Cosmic Journey; Exploring the possibilities of Harp and Live-Electronics
(2025)
author(s): Kyra Frimout
published in: KC Research Portal
Cosmic Journey; Exploring the possibilities of Harp and Live-Electronics by Kyra Frimout.
Research Question: How do I adapt the Stellar Sonata by Caroline Lizotte composed for the electroacoustic harp to a traditional acoustic pedal harp?
'Cosmic Journey' is a performance that focusses on space-themed repertoire for the harp and live-electronics, combined with visual images of NASA to enhance the audience’s experience. It explores the use of improvisation to tell the story of Kyra Frimout's grandfather Dirk Frimout, who went on his mission to space in 1992. The centre piece of this program is the Stellar Sonata, which was the inspiration for shaping this project.
This research investigates the integration of live electronics with the harp by analysing 'Stellar Sonata' by Caroline Lizotte and exploring its implications for new compositions and improvisations. The study is structured in three parts.
First, an in-depth examination of 'Stellar Sonata' is conducted, including an overview of Lizotte’s compositional style, her inspirations, the narrative embedded within the piece, and a detailed analysis of its musical material.
The second section focuses on the technical aspects of recreating the piece’s electronic effects, assessing the required equipment while addressing challenges in replicating the sonic landscape, with updated technology.
The final section explores new creative avenues that emerge from this research, including the application of live electronics to existing harp repertoire and its transformative impact on improvisation and composition. By bridging tradition with technology, this study aims to make electroacoustic music more accessible to harpists by exploring affordable equipment and practical amplification options—particularly for those seeking to perform Stellar Sonata without requiring an electroacoustic harp—while also pushing the artistic boundaries of the instrument in contemporary music.
Kyra Frimout is a harpist and singer with a passion for contemporary and electroacoustic music. She studied Classical Music at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, where she is now pursuing a Master’s in New Audiences and Innovative Practice. In 2024, she studied with harpist-composer Caroline Lizotte in Montréal, deepening her understanding of electroacoustic harp techniques.
Kyra explores the intersection of traditional harp performance and modern technology, integrating live electronics to expand the instrument’s expressive potential. Through her work, she seeks to redefine the role of the harp in contemporary music, using electronic effects to open new creative possibilities in both composition and improvisation.
Storytelling in improvisation-based composition: a classical flute player's experience with experimental music
(2023)
author(s): Catalina Popa-Mörck
published in: Research Catalogue
This master thesis is a documentation of a journey towards self-discovery and artistic development which took place during my two years as a NoCom (Nordic Master for the Composing Musician) student at the Academy of Music and Drama in Gothenburg, Sweden.
In the Research Catalogue pages I have gathered ideas, reflections, analysis, experiments, scores and audio/video material that, I feel, surmise the work I have done during my studies. However, beyond the tangible elements offered, I believe this content tells the story of my process towards coming into my own practice.
With the goal of using the creative and performative tools at my disposal (that stem from my background as a classical musician with a passion for rock/metal music and live electronics) in order to facilitate storytelling through my compositions and a better communication with the audience, I present to you my journal as I go through this process, told in the frame of a fairy tale.
Transient sound
(2023)
author(s): Alicia Lazaro Arteaga
published in: Research Catalogue
Art, and music, have the capacity of placing us in front of the symbolic. They bring us closer to everything we cannot understand in a rational manner, allowing us to see ourselves from the inside. Going back to the notion of music as a transformative ritual, a role that has had along centuries in most societies. Music as a sacred space.
This exposition explores the relationship between music and text. Placing the idea of narrative as part of the music, connecting storytelling with sound. By using folklore stories as a structural element in the composition process, I have attempted to grasp the emotional landscapes inside of the tales and translate them into music. This process has been crystallized into several pieces that show the path between the starting point, which was using a text to create music, and the broader conception of music as an experience that involves not only sound but images, space, and movement.
