composing with process: perspectives on generative and ... - rwm macba

Research > COMPOSING WITH PROCESS: PERSPECTIVES ON GENERATIVE AND SYSTEMS MUSIC Generative music is a term used to describe music which has been composed using a set of rules or system. This series of nine episodes explores generative approaches (including algorithmic, systems-based, formalised and procedural) to composition and performance primarily in the context of experimental technologies and music practices of the latter part of the twentieth century and examines the use of determinacy and indeterminacy in music and how these relate to issues around control, automation and artistic intention. Each episode in the series is accompanied by an additional programme featuring exclusive or unpublished sound pieces by leading sound artists and composers working in the field.

PDF Contents: 01. Summary 02. Playlist Part I 03. Bibliography 04. Related links 05. Acknowledgments 06. Copyright note

Written and edited by Mark Fell and Joe Gilmore. Narrated by Connie Treanor. Mark Fell is a Sheffield (UK) based artist and musician. He has performed and exhibited extensively at major international festivals and institutions. In 2000 he was awarded an honorary mention at the prestigious ARS Electronica, and in 2004 was nominated for the Quartz award for research in digital music. He recently completed a major new commission for Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna which premiered at Youniverse, International Biennal of Contemporary Arts, Sevilla. www.markfell.com Joe Gilmore is an artist and graphic designer based in Leeds (UK). His work has been exhibited at various digital art festivals and galleries. His recorded works have been published internationally on several record labels including: 12k/Line (New York), Entr'acte (London), Cut (Zürich), Fällt (Belfast) and Leonardo Music Journal (San Francisco). Joe is currently a part-time lecturer in the department of Graphic Design at Leeds College of Art & Design. He is also a founder of rand()%, an Internet radio station which streamed generative music. joe.qubik.com

COMPOSING WITH PROCESS: PERSPECTIVES ON GENERATIVE AND SYSTEMS MUSIC #7.1 Approaches to change

This episode considers the notion of change in music. It asks how we perceive and quantify change in musical structures, and how generative processes disrupt and enlarge our sense of surprise, expectation, tension and boredom.

01. Summary The seventh episode in the series looks at how several notable composers working with generative systems conceive of, control and implement change in their works. Change plays a central role in music. Music develops into different phases, has a temporal structure of one sort or another, even a sustained waveform changes in some respect throughout its duration. Based upon interviews and drawing from previously unpublished materials the show examines notions of repetition, anticipation and predictability, the interplay of change at distinct altitudes within the work, and the role of automation and human agency to invoke change.

02. Playlist Part I Jim O’Rourke, ‘Mizu No Nai Umi, Live Version’ (excerpt) (Mizu No Nai Umi, Headz, 2005) Raymond Scott, ‘Tic Toc’ (excerpt) (Soothing Sounds for Baby – Volume 1: 1 To 6 Months, Epic, 1962) Anthony Pateras & Robin Fox, ‘Apocalypse Now & Then’ (Flux Compendium, Editions Mego, 2006) Russell Haswell, ‘Multicultural nO!se @ -17.5 dB RMS (Black, Brown, Pink and White nO!se + Mix)’ (Value + Bonus, No Fun Productions, 2010) Sinusoidal wave, 440hz Ø (Mika Vaino) ‘Twin Bleebs’ (Metri, Sähkö Recordings, 1994) James Tenney, ‘Koan’, played by Eric KM Clark at the SASSAS 10th Anniversary Concert, Los Angeles, 2009 Theo Burt, 'Defecate' (excerpt), unreleased, 2012 Theo Burt, 'Eatery' (excerpt) unreleased, 2012 Theo Burt, for The Automatics Group ‘Castles in the Sky Divided into 775 Pieces of Equal Duration and Reassembled in Order of Detected Pitch, Ascending’, unreleased, 2012 Florian Hecker, ‘1’ (Triadex Muse Treks, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, 2012) Florian Hecker, ‘18’ (Triadex Muse Treks, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, 2012) Keith Fullerton Whitman, ‘Nadra Phalanx #1’ (excerpt), unreleased, 2012 Peter Zinovieff, ‘MBFSAATSE’ (excerpt), commission for The Morning Line sound installation, TBA21 2011

03. Bibliography Ciarán Maher. ‘James Tenney on Intention, Harmony and Phenomenology – A Different View of the Larger Picture’, in MusicWorks Issue 77, 2000. Edward Fredkin, Marvin Minsky, Filed 1970, Digital Music Synthesizer, US Patent 3610801.

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04. Related links Theo Burt www.theoburt.com James Tenney www.plainsound.org/JTwork.html James Tenney’s text home.snafu.de/walterz/biblio/15_james_tenney.pdf [Theo Burt, tiling session, V22, Londres, 2012]

Triadex Muse en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triadex_Muse On Phenomenology plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology Raymond Scott raymondscott.com

05. Acknowledgements Recorded at The Music Research Centre, University of York, UK. Special thanks to Theo Burt, Florian Hecker and Peter Zinovieff.

06. Copyright note 2012. All rights reserved. © by the respective authors and publishers. Ràdio Web MACBA is a non-profit research and transmission project. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders; any errors or omissions will be corrected whenever it's possible upon notification in writing to the publisher.

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