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

RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPTS OF CONSONANCE AND DISSONANCE: ON THE PROBLEM OF MUSICAL AND AESTHETIC AS WELL AS PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL INTERPRETATION

The research aimed at a comprehensive retrospective analysis of the development of “consonance and dissonance” as a musical and aesthetic category in physical and mathematical interpretation; defining the notion of consonance as a musical theoretical and aesthetic category, confirming the relevance of its use in physical and mathematical terminology to explain acoustic phenomena. Research methodology is based on the use of the retrospective method (or the retrospection method), which allowed identifying the theories of consonance and dissonance in the historical retrospective. The periodization method was used to find out individual stages in the development of science in order to discover the leading directions of scientific thought, identify new elements relating to various aspects of “consonance” and “dissonance”. The study of the retrospective review of the development of the notions of consonance and dissonance in the physical and mathematical interpretation involved an interdisciplinary method a way of organizing research work, providing for the interaction of music and mathematics in the study of consonance and dissonance. Scientific novelty. This study is the first to reflect the general tendency towards the mathematization of the humanities and the humanitarization of the physical and mathematical areas of modern culture. Some provisions of musical acoustics were clarified in the context of creating a harmonious conceptual structure. The article presents the author’s concept of clarifying the notion of phase in relation to the spectral structure of an audio signal based on the notion “slightly mistuned consonance”. Conclusions. A retrospective review of the development of the notions of consonance and dissonance in the physical and mathematical interpretation was carried out and presented as a comprehensive description and review of the formation of concepts in the temporal sequence of their creation. Retrospectiveness through a review of significant discoveries and achievements in music and natural science allowed tracing the formation of the theories of consonance and dissonance from the standpoint of the interdisciplinarity of modern knowledge in the humanities. The further process of the development of sound musical art technologies requires a significantly higher scientific level of their study, the creation of a coherent conceptual system based on modern physical and mathematical sciences as well as computer science to explain sound acoustic phenomena. Rezumat. RETROSPECTIVA DEZVOLTĂRII CONCEPTELOR DE CONSONANȚĂ ȘI DISONANȚĂ: ASUPRA PROBLEMEI INTERPRETĂRII MUZICALE ȘI ESTETICE, PRECUM ȘI FIZICE ȘI MATEMATICE. Cercetarea a avut ca scop o analiză retrospectivă cuprinzătoare a evoluției "consonanței și disonanței" ca și categorie muzicală și estetică în interpretarea fizică și matematică; definirea noțiunii de consonanță ca o categorie teoretică și estetică muzicală, confirmând relevanța utilizării acesteia în terminologia fizică și matematică pentru explicarea fenomenelor acustice. Metodologia cercetării se bazează pe utilizarea metodei retrospective (sau metoda retrospecției), care a permis identificarea teoriilor consonanței și disonanței în retrospectiva istorică. Metoda de periodizare a fost utilizată pentru a afla etapele individuale în dezvoltarea științei, pentru a descoperi direcțiile principale ale gândirii științifice, pentru a identifica elemente noi legate de diferite aspecte ale "consonanței" și "disonanței". Studiul retrospectiv al dezvoltării noțiunilor de consonanță și disonanță în interpretarea fizică și matematică a implicat o metodă interdisciplinară, un mod de organizare a activității de cercetare, care prevede interacțiunea dintre muzică și matematică în studiul consonanței și disonanței. Noutate științifică. Acest studiu este primul care reflectă tendința generală de matematizare a științelor umaniste și de umanitarizare a domeniilor fizice și matematice ale culturii moderne. Au fost clarificate unele prevederi ale acusticii muzicale în contextul creării unei structuri conceptuale armonioase. Articolul prezintă conceptul autorului de clarificare a noțiunii de fază în raport cu structura spectrală a unui semnal audio, bazat pe noțiunea de "consonanță ușor dezacordată". Concluzii. A fost realizată o retrospectivă a dezvoltării noțiunilor de consonanță și disonanță în interpretarea fizică și matematică și prezentată ca o descriere și o revizuire cuprinzătoare a formării conceptelor în secvența temporală a creării lor. Retrospectiva printr-o trecere în revistă a descoperirilor și realizărilor semnificative din domeniul muzicii și al științelor naturale a permis urmărirea formării teoriilor consonanței și disonanței din perspectiva interdisciplinarității cunoașterii moderne în domeniul științelor umaniste. Continuarea procesului de dezvoltare a tehnologiilor artei muzicale sonore necesită un nivel științific semnificativ mai ridicat al studiului acestora, crearea unui sistem conceptual coerent bazat pe științele fizice și matematice moderne, precum și informatică pentru a explica fenomenele acustice sonore. Cuvinte-cheie: consonanță, disonanță, consonanță neacordată, armonice superioare, armonice, bătăi, fază, componentă spectral

Tangible user interfaces : past, present and future directions

In the last two decades, Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) have emerged as a new interface type that interlinks the digital and physical worlds. Drawing upon users' knowledge and skills of interaction with the real non-digital world, TUIs show a potential to enhance the way in which people interact with and leverage digital information. However, TUI research is still in its infancy and extensive research is required in or- der to fully understand the implications of tangible user interfaces, to develop technologies that further bridge the digital and the physical, and to guide TUI design with empirical knowledge. This paper examines the existing body of work on Tangible User In- terfaces. We start by sketching the history of tangible user interfaces, examining the intellectual origins of this field. We then present TUIs in a broader context, survey application domains, and review frame- works and taxonomies. We also discuss conceptual foundations of TUIs including perspectives from cognitive sciences, phycology, and philoso- phy. Methods and technologies for designing, building, and evaluating TUIs are also addressed. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limita- tions of TUIs and chart directions for future research

