Renegotiating Responsibilities in Human-Computer Ensembles

This paper proposes discussions for the (re)negotiation of responsibilities in performances that involve a collaboration between human and computer agents. Most of current research is human-hierarchical, leaving the machine the role of a mere tool at performer’s service. In this paper a more balanced distribution of responsibilities between the two agent is proposed. Chimney, a software developed by one of the authors, is proposed as a design probe to reflect on this topic. Chimney allows the composer to control only the musical material of a piece, leaving its evolution to an algorithmic agent whose decisions are unpredictable. This redistribution of responsibilities results in a compositional shift that causes the roles of the composer / performer to overlap. The implications for the experience of the performer operating Chimney are also discussed

Research Report - October 2009. Elaboration of the Module: Definition of the Programme

Alternative innovative didactic methodology is needed to reduce premature school drop out,particularly of young people at risk of exclusion, such as migrants, ethnic groups and children/teenagers from difficult socio-economic background). The key point is to modify the way to deliver learning. Cultural enrichment through young interestas such as music and art, use of technologies, social competencies, problem-solving skills incomputer science, autonomy and sense of purpose may help childhood and adolescence to achieve an improved engagement in school and a sense of educational accomplishmen

"Musica adattata allintelligenza ed alle esigenze del pubblico" : Giuseppe Verdi, Errico Petrella, and their Audience

As we shall see, the two composers can be understood as opposites in many respects. While some superficial details of Verdis style were imitated by contemporary operatic composers, Verdi should be understood as exceptional, as pursuing a unique path amidst the Italian opera of his time. Rather than imitating either the concision of Verdis operas or their even more striking dramatic intensity, Petrella and most other Italian composers of the period instead downplayed these elements and sought instead to develop melodic appeal above all

The Puccini Code

Written in the style of novelist Dan Brown and using actual quotations from Puccini’s letters and other documents, the author creates the characters Prof. Segugio and her assistant Christie Hunter who explore Puccini’s compositional practices in the unfinished opera Turandot. They work toward solving the riddles of Puccini’s technique – parallel constructions, abrupt changes in texture and style, a sense of tonal coherence in polytonal or atonal settings – by reading contemporary and modern critics and by closely examining the scores. Prof. Segugio ultimately sorts Puccini’s unusual techniques into two compositional types: direct and indirect conflation, two forms of layering that combine to create a score with a diatonic basis be- neath modernistic elements. Documentary evidence supporting these conclusions is found in an unpublished note by the composer, at Yale’s Beinecke Rare Book Library, and in a rare sketch for Turandot’s finale with written indications by the composer

Mozart and l'impresario

In May 1856, less than a year after opening, Jacques Offenbach’s Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens mounted a production of Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor entitled L’Impresario. Originally written in 1786 as a play with music consisting of no more than an overture and four numbers, Der Schauspieldirektor posed problems for would-be performers throughout the nineteenth century. Attempts to turn it into a one-act comic opera included adding numbers from Cimarosa’s L’impresario in angustie (1791), and from operas by Dittersdorf and others (1814). Louis Schneider’s solution for Berlin (1845) lengthened the opera by adding in songs and romances from elsewhere in Mozart’s own output. This served as the basis for Offenbach’s version a decade later, when Léon Battu and Ludovic Halévy wrote a completely new libretto to turn the Singspiel into an opéra bouffe for Offenbach’s troupe. L’Impresario enhanced the status of the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens when previously its activities had barely been considered seriously by the press, and also contributed significantly to the enshrinement of Mozart in Paris in his centenary year. Offenbach’s cast, selected from recent Conservatoire graduates, avoided the comic duo who had ensured the troupe’s earlier success in an attempt to sustain an image of the work to equal that of Don Giovanni or Le nozze di Figaro. In complicating the relationship between composer and entrepreneur both on and off the stage, L’Impresario brought Mozart into Offenbach’s theatrical world and invited operatic collusion between what was emerging as high and low art: the reception of Mozart and operetta

Analysing the Creative Process through a Modelling of Tools and Methods for Composition in Hans Tutschku’s Entwurzelt

The analysis of the creative processes involved in electroacoustic music may to a large extent rely on the thorough study of the technological tools used for the realisation of a musical work, both on the composition and on the performance sides. Understanding the behaviour and potential range of aesthetic results of such tools enables the musicologist to approach the studied work much beyond its final form, as presented on tape or as performed on a particular occasion: gaining knowledge on a wider technological context leads to considering the actual artistic decisions in the perspective of the potential outcomes that the composer and performer could face but not necessarily adopt. Hence, analysing an electroacoustic work on the basis of the study of its creative context, technological tools and compositional methods may constitute a useful approach to a better understanding of its related creative processes. However, the implementation of such an approach, mainly based on the hardware or software elements used during the creation of a given work, is not straightforward. First, it implies that the considered technologies are still in use and have not be come irreversibly obsolete. In this matter, new performances of a work are good opportunities for such investigations, as they often provide a technical update and require a deep understanding of the composer’s intentions. The musicologist also needs to have access to the resources, which may not be available without a direct contact with the composer. Assuming these conditions are reached,the musicological and organological studies can encounter another issue, particularly in the digital domain: the sources are not always presented under forms that are directly readable by the analyst, for instance with a specific programming language. Despite all these possible difficulties, many cases of technological tools lean themselves to an in-depth investigation, leading to relevant conclusions on some of the creative processes appearing in the field of electroacoustic music. In the context of a common session of several analytical approaches to a same electroacoustic piece, Hans Tutschku’s Entwurzelt for six singers and electronics (2012), this article focuses on the investigation and modelling of tools and methods of the compositional stage of the realisation of the work. During a performance of Entwurzelt, the electronic materials are simply triggered as events by one of the singers, without further interactivity–thus, the essential part of the research on the electroacoustic realisation aims at exploring the processes used during the compositional stage itself. As the electronics are used as an extension of the live vocal expression by the means of harmonic amplification and complex texturing, the tools for generation and processing of both symbolic representations and audio explored. Since the software tools that constitute the primary sources for our research were not directly designed to be used beyond their creative purposes, this talk presents software modelling implemented by the two authors to demonstrate the technological context in which Tutschku could compose Entwurzelt, emphasizing his creative methods and the decisions he could make upon a wider range of possible materials and processing techniques