Case-Specific Electroacoustic Systems
(2022)
author(s): Alejandro Montes de Oca
published in: University of the Arts Helsinki
This composition-based project of artistic research introduces the term Case-Specific Electroacoustic Systems to describe a set of electric, digital, and acoustic devices that are interconnected in a particular way to embody a specific sound work. The artistic research states that when the sound composition process occurs in tandem with the electroacoustic system configuration and design process, a particular creative practice is engendered. The main research questions are how the development of such a system becomes another parameter of sound creation, and how this influences the artistic ideas and process elaborated around a specific sound work. In the course of the doctoral trajectory five new sound works were created and presented, thus forming the artistic portfolio of this doctoral project. Each work included the composition, design, and creation of a case-specific electroacoustic system. An introduction to the concept of Case-Specific Electroacoustic Systems, its contextualisation, and an analysis of the artistic practice and the outcomes of each of the five artworks are presented in this written thesis. The complete scope of this doctoral project, including the media material of the artistic portfolio and this artistic doctoral thesis, is contained within the exposition Case-Specific Electroacoustic Systems, published and archived in the Research Catalogue online database.
Playing the Electrophonic Saxophone
(2021)
author(s): Kjetil Traavik Møster
published in: Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University of Bergen
'Playing the Electrophonic Saxophone' explores the expanded role of the instrument and relations made possible by such expansions. In and through artistic practice I research the many processes, tensions, and artistic possibilities that emerge through interplay. How can exploring possibilities and conditions for the acoustic saxophone in interplay with electric and electronic tools and sounds pave the way for new music, new insights, and expand the conception of what the instrument can be? How can playing with electrically and digitally manipulated sound facilitate the instrument’s ability to connect to musicians and artists from other fields of practice? The research’s main artistic outcome is the sum of a series of artistic projects presented in this exposition. The two texts Playing Air and Playing Parasitic constitute the ethical and methodological basis for the research and my practice and transfers to the projects’ two basic elements: roles and their relations. The band Møster! acts as the main project ensemble, and the PhD research is finalized with a public artistic presentation at the Nattjazz Festival, Røkeriet USF, Bergen on June 1st, 2021.
'Playing the Electrophonic Saxophone' utforsker instrumentets utvidete rolle, og relasjoner som en slik utvidelse åpner for. I og gjennom kunstnerisk praksis forsker jeg på de mange prosesser, spenninger, og kunstneriske potensial som vokser frem gjennom samspill. Hvordan kan utforskning av muligheter og premisser for akustisk saksofonspill i samspill med elektriske og elektroniske verktøy og lyder lede til ny musikk, ny innsikt, og utvide forståelsen av hva instrumentet kan være? Hvordan kan det å spille med elektrisk og digitalt manipulert lyd legge til rette for samhandling med musikere og artister fra andre kunstneriske felt, med ulike kunstneriske praksiser? Forskningens kunstneriske resultat er presentert som en samling prosjekter i denne eksposisjonen. De to tekstene 'Playing Air' og 'Playing Parasitic' utgjør det metodologiske og etiske grunnlaget for forskningen og min praksis, og kan leses inn i forskningens to hovedelementer: roller, og deres relasjoner. Bandet Møster! fungerer som hoved-ensemble, og PhD-prosjektet ble avsluttet med en offentlig konsertfremføring på Nattjazz, Røkeriet USF i Bergen, 1. juni 2021.
On Electronic Sound Sculptures: Circuits and Aesthetics
(2017)
author(s): Eirik Brandal
published in: KC Research Portal
This paper is first and foremost concerned with my methods for designing, constructing and composing with freeform electronic sound sculptures. It covers the topics of circuit modularity, network communication, interaction and sonification as a means to create nonlinear music, as well as architectural concepts that are either being utilized or that have been functioning as sources of inspiration toward the design of the sound sculptures. The reader will be guided largely through the perspective of my own work, but general ideas and concepts from similar artists will be discussed where applicable.