End-user action-sound mapping design for mid-air music performance

How to design the relationship between a performer’s actions and an instrument’s sound response has been a consistent theme in Digital Musical Instrument (DMI) research. Previously, mapping was seen purely as an activity for DMI creators, but more recent work has exposed mapping design to DMI musicians, with many in the field introducing soware to facilitate end-user mapping, democratising this aspect of the DMI design process. This end-user mapping process provides musicians with a novel avenue for creative expression, and offers a unique opportunity to examine how practising musicians approach mapping design.Most DMIs suffer from a lack of practitioners beyond their initial designer, and there are few that are used by professional musicians over extended periods. The Mi.Mu Gloves are one of the few examples of a DMI that is used by a dedicated group of practising musicians, many of whom use the instrument in their professional practice, with a significant aspect of creative practice with the gloves being end-user mapping design. The research presented in this dissertation investigates end-user mapping practice with the Mi.Mu Gloves, and what influences glove musicians’ design decisions based on the context of their music performance practice, examining the question: How do end-users of a glove-based mid-air DMI design action–sound mapping strategies for musical performance?In the first study, the mapping practice of existing members of the Mi.Mu Glove community is examined. Glove musicians performed a mapping design task, which revealed marked differences in the mapping designs of expert and novice glove musicians, with novices designing mappings that evoked conceptual metaphors of spatial relationships between movement and music, while more experienced musicians focused on designing ergonomic mappings that minimised performer error.The second study examined the initial development period of glove mapping practice. A group of novice glove musicians were tracked in a longitudinal study. The findings supported the previous observation that novices designed mappings using established conceptual metaphors, and revealed that transparency and the audience’s ability to perceive their mappings was important to novice glove musicians. However, creative mapping was hindered by system reliability and the novices’ poorly trained posture recognition.The third study examined the mapping practice of expert glove musicians, who took part in a series of interviews. Findings from this study supported earlier observations that expert glove musicians focus on error minimisation and ergonomic, simple controls, but also revealed that the expert musicians embellished these simple controls with performative ancillary gestures to communicate aesthetic meaning. The expert musicians also suffered from system reliability, and had developed a series of gestural techniques to mitigate accidental triggering.The fourth study examined the effects of system-related error in depth. A laboratory study was used to investigate how system-related errors impacted a musician’s ability to acquire skill with the gloves, finding that a 5% rate of system error had a significant effect on skill acquisition.Learning from these findings, a series of design heuristics are presented, applicable for use in the fields of DMI design, mid-air interaction design and end-user mapping design

Post-Euphoria in Electronic Music Making

Engaging in a range of electronic music making techniques, this doctoral, practice-based project examines the creative interpretation of “post-euphoria”: a concept conceived here to describe a retrospective subjectivity that encapsulates reminiscing and an afterglow feeling in relation to lost euphoric experiences. The study aims to establish a musical aesthetic the responds to this concept using DAW tools, to form a body of musical work comprising a collection of recordings. Identifying a lack of available practice-based studies on music production practices that deal with memory and recollection, particularly in connection with electronic dance music and its concomitant cultural events, the research contributes insights to this underexplored area. To examine how post-euphoria can be interpreted through electronic music making, the research firstly conducts interviews with comparable electronic music practitioners whose work is informed by themes of recollection and reminiscing in the context of electronic dance music. Insights gained in the interviews then inform the main creative investigation, which is pursued by utilising the DAW Ableton Live and its built-in tools. Developed as part of the creative investigation are production and compositional strategies and a body of ten original recordings, accompanied by this critical exegesis that examines and contextualises the creative practices established. Undertaking the study enabled an understanding of ways in which elements of electronic music production can be used figuratively to embody conceptual meanings relating to reminiscing and recollection. It further demonstrates how electronic dance music tropes can be employed, alongside sampling-inspired and self-remixing techniques, to connote a sense of missing euphoria and to suggest transformations that occur in the memory of fleeting experiences. Finally, the study shows how these musical elements can be incorporated within a songwriting framework and as part of an integrated collection of corresponding recordings, to further the musical interpretation of post-euphoria

Machine-Age Discourse, Mechanical Ballet, and Popular Song as Alternative Document in Dorothy Livesay’s "Day and Night"

Dorothy Livesay's "Day and Night" has often been cited as the proof text for her 1969 essay on the Canadian documentary poem, but its "documents" are not those conventionally incorporated in the documentary film and literary traditions. Livesay creates a documentary effect in the poem through dialogic popular culture citation and recontextualization. Documentary poem theory, such as that of Michael Thurston and Tyrus Miller, offers a point of departure for understanding the musical and film intertexts in "Day and Night" within the tradition of documentary modernism practiced by the socialist left. The poem participates in a horizon of "Machine Age" discourse prominent in a variety of art forms, in race politics in the labour movement, and in what Candida Rifkind sees as the disavowal of a bourgeois life of leisure by the socialist intelligentsia, who came to see their intellectual/artistic work as a form of labour positioned alongside the common worker

Artificial Intelligence - Intelligent Art? Human-Machine Interaction and Creative Practice

As algorithmic data processing increasingly pervades everyday life, it is also making its way into the worlds of art, literature and music. In doing so, it shifts notions of creativity and evokes non-anthropocentric perspectives on artistic practice. This volume brings together contributions from the fields of cultural studies, literary studies, musicology and sound studies as well as media studies, sociology of technology, and beyond, presenting a truly interdisciplinary, state-of-the-art picture of the transformation of creative practice brought about by various forms of AI

2022-2023 Course Catalog

2022-2023 Course Catalo