scholarly journals Algorithms as Scores: Coding Live Music

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 19-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thor Magnusson
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Musical Score ◽  
Artistic Practice ◽  
Compositional Process ◽  
Coding Systems ◽  
Live Music ◽  
Algorithmic Music ◽  
Creative Media

The author discusses live coding as a new path in the evolution of the musical score. Live-coding practice accentuates the score, and whilst it is the perfect vehicle for the performance of algorithmic music it also transforms the compositional process itself into a live event. As a continuation of 20th-century artistic developments of the musical score, live-coding systems often embrace graphical elements and language syntaxes foreign to standard programming languages. The author presents live coding as a highly technologized artistic practice, shedding light on how non-linearity, play and generativity will become prominent in future creative media productions.

scholarly journals The writing technique as a component of the compositional process (on the examples of creative practice of the second half of the 20th – 21st centuries)

2021 ◽  
Vol 59 (59) ◽  
pp. 117-130
Author(s):  
Dmytro Malyi
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Mathematical Thinking ◽  
Electroacoustic Music ◽  
Musical Language ◽  
Algorithmic Composition ◽  
Compositional Process ◽  
Cultural Paradigm ◽  
The Social ◽  
French Composers ◽  
Stochastic Music

Background, objectives and methodology of the research. The social and cultural paradigm of the 20th century has given rise to a type of composing thinking that did not exist before – a scientific one. Thus, the evolution of the composer’s writing can be defined as a path from thinking by perfect consonance, emancipated dissonance to thinking by deterministic sound and its parameters (height, duration, dynamics, timbre, and articulation). The term of the «composer’s writing technique» means a set of techniques and methods of working with the musical material as a result of the activity of thinking/awareness. Therefore, the aim of this article is an attempt to explore the relationship between the compositional process and writing techniques of the 20th – 21st centuries (pointillism, aleatorysonorous, algorithmic composition), as well as the specifics of polyphonic, homophonic writing in a new context. The methodology of the study includes references to the scientific works by P. Boulez (1971), K. Stockhausen (1963), V. Medushevsky (1984), M. Bonfeld (2006), I. Beckman (2010), I. Kuznetsov (2011), K. Maidenberg-Todorova (2013), M. Vysotska and G. Grigoryeva (2014). Presentation of research results. The phenomenon of writing techniques is very important in the study of the specifics of the compositional process, as it is the technique, for the most part, becomes the goal of creation for many composers of the 20th century. In addition to new techniques, polyphonic and homophonic writing have undergone some changes. The polyphonic one has specific features that are manifested in linearity, part-writing, etc. Examples can be found in the works by D. Ligeti (micro-polyphony), R. Shchedrin, V. Bibik, V. Ptushkin, V. Sylvestrov, and O. Shchetynsky. Regarding the homophonic writing, we shall note that, first of all, it is an indicator of style and conceptual thinking of a composer (works by A. Pyart, J. Tavener, and L. Sumera). In pointillism, the sound is thought of as a deterministic, isolated structure, which is expressed by its various parameters. Here are the examples from the creative work by A. Webern («The Variations for the Piano»; «The Variations for the Orchestra»), by E. Denysov «DSCH». The aleatory-sonorous technique is associated with the operation of timbre sonorities, according to their specific patterns, and developed in the 50–60s of the 20th century in the works by I. Xenakis, V. Lyutoslavsky, Ksh. Penderetsky, and D. Ligeti. The algorithmic composition is an indicator of scientific and mathematical thinking, and is divided into: fractal, stochastic, spectral, concrete and electroacoustic music. The first was formed within the framework of the works by C. Dodge, G. li Nelson, D. Ligeti, and others (I. Beckman, 2010). Stochastic music is associated with the name of I. Xenakis, and the ancestors of the spectral school are the French composers G. Grisey and T. Murray. Conclusions. The article considers the writing techniques of the 20th–21st centuries as components of the compositional process. It can be concluded that the studied techniques are fundamentally interconnected, revealing the nature of the composer’s thinking/consciousness from different positions. The presented techniques are: the objectification of sound forms, the method of creation; the fact of the composer’s consciousness; the consequence of the historical and cultural evolution of the musical language and communication.

