COMP4350/8350

Organising Sound

Remember our definition for “music” in this class: Edgard Varese’s idea of music as “organised sound”.

In week :

in this class, we’re open in terms of defining “music”, it doesn’t have to follow a particular style or emphasise traditional aspects such as melody and harmony.

today we look at methods for organising sound in time, this means making decisions about what kinds of sounds to make, when.

Communicating decisions

The big problem we have is a two-parter:

How to communicate these decisions to others in your group?

How to find out what to do in the other pieces in your concert?

Decision making for organising sound

A key framework is who is making decisions and when:

• Composition: You make decisions ahead of time and communicate them to your ensemble (somehow)
• Improvisation: You let your ensemble decide during the performance.

N.B.: this is about you defining the original music for your piece. Don’t play other people’s music!

Composition

Improvisation

What this is not.

• Composition does not equal “traditional music notation”: don’t use this in your piece!
• Composition is not playing other people’s music!
• Composition is about making decisions and communicating them (somehow) to your ensemble.
• Improvisation is not equal to “jazz improvisation”, or any other idiom: this is a specific type of performance!
• Improvisation is about performers making decisions.

Most laptop ensemble performances have a combination of composed and improvised aspects.

Rules for Freeform Improvisation

(Bill Cahn: Creative Music Making)

Rule 1: Performers may play (or not play) anything they wish on any available instrument of their own choosing–there are no mistakes.

Rule 2: Performers should listen as deeply as possible to themselves and to the other performers, but it’s important to be perfectly clear to all participants–players and listeners alike–that there is no penalty for breaking this rule.

Rules and your performance

We used these rules in our weekly in-class jams. You should be familiar with this “anything goes” formula.

• Should you use them in your final performance?
• Wrinkle is: you want (need) to show off specific aspects of your synths/interfaces/sequencers etc.
• Good to have some composed elements for your ensemble.

“Composed” doesn’t just mean notes, you can compose timbres, decisions, expressions, gestures, all musical concepts.

Planned improvisation — use a spreadsheet

Planning your improvisation

Things that you could plan.

• activity density
• harmony info
• melody/sequence info
• instructions for specific instruments/players
• timbral info

Structure

This is the number of “sections” or “ideas” in your piece. For 5 minutes, you only need 3-4.

• Where are your piece’s main points of interest?
• How do you transition to and from different section?
• What are the coolest parts of your piece; how do you make sure we notice them?
• How can your piece go wrong? How can you stop that happening?
• Do you want performances of your piece to be the same every time?
• What are the most enjoyable parts of your piece for each of the ensemble members?

Think about what is interesting inside each section and between the sections.

Coordination

Don’t controlling your ensemble (impossible), think about guiding them.

• How much freedom and input do you want from your performers in rehearsal and in performance?
• What kinds of coordination do you need between musicians?
• Hand signals? Eye contact? Something in the software? Live commenting in the code?
• Instructions don’t have to be ‘do this’ but could be “constraints”
• What do you want each performer to see?

Don’t make this too complicated. Your ensemble will need to keep this info in their head.

Game Piece

This means pieces that you “play like a game”, not just playing Zelda’s Lullaby

• What are the rules of the game? Can you win or lose?
• Do all players have similar roles? Is there a conductor or Dungeon Master?
• Are all the instructions/conditions set at the start, or do you create them somehow?
• Important: How do you make sure there is interest throughout your work? (Don’t make it boring)

Game pieces can involve simple pen+paper rules, or a complex networked game (e.g., created in Pd). LENS students have even had text adventures in live coding systems.

The Audience

Think about the audience’s perspective on your work?

• What do you want the audience to see? Some version of what you see? Or something else?
• How will the audience understand what you are doing?
• What experience do you want the audience to have?
• How visible will the “structure” and “communication” be in your piece?

(Note that “audience participation” is unlikely to work.)

Collaboration

What is the collaboration model for your piece (is this an interface question?)

• People sending information to (co-controlling) a single instrument
• People with their own version of the same instruments
• People with different instruments
• People controlling parts of other people’s instruments (hijacking)?
• abstract/gamelike interactions

Something else? There are lots of possibilities here.

Notation Ideas

DON’T use “traditional western notation”. What will work for the members of your group?

• Text instructions in time
• Graphic instructions/notation in time
• Instructions/Graphics inside Pd/interface
• “If, then” notation (when you hear/see this, do that) - can be different in different sections
• Live soundtrack improvisation (provide some video/graphics and play along somehow)
• “Rules of a game” to be memorised at the start of performance.

Many possibilities here, but keep it clear and concise. If you are writing something down make it 1 A4 page (including all info for the group).

High level tips

• Make decisions now and adjust them (with feedback from your group)
• Don’t try to do too much in 5 minutes. 3-4 big ideas.
• Follow the marking guidelines, show me: SMC concepts, collaboration, creative control, technical quality.
• Show who is doing what
• Think beyond notes: organise timbres, expressions, envelopes, other stuff!
• Don’t play someone else’s music
• You can do this!

Break a leg!

We made it!

Thanks for coming on this journey with me!

Make plenty of time over the next few weeks for meeting your ensemble and have a great concert!