Exposition
Synthesis of Sound-Text Composition in Electronic Music: Exploring Artistic Intersections (2024)
Kostas ZisimopoulosAbout this exposition
Studying at a conservatory, university, or any pedagogical institution provides a protected
environment with both advantages and disadvantages. One significant advantage is the freedom
granted to students, allowing for experimentation and exploration of unfamiliar fields. This freedom
prompted my choice of topic. As a composer primarily focused on acoustic music, I took the
opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and dive into the world of electronic music. This
involved using software, digital audio workstations (DAWs) and synthesizers to structure and
develop my musical ideas. Despite encountering technical and compositional challenges, I
discovered that the process of shaping form, developing materials and crafting dramaturgy shares
similarities between acoustic and electronic composition. However, a notable difference lies in the
compositional process itself: while composing acoustic music, everything exists within the
composer's mind and sonic imagination, whereas electronic composition allows for immediate
listening to the final sound result through the click of a button. Avoiding the trap of repetitively
listening to the piece during the compositional process was particularly challenging. Working on an
electronic piece primarily based on pre-recorded voices and text fulfilled a longstanding desire, as I
enjoy working with vocal elements, whether concrete text or abstract phonemes. During my first
bachelor's studies in theatre in Greece, I gained experience composing music for theatrical plays,
installations and performances. This experience primarily involved collaborating with actors rather
than trained singers. During the process of my research project, collaborating closely with Latvian
soprano Luīze Razdovska expanded my sphere of sonic imagination regarding vocalizations and
provided greater compositional freedom as I could request specific phonemes, registers, timbres and
textures that are characteristic of trained singers.
The outcome of this research is the composition of an electronic piece (tape) primarily based
on pre-recorded voices and text, with the methodology and composition process presented in the
last chapter of this paper. The textual material for my composition is sourced from the evocative
poem 'Es ārpus laika esmu' ("I exist outside of time") by Latvian poet Baiba Bičole. Throughout this
research project, I investigated the spectrum of intelligibility. Therefore numerous questions
emerged regarding how we define intelligibility as well as how our perception may be influenced
when we encounter intelligibility in different sonic environments.
| type | research exposition |
|---|---|
| date | 19/04/2024 |
| published | 04/07/2024 |
| last modified | 04/07/2024 |
| status | limited publication |
| copyright | Kostas Zisimopoulos |
| license | CC BY-NC-ND |
| url | https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/2742256/2742255 |
| published in | KC Research Portal |
| portal issue | 3. Internal publication |
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