Nexus roject: Three Electro-Acoustic Comositios A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Brett A Wartchow IN ARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF HILOSOHY Advisor, Alex Lubet May 2012
Brett A Wartchow 2012
Ackowledgemets This roject is the result of a icredible cofluece of creative eergy, visio, ad ecouragemet. To my beloved wife ad daughters, thak you for your uceasig love ad sirit of fortitude, for your humor, urity, ad ability to kee me hoest. To my arets, thak you for your geerosity, otimism, ad for always urgig me oward. To Feli, Greg, Scotty, ad Jey, thak you for beig willig to follow me dow the rabbit hole ad for cotributig your sigular voices to the realizatio of these ieces. Ad to Alex, thak you for rovidig me the chace to realize my ambitios ad for eablig me to see the forest for the trees. i
Dedicatio The ieces of this roject are dedicated to those who hear them. ii
Abstract This h.d. dissertatio cosists of three comositios a cocert iece, a itermedia collaboratio, ad a structured imrovisatio reseted as digital audio recordigs. This roject aimed to meet two objectives. At the most cocetual level I attemted to exlore how uiquely coceived electro-acoustic soud desig could, as both a comositioal tool ad erformace eviromet, simultaeously accetuate ad obliterate the boudaries of idividual erformace gesture. My secod goal was to create three elegatly coceived comositios ad reset them as digital audio recordigs. This accomayig aer details the roject s uderiig cocets ad the creative rocesses resultig i its realizatio. iii
Table of Cotets Ackowledgemets.i Dedicatio ii Abstract iii Table of Cotets iv List Of Figures..v I. Nexus roject: A Overview....1 II. Tides: Cocert Comositio For Flute, ercussio, ad Stereo Electro-Acoustics..4 III. ocket Requiem, art I: Itermedia Collaboratio with Feli Costaglioli.10 IV. astiches: Structured Imrovisatios for Cello ad Real-Time Stereo Electro-Acoustics.15 Figures..22 iv
List of Figures Figure 1.1: Aemoe Score, age 1 22 Figure 1.1: Aemoe Score, age 2 23 Figure 1.1: Aemoe Score, age 3 24 Figure 1.1: Aemoe Score, age 4 25 Figure 1.2: Tides Electro-Acoustic rocessig Istrumet, Soud Editor 26 Figure 1.3: Tides Electro-Acoustic rocessig Istrumet, Virtual Cotrol Surface..27 Figure 2.1: ocket Requiem, art I, Text 28 Figure 2.2: ocket Requiem, art I, Kyma Timelie (excert) 29 Figure 3.1: astiches, astiche 1 ad astiche 3, Soud Editor 30 Figure 3.2: astiches, astiche 1 ad astiche 3, Virtual Cotrol Surface.31 Figure 3.3: astiches, astiche 2, Soud Editor... 32 Figure 3.4: astiches, astiche 2, Virtual Cotrol Surface.33 Figure 3.5: astiches, astiche 4, Soud Editor 34 Figure 3.6: astiches, astiche 4, Virtual Cotrol Surface..35 v
I. NEXUS ROJECT: AN OVERVIEW The ieces icluded i this roject are, i the most broad cocetual sese, a comositioal exloratio of the boudaries of erformace gesture. I varied my aroach to this exloratio i each iece. Therefore, each comositio features a uique laig scheme ad rocess of realizatio. However, desite the diverse rage of my aroaches, each of the three ieces share the same cocetual defiitio of gesture. It is imortat to clarify that this roject is i o way a attemt to formulate either a fiite or all-ecomassig iterdisciliary defiitio of gesture. Such a goal falls well outside the objectives of this dissertatio. However, i order to roceed I eeded to formulate a geeralized otio of gesture that, if othig else, rovided me with a cocrete cocetual etry oit. For the uroses of this roject, I defie gesture as a soud evet the distiguishig characteristics of which are reresetative of the kietic eergies exressed by the idividual erformer. Usig this defiitio as a oit of dearture, I bega my comositioal laig of the idividual ieces. The three aroaches I chose are reresetative of my three areas of comositioal iterest cocert music, itermedia collaboratio, ad imrovisatio. With these categories servig as a structural framework, I chose to emloy elemets of electro-acoustic soud desig as both a comositioal tool ad as a erformace eviromet. My motivatios i icororatig music techologies were both ractical ad aesthetic. 1
