The Possibilities of Novel Formal Structures through Computer Controlled Live Performance

Computer controlled performance opens a range of novel structural possibilities. This paper explores the mechanisms and ramifications of this approach, and its potential to expand the repertoire of formal structures available to the composer. Traditional and computer coordinated performance models are compared. Modes of computer control, permutation, transformation and generation are discussed and their implications are evaluated. The range of implications of this approach to the performance environment are given together with illustrations from the author’s own work

The Evaluation of Nonlinear Musical Structures

Our experience of time through music is diverse and often irregular. In Western and non-Western music, composers have explored the idea of exploiting this relationship to create structures that destabilize, fragment and even suspend time. A definition of Nonlinear Structure is proposed based upon evaluation of the level of integration, contingency, compressibility and determinacy of a work. Exemplar works by composers Earle Brown, Béla Bartók, Olivier Messiaen and Brian Eno are discussed

Notational strategies for integrating live performers with complex sounds and environments

This paper describes strategies for integrating live performers with complex “extra-musical” sounds and environments through extended traditional and proportional notations. The subjects of the works discussed include Animals (wardang [2019], kurui [2018]) and environments (rising water [2018], willsons downfall [2018], njookenbooro [2018]) . The techniques include spectrographic transcription, audio processing, extended forms of notation and spatial audio

Some approaches to representing sound with colour and shape

In recent times much of the practice of musical notation and representation has begun a gradual migration away from the monochrome standard that existed since the emergence of printed Non-Western music in the 16th century, towards the full colour pallet afforded by modern printers and computer screens. This move has expanded the possibilities available for the representation of information in the musical score. Such an expansion is arguably necessitated by the growth of new musical techniques favouring musical phenomena that were previously poorly captured by traditional Western musical notation. As time-critical form of visualisation there is a strong imperative for the musical score to employ symbols that signify sonic events and the method of their execution with maximal efficiency. One important goal in such efficiency is “semantic soundness”: the degree to which graphical representations makes inherent sense to the reader. This paper explores the implications of recent research into cross-modal colour-to-sound and shape-to sound mappings for the application of colour and shape in musical scores. The paper also revisits Simon Emmerson’s Super-Score concept as a means to accommodate multiple synchronised forms of sonic representation (the spectrogram and spectral descriptors for example) together with alternative notational approaches (gestural, action-based and graphical for example) in a single digital document

The Problem of Objectivity and the Artistic Conception of the Participant Observer: thoughts on using Lacan’s psychological model of representation in the documentation of creative arts practice as research

This paper discusses issues relating to suitability of the artist as a participant observer researcher. It considers the fitness of the artist as a dependable witness in the process of production of their work. The Lacanian concepts of Real/Imaginary /Symbolic (RIS) and the matrix of the four discourses are examined as a potential source of validation for the participant observer model. Comparisons between this approach and the ‘gold standard’ of scientific research are made

Adapting John Cage\u27s Radio Music for a digital score player

This paper discusses the creation of a digital score reader and installation version of John Cage’s Radio Music. The context surrounding the work’s composition is explored as well as the changing context of the work in light of the evolution of radio broadcasting since the 1950s. The score for the work is explored in detail particularly in regard to the issues its determinate and indeterminate aspects, and their implications upon the performance of the work. The concept of “available indeterminacy” is introduced to describe the real-world limitations that exist as a result of Cage’s specifications for the work. The presence of form-bearing structural features and consequently the potential for the emergence of an indeterminate and nonlinear formal structure from the performance of Radio Music is investigated

Western Electric: A survey of recent Western Australian electronic music

This paper surveys developments in recent Western Australian electronic music through the work of a number of representative artists in a range of internationally recognised genres. The article follows specific cases of practitioners in the fields of Sound Art (Alan Lamb and Hannah Clemen), live and interactive electronics (Jonathan Mustard and Lindsay Vickery) and noise/lo-fi electronics (Cat Hope and Petro Vouris) and glitch/electronica (Dave Miller and Matt Rösner)

Rhizomatic approaches to screen-based music notation

The rhizome concept explored by Deleuze and Guatarri has had an important influence on formal thinking in music and new media. This paper explores the development of rhizomatic musical scores that are arranged cartographically with nodal points allowing for alternate pathways to be traversed. The challenges of pre-digital exemplars of rhizomatic structure are discussed. It follows the development of concepts and technology used in the creation of five works by the author Ubahn c. 1985: the Rosenberg Variations [2012], The Last Years [2012], Sacrificial Zones [2014], detritus [2015] and trash vortex [2015]. this paper discusses the potential for the evolution of novel formal structures using rhizomatic structures

Screen Scores: New Media Music Manuscripts

This paper examines the screening of music notations and the impact of this configuration in a live music performance situation. Before the development of graphical computing, Traditional music notation, was rarely shared with the anyone other than other musicians, composers and analysts; let alone displayed during the performance. However, some composers experiment with scores and their visual presence in performance by employing automated ‘score-players’ or actual films specifically developed to be interpreted by musicians. This paper raises some questions and possibilities for this new way of sharing musical qualities of composition and performance

Towards a notation for trumpet valve rotation

Many contemporary performers and composers seek new sounds through extension of traditional instrument techniques. For the trumpet one such extended technique is valve rotation, the rotation of a trumpet piston valve within its casing affecting the timbral complexity of airstream effects. This paper describes the development of a system for notating valve rotation using a prescriptive graphical language and an animated interface for entering continuous rotation and airstream data