A Future In The Past

Theodore Parker

A Future In the Past is a research project engaging with the application of methods from Historically Informed Performance and Media Archeology towards problems found in the practice of Live Electronic music. In doing so the project sought to expose lost discourses in the medium as viewed from the performer’s perspective. Three pieces by composer Udo Kasemets were chosen as case studies. All compositions were originally written and performed prior to the 1990’s boom in digital processing. Each case study explores themes related to Liveness, Audience Interaction, and Hyper Instruments. In developing the historical context for each work several strategies were undertaken. Kasemets’ archives were reviewed at the University of Toronto, performers of the original pieces were interviewed, and investigations into period specific instruments were conducted. Additionally, Kasemets’ own published writings were used to reference his aesthetic ambitions as well as for comparison with his contemporaries. Rehearsals were carried out with The Estonian Electronic Music Ensemble, where the historical data and performer experiences were combined to create an individual interpretation for each composition. These interpretations were then presented to an audience and alongside contemporary issues currently debated in Live Electronics

Compositions and Case Studies

The three pieces chosen from Udo Kasemets’ oeuvre were Tt (1968), David, David, Larry and James (1977), and Yi Jing Jitterbug (1984). All three compositions make use of Live Electronics and occasionally acoustic instruments. Additionally, each compositions was chosen from a different period of Kasemets’ career, though all proceed the 1990s boom in digital technologies. Here is provided only a brief introduction to each piece and the purpose it served as a case study.

The piece Tt was written in 1968 as a tribute to Buckminster Fuller, Marshall McLuhan, and John Cage. It is essentially a multi-media piece that includes sound, video, sculptures and lightening. The most unique feature of the work, considering it was written almost three quarters of century ago, is that it requires audience interaction as one of its main structuring components. Audience members are requested to vote on parameters concerning the media involved, and the votes themselves are to be processed through complex algorithms similar to those found in basic computer programming languages of that era. Such activities are now common in today’s contemporary art world, where discourse focuses on contemporary technology’s ability to achieve a satisfying user interaction. Hence, this case study addresses such issues but through us of older technologies.

The performers of the piece are to follow the results of each voting round. Technologies included in this piece are video projectors, lightening desk, modular synthesizers, samplers, amplified voice, sculptures of various materials, and very early computing technology (computer card sorters, readers and a computer processor). The piece was premiered at the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute utilizing an IBM 360. Though the premier made use of computer technology of the time, Kasemets states in the score the calculations required for processing audience votes can be done by hand or with any aid needed.

The piece David, David, Larry and James (1977) was written for the Canadian Electronics Ensemble. Technology wise, the piece features the use of modular synthesizers, amplified voice, and a feedback network relying on several interconnected mixers. The feedback network is highly complex and appears to be designed to operate autonomously from the performer’s control. Such phenomenon seems to create the similar effects achieved in today’s Interactive Music genre, where computers function as autonomous partners alongside the performer. Regarding the case study, the theme investigated in this piece concerns the issue of achieving Liveness in the presentation of Live Electronic Music, particularly from the performer’s perspective.

Yi Jing Jitterbug, written in 1984, is a piece dedicated to saxophonist David Mott, who premiered James Teeney’s similar work titled Saxony several years prior. The piece calls for a wind instrumentalist to follow a set of rules established by interactions with the I-Ching. Eight tape cassette recorders are to record and playback one minute sections of the wind instrumentalist’s sound during the live performance. Cassette recorders are the only technology used in the piece other than the microphone used to capture the wind instrument’s signal. Achieving such a piece with today’s technology is rather simple with the aid of a DAW or programming language, but the use of analog cassette recorders drastically alters the sonic outcome of the piece. This piece was used to investigate the use of technology as a tool for random probability, and in particular, what aesthetic features are obtained through use of technology from different eras.

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