Because the cocetual uderiig of this roject icororated a exloratory aroach, I acceted that my creative rocesses would otetially be highly exerimetal, ad by cosequece, soically abstract. However, it was also my goal to create comositios that souded clearly coceived. My use of music techologies i geeral, ad the Kyma soud desig latform i articular, rovided the ecessary meas by which I could take a exloratory aroach ad simultaeously evaluate the quality of my musical cotet i real time. Furthermore, I could evaluate my rogress as digital audio the same form of resetatio that my comleted ieces would take. For the goals of this roject, I fid this aroach referable to oe based urely i score otatio, rimarily because a score-based comositio would ot allow me to exeriece the audible results of my work util after the iece s comletio. Usig real-time electro-acoustic elemets greatly facilitated my feedback loo of creative selfevaluatio ad eabled me to make ecessary adjustmets to my work i direct resose to how they would actually be exerieced i their fial form. The iteractive elemet of real-time electro-acoustic comositio also offers amle creative otios for egagig the audible results of erformace gesture. For each of the three comositios, Kyma my electro-acoustic soud desig latform of choice rovided the meas by which I could egage erformace gesture i a highly customizable way, both cocetually ad musically. I a umber of cases, amely i the structured imrovisatios, these customizatios took the form of fully fuctioal istrumets that eabled real-time tactile cotrol of soud rocessig. 2
I coceivig this roject I gave extesive cosideratio to the format of its fial resetatio. The scoe of the roject ecessitated that I balace the ragmatic demads of a h.d. dissertatio with the eed to aesthetically rereset the roject as a set of musical comositios. The format of recorded digital audio satisfies both of these requiremets. I believe that this roject is most authetically rereseted as a soud-based documet as oosed to a otatio- or text-based oe. For this reaso, digital audio is the most authetic mode of resetatio, simly because all three ieces icororate, to a greater or lesser degree, electro-acoustic elemets otimized for stereo listeig. The format of stereo digital audio also meets three imortat ractical cosideratios. First, these ieces share a sigle cocetual uderiig. Digital audio i the form of a comact disc offers a shared eviromet for these ieces to exist i the same lace as a set. Secod, a comact disc serves as the simlest, ad most coveiet meas of delivery without sacrificig reresetatio of the roject's visio ad aesthetic. Third, these comositios are fully documeted as a soic exeriece. This eables me to rereset the ieces i the format that festivals, residecy oortuities, cofereces, ad record labels require for alicatio. 3
II. TIDES: CONCERT COMOSITION FOR FLUTE, ERCUSSION, AND STEREO ELECTRO-ACOUSTICS I took my iitial stes i comosig Tides i the summer of 2011 by creatig Aemoe for flutist Jey Hase ad ercussioist Scotty Horey of the Mieaolis-based Rococo Duo. This quiet ad slow twety-measure comositio is characterized by hrases of breath-legth sustaied toes itersersed with eriods of silece. The cocet of this iece was isired by the humble simlicity of aemoe a geus of flowerig lat closely related to the buttercu family. While the details of Aemoe s extra-musical rogram are ot relevat to Tides, there are a umber of cocetual otios iheret to Aemoe that determied my aroach to icororatig Tides electro-acoustic elemets. These ideas ca be observed i Aemoe s otatioal score, which ca be viewed i Figure 1.1. The flute ad vibrahoe share a fairly simle ad homogeous musical texture desite their differig modes of soud roductio. At the begiig of the iece, the vibrahoe layer bows a middle C which the flutist matches i uiso almost immediately after. The dyamic idicatios direct the erformers to shae these souds so that they seamlessly emerge from ad recede ito silece. I effect, I wated to mitigate the loudess of a audible articulatio. Because the hysicality of the vibrahoe bars is fixed ad because the ercussioist has a great deal of cotrol i alyig bow seed ad ressure to 4
the bar, the vibrahoe s middle C is heard as a uwaverigly sustaied itch that emerges ad recedes with seamless grace. The flute, however, faces a differet set of circumstaces. The middle C o a flute is i the lowest register of the istrumet ad thus requires a great deal of breath suort to sustai. Like the vibrahoe, the flute is istructed to make a seamless trasitio from ad to silece, ad whe the itch does emerge it eeds to be sustaied at a quiet dyamic. The flutist thus faces a recarious situatio: Ay icosistecies i itch suort ad articulatio are ot oly ievitable, but also highly exosed, esecially whe juxtaosed with the highly cotrolled sustai of the vibrahoe. The fragile uiso harmoy