Networks of Music and Images

Powerful abstraction of mathematical category theory can be used to describe musical procedures and structures. The same mathematical theory can be applied to visual shapes and their transformations, including computational applications. Since we can connect music and images through mappings, we can also connect their networks step by step, describing progressive shape modifications. We propose a new approach to music composition based on these ideas, composing music from a network of images “sonifying” each step, as well as creating a parallel sequence of visual and musical variations.Reti di musica e immaginiIl potere di astrazione della teoria delle categorie può essere utilizzato per descrivere procedure e strutture musicali. La stessa teoria matematica può essere applicata alle forme visuali e alle loro trasformazioni, comprese le applicazioni computazionali. Poiché è possibile associare musica e immagini attraverso apposite mappature (mappings), è anche possibile connettere reti (networks) di frammenti musicali e di immagini descrivendo progressivamente le modifiche apportate alle forme musicali e visuali. In questo articolo si intende proporre un nuovo approccio alla scrittura musicale secondo questi principi, ovvero componendo musica a partire da una rete di immagini in grado di “sonorizzare” ogni passaggio e creando una sequenza parallela di variazioni musicali e visuali.Powerful abstraction of mathematical category theory can be used to describe musical procedures and structures. The same mathematical theory can be applied to visual shapes and their transformations, including computational applications. Since we can connect music and images through mappings, we can also connect their networks step by step, describing progressive shape modifications. We propose a new approach to music composition based on these ideas, composing music from a network of images “sonifying” each step, as well as creating a parallel sequence of visual and musical variations.Reti di musica e immaginiIl potere di astrazione della teoria delle categorie può essere utilizzato per descrivere procedure e strutture musicali. La stessa teoria matematica può essere applicata alle forme visuali e alle loro trasformazioni, comprese le applicazioni computazionali. Poiché è possibile associare musica e immagini attraverso apposite mappature (mappings), è anche possibile connettere reti (networks) di frammenti musicali e di immagini descrivendo progressivamente le modifiche apportate alle forme musicali e visuali. In questo articolo si intende proporre un nuovo approccio alla scrittura musicale secondo questi principi, ovvero componendo musica a partire da una rete di immagini in grado di “sonorizzare” ogni passaggio e creando una sequenza parallela di variazioni musicali e visuali

Networks of Music and Images

Powerful abstraction of mathematical category theory can be used to describe musical procedures and structures. The same mathematical theory can be applied to visual shapes and their transformations, including computational applications. Since we can connect music and images through mappings, we can also connect their networks step by step, describing progressive shape modifications. We propose a new approach to music composition based on these ideas, composing music from a network of images “sonifying” each step, as well as creating a parallel sequence of visual and musical variations

Design and semantics of form and movement (DeSForM 2006)

Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM) grew from applied research exploring emerging design methods and practices to support new generation product and interface design. The products and interfaces are concerned with: the context of ubiquitous computing and ambient technologies and the need for greater empathy in the pre-programmed behaviour of the ‘machines’ that populate our lives. Such explorative research in the CfDR has been led by Young, supported by Kyffin, Visiting Professor from Philips Design and sponsored by Philips Design over a period of four years (research funding £87k). DeSForM1 was the first of a series of three conferences that enable the presentation and debate of international work within this field: • 1st European conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM1), Baltic, Gateshead, 2005, Feijs L., Kyffin S. & Young R.A. eds. • 2nd European conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM2), Evoluon, Eindhoven, 2006, Feijs L., Kyffin S. & Young R.A. eds. • 3rd European conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM3), New Design School Building, Newcastle, 2007, Feijs L., Kyffin S. & Young R.A. eds. Philips sponsorship of practice-based enquiry led to research by three teams of research students over three years and on-going sponsorship of research through the Northumbria University Design and Innovation Laboratory (nuDIL). Young has been invited on the steering panel of the UK Thinking Digital Conference concerning the latest developments in digital and media technologies. Informed by this research is the work of PhD student Yukie Nakano who examines new technologies in relation to eco-design textiles

Perspectives of electroacoustic music : a critical study of the electroacoustic music of Jonathan Harvey, Denis Smalley and Trevor Wishart.

