Resonances: The sound of performance

It is a hot summer night in August 2013, as the audience gathers near the entrance of the large Gray Hall at the south side of the former coal mine Göttelborn (Germany). The sun has set, and there is only the gray light of dusk in the performance space inside, streaming through the large glass façade, falling onto a small array of stones laid out on the floor. Additional light from a video projector streams over the stones, and a tiny figure of a dancer is seen crawling over rocks, moving in the strange, a-syncopated rhythm of jump cuts. Slowly the sound of rocks scratching against a stone surface begins to be heard, it will remain the only sound for a while, then Japanese instrumentalist Emi Watanabe steps into the empty space with her flute

Mimesis stories: composing new nature music for the shakuhachi

Nature is a widespread theme in much new music for the shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute). This article explores the significance of such music within the contemporary shakuhachi scene, as the instrument travels internationally and so becomes rooted in landscapes outside Japan, taking on the voices of new creatures and natural phenomena. The article tells the stories of five compositions and one arrangement by non-Japanese composers, first to credit composers’ varied and personal responses to this common concern and, second, to discern broad, culturally syncretic traditions of nature mimesis and other, more abstract, ideas about the naturalness of sounds and creative processes (which I call musical naturalism). Setting these personal stories and longer histories side by side reveals that composition creates composers (as much as the other way around). Thus it hints at much broader terrain: the refashioning of human nature at the confluence between cosmopolitan cultural circulations and contemporary encounters with the more-than-human world

Seeking out the spaces between: Using improvisation for collaborative composition and interactive technology

Copyright © 2010 ISASTThis article presents findings from experiments into piano performance live electronics undertaken by the author since early 2007. The use of improvisation has infused every step of the process---both as a methodology to obtain meaningful results using interactive technology and as a way to generate and characterize a collaborative musical space with composers. The technology used has included pre-built MIDI interfaces such as the PianoBar, actuators such as miniature DC motors and sensor interfaces including iCube and the Wii controller. Collaborators have included researchers at the Centre for Digital Music (QMUL), Richard Barrett, Pierre Alexandre Tremblay and Atau Tanaka. In seeking to create responsive “performance environments” at the piano, I explore live, performative control of electronics to create better connections for both performer (providing the same level of interpretive freedom as with a “pure” instrumental performance) and audience (communicating clearly to them). I have been lucky to witness first-hand many live interactive performances and to work with various empathetic composers/performers in flexible working environments. Collaborating with experienced technologists and musicians, I have witnessed time and again what, for me, is a fundamental truth in interactive instrumental performance: As a living, spontaneous form it must be nurtured and informed by the performer’s physicality and imagination as much as by the creativity or knowledge of the composer and/or technologist. Specifically in the case of sensors, their dependence on the detail of each person’s body and reactions is so refined as to necessitate, I would argue, an entirely collaborative approach and therefore one that involves at least directed improvisation and, more likely, fairly extensive improvised exploration. The fundamentally personal and intimate nature of sensor readings---the amount of tension created by each performer, the shape of the ancillary gestures or the level of emotional involvement (especially relevant when using galvanic skin response or EEG)---makes creating pieces with sensors extremely difficult for a composer to do in isolation. Improvisation therefore provides a way for performer and composer to generate a common musical and gestural language. Related to these issues is the fact that the technical or notational parameters in interactive music are not yet (and may never be) standardized, thereby creating a very real and practical need for improvisation to figure at least somewhere in the process.This study is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council

Commentary on the Portfolio of Compositions submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Composition

John Goodenough Doctor of Philosophy by Composition Durham University Department of Music 2014 Portfolio Contents 1. Ubi Caritas 2009 - for Violin & Piano 4.36 2. String Quartet 2010 - for String Quartet 5.15 3. Echoes of Poems & Prose 2010 - for small ensemble 32.45 4. Fountains 2011 - for String Quartet 4.45 5. Stato di Cambiamento 2012 - for large ensemble 5.10 6. Triptych 2012 - for small ensemble 5.20 7. Divergenza 2013 - for large orchestra 33.12 Total time 91.03 Other musical examples (not part of the portfolio) Sette archi spezzati 2013 - for small ensemble 5.28 This portfolio has three principal themes. The first, explored with the discussion of Ubi Caritas and the (2010) String Quartet, concerns the interpretation of harmony; that is harmony, plainly being the vertical component in music but having an inbuilt propensity for horizontal movement, including line and counterpoint. In echoes of Poems & Prose, there is a disregard for any horizontal reasoning, harmony is constrained to the point of isolation and focus fundamentally shifts to the chord as 'object'. I consider this 'objective' sense in detail, in subsequent music in this portfolio. A second theme hinges on a discussion of 'musical material' (the term devised by Theodor Adorno); this considered alongside Samuel Beckett's description of a relationship, between 'mess and confusion' (Beckett's terms for material) and the 'form' that contains it. In Echoes of Poems & Prose, I consider material explicitly, in particular the singular sound. With Fountains and Stato di Cambiamento control of the sounds and their overall architecture become increasingly obscure, with issues around form, substantively re-defining the compositional process. A third theme is the consideration of aspects of structure, which become of particular significance in the final pieces Triptych and Divergenza (the term 'structure' being as defined by John Cage). In Triptych, exploration is made of a confining form into which structural material grows; material that yields intensely colourful musical moments. In the final piece Divergenza, the Fibonacci sequence applies a vice-like grip on the material, but as I remove the conceptual dependence on this sequence, the music's intrinsic characteristics of rhythm and character grow to become of central importance