that emerges results i microtoal beatig as the flutist attemts to match the vibrahoe s itoatio. The shae of these harmoic fluctuatios is reeated over ad over as the flute s middle C is bet away ad the toward the ure toe of the bowed vibes. As this occurs, a achigly slow ad simle develometal rocess ufolds as the rhythmic seed of microtoal beatig accelerates ito harmoies ad the decelerates back toward uisos. Evetually this rocess trasitios ito clearly articulated attacks, the ito fully formed flute melodies ad textural variats i the ercussio before the iece cocludes. I the moths leadig u to the comosig of Aemoe I had devoted cosiderable attetio to the music of Alvi Lucier, Morto Feldma, ad Giacito Scelsi. I foud cosiderable isiratio from their music i a umber of ways, but oe so evidet i the comositio of Aemoe as the fuctioal role of harmoic simlicity, rhythmic sace, ad the role of silece (or ambiet soud) 5
as texture. Durig my master s study, I had focused my aesthetic ambitios o comosig cocert music of cosiderable (though ot excessive) comlexity. erhas it was the maturatio of my musical ear or my waig iterest i such a comositioal aroach, but sometime durig my h.d. I realized that that soud like life itself is iheretly comlex ad did ot require my dedicated itervetio to make it more so, or my skillful maiulatio to make it more iterestig. Amidst this realizatio I also recogized the root of my dee-level attractio to soic comlexity that it is iexorably the result of kietic gesture, both itetioal ad icidetal. Obviously these realizatios were ot ovel or rofoud as they are othig more tha a rudimetary ackowledgemet of how soud is roduced. Noetheless, this coclusio led me to icororate the otio of the hysicality of soud makig as a formative elemet i my comositioal aroach. With this stace i mid, I coceived the electro-acoustic laig scheme i Tides. The geeral aesthetic idiom of Tides is early idetical to that of Aemoe with oe excetio the role of recorded audio as material for electro-acoustic rocessig relaces the role of ambiet silece. The comositio of Tides bega by recordig Aemoe as a stereo digital audio erformace. I doig so, the delicate hysical cotigecies idiomatic to Aemoe as a live cocert iece gave way to a fixed icaratio. I the devised a rogrammig algorithm i Kyma, which i its comleted form, I used as a real-time rocessig istrumet. As metioed reviously, the Kyma soud desig latform was used for all of the electro-acoustic rocessig i this roject. Kyma features a umber of 6
iterfaces for soud desig comositio. Oe of these is the Soud Editor, which cosists of two arts. The first art is the sigal flow ma a atchig field where various customizable rocessig modules, or soud objects, ca be cofigured to geerate a desired rocessig scheme. The to ortio of Figure 1.2 illustrates the et-like algorithmic laig of Tide s electro-acoustic rocessig scheme. O the far left, the soud object titled Rococo lays back the recorded hrases of the Aemoe recordig. After assig the sigal through a comressor, it is set through three rocessig braches. The first of these ca be see toward the bottom of the grah where the sigal asses though a amlitude cotroller titled Rococo Sigal Level ad the to a reverb module Rococo Sigal Reverb before beig set to the mixer, after which oit it ca be heard as a reverberated versio of the origial recorded audio. The samle is also assed through a more comlex rocessig scheme, which ca be viewed as the uermost lie stemmig from the Comressor object. Here the samle is delayed, the sectrally aalyzed ad assed through a oscillator bak. After assig through a rig modulator, it braches ito three rocessig schemes. The bottom brach is set to a reverb module ad the to a amlitude cotroller before it is set to the mixer. This brach is heard as a reverberated, re-modulated, ad rig modulated versio of the origial sigal. This is the most aurally domiat elemet of the etire rocessig scheme. The object titled Crossfade combies the middle brach stemmig from the rig modulator with the middle brach of the origial comressor to allow real-time cross fadig betwee the two rocessig streams. 7