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D174894 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Distributed Networks of Listening and Sounding: 20 Years of Telematic Musicking

This paper traces a twenty-year arc of my performance and compositional practice in the medium of telematic music, focusing on a distinct approach to fostering interdependence and emergence through the integration of listening strategies, electroacoustic improvisation, pre-composed structures, blended real/virtual acoustics, networked mutual-influence, shared signal transformations, gesture-concepts and machine agencies. Communities of collaboration and exchange over this time period are discussed, which span both pre- and post-pandemic approaches to the medium that range from metaphors of immersion and dispersion to diffraction

Directional adposition use in English, Swedish and Finnish

Directional adpositions such as to the left of describe where a Figure is in relation to a Ground. English and Swedish directional adpositions refer to the location of a Figure in relation to a Ground, whether both are static or in motion. In contrast, the Finnish directional adpositions edellä (in front of) and jäljessä (behind) solely describe the location of a moving Figure in relation to a moving Ground (Nikanne, 2003). When using directional adpositions, a frame of reference must be assumed for interpreting the meaning of directional adpositions. For example, the meaning of to the left of in English can be based on a relative (speaker or listener based) reference frame or an intrinsic (object based) reference frame (Levinson, 1996). When a Figure and a Ground are both in motion, it is possible for a Figure to be described as being behind or in front of the Ground, even if neither have intrinsic features. As shown by Walker (in preparation), there are good reasons to assume that in the latter case a motion based reference frame is involved. This means that if Finnish speakers would use edellä (in front of) and jäljessä (behind) more frequently in situations where both the Figure and Ground are in motion, a difference in reference frame use between Finnish on one hand and English and Swedish on the other could be expected. We asked native English, Swedish and Finnish speakers’ to select adpositions from a language specific list to describe the location of a Figure relative to a Ground when both were shown to be moving on a computer screen. We were interested in any differences between Finnish, English and Swedish speakers. All languages showed a predominant use of directional spatial adpositions referring to the lexical concepts TO THE LEFT OF, TO THE RIGHT OF, ABOVE and BELOW. There were no differences between the languages in directional adpositions use or reference frame use, including reference frame use based on motion. We conclude that despite differences in the grammars of the languages involved, and potential differences in reference frame system use, the three languages investigated encode Figure location in relation to Ground location in a similar way when both are in motion. Levinson, S. C. (1996). Frames of reference and Molyneux’s question: Crosslingiuistic evidence. In P. Bloom, M.A. Peterson, L. Nadel & M.F. Garrett (Eds.) Language and Space (pp.109-170). Massachusetts: MIT Press. Nikanne, U. (2003). How Finnish postpositions see the axis system. In E. van der Zee & J. Slack (Eds.), Representing direction in language and space. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Walker, C. (in preparation). Motion encoding in language, the use of spatial locatives in a motion context. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Lincoln, Lincoln. United Kingdo

Topology of spatial texture in the acousmatic medium

This research explores the dynamic fabric of experienced space in acousmatic music. The topology of spatial texture is a network of concepts treating music as a flexible, textural space, which deforms, shapes, and transforms in time. A comprehensive terminology is introduced, along with five fixed-media electroacoustic compositions, which exemplify a manifestation of spatial texture in composition and musical thinking. The theory draws from research on the cross-modality of texture perception, philosophical discourse on embodied meaning, physics, psychology of visual art, and discourse on space in acousmatic music. Several different structural perspectives are discussed, which reveal how spatial texture incorporates lower sound-structural levels, materiality, states and processes, motion, global networks and terrains, and relationships between space and time. Emphasis is put on visual and physical connections with spatiality in the acousmatic experience: cogency in spatial structure and dynamics reinforces links among modalities. The concepts and terminology are intended as a contribution to theory in the acousmatic medium, relevant to composition, analysis, and listening. The music represents an aesthetic orientation which emphasises materiality and morphology in texture, transformative processes, spatial design, and spatiotemporal polyvalence

Music information modes and their situational relevance among musicians and music students

