4.5. An Incomplete Chapter

The list is not exhaustive: there are many other composers to consider for similar investigations. Maya Verlaak, for example, has conducted very interesting research in recent years that has led to the production of compositions where gaming dynamics are particularly integrated into musical performance. A very clarifying example of her production in this field is Roulette, written in 2020 for Ensemble Klang, for Electric guitar, piano and electronics. This piece uses a Max/MSP Patch showing a real roulette, where instead of colors and frames are displaced notes and chords that also keep auto-triggering itself between the two musicians, getting input from one and distributing it to the other, letting the roulette start over. In this regard, on Maya’s website it is written “In a game where notes and chords are the trigger for the spinning of a musical roulette wheel, the two instruments are tasked with juggling chance and precision, coincidence and control.” This conceptualization presents a hybrid approach to video games. While the incorporation of visual references might align it with the audiovisual category, directing these references solely to the performers as a technologically advanced tool, rather than aesthetically involved elements, establishes a closer connection to the more traditional genre of games. Her catalogue also contained other game-based piece, such a Ping Pong or Hide&Seek is another piece that mention the game dynamics within the performance (and perhaps compositional process), that reminds to the popular children game where one or more players hide within a designated area, while one or more seekers attempt to locate them. From her own word: “Hide&Seek makes the musicians themselves aware of their role in the compositional process. […] The musicians are not just playing from a score; […] To shape the work to its purpose, they are actively engaged in close scrutiny.”

Moreover, moving outside the musical field there are also many other artistic forms where play exists alongside other media beyond audiovisual: one of the most characteristic is, for example, Daan Brinkmann, with his Lines, an interactive composition based on audience participation, in which lights and sound interact with the audience. The author defines the piece as "an audiovisual web of social connections," which sounds quite appropriate considering even just the installation's graphics. "People are invited to participate in a playful experience," continues the author, “A projector draws lines between participants, engaging them in a social web. The physical distances within this web are used to synthesize sound and rhythm.” It is worth noting that although the composer referenced "playfulness," which may seem distinct from game dynamics, the latter are actually quite fundamental to enabling interactivity, and therefore, integrated in the system. While not essential, as the experience can also be enjoyed in a calm and serious manner or through other non-playful approaches, the specific graphical elements used, along with the immediate responsiveness of the bubbles and their ability to expand and contract based on participant position and movement, inherently evoke a sense of spontaneous play among the audience. Upon entering the performance space, individuals often find themselves pleasantly amused and inadvertently engaging in a challenge with the projections, exploring their features in an instinctive and somewhat childlike manner. There appears to be a humorously playful dynamic of challenge between humans and the machine, likely stemming from the surprise of its response to human interaction, and the hall immediately transforms into a sort of playground full of excited people eager to hurl themselves against each other, move as far apart as possible, create lines, and listen to the sounds generated as a result.

In this context, numerous contributions make use of playful dynamics, stemming from the origin or at least the source of audience-involving performances or those based on role-playing, which indeed come from more theatrical, performative environments where interactive practices are much more common. In general, in the world of live entertainment, the breaking of the fourth wall and the use of more varied composition techniques than traditional linear writing emerged slightly ahead of music, before developing more widely. This is naturally due to the greater ease and wider dissemination of the main medium on which theater rests, common and everyday for any human being: speech and the body. Theatrical improvisation, whether physical, vocal, or textual, is certainly more approachable and requires less skill and knowledge than musical improvisation, and thus, basing the entire playful system on "top-down" dynamics, as Ciciliani says, which do not prescribe but indicate, the entire system that consequently arises can favor greater ease both in active consumption, as involved actors, and passive, as an audience, thus generating a system of questions and offers more frequent and lively than the musical one.


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