Self-learned folk musician

2013 ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Iveta Dukaļska
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
Instrumental Music ◽  
Field Work ◽  
The Other ◽  
Single Individual ◽  
Musical Score ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Culture Environment

A folk musician is an important carrier of the folk music tradition. Most of the folk musicians are talented representatives of the musicians’ craft, highly appreciated in the 20th century by the countryside society. Music making is a must at different gatherings and family celebrations (birthday parties, weddings, seasonal festivities, etc.), and this secures a high social status for the musician within the culture environment, though this also gives rise to competition among the musicians. Along with the changes within the countryside culture environment at the turn of the 20th and 21st century, also the society’s attitude towards the folk music- making tradition has changed, on the one hand viewing it as some old-fashioned activity of elderly men (the musicians), while on the other it is viewed as an important object of study for the preservation of the tradition, its renewal and reintroduction into the culture environment of the 21st century. The present study traces the development of the notion “kaktu muzikants” (literally ‘corner musician’ – a busker; self-taught, amateur musician) in Latvia from both historical and contemporary perspective, performing the culture semiotic analysis of the symbolic and mythic meanings of corner. In the Latvian culture discourse the designation “kaktu muzikants” has the following semantic aspects: 1) in the macro space – opposition of the periphery and the centre; 2) in the micro space – a special location in the inner space (the location of the musician, while playing at the dance; the „red” corner); 3) the level of professionalism, its expressive belittlement (playing without the musical score). The present study characterises the importance of the “kaktu muzikants” in the Latvian culture in 1930’s-60’s and in the present day – in the context of the traditional instrumental music. This study also uses the field-work method in order to obtain the empiric material. During field-work the data are gathered in direct interviews, deeply or partially structured interviews, where the data are obtained from the original source in the presence of the interviewer; as the result a joint view of the culture environment of the period under study was formed, along with a view of the importance and place of a country musician in the aforementioned culture environment. In the 1930’s-40’s the folk music-making tradition is mostly a local tradition of some secluded culture environment – within the boundaries of a single family, village or parish. The first skills of music making as well as those of singing are acquired within the family, where these are inherited from the members of family belonging to the older generation. Each village and parish has its musicians. Usually within a parish a single group is formed of musicians having gained recognition by the community, with this group playing at all most important events within that community – like the weddings of the better-off families and the most important dances (e.g. the dance after the remembrance event at the local cemetery). All other musicians are peripheral musicians in relation to this main group, usually playing on their own or in duos. The situations when the music is played without a written score are self-explanatory and characteristic of folk - musicians’ technique. Lacking the knowledge of musical score, the folk - musicians mainly base on the auditory or musical memory and the song’s text, the latter taking the place of notes. In cases of purely instrumental pieces playing is based on musical hearing alone. Such a technique provides good opportunities for improvisation, and reveals the creativity of the musician, his sense of music and taste. Lack of knowledge of the musical score unites people for whom music is an important part of their lives, providing them with the experience of public performance and the sense of belonging to the group of musicians, simultaneously positioning themselves as musicians of lower status compared to those graduated from some musical education institution. The division by the level of professionalism into insiders and outsiders in relation to one or the other group of musicians was especially pronounced in 1950’s-60’s, but this division has still been retained. In any music playing situation the musician has a special place within the available space allocated to him, where this space can be either inside a house (a single room), some shed or place chosen for an open air dance as a relative space. According to the data gathered during the interviews conducted in the field, the musician most frequently is seated in the corner, that corner becoming the place of honour and the centre for the musician. The designation “kaktu muzikants” is not only current in the culture environment of the 20th century countryside, but is still retained. In 1920’s-40’s quite frequently the designation “kaktu balle” (local, less important or inferior quality dance-party) is used to indicate that the event is organised by the local community (dance at some farmstead, open air dance at some grove, etc.) as compared to more official events organised and recognised by the state institutions. With this also the designation “kaktu balles muzikants” enters currency, though this has no relation to the level of professionalism of the particular musician, instead his location – the periphery. The modern designation “kaktu muzikants” is actualised particularly in the memories of the folk musicians and their life stories of the period beginning with the 1950’s. In the vocabulary of the younger generation of musicians (meaning by that the early 21st century) “kaktu muzikants” prevails as a designation of a musician aiming at understanding of the folk music-making tradition and/or the ones who have restored a music-making tradition of some of the aforementioned periods or imitate the particular instrument technique of a single individual musician.