Musiikkiin liittyvä tietämys ei ole vain sanallista. Muusikon kehonkieltä, musiikin synnyttämää kuulokuvaa, nuotteja ja kirjoituksia musiikista voidaan kaikkia käyttää musiikillisen informaation lähteinä. Koska musiikkiin liittyvät merkkijärjestelmät eivät käänny ongelmattomasti toisiinsa, niillä voi olla erilaisia moodikohtaisia rooleja ja tulkintoja musiikillisessa viestinnässä. Tätä musiikillisen informaation erityispiirrettä ei ole riittävästi huomioitu aikaisemmassa musiikkitiedon hankinnan tutkimuksessa. Vaikka aikaisempi tutkimus osoittaa musiikkiäänitteet ja nuotit muusikoiden ja musiikin opiskelijoiden keskeisiksi tiedontarpeiksi, kysymys siitä miksi eri kohderyhmät tarvitsevat näitä musiikki-informaation moodeja on jäänyt tarkastelematta. Musiikkitiedon hankintaan kohdistuvan tutkimuksen informaatiokäsitettä tulisikin täsmentää. Musiikki-informaation eri moodit tulisi nähdä omina kokonaisuuksina, joilla on moodikohtaisia rooleja ja tulkintoja tiedonhankinnassa. Tämä väitöstutkimus tarkastelee eri abstraktiotasoisten musiikki-informaation moodien tilannerelevanssia tiedonhankinnassa. Tutkimuksen ensimmäisessä vaiheessa kehitettiin musiikki-informaation typologia, joka määrittelee musiikkitiedon hankinnan empiirisen tarkastelun kannalta relevantit musiikkiinformaation moodit. Musiikki-informaatiotypologian toimivuutta testattiin tarkastelemalla miten määritellyt moodit ovat läsnä ammattisäveltäjän kuvauksessa omasta sävellysprosessistaan. Toisessa empiirisessä tutkimuksessa analysoitiin esittävän säveltaiteen tohtoriopiskelijoiden havaintoja musiikki-informaatiomoodien tilannerelevanssista. Kolmannessa empiirisessä tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin, miten esittävän säveltaiteen tohtoriopiskelijat ja musiikkikasvatuksen ja musiikin teorian ja sävellyksen maisteriopiskelijat artikuloivat musiikki-informaatiomoodien tilannerelevanssin tehtäväperustaisen tiedonhankinnan eri vaiheissa. Väitöstutkimuksen tulokset lisäävät ymmärrystämme eri informaatiomoodien rooleista musiikkitiedon hankinnassa ja osoittavat että musiikki-informaation eri abstraktiotasojen huomiointi mahdollistaa aikaisempaa tarkemmat kuvaukset erilaisten kohderyhmien musiikkitiedon hankinnastaWithin the domain of music, knowledge resides not merely in written language, but also in diverse modes of information. Sources of music information may include the gestural language of music making, audible experiences of music, music notation and writings about music. The literature of musicology and musical semiotics suggests that different modes of music information may have roles and interpretations of their own and that it should not be assumed that a direct translation between them exists. As prior studies of musicians’ and music students’ information seeking often draw from humanist studies in general, they have not paid due attention to the modes of music information. Although music recordings and notation have been identified as information need types in prior studies of musicians and music students, the question of why these needs occur has not been examined so far. Thus, there is a need to elaborate on approaches to music information used in studies of musicrelated information seeking. Different music information modes should be defined as information types in their own right and subject to varying roles and interpretations in information seeking. This dissertation research is pioneering in its examination of the situational relevance of music information modes representing music information at varying levels of abstraction. The research began with the development of a typology specifying the modes of music information relevant to the empirical analysis of music-related information seeking. The typology’s accuracy and sufficiency were first examined empirically in a qualitative study focusing on how its information modes were reflected in a verbal description of the compositional process. The second empirical study examined how the situational relevance of the information modes was articulated by Doctor of Music students focusing on music performance. Finally, the third empirical study examined how the information modes were viewed as situationally relevant at different stages of information-seeking processes among Doctor of Music students focusing on music performance and master’s students representing music education and music theory and analysis. The findings of this dissertation research deepen our understanding of the role of varying music information types in information seeking for musical tasks. They suggest that approaching music information through its many layers provides more accurate descriptions of music-related information-seeking processes

Exploring Hybridity: An investigation into the integration of instrumental and acousmatic structural strategies

The aim of this commentary, which accompanies a folio of electroacoustic/acousmatic, instrumental and mixed compositions, is to investigate the relationship of instrumental and acousmatic compositional practices and to find common integrating structural strategies. These practices are also related to the handling and organization of disparate and large amounts of sound information in both media. Multi-dimensional aural spaces are very common in both instrumental and acousmatic media when timbre becomes a dynamic and form shaping parameter. The listener may perceive the musical discourse in multi-dimensional musical spaces through multiple perceptional modes. A musical syntax of those - usually indeterminate and ambiguous - aural spaces may be achieved through a hybridization of interconnected temporal concepts, connected to motion, gesture and shape, and spatial concepts, connected to sound source and timbre. The narrative structure of the musical discourse is linked to conceptualizations of physical and conceptual musical spaces through cognitive schemas and patterns and can be approached through visual and spatial metaphors that resemble film and TV montage structures. A sound montage theory provides a basic framework for the organization of narrative structure in sound composition