Composing with Microsound: An Approach to Structure and Form when Composing for Acoustic Instruments with Electronics

This paper explores the implications of using microsound as an organising principle when structuring composition for acoustic instruments and electronics. The ideas are presented in the context of a composition by the author for bass clarinet, flute, piano and electronics: The Sea Turns Sand To Stone (2015). After giving a definition of microsound, the compositional affordances of microsound are considered. Microsound is presented as an aesthetically rich tool for creating cohesion between acoustic and electroacoustic sounds and different parameters for manipulating the sounds are presented. Issues of structure and form are discussed and the challenges of creating a coherent environment that uses both note-based and texture-based material are explored. The implications of applying different models of form to mixed compositions are considered. This leads to a discussion of the different relationships that exist between the acoustic and the electroacoustic parts of a composition. Extended instrumental techniques provide one way of creating perceptual links between the acoustic and the electroacoustic. Examples of the way such techniques have been used in conjunction with microsound to impose a structural framework on The Sea Turns Sand To Stone are given. Finally, the use of a pure sound/noise axis, mediated through the application of microsound, is presented as a viable organising principle for structuring mixed compositions. The implications of such a model are explored and the underlying structure of The Sea Turns Sand To Stone is presented as a practical example of the application of the process

Displaced Light: A Composition for Six Instruments and Electronics

Displaced Light, for six instruments and live electronics is an exercise in the use of microsound in a live context, realised through an environment for real time granulation built in Max. The electroacoustic part and the acoustic part have been integrated from the beginning of the composition process through structural frameworks informed by the application of microsound. The electroacoustic part has been notated and related to the acoustic part through the application of a system of graphical notation created specifically for the composition. The sound of the acoustic instruments is always to some degree perceivable, however remotely, in the electroacoustic material

The Impact of the Digital Instrument and the Score on Controlled Improvisation When using Acoustic Instruments in an Electroacoustic Context

This paper considers various elements that influence the decisions taken when designing performance environments for compositions featuring acoustic instruments with electronics. The implications of choosing different models for the control of the electronics are discussed. Models lying along a continuum between fully automated systems at one end and passive environments controlled by a human performer at the other are considered. The ways in which choices made when mapping control parameters to the sound engine affect the affordances available to the human performer are explored, and the advantages of using a score to define parameters for improvisation are discussed. Following from this, different models for notating the electronic part in mixed compositions are presented and the implication of using the computer as the principal agent for controlling the electronic part are considered. This leads into a discussion as to what constitutes a score for the electronic part. Different paradigms are presented and their implications considered. The paper then discusses the ease of encoding and decoding musical information at different representational levels into and out of a computer. This has implications for machine learning and score following systems. The paper concludes by presenting an example of a digital performance environment from the author’s own work, together with a score for controlled improvisation using the interface

Composing Music for Acoustic Instruments and Electronics Mediated Through the Application of Microsound

This project seeks to extend, through a portfolio of compositions, the use of microsound to mixed works incorporating acoustic instrument and electronics. Issues relating to the notation of microsound when used with acoustic instruments are explored and the adoption of a clear and intuitive system of graphical notation is proposed. The design of the performance environment for the electroacoustic part is discussed and different models for the control of the electronics are considered. Issues relating to structure and form when applied to compositions that mix note-based material with texture-based material are also considered. A framework based on a pure sound/noise continuum, used in conjunction with a hierarchy of gestural archetypes, is adopted as a possible solution to the challenges of structuring mixed compositions. Gestural and textural relationships between different parts of the compositions are also explored and the use of extended instrumental techniques to create continua between the acoustic and the electroacoustic is adopted. The role of aleatoric techniques and improvisation in both the acoustic and the electroacoustic parts are explored through adoption of an interactive performance environment incorporating a pitch-tracking algorithm. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of real time recording and processing of the electronic part when compared with live processing of pre-existing sound-files are discussed

Interventions

Composition for Flute, Bass Clarinet, Piano and Electronics Public Concert at Department of Music Durham University Part of DurhamKLANG14 Festival Richard Craig: Flute Dov Goldberg: Bass Clarinet John Snijders: Piano Marc Estibeiro: Composer and Electronic

Displaced Light for Six Instruments and Electronics

Small Chamber Ensemble and Electronic

Earth White Fracture

Composition for Contrabass Flute, Cello and Electronics Public Performance (3rd June 2015) and Workshop (23rd May 2015) Richard Craig: Contrabass Flute Seth Woods: Cello Marc Estibeiro: Composer and Electronic

With Time Not in Time

Composition for Bass Clarinet, Piano and Electronics Public Performance: Keele University Music Department (As part of the Keele Forum Concert Series) SCAW Duo Sarah Watts: Bass Clarinet Anthony Clare: Piano Marc Estibeiro: Composer and Electronic

Composing Music for Acoustic Instruments and Electronics Mediated Through the Application of Microsound

This project seeks to extend, through a portfolio of compositions, the use of microsound to mixed works incorporating acoustic instrument and electronics. Issues relating to the notation of microsound when used with acoustic instruments are explored and the adoption of a clear and intuitive system of graphical notation is proposed. The design of the performance environment for the electroacoustic part is discussed and different models for the control of the electronics are considered. Issues relating to structure and form when applied to compositions that mix note-based material with texture-based material are also considered. A framework based on a pure sound/noise continuum, used in conjunction with a hierarchy of gestural archetypes, is adopted as a possible solution to the challenges of structuring mixed compositions. Gestural and textural relationships between different parts of the compositions are also explored and the use of extended instrumental techniques to create continua between the acoustic and the electroacoustic is adopted. The role of aleatoric techniques and improvisation in both the acoustic and the electroacoustic parts are explored through adoption of an interactive performance environment incorporating a pitch-tracking algorithm. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of real time recording and processing of the electronic part when compared with live processing of pre-existing sound-files are discussed

The Sea Turns Sand to Stone

Composition for Flute, Bass Clarinet, Piano and Electronics Winner of the William Mathias Composition Prize 2015 Public performance as part of the Bangor Music Festival 2015 Bangor University Carla Rees: Flute Heather Roche: Bass Clarinet Xenia Pestova: Piano Marc Estibeiro: Composer and Electronic