse: artistic research in and of itself. “Truth happens to an idea.” So wrote William James in 1907; and twenty-four years later John Dewey argued that artistic experience entailed a process of “doing and undergoing.” But what do these ideas have to do with music, or with research conducted in and through music—that is, with “artistic research”? In this collection of essays, fourteen very different authors respond with distinct and challenging perspectives. Some report on their own experiments and experiences; some offer probing analyses of noteworthy practices; some view historical continuities through the lens of pragmatism and artistic experiment. The resulting collection yields new insights into what musicians do, how they experiment, and what they experience—insights that arise not from doctrine, but from diverse voices seeking common ground in and through experimental discourse: artistic research in and of itself. Acknowledgements Introduction William Brooks Music, Poetry, and Possession Richard Shusterman Part 1: Doing The Pragmatic Musical-Gestural Performer Winnie Huang Shaping Interpretation through Experience: A Case for a Pragmatic Approach to Contemporary Music Performance Marco Fusi Experiments in Experience: Listening to Rooms and Pianos Victoria Tzotzkova and Fiona Smyth The Rehearsal Process: Finnissy, Hespos, and Pragmatic Approaches to Indeterminacy Clare Lesser Part 2: Making As If Unobserved: Experiments towards a Publicly Visible Composition Practice Caitlin Rowley Game-Show; or, The Playful Work of the Voice Nicholas Brown The Velicon and Music of Experience Ivana Miladinović Prica Part 3: Observing How to Embody Truth? Jenny Hval’s Experimentations with Music and Voice Thibault Galland The Life of Rhythm: Musical Time, Dewey’s Pragmatism, and Jazz Improvisation Garry L. Hagberg Peirce’s Aesthetic of Experiment Ann Warde Music News in the Progressive Era: American Experience as Civic Participation, Everyday Living, and Music Making Deniz Ertan Redefining Progress at the Intersection of AI and Artistic Research Ambrose Field Online Materials Notes on Contributors Index