Some Compositional Approaches in the Practice of live-electronic music from the perspective of technique and technological tools

Tools and their technical frameworks impact directly the compositional processes, thus, placing itself as an element of fundamental importance, either in the conception of poetic ideas and images or in the technical realization of a work. In this sense, the present work aims to discuss some aspects of the correlation between technics, poetics, aesthetics, and musical writing in the context of interactive/live-electronics music. This takes place from a dialogue between the ideas of authors and composers, such as Gilbert Simondon, Helmut Lachenmann, and Pierre Boulez about technical frameworks and their implications in musical practice. Thus, we aim to discuss the interrelation between technological devices, musical elements, and poetic images, which are established within the compositional process. These reflections will serve as a theoretical field to introduce and describe some characteristics about compositional thinking of two-piece: "Espasmos" (2017), for trombone and live-electronics, by Vinicius Cesar, and "Caminhos que Levam" (2018), for clarinet and live-electronics, by Thales Roel

Moveable worlds/digital scenographies

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ Intellect Ltd 2010.The mixed reality choreographic installation UKIYO explored in this article reflects an interest in scenographic practices that connect physical space to virtual worlds and explore how performers can move between material and immaterial spaces. The spatial design for UKIYO is inspired by Japanese hanamichi and western fashion runways, emphasizing the research production company's commitment to various creative crossovers between movement languages, innovative wearable design for interactive performance, acoustic and electronic sound processing and digital image objects that have a plastic as well as an immaterial/virtual dimension. The work integrates various forms of making art in order to visualize things that are not in themselves visual, or which connect visual and kinaesthetic/tactile/auditory experiences. The ‘Moveable Worlds’ in this essay are also reflections of the narrative spaces, subtexts and auditory relationships in the mutating matrix of an installation-space inviting the audience to move around and follow its sensorial experiences, drawn near to the bodies of the dancers.Brunel University, the British Council, and the Japan Foundation

Virtual orchestration: a film composer's creative practice

The advent of digital technologies has led to a major change in the process of film music composition; consequent developments in music technology have forced film composers to adapt to this change. Technological innovations such as digital audio workstations (DAWs) and virtual musical instruments have made possible the creation of virtual orchestras that are technologically capable of simulating the sound and behaviour of a traditional acoustic orchestra. This has had an effect on film music production and on the creative process of the professional film composer in a way that today, creating orchestral simulations or 'mock-ups' that imitate live orchestras (or smaller ensembles) has become a requirement in the film industry and thus an essential part of the film-scoring process. In the context of contemporary film music production, this thesis investigates how orchestral simulations are composed and created using computer music technology and virtual sample-based instruments. In asking 'how', the focus is on the film composer's activities and thought processes during this creative cycle, along with the nature of the interactive relationship between composer and music materials. This study aims to show the complexity of the film composer's creative practice and to advance understanding of how the use of computer music technology and orchestral sample libraries is influencing the compositional process and compositional outcome. To address these questions, a qualitative multiple case study methodology approach was chosen that included examination of the practice of seven professional film composers working in the field of feature film as the primary valid source of data. The exploration involved semi-structured interviews with composers, observations and analysis of their studio practice and inspection of their compositional tools. Taken as a whole, the evidence provided by this study is that the process of creating orchestral simulations is a process of film music composition during which professional film composers are creating orchestral sounds through the use of computers, digital sequencing, samplers and sample-based virtual acoustic instruments for the realisation of musical works. It is a process of using and manipulating recorded samples of real acoustic instruments to generate an expressive and convincing musical performance through sample-based orchestral simulation. A characteristic of this compositional practice is that it is a continuous process that proceeds in stages over time where all procedures can be applied repeatedly between stages. The process of creating orchestral simulations for the purpose of the film score is a multifaceted compositional activity involving a complex set of relationships among different compositional states of mind and compositional activities in which film composers experience music and interact with musical materials and media in various ways. This creative activity is a process involving a single person and a mixture of various compositional tools, the composer's skills and abilities brought into existence through a creative process that requires a thorough blend of art and craft to be demonstrated at all times

Musical Totem: A Collaborative Composition Methodology During the Covid-19 Pandemic

As part of the Action Research Network of the Americas, the Musical Learning Community is a collaborative group, founded during the COVID-19 global pandemic, that has brought together musicians, artists, and educators to generate shared experiences. As members of this community, we explore new ways for collaborative music-making. Through creative, cultural, and conceptual influences, the idea of the Musical Totem emerged as a collaborative music composition methodology to transcend geographical distancing. We sought interpretative freedom by adopting methods of the surrealist technique Cadavre Exquis (Exquisite Corpse) while relying on the rich concept of totems to find thematic material and set compositional parameters. The process was carried out using arts-based and autoethnographic research approaches, which provided insights into our creative musical responses and remote collaborative working processes. This endeavor showed us that symbolism can provide compositional and performative challenges and that, as a methodology, the Musical Totem can create freedom and constraints depending on the musician, the conceptual influences, and the instrumentation. We also learned that engaging in a collaborative music-making process led to increased community bonding through shared creative expression