CompLex - an OSC and Voltage controlled Signal Path Generator (VC-SPG)
(2017)
author(s): Lex van den Broek
published in: KC Research Portal
This thesis describes my electronic and artistic research into the design of what I have called the Voltage Controlled Signal Path Generator (VC-SPG). It is a switching audio matrix that can both be seen as a new tool, and as a part of a musical-instrument. As we will see, it can be applied in an analogue electronic music studio setup, a modular synthesizer or in an interactive art-installation. This master research project is a continuation of my previous work at the Royal Conservatoire where I design new technology for Art and Education.
The fundamental core of my research project is the development of an audio-matrix with 16 inputs and 16 outputs that can be fully configured, controlled and programmed with Open Sound Control (OSC) and that can be synced and triggered with external analogue signals. In its present state the VC-SPG has become a new type of generator that is able to switch between different studio presets and form the core of new audio experiences and new compositional approaches.
I will describe and reflect upon both the technical challenges and development and the musical and artistic results shared with me by students and professionals who used the VC-SPG over the last year for their own work. They all experienced the VC-SPG to be adding a new dimension to their creative process. We can conclude that the VC-SPG is not only a new practical tool, but also a creative instrument for electronic-music and art.
MASTER THESIS
(last edited: 2025)
author(s): Corrado Cerutti
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
BLA BLA BLA is an artistic research project focused on composition and improvisation. The aim is to explore and develop flexible compositional tools that can adapt to a wide range of creative contexts — from symphonic orchestras to conceptual performance, from music to dance, and towards any interdisciplinary field I find artistically engaging.
Improvisation is the main method of investigation: by performing solo, recording sessions, selecting specific fragments, and analyzing them, I generate new material that is then proposed to ensembles and commissioned projects. This cyclical process feeds a continuous reflection and contributes to the development of compositional strategies tested in diverse performance environments.
The research revolves around three central questions:
– How can I create compositional tools that remain adaptable to increasingly diverse contexts?
– How does this system influence my own performance practice and interaction with other musicians?
– How flexible is it within interdisciplinary settings?
This project is part of the Jazz Composition course at the Jazzcampus in Basel, under the supervision of Stian Westerhus, with the support of Stephan Meidell, Tineke Postma, and Guillermo Klein.
Tales of the unexpected (public version)
(last edited: 2021)
author(s): Hans Koolmees
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
The starting point for this research was mainly practical: exploration and mapping of the possibilities of electronics, the combination with acoustic instruments, and the application of this knowledge and skills in new compositions. After one year it became clear that this original plan needed to be adjusted. An essential characteristic of electronic instruments is their relative unpredictability, and this should therefore be taken into account when investigating the integration of electronics in a composed environment. This lead to an expansion of the research field:
1. Exploring, editing and applying the possibilities of electronics in compositions.
2. How to deal with factors such as unpredictability, improvisation, freedom, coincidence, intuition and control.
As a result of this research I have expanded my knowledge and skills in working with electronics, and I applied this in a series of new compositions for electronics, and for electronics and voice. It also gave new insights on the balance between control and improvisation, and thus provided a possible answer to the research question.
An unforeseen by-product of the research is the reflection on the communication between musician and instrument, and by analogy, the communication between composer and music, or, better formulated: the role of the composer in the balance between the musical imagination and the musical result.
Beside the musical content, the topic of this research is the reflection on the process itself: it also sheds new light on the relation between composing and researching.
This paper is first and foremost concerned with my methods for designing, constructing and composing with freeform electronic sound sculptures. It covers the topics of circuit modularity, network communication, interaction and sonification as a means to create nonlinear music, as well as architectural concepts that are either being utilized or that have been functioning as sources of inspiration toward the design of the sound sculptures. The reader will be guided largely through the perspective of my own work, but general ideas and concepts from similar artists will be discussed where applicable.open exposition comments (0)