Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisors, Prof. dr. Marcel Cobussen and Raaf Hekkema, for their invaluable guidance and unwavering belief in both me and my research. Their encouragement to sharpen my ideas on SWMP with ever-increasing clarity has been indispensable. I am profoundly grateful for their patience in reviewing numerous drafts, viewing countless hours of video, and always returning with renewed energy, enthusiasm, and thought-provoking suggestions.

I am fortunate to have received support from many people throughout this journey. I would like to sincerely thank my mother, Janise Kahl, and my family in the United States and Belgium, especially Sandra Desoete, for their boundless love and encouragement. Their support provided me the strength and perseverance necessary to navigate the challenges of this PhD.

I would like to extend my appreciation to The Academy of Creative and Performing Arts at Leiden University for providing a stimulating academic environment and financially supporting this research. I am equally grateful to the Orpheus Institute, which was the first to recognize the potential and significance of SWMP within the field of artistic research. I also highly benefitted from the docARTES program, an international graduate program for research in and through music.

This project would not have achieved its technical quality without the expertise of Pablo Gastaldello and the Sound Engineering Department at Koninklijk Conservatorium Den Haag, as well as the developers of Sonic Visualizer at Queen Mary University of London, including Matthias Mauch and Simon Dixon, whose work made the necessary audio analyses possible. My sincerest thanks also go to Marcus Weiss, whose guidance in the early stages of this research was instrumental.

I am deeply indebted to my saxophone colleagues who contributed to expanding the repertoire for SWMP. I extend heartfelt thanks to my fellow members of the Ensemble du Bout du Monde – Noa Mick, Simona Castria, and Salvatore Castellano – as well as to Daniel Kientzy, Jean-Michel Goury, Marie-Bernadette Charrier, Claude Delangle, Marie-Chantal Leclair, Quasar Quartet, Sigma-Project Quartet, and many others within the online community. I would also like to express my gratitude to Gail B. Levinsky for her insights and interview, which greatly enriched the chapter on contextualization.

To my clarinet duo partner, Jackie Glazier, I offer my deepest thanks for her unwavering support and collaboration, which provided a shared space for creative exploration. Special thanks are also due to Dolores Minakakis for her invaluable help with language and syntax editing. Additionally, I wish to acknowledge Simon Smalle for his incredible work in designing and updating the research website, which has become an essential part of the dissemination of this research.

I am immensely grateful to the composers whose work continues to inspire and challenge me to explore music in previously unimaginable ways. Their curiosity and support fuel my artistic journey, and I hope my performances reflect the same imaginative spirit. In particular, I extend my thanks to Stratis Minakakis, Eleni Ralli, María Eugenia Luc, Nicolas Tzortzis, Gregory Wanamaker, Robert Lemay, Ramon Lazkano, Jean-Patrick Besingrand, Javier Torres-Maldonado, Stylianos Dimou, Juan Arroyo, Robin Hoffmann, and Annesley Black, along with many others.

Finally, I must extend my deepest love and gratitude to the person with whom I am closest, who has supported me through both the highs and lows of this research and throughout our life together. Thank you for constantly believing in me, encouraging me, reading countless drafts, and bringing out the best in me – my fiancé, Karel Vlaeminck.