Composition of graphic and sonic works through the improvisers' co-creation
(2021)
author(s): Laura Toxvaerd
published in: Rhythmic Music Conservatory, Copenhagen
Taking my compositions as a point of departure, the project investigates the improvisers’ co-creation in the compositional process. The composer (in this case, me) explores how improvisers’ ideas can be integrated into the development of the compositions, and explores what impact the integration has on the works of art. In the project, graphic scores are being designed, through the means of which I am seeking to bring forth new aesthetic forms of expressions. Along the way in this project, I have created new compositions that came to be drawn out as scores, which were continually adapted and re-arranged on the basis of the improvising musicians’ concert performances of the existing compositions. The working method could be characterized as an iterative artistic developmental process, which shuttled back and forth between my own compositional work, together with the design and elaboration of the graphic scores, and videotaped rehearsals and performances of my compositions with the collaborating musicians.
Meridiana: Lines Toward a Non-local Alchemy
(last edited: 2023)
author(s): Søren Kjærgaard
This exposition is in revision and its share status is: visible to all.
“Meridiana: Lines toward a non-local Alchemy” investigates the line as a sonic, textual and visual phenomenon.
Taking off from the four
literary voices: the Dutch philosopher Baruch de Spinoza (1632-1677), the French philosopher Gilles
Deleuze (1925-1995) and the Chinese Taoists Lü Yan (796 C.E.) and Sun Buer (1119–1182 C.E.),
a multitude of meanings are interwoven in a rich network of musical, textual and graphic lines.
The line as a basic concept is emphasized by the first word of the title, Meridiana (plural for meridian), which has terminological roots in both the East and the West. In Western terminology, it denotes one
geographical line connecting the North and South Pole.
In the East, originating from ancient China, meridians (经络) are energy pathways of the body (both human and non-human), which connect internal organs and a number of vital points in a neurological network.
The meeting between these two interpretations of a "meridian", between the geo-physical and sub-physical, between East and West, are the cornerstones of the project, which intention is to weave together the various
meanings and emphases of meridian, while at the same time unfolding an expanding an intersection of lines:
sonic lines, textual lines, graphic lines.
Sailing Through the Score-Map: ScanningGraphic Notation for Composing andPerforming Electronic Music
(last edited: 2021)
author(s): Riccardo Marogna
connected to: KC Research Portal
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
Graphic notation has always been fascinating to me. As an improvising musicianand composer, I tend to think about music and sound in a visual way. In my experi-ence within the free improvisation context, I have found that graphic notation can bea useful tool for guiding the musicians, defining macro-structures but leaving themwith enough freedom to let them express their ideas and personalities. Starting fromthese explorations, I came to the idea to develop a similar system for electronic musiccomposition. We can identify two threads in this thesis. The first focuses on graphicnotation and the definition of a graphic vocabulary for representing musical mate-rial, and how certain aesthetic choices are conveyed by this kind of representation.This topic is covered in chapters 2 and 3, as well as in chapter 5. In particular, chapter2 presents some inspiring sources for the development of the graphic notation andsome previous works of mine on the topic. Chapter 3 describes the graphic notationdeveloped for the system, as well as the musical ideas that I want to express throughthis graphic vocabulary. The second thread is about optical sound and the conceptofraw scanningas opposed tosymbolicrepresentation. Chapter 4 presents a historicalsurvey on optical sound and, more generally, graphic-based systems for synthesiz-ing sound, both in the analogue and in the digital domain. Chapter 5 goes into thedetailed description of the main outcome of this research, an instrument/interfacefor live electronics called CABOTO, which implements both kind of ideas int theform of asymbolic classifierand araw scanner. Chapter 6 presents some final remarksand future developments. The first chapter serves as an introduction.