In the format for the C21MP Research Challenge the Rationale / Hypothesis section consists of the proposals by the practice research participants that outlines their initial ideas and approach.

Kate Lewis’ initial proposal

This experiment will explore the creative consequences of ‘Ostrich’ tuning, a guitar tuning in which all strings are tuned to the same pitch. The experiment emerges from my recent analytical research on the creative practices of St. Vincent, whose engagement with this tuning prompted questions best explored through practice. Despite extensive experience as a guitarist and researcher, this tuning has never formed part of my embodied playing practice and will therefore be used to unsettle established assumptions embedded in my practice, while also generating new forms of embodied knowledge.

The experiment will investigate what happens when pitch differentiation and conventional harmonic logic are removed from the instrument. The initial stage will focus on attempts to realise familiar guitar functions while documenting points of failure alongside emergent alternatives. From this, the experiment will also explore organising principles such as timbre articulation, rhythmic density, and gesture. The experiment will also align with my prior work on the ‘rhythm–lead continuum’, using ‘Ostrich’ tuning to test how role-based hierarchies collapse when pitch-based differentiation is unavailable.

The initial 10-minute video output will document my experimentation, culminating in a coherent textural or compositional idea that demonstrates how extreme tuning constraints can reframe guitar creativity.

Adrianos Pandis’ initial proposal

Accidental discoveries in open guitar tunings

In December 2025, I was preparing for my band’s annual Christmas concert in Athens. Having moved most of my instruments to London, I had to borrow a friend’s electric guitar to use at the performance. The owner warned that the guitar was tuned to standard C ( C-F-A#-D#-G-C) , and that I would need to change the 14 gauge strings if I wished to retune to standard tuning.

I began changing the strings from the lowest E moving gradually higher, while raising the new strings to the desired standard tuning. Half-way through the rather meditative process, I held a barred A Major chord and strummed, forgetting that the three higher strings were still tuned two steps lower. The chord startled me with a jazzy, borderline dissonant resonance and unique timbre combining 11 gauge and 14 gauge strings.

In this research challenge I would like to experiment with my accidental discovery, the E-A-D-D#-G-C tuning. Currently writing my second album as part of my PhD practice-research, consciously trying to explore and expand my understanding of my sound, I propose to examine how this unconventional tuning affects my song-craft.