scholarly journals Ilman ja liikkeen fenomenologiasta

Tahiti ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Riikka Stewen
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Artistic Practice ◽  
Isadora Duncan ◽  
Phenomenological Point

This article discusses Ellen Thesleff’s artistic practice and suggests that it is informed by a minimalistically phenomenological attitude. Minimalist phenomenology is a term introduced by Dominique Janicaud to describe artistic practices as translations of embodied perceptual experiences comparable to philosophical efforts to define experience. It is further suggested that air and gravity play an important role in her work. Her artistic thinking is also seen in connection with the artistic practice of dancer Isadora Duncan and theatre theorist Edward Gordon Craig. The role of antiquity as imagined in early 20th century modernism is reinterpreted as a phenomenological point de repère for these artists in their pathbreaking practices

scholarly journals On Lars von Trier, Enfant Terrible of Danish Art Film

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mette Hjort
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Good Deal ◽  
Artistic Practice ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Lars Von Trier ◽  
Crucial Feature ◽  
Art Film

THE PROBLEM WITH PROVOCATION: ON LARS VON TRIER, ENFANT TERRIBLE OF DANISH ART FILM Anyone interested in contemporary art is likely to have spent a good deal of time pondering the nature and role of artistic provocation. Provocation as a crucial feature of artistic practice was largely unknown before 1800 (Walker 1999: 1). The idea of 'shocking the recipient' was, however, 'a dominant principle of artistic intent' for members of the various avant-garde movements that emerged in the early decades of the 20th century (Peter Bürger, cited in Walker: 2), and at this point the provocateur is a well-known and even expected figure in the landscape of art. It is not difficult to think of examples of artworks that are self-evidently about creating a sense of outrage. Let me mention just a few well-known works that prompted a public outcry: Rick Gibson's Human Earrings (1985), which consists of a...

scholarly journals Итальянская живопись ‘до Рафаэля’ в творчестве Николая Рериха

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Voytekunas
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Artistic Practice ◽  
Direct Experience ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
Italian Art ◽  
Artistic Heritage

At the turn of the 20th century, interest in Italy and the artistic heritage of the Old Italian Masters, especially the Proto-Renaissance and Early Renaissance was a noticeable phenomenon in Russian culture. Painting ‘before Raphael’ became one of the most important sources that influenced the style and imagery of many Russian artists, including Nicholas Roerich. This article examines the factors that determined Roerich’s interest in early Italian art and analyzes the direct experience of the artist studying ancient painting in Italy, which was reflected in his artistic practice of the 1900s-1910s.

scholarly journals Scoring with Code: Composing with algorithmic notation

2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 268-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thor Magnusson
Keyword(s):  
Programming Language ◽  
Linear Code ◽  
Computer Code ◽  
Musical Score ◽  
Compositional Process ◽  
Musical Notation ◽  
Art Form ◽  
New Form ◽  
Short Code

Computer code is a form of notational language. It prescribes actions to be carried out by the computer, often by systems called interpreters. When code is used to write music, we are therefore operating with programming language as a relatively new form of musical notation. Music is a time-based art form and the traditional musical score is a linear chronograph with instructions for an interpreter. Here code and traditional notation are somewhat at odds, since code is written as text, without any representational timeline. This can pose problems, for example for a composer who is working on a section in the middle of a long piece, but has to repeatedly run the code from the beginning or make temporary arrangements to solve this difficulty in the compositional process. In short: code does not come with a timeline but is rather the material used for building timelines. This article explores the context of creating linear ‘code scores’ in the area of musical notation. It presents theThrenoscopeas an example of a system that implements both representational notation and a prescriptive code score.

