Slippery Bows and Slow Circuits

This article is based on a keynote lecture given at the 51st International Musicological Colloquium, Masaryk University, Brno, that was part lecture, part performance. The lecture was presented in the style of a series of statements with performance elements, of which the order was improvised. In response to the conference call and with reference to DIY electronic music, the article covers the topics of: the relationship between music and technology; what could be considered as post-technological music; technologically generated, supported, or mediated music; and issues arising that relate to virtuosity. The article also discusses the impact of neo-Luddism and the Slow Movement on music technology and Nam June Paik’s declaration ‘I make technology ridiculous’. Examples of work by the author (Dirty Electronics), Gijs Gieskes, John Bowers, and Leonardo Ulian are also discussed

Audiovisual coherence and physical presence: I am there, therefore I am [?]

The following is an attempt at both documentation and discussion of my personal audiovisual practice to date; in particular my attempts over the past four years to bring a complex, largely algorithmic, fixed-media method into a live, improvisatory performance context

Co-tuning virtual-acoustic performance ecosystems: observations on the development of skill and style in the study of musician-instrument relationships

In this paper we report preliminary observations from an ongoing study into how musicians explore and adapt to the parameter space of a virtual-acoustic string bridge plate instrument. These observations inform (and are informed by) a wider approach to understanding the development of skill and style in interactions between musicians and musical instruments. We discuss a performance-driven ecosystemic approach to studying musical relationships, drawing on arguments from the literature which emphasise the need to go beyond simplistic notions of control and usability when assessing exploratory and performatory musical interactions. Lastly, we focus on processes of perceptual learning and co-tuning between musician and instrument, and how these activities may contribute to the emergence of personal style as a hallmark of skilful music-making

Speaker Bra and Wireless Shovel

This paper discusses the development of a new electronic noise instrument using artist-led creative techniques that are informed by dance, sculpture, junk art and post-digital Constructivist aesthetics. 1 The aim is to integrate the gestural and pedestrian performance attributes of dance into live electronic music with a by-product of new creative performance practices and methodologies. The instrument is physical and haptic. It has two parts: a shovel containing movement sensors that acts as a wireless gestural controller, and a bra that contains a sound generating module, amplification and speakers. The instrument is battery powered and independent of laptop devices and large fixed public address systems. The imagery of the instrument approaches the topics of interactive imbalance and the male/female attitudes towards control of any relationship between traditional genders. The design and the agency of this instrument consider the level to which thematic sculptural concepts behind a tool can influence or limit the creative potential of the composer/performer

DubDubDub: Improvisation using the sounds of the world-wide-web

Abstract DubDubDub was an educational project conducted by staff at Egerton High School, Manchester Metropolitan University and UCan.tv. It introduced a new type of musical instrument to the classroom, the DubDubDub player, which developed pupils' musical performance and improvisation skills by using the sonic environment of the Internet. Users of DubDubDub remixed the sonic content of the Internet, arranged sounds and prioritised them in real time to form new musical works. The name DubDubDub references the three 'w's of internet URLs: http://www. The musical improvisations generated by DubDubDub can be combined with other instruments as illustrated during DubDubDub's first performance at the Discourse, Power and Resistance conference( hosted by the University of Plymouth and Manchester Metropolitan University on the 21st April 2006). This paper reflects on the development of DubDubDub and this first performance, providing an insight into how new instruments can be designed to support contemporary approaches to music education

Designing and Composing for Interdependent Collaborative Performance with Physics-Based Virtual Instruments

Interdependent collaboration is a system of live musical performance in which performers can directly manipulate each other’s musical outcomes. While most collaborative musical systems implement electronic communication channels between players that allow for parameter mappings, remote transmissions of actions and intentions, or exchanges of musical fragments, they interrupt the energy continuum between gesture and sound, breaking our cognitive representation of gesture to sound dynamics. Physics-based virtual instruments allow for acoustically and physically plausible behaviors that are related to (and can be extended beyond) our experience of the physical world. They inherently maintain and respect a representation of the gesture to sound energy continuum. This research explores the design and implementation of custom physics-based virtual instruments for realtime interdependent collaborative performance. It leverages the inherently physically plausible behaviors of physics-based models to create dynamic, nuanced, and expressive interconnections between performers. Design considerations, criteria, and frameworks are distilled from the literature in order to develop three new physics-based virtual instruments and associated compositions intended for dissemination and live performance by the electronic music and instrumental music communities. Conceptual, technical, and artistic details and challenges are described, and reflections and evaluations by the composer-designer and performers are documented

Rethinking Interaction: Identity and Agency in the Performance of “Interactive” Electronic Music