This combied sigal is the delayed ad filtered through both sie ad ulse wavetables. Whe erformed, this stream souds like a highly rhythmicized versio of either the rig modulator stream, the origial samle, or a mix of the two. The uermost brach i the grah is a object titled Memory which is a wavetable that stores audio data ad is ot heard i the fial mix. The uermost brach startig with the object titled Cloud reads from the Memory wavetable ad graulates it. The secod art of Kyma s Soud Editor is called the arameter field. This area ca be viewed whe lookig iside a articular soud object i the Soud Editor. By way of examle, Figure 1.2 dislays the arameter field for the Cloud object (highlighted i blue.) Here, the various customizable settigs of the Cloud ca be viewed as a set of boxes cotaiig various values. Boxes with a white backgroud cotai values that ca oly be chaged whe the soud is ot layig. A examle of this ca be viewed i the box labeled Samle which is set to read from the Memory wavetable durig layback. Boxes with a light blue backgroud are called hot arameters ad cotai values that ca be modified i real-time erformace. Oe such box, labeled GraiDur, cotrols the duratio of each grai, ad cotais!graidur labeled i red. Whe the soud is layig, red values like this aear i Kyma s Virtual Cotrol Surface, or VCS. erformers ca the modify all the various hot arameters cotaied i all the corresodig soud objects icluded the Soud Editor i real time. The Virtual Cotrol Surface used i Tides ca be viewed i Figure 1.3. I erformed this rocessig istrumet i real time usig a iad 8
because of its multi-touch caabilities, which eabled me to adjust multile arameters simultaeously. As a comleted iece, Tides features a uique cotrautal comlex. The first ca be heard i the microtoal beatig betwee the flute ad vibrahoe. O a cocetual level, I imaged this rhythmic elemet as a kid of harmoic frictio ad gestural itersectio of the two erformers resultat souds. These three souds derived from the flute, the vibrahoe, ad their resultat microtoal beatig are heard as a sigle stereo recordig. The gestural itersectio occurrig betwee the acoustic istrumets is imitated i Tides electro-acoustics. Just as the tuig icosistecies of the flute ad vibrahoe result i microtoal beatig, the rig modulator, which multilies the trasosed sigal by the amlitude shae of itself, results i aother layer of harmoic beatig. By icororatig multile rig modulator streams simultaeously, I geerated a olyhoic cotrautal motio amog the rig modulator sigals ad the origial recordig. Just as the microtoal fluctuatios i Aemoe develo ito fully formed melodies ad ercussive variats, the rhythmic beatig i Tides is develoed by gradually icororatig the rhythmically active rocessig stream that is assed through the sie ad ulse wavetables. I was also able to move each of these voices withi the stereo field, thus yieldig aother layer of cotrautal dimesio amog the rocessig elemets ad the origial sigal from which they are derived. 9
III. OCKET REQUIEM, ART I: INTERMEDIA COLLABORATION WITH FELI COSTAGLIOLI My iterest i exlorig the verities of gesture is iformed by my iterest i discoverig oits of itersectio amog diverse arts. The otio of gesture is a shared geerative elemet amog time-based erformace arts such as music ad dace, as well as other creative forms such as aitig ad literature. By cosiderig the uique gestural character iheret to diverse artistic ractices, ad that of secific artists, uique relatioshis ca be discovered that ca otetially fuctio as oits of itersectio iterdisciliary higes that coect oe creative discilie with aother. These oits ca, i tur, yield oortuity for itermedia collaboratio. I ocket Requiem, art I, I had the great oortuity to work with oe of my logtime artistic heroes, Cataloia oet ad erformace artist Feli Costaglioli. I have bee a admirer of Feli sice my formative years as a comoser ad I attribute much of my geeral iterest i itermedia arts ad collaborative attitude to his creative aroach, which frequetly icororates electro-acoustic comositio ad exerimetal theater. Feli ad I etered this collaboratio by discussig how we aroach the otio of gesture i our resective creative ractices. The goal of these discussios was to deee our uderstadig o how our attitudes toward gesture correlate. After agreeig o stereo digital audio as a aroriate comositioal format for the collaboratio, I recorded Feli recitig a origial 10