Advanced Algorithmic Music Systems

2020 ◽  
pp. 149-160
Author(s):  
Noah Kellman
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Musical Score ◽  
Previous Discussion ◽  
Algorithmic Music ◽  
Outside The Box

This chapter builds on the previous discussion of procedural music, examining the advanced capabilities of custom-built algorithmic music systems, and how they can respond to minute changes in game data. This exploration examines Uurnog Uurnlimited (2017), a game developed by Niklas Nygren (aka Nifflas), which features such an algorithmic music system. Nifflas designed Uurnog with real-time audio generation as a key feature of the gameplay experience, even going so far as to create a stand-alone music system called Ondskan to give himself nearly unlimited control over how a procedural musical score is attached to game data. Through the exploration of advanced reactive music systems, the reader will encounter many tools useful in thinking outside the box when crafting a music design for a game. These tools can give developers multiple approaches for creating scores that adapt to each play-through and provide the player with a uniquely personalized score.

scholarly journals The Use of Audio Interpretive Materials in the Development of Tuneful Ear

2012 ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Ilma Grauzdiņa
Keyword(s):  
Harmonic Analysis ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Music Teachers ◽  
Ear Training ◽  
French Edition ◽  
Live Music ◽  
Intensive Use ◽  
Musical Dictation ◽  
The One ◽  
Reaction Speed

The report is devoted to the one of the contemporary ways in the development of tuneful ear related to intensive use of varied audio interpretive materials during musical classes. Sound of “Live music” imparts new sense to such conventional forms of ear training as rhythm dictation, musical dictation, harmonic analysis. It makes possible to train timbral ear, to improve attention, reaction speed, memory as well as noticeably widens musical horizon of pupils. This method has been widely used in France since the end of the 20th century therefore the article looks closely into one of the French encased set. Analysis of French edition proves that this experience should be popularized amidst Latvian music teachers too and analogical edition can be created on the basis of Latvian music.

Code-notes-music: an epistemological investigation of algorithmic music

1996 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-177
Author(s):  
DOMINIQUE RICHARD
Keyword(s):  
Signal Processing ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Formal Models ◽  
Compositional Process ◽  
Algorithmic Music ◽  
Processing Techniques ◽  
Musical Formalism ◽  
Signal Processing Techniques ◽  
The Way

This paper deals with the role of the composer in algorithmic music. This role departs from traditional models because of the way computers are used in the compositional process, particularly when signal processing techniques are being integrated with sophisticated formal models to generate musical compositions. We shall examine several types of ‘musical formalism’ in order to bring out the active role of the composer in the compositional process.

A Passage of Nostalgia: The Life and Work of Jacobus Kloppers

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Art Music ◽  
Creative Work ◽  
Artistic Practice ◽  
Compositional Process ◽  
Authentic Self ◽  
Symbolic Gesture ◽  
Dedicated Service ◽  
Artistic Self ◽  
Autobiographical Narrative

Jacobus Kloppers, an eminent composer, organist, pedagogue, and scholar, significantly contributed to musicological and organ teaching in South Africa and Canada and, in the latter context, art music, and liturgical composition. A Passage of Nostalgia – The Life and Work of Jacobus Kloppers, as a symbolic gesture, constitute recognition of his work both in South Africa and Canada. This publication is unique in that, apart from relevant disciplinary perspectives, biographical and autobiographical narrative, and anecdote, all constitute a necessary means through which the authors illuminate Kloppers’ compositional process and its creative outcomes. In this regard, Kloppers generously dedicated his time to the project to make information on his life and work available, often in complex ways. This retrospective input supports the work offered as an authentic, self-reflective recounting of a life of dedicated service in music. The construct of nostalgia as an overarching theme to this volume on some level denotes Kloppers’ position of cultural and religious ‘insidedness’ and ‘outsidedness’. However, apart from representing a return to a lost and challenging past, the composer’s creative work affirms his individuality, sense of artistic self, and propensity for spiritual acceptance and tolerance. Moreover, nostalgia in his oeuvre takes on importance as a rhetorical artistic practice by which continuity is as central as discontinuity.

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