This document investigates interaction between human performers and various interactive technologies in the performance of interactive electronic and computer music. Specifically, it observes how the identity and agency of the interactive technology is experienced and perceived by the human performer. First, a close examination of George Lewis’ creation of and performance with his own historic interactive electronic and computer works reveals his disposition of interaction as improvisation. This disposition is contextualized within then contemporary social and political issues related to African American experimental musicians as well as an emerging culture of electronic and computer musicians concerned with interactivity. Second, an auto-ethnographic study reveals a contemporary performers perspective via the author’s own direct interactive experience with electronic and computer systems. These experiences were documented and analyzed using Actor Network Theory, Critical Technical Practice, theories of Embodiment and Embodied Cognition, Lewis’s conceptions of improvisation, as well as Tracy McMullen’s theory of the Improvisative. Analyses from both studies revealed that when and how performers chose to “other” interactive technologies significantly influenced their actions. The implications of this are discussed in terms of identity formation both within performances of interactive electronic music and interactive technologies generally

«Οι δρόμοι της Ανατολής, από το παρελθόν, στο μέλλον» {Ακουστική ερμηνευτική προσέγγιση μεικτής τεχνικής (Musique mixte) σε δύο Έργα Κλασικής Οθωμανικής μουσικής με ζωντανά ηλεκτρονικά σε τετραφωνία (Quadraphonic Live Electronics)}

Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία ολοκληρώνει μέσα από το θεωρητικό και ερευνητικό της μέρος, μία ακουστική ερμηνευτική εκτέλεση η οποία βασίστηκε σε δύο Έργα μεικτής τεχνικής (Musique mixte). Στο οργανικό της μέρος, όπως αυτό αναλύεται στο 2ο κεφάλαιο, αναδεικνύει την λόγια μουσική της Κωνσταντινούπολης όπως αυτή επαναπροσδιοριζόταν και διαμορφωνόταν μέσα από ποίκιλες έντεχνες εκφραστικές απόπειρες, συνθέσεις σε διάφορες φόρμες, οργανικές ή μη, κυρίως από την περίοδο Lale devri (ο καιρός της τουλίπας, 18ος αι. – 19ος αι.). Εκεί όπου βρίσκει κανείς την Οθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία στο υψηλότερο επίπεδο της καλλιτεχνικής της έκφρασης. Η αισθητική μιας μουσικής παράδοσης τόσο άρρηκτα συνδεδεμένης με το ιστορικό και κοινωνικό της περιεχόμενο, τις θρησκείες που ήταν άμεσα συνδεδεμένες με τη μουσική της και τον πολιτισμό της, θα ερμηνευτεί πιστά αλλά και αυτοσχεδιαστικά, μέσω της ηλεκτροακουστικής μουσικής, όπως αυτή αναλύεται στο 3ο κεφάλαιο από αισθητική πλευράς και στο 4ο κεφάλαιο από πρακτικής πλευράς, αλλά και μέσα από το σύγχρονο πρίσμα που χαρακτηρίζει τα νέα λογισμικά και τις σύγχρονες γλώσσες μουσικού προγραμματισμού. Με εφόδια την τεχνολογία, τους υπολογιστές και τα συνεχώς εξελισσόμενα λογισμικά, εκεί όπου οι νέες τεχνικές σύνθεσης έρχονται σε πλήρη αντίθεση με τις παραδοσιακές τεχνικές, στοχεύουμε στην αισθητική σύζευξη μεταξύ οργανικού και ηλεκτροακουστικού μέρους, μέσω μιας υβριδικής ανάμειξης μεθοδολογικών προσεγγίσεων και πρακτικών σε έργα μεικτής τεχνικής (Musique mixte).This thesis completes, through its theoretical and research part, an acoustic interpretive performance which was based on two works of mixed technique (Musique mixte). In its instrumental part, as it is analyzed in the 2nd chapter, it highlights the classical music of Istanbul as it was redefined and shaped through various artistic expressive attempts, compositions in various forms, instrumental or not, mainly from the Lale devri period (the time of the tulip , 18th century – 19th century). Where we find the Ottoman Empire at its highest level of artistic expression. The aesthetics of a musical tradition so inextricably linked to its historical and social content, the religions that were directly linked to its music and its culture, will be interpreted purely but also improvisationally, through electroacoustic music, as it is analyzed in the 3rd chapter by aesthetic side and in the 4th chapter from a practical side, but also through the modern prism that characterizes the new software and modern music programming languages. Equipped with technology, computers and constantly evolving software, where new compositional techniques are in stark contrast to traditional techniques, we aim at the aesthetic coupling between the instrumental and the electro-acoustic part, through a hybrid mixing of methodological approaches and practices in mixed media projects. (Musique mixte)