oem of his choice titled ocket Requiem. I the created a soud desig largely derived from the recorded audio of his voice that also abstracted my iterretatio of the oem itself. The lyricism reset i Feli s erformace has a ecstatic quality that leds itself very well to musical iterretatio, ad yet it almost demads that it ot be tamered with. I thus decided that my soud desig should serve as a soic ladscae a backdro for Feli s origial ad uedited erformace of the oem. Accordig to my iterretatio of ocket Requiem, Feli aroaches the otio of gesture as a maifestatio of idetity. Usig sytactic devices, the oem eacts a rocess by which ideedet idetity, or the self, ca become that of the other. This ca be observed i Figure 2.1, which resets the oem s text. The otio of solitude that characterizes the first staza gives way to the otio of lurality i the lie I will trace i my otebook of ashes a log list of roous. This otio of lurality is further eviced ad made more literal i the secod staza as the oetic emhasis of the roou I is shifted to the roou you. By mergig I ad you via their shared sytactic status as roous, Feli effectively resets the oem as a meas to exteralize the otio of the self ad meld it ito the other. I iterreted his use of this device as a exressio of oetic gesture. I tur, I based the structural ad textural laig for the comositio s electro-acoustic soud desig o this iterretatio. There seems to be o obvious oit at which oe could sto drawig gestural aalogies ad iterrelatioshis amog the oem s text, Feli s 11
erformace of the oem, my cocetio of the oem as a comositio, ad the elemets of electro-acoustic laig that resulted i the iece s realizatio. While a vast umber of these relatioshis are most certaily icidetal (ad uitetioal), the followig descritio is iteded to detail how I coceived some of these relatioshis as embedded reflectios of my iterretatio of the oem. ocket Requiem, art I is structured i two sectios that follow the twostaza form of the oem. The first sectio oes with a droe that slowly grows from silece. Fragmets of syllabic murmurig gradually emerge as this droe becomes louder. Both the murmurig ad the droe are derived from samles of Feli s voice. Suddely, a izzicato attack (cello samle) iterruts the droe ad is immediately followed by a variety of iterwove eriodic rhythmic atters. The goal of itroducig soud materials this way was to create a exasive soic eviromet comrised of umerous self-similar musical elemets which, whe heard together as a sychroized galaxy of souds, evoke a sese of uity as if all evets occurrig i the soud sace are held i orbit by the same gravitatioal force. This force of soic gravity is fially revealed as the rhythmic variats gradually fade ad a sigle lie emerges from the wove cotrautal texture. This ow exosed eriodic atter gradually cadeces ito the first lie of the oem: Solitude. The ext few lies of the staza are recited over the droe before the first art of the first sectio cocludes o the lie Growig uder my figerail. The first ad secod sectio of the iece are liked by a exteded hrase 12
that begis with a abrut cotraria gesture of the word But. At this oit the iece becomes more texturally uaced. The otio of solitude, which was reflected i the first sectio s evocatio of sigularity, gradually trasitios to a more develoed cotrautal texture that systematically rocesses Feli s voice at the levels of the syllable, word, ad hrase throughout the remaider of the iece. The lie A litay for the oor sigals the ed of the first sectio. The secod sectio is comrised of a series of three sub-sectios, each of which imitates, the gestural shae of the revious oe. The first of these develometal rocesses begis whe the roou I is recited. I which evokes idividuality by its literal defiitio ad its status as a sigle-letter, sigle-syllable roou is raidly reeated ad itch-shifted as it meaders erratically throughout the stereo field. As the esuig lies of the oem are recited over this rhythmic syllabic strad, the format of the word I is morhed via sectral modulatio ito aother word. I the fial momets of the first sub-sectio, this word is revealed to be you. As the two remaiig develometal sub-sectios of the iece ufold, the iece gradually decelerates util fially, i the last hrases of the iece, the comlex of resoat attacks, syllabic rhythmic strads, graular textures, ad recited text give way to a sectral wash of syllables that effectively imitate the droe-like textures that distiguish the comositio s oeig momets. ocket Requiem, art I thus cocludes o the hrase takes my limig away as the word away is timestretched ito silece. I used the Kyma timelie to comose the electro-acoustic elemets of ocket 13
