New Interfaces for Musical Expression @ ITP
- CLASS 12 - The Future of Performance
In this summative session, we reflect on the theoretical discussions from the beginning of the semester in terms of the hands-on experience we have had in developing our own musical instrument prototypes.
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Some thoughts on the Future of Music below…
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Luigi Russolo, from “The Art of Noises” (1913):
Futurist musicians must continually enlarge and enrich the field of sounds. This corresponds to a need in our sensibility. We note, in fact, in the composers of genius, a tendency towards the most complicated dissonances. As these move further and further away from pure sound, they almost achieve noise-sound. This need and this tendency cannot be satisfied except by the adding and the substitution of noises for sounds.
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Curt Sachs, from “The History of Musical Instruments” (1940):
“We do not know the destiny of these engineer’s inventions, nor can we tell how much they mean to the future of music. For the time being, they surely owe their existence to the experimentations of electro-engineers rather than any musical need. Most eulogies of electric instruments emphasize their unlimited capacity for dynamic power and varied timbre. This is in line with the trend of the latter nineteenth century. But are these the ideals of the future?”
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John Cage:
“Percussion music is revolution. Sound and rhythm have too long been submissive to nineteenth-century music. Today we are fighting emancipation. Tomorrow, with electronic music in our ears, we will hear freedom. Instead of giving us new sounds, the nineteenth-century composers have given us endless arrangements of the old sounds. We have turned on radios and always known when we were tuned to a symphony. The sound has always been the same, and there has not been even a hint of curiosity as to the possibilities of rhythm. For interesting rhythms we have listened to jazz. At the present stage of revolution, a healthy lawlessness is warranted. Experiment must necessarily be carried on by hitting anything- tin pans, rice bowls, iron pipes- anything we can lay our hands on. Not only hitting, but rubbing, smashing, making sound in every possible way. In short, we must explore the materials of music. What we can’t do ourselves will be done by machines and electrical instruments we will invent.”
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Andrew Shloss and David Jaffe
(http://people.finearts.uvic.ca/~aschloss/Articles/INTERFACEarticle.html): Though the power we now have in computer music is wonderful, exhilarating and open-ended, and though it frees us forever from the tyranny of the tape machine, we have entered an era in which cause-and-effect, an inherent aspect of musical performance since the beginning of time, is suddenly evaporating. Digital signal processing will help a great deal in this problem, because the virtuosity inherent in playing acoustic instruments can be retained. As for the global problem of complexity and loss of the perception of cause-and-effect, We believe that this is a problem that must be dealt with individually in every situation, and to some extent will be answered by the response of the audience.
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George Crumb, 1986
Nonetheless, I sense that it will be the task of the future to somehow synthesize the sheer diversity of our present resources into a more organic and well-ordered procedure.
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SEE YOU TOMORROW!
- CLASS 11 - Recycling
Recycling Music - the remix
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Notes
- * Hand in Performance Plans - Discussion
- * Check in
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This week we’re discussing the idea of New Interfaces for Musical Expression in remix culture - performance and compositional tools that use prerecorded music as a conceptual and practical ’source’ of both material and inspiration._
Class 11 Recycling Music Presentation
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Assignments
FOR CLASS 12: SHORT WRITING ASSIGNMENTBased on your activity in this class making your own performance system, what is your idea of the future of performance? Reference the themes of our readings, guest lectures and class discussions where relevant. This should be no longer than one page, and should require no additional research. Please bring a hard copy to class on Weds 12/12 to hand in and discuss.
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TONIGHT’S CLASS GUEST - MORTON SUBOTNICK!!
- CLASS 10 - Prototypes II (reading for Nov 28th)
Assignment - for Nov 28th (Class 11)
For week 11 (Weds 11/28), create your performance plan. This is material that conveys how your performance will proceed – how it will begin, how it will unfold, and how it will end. This material needs to be handed to us or put on line by next class. Use the performance planning strategy that makes the most sense for your piece and for your instrument.* a bullet point list describing the sequence of events you want to move through during the performance, articulating particularly the beginning and end.
* a graphic representation of the timeline or event possibilities for you to follow during your performance.
* a traditionally notated score, or variation on traditional music notation (including devising your own notation scheme for your instrument).
Or challenge us with another notion of what a score could be (as long as you speak to its validity as a performance planning tool).
BE ABLE to close your eyes and walk through your whole performance from pre-beginning to post-end. Rehearse it on the subway train, when you’re walking. The key for each rehearsal, real or imagined, is maintaining continuity. Do not stop or let it be interrupted. It can fast or glacially slow, but it must be continuous.
Reading
The theme of discussion for Week 11 will be the creative reuse of existing sound recordings in musical performance. Toward that end, I ask that you indulge me in reading a short paper of mine on the topic:
Recycling Music, Answering Back: Towards an Oral Tradition of Electronic Music