Requiem, art I. A excert of this timelie (extracted from the first sectio of the iece) ca be viewed i Figure 2.2. The Kyma timelie fuctios similarly to ay digital audio sequecer. I the uer ortio of the timelie grah, customdesiged soud object algorithms aear as colored bars of varyig legth. (rocessed cello samles aear i gree, rocessed voice samles aear i yellow, ad urocessed voice samles aear i red.) The bottom ortio of the timelie features the arameter cotrol field. Whe a idividual soud bar is selected from the timelie regio, its resective hot arameters aear o the left side of the arameter cotrol field. Whe oe of these arameters is selected, its settigs ca be viewed ad edited i the arameter field to the right. Durig layback, the timelie erforms these settigs as automated value chages i real time. For examle, Figure 2.2 dislays the selected soud bar titled Hiass igogizz colored light blue. This soud s corresodig hot arameters are listed i gree o the left side of the arameter cotrol field. The uermost arameter, FadeIOut, also light blue, is selected ad its corresodig values chages over time ca be viewed i the arameter cotrol field to the right. 14
IV. ASTICHES: STRUCTURED IMROVISATIONS FOR CELLO AND REAL-TIME STEREO ELECTRO-ACOUSTICS Of all the ieces icluded i this roject, oe have udergoe a more rigorous rocess of cocetual re-evaluatio ad comositioal revisio as astiches. My first attemt at comosig this iece occurred i the summer of 2011 whe I aroached cellist Greg Nelso to work with me o a set of structured imrovisatios. My origial itet was to make a set of three to five short recorded works that souded musically imulsive, allowed me to erform electro-acoustic elemets i real time, ad featured clearly discerable causeeffect relatios betwee the cello ad electro-acoustics. The first draft of the iece, which was the titled Seve Rooms, featured a text-based score cosistig of five sectios, two of which icororated short otatioal elemets that served as referece material for melodic, rhythmic, ad textural exloratio. By this stage I had also develoed a umber of iteractive istrumets i Kyma. These istrumets allowed me to track Greg s erformace of the score, rocess the resultat souds, ad erform these rocessed souds back ito the erformace sace i real time. I used a iad as my erformace iterface. Greg ad I devoted several rehearsals to testig ad refiig this versio of the iece. Our results demaded that I redesig both the score ad the electroacoustic istrumets. It was clear that a score cosistig rimarily of overly descritive rose was a source of cosiderable iterretive cofusio. It was also clear that the electro-acoustic istrumets did ot yield satisfyig musical 15
results. These istrumets were origially iteded to resod automatically to the subtle gestural eergies of Greg s erformace ad thereby geerate corresodigly eergetic electro-acoustic souds. To achieve this effect I used frequecy- ad amlitude-trackig schemes that aalyzed the itch ad loudess of the cello s icomig audio sigal. These aalyses were the coverted ito cotrol data that i tur adjusted a array of musical arameters i real time. I effect, the cello s audio sigal would act as the rimary cotroller for the electro-acoustics. My role as a erformer was to adjust the system s sesitivity to the icomig sigals while the electro-acoustic system erformed its automated fuctios. This aroach was roblematic i two imortat ways. First, the causeeffect relatioshis geerated from these schemes domiated the collaborative dyamic of imrovisatio. Because the electro-acoustic system was limited i its ability to detect a broad rage of itch ad amlitude iformatio, Greg was restricted to erformig souds that oly had discerible itches at detectable levels of loudess. Furthermore, the electro-acoustic desig was so overly automated that it bordered o comic mimicry oe small gesture from Greg could result i a tumultuous strig of blidly imitative electro-acoustic resoses. I this resect, the electro-acoustics souded as if it were cotrollig Greg, ot the other way aroud. This elucidated the secod flaw uderlyig the electro-acoustic laig that a system featurig rimarily data-trackig elemets was urely reactive, ot iteractive. I other words, automatig the bulk of the istrumets fuctioality did ot eable me as a erformer to articiate 16
fully i the iece. Eve though the settigs for these data-trackig schemes were highly customizable ad could be adjusted to resod less erratically, the fudametal role of the istrumet would still be urely reactive ad thus rohibit my gestural egagemet i the imrovisatio. I ay case, the icororatio of frequecy- ad amlitude-trackig schemes, while servig as a iterestig exerimet, did ot serve ay of the origial goals of this iece. I resolved to make the followig adjustmets: to relace the score s highly iterretive text-based elemets with literal otatio ad to relace ieffective uses of frequecy- ad amlitude-trackig with real-time cotrol fuctios that I could erform. After makig these chages, Greg ad I met for aother series of rehearsals. It was immediately aaret that the revisios made to my electro-acoustic istrumets were highly successful. By distributig multile rocessig fuctios across multile istrumet atches, I effectively relegated each istrumet to erformig oly oe or two rocessig tasks simultaeously. This simlified aroach made the tactile cotrol elemets via the iad maageable ad accessible, ad at a highly uaced level of cotrol. This i tur substatially clarified the overall electro-acoustic texture ad eabled me to iteract with Greg at a much deeer musical level. However, the otatioal score did ot deliver the sese of musical immediacy I was aimig for. I thus questioed whether ay kid of score would obfuscate the uique sigature of gestural urgecy I was itet o creatig. As I cosidered alterative aroaches to usig a score, I realized that the 17
uderlyig issue was ot i the stylistic verities of otatio or istructios, but rather i my aroach to the comoser erformer relatioshi i the cotext of this structured imrovisatio. Eve though the desig ad creative imetus of this iece was etirely coceived by myself, my role as a comoser i the covetioal sese eded there. I fact, the desig of the electro-acoustics exlicitly reliquishes comositioal cotrol. The iteractive ature of the iece s electro-acoustic desig is such that it is etirely deedet o a audio sigal derived from a acoustic soud i order to be heard (ad thus exist) as a erformace elemet. Because the origial erformace of the cello is always audible (i both the acoustic erformace ad the fial recordig,) the ricial fuctio of the electro-acoustics is ot to trasform the cello souds, but to gesturally exted them by musically develoig the frequecies, rhythms, textures, ad dyamic shaes beyod hysical limitatios of the istrumet. I decided that the secific arameters of these so-called gestural extesios eeded to be defied withi the scoe of each of the short imrovisatios that would make u the comleted set. I foud a satisfyig cocetual model for this by reflectig o my love for aitig ad sculture. This model led me to evisio the iece as a astiche. My attractio to aitig ad sculture is largely a roduct of my fasciatio with how differet artists hysically egage with their resective creative materials. A artist s gestural iteractio with their material is clearly evidet i the aesthetic character of the fial resetatio of their work. I this resect, a aitig or sculture is a reserved hysical iteractio betwee the artist ad their art, a gestural athway froze i time. 18
This cocetual model is otologically reresetative of astiches i two imortat ways. The first of these is aaret whe cosiderig the relatioshi betwee gesture ad the artistic medium. The cause-effect associatio betwee a artist ad their art is similar to the dyamic betwee the cello ad the electroacoustics. Just as materials such as cavas ad ait are iert util comosited through the gesture of aitig, the electro-acoustic elemets of the imrovisatio are ivisible ad irrelevat uless the cellist erforms soud. Additioally, the itrisic hysicality of materials like ait ad cavas iform how aiters exress their resective techiques to roduce articular effects. Viewed this way, gesture is the catalyst through which artist ad media defie each other s uique exressive quality i the momet of creatio. This is similar to how the various desig comoets of astiches electro-acoustic elemets iform the exloratio ad develomet of musical relatioshis ad soud itself over the course of the erformace. I this resect, imrovisatio is a matrix withi which the resective souds of each erformer simultaeously imitate ad accetuate the distict gestural rofile of the other. The secod way i which aitig ad sculture are useful cocetual referets lies i the media s embodimet of stasis. The ability to erceive the uique dyamic eergies resultig i a artwork s cocetio is, iroically, cotiget o the media s caacity to remai idle. It is recisely this quality I wished to exloit i resetig this structured imrovisatio as recorded audio. By icororatig electro-acoustic desig both as a meas to exlore imrovised gesture ad as a eviromet for erformace, my origial goal of creatig 19
recordigs that souded imulsively erformed was fially achieved. Havig thus relaced a otatioal score with a cocetual model, Greg ad I set out to rehearse ad fially record the iece. Our rocess was simle: to erform hrases of musical soud that reflect the kietic eergies evidet i works created by articular artists. Three electro-acoustic istrumets were used i astiches four recordigs. The istrumet used i astiche 1 ad astiche 3 is dislayed i the atchig scheme ad VCS featured i Figures 3.1 ad 3.2. This cofiguratio is desiged so that I could musically abstract cello souds saig a broad textural ad dyamic rage. For examle, I could resod to miiscule uitched cello souds by resoatig them at articular frequecies to yield clearly itched toes or a subtle harmoic cluster. Coversely, I could resod to Greg s tumultuous gestural strads by graulatig them ito fragmets of varyig duratio ad desity to form hrases of self-similar microgestures. I could also juxtaose seemigly radom rhythmic fragmets with clearly ulsed eriodicities. Figures 3.3 ad 3.4 dislay the atchig algorithm ad VCS for astiche 2. This istrumet focused rimarily o geeratig melodic ad satial couteroits with Greg s melodies. The simle ad direct aroach to this rocessig scheme eabled me to egage the cello s gestures at the level of the hrase. By dislacig these hrases i time ad stereo sace while reservig their uique itervallic cotours, Greg ad I egaged i a uique musical dialogue: As ewly modified melodic variats were itroduced back ito the imrovisatio, Greg could resod to his revious melodic gestures, which I i 20
tur could modify i real time. Fially, Figures 3.5 ad 3.6 dislay the atchig algorithm ad VCS that make u the istrumet used i astiche 4. This cofiguratio is desiged to magify the harmoic ad dyamic itesity of Greg s gestures, while simultaeously usig his souds as a filter through which a recordig of Feli recitig a oem ca be heard. By abstractig the cello s harmoic ad rhythmic elemets ito eve more volatile strads, I could effectively exted the gestural rofile of melodic shaes beyod the limitatios of the istrumets. Meawhile the amlitude ad frequecy rofile of Greg s gestures also act as a filter for a recordig of Feli s voice. The resultat musical texture emerges as a comlex of cause-effect relatioshis with Greg s gestures actig as the iteractive locus. 21
Figure 1.1: Aemoe Score, age 1!!!!!!!!!!! 22 Flute A1 Slow, atiet, seree (q = 60) & Œ w U dim. Aemoe 2 w [draft 1] dim. dim. Brett Wartchow 3 Œ # w µ U Vibrahoe bow &. l.v. semre dim. (f.t. dam.) j U 2 dim. j 3. dim. j U ercussio ã Fl. 4 & w dim. 5 U Œ b w dim. A2 Œ w U dim. Vib. & 4 dim. j 5. dim. j U s. m. bow j U dim. Brett Wartchow 2011
Figure 1.1: Aemoe Score, age 2!!!!!!!!!!!! 23 2 Aemoe Fl. & 7 w dim. 8 Œ # w dim. µ U 9 w dim. Vib. s. m. & bow dim. (f.t. dam.) j simile dim. j U 9 dim. J Fl. & 10 Œ w b dim. µ U A3 # w - dim. 12! w # ä dim. U Vib. erc. & ã 10 # dim. j U bow s. m. dim. (f.t. dam.) j s. m. bow dim. j sus. cym. s. m. y U gog-like
Figure 1.1: Aemoe Score, age 3!!!!!!!!!!!! 24 Aemoe 3 Fl. & 13 -. F ho. art. s " ḟ 3 ḟ ḟ ho. art. 14 orm. j # w µ #. s " 3 f f Ÿ~~~~~~~~~~~~ >! j U ( b ) R s f ß sub. Vib. erc. & F ã s. m. bow # # Ó Œ " dim. (f.t. dam.) j s. m. #. bow dim. W. B. s. m. æ " æ " r æ 3 " j U U Fl. & flt. 15 Œ w - ho. art. 3 rit. b f F s f s A4 Slightly faster, ot rushed... 16 # orm. µ. F # J b J 3 F # U ȯ b 5 " Vib. erc. & " ã bow s. m. # dim. æ. " j æ j bow # " s. m. ed. ad. lib. Œ sus. cym. y #F # sub. " # " 3 j U U y Œ Œ
Figure 1.1: Aemoe Score, age 4!!!!!!!!!!!! 25 4 Aemoe Fl. 17 & j b like a echo... 3 rall. bw dim. µ 18 a temo b with fervor F 3 b, µ N. flt. b. f Œ ho. art. 3 b b U µ " f f f dim. Vib. erc. & ã (s. m.) like a echo... (ed. ad. lib.) # " bow with fervor s. m. b # W. B. (s. m.) j æ æ. 3 " Œ æ dim. U U Fl. Vib. erc. & & ã bow b 3 5 dim.. - sub. F b., j b b w " dim. s. m. # dim. (f.t. dam.) j 20 Œ w- 20 Œ bow, j # s. m. " o. bw o dim. dim. dim. sus. cym. (s. m.) y ()
Figure 1.2: Tides Electro-Acoustic rocessig Istrumet, Soud Editor!!!!!!! 26
Figure 1.3: Tides Electro-Acoustic rocessig Istrumet, Virtual Cotrol Surface!!!!! 27!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Figure 2.1: ocket Requiem, art I, Text!!!!!!!!!!!! 28
Figure 2.2: ocket Requiem, art I, Kyma Timelie (excert)!!!!!!!!! 29
Figure 3.1: astiches, astiche 1 ad astiche 3, Soud Editor!!!!!!!! 30
Figure 3.2: astiches, astiche 1 ad astiche 3, Virtual Cotrol Surface!!!!!! 31
Figure 3.3: astiches, astiche 2, Soud Editor!!!!!!!!!! 32
Figure 3.4: astiches, astiche 2, Virtual Cotrol Surface!!!!!!!!! 33
Figure 3.5: astiches, astiche 4, Soud Editor!!!!!!!!!! 34
Figure 3.6: astiches, astiche 4, Virtual Cotrol Surface!!!!!!!!! 35