Just to say….Reflection

After revising the groups compositions, I wanted to create visual aids within the scores, as well as providing the musician with a comprehension of what is to expected whilst performing the composition.  Through my learning, my fascination with exciting and colourful scores has enabled me to be entirely creative without restrictions.It was important to manage texture with literal visual references, to the sounds that were made were fashioned within each composition. Using a brush and gauche to convey this allows further expression.

After the group performed our revised pieces, I was really quite happy with the direction in which we had taken as it still fell within our criteria set intially – call and response. We wanted to ensure that the audience could related to what was being heard, and to anticpate its changes, highlighting these ‘audible clues’ when they were about to arrive. On some levels, I felt that this was achieved.   

It was important to myself, and the group, that a narrative was present with each piece completed. The first, almost a dream status, with a rude awakening. The chord progressions coupled with ambiance enabled results where by the reverbs are gated, and inherent within the piece, but allows the employment for the resonant tones to make their way through. 

Employing the use of a ‘Telecaster’ recorded sound, it was flat enough to transpose without complication. I was able to house these organic tones and apply numerous textures through techniques and skills learnt with ixiQuarks. The guitar sound provided further response as they later establish themselves, almost as a cello sound. I love space, and I am a huge fan of making sure that this is addressed within music. Thats not to say that listening to ‘Come To Daddy’ by Aphex Twin, very loud through my near field’s doesn’t ‘float the proverbial boat!’ I just feel that in some cases, It’s important what you leave out that sometimes works best.

With the groups second piece, it was important that the groups prerequisite was adhered to, so our spatial understanding was still evident. The metaphor of ‘the calm before the storm’ was prominent within our decision making towards this piece. It was important to convey open and unimposing space, yet in the same breath, aggression and chaotic disjointed changes needed to mould the changes of timbre. It wasn’t entirely successful, but positive steps were taken for the pieces natural progression, and the group

The composition developed to ‘Trick Snap’ where by the chords are quite ominous and disjointed. Again, my sounds specifically were manipulated from the original source of an electric guitar. The realization of the ‘trick’ played, and the ‘snap’ response are depicted within the piece via spoken voice. This evident statement was used enhance the approach to the piece.

Overall, a sense of satisfaction enables further positive steps to be taken within my progression, understanding and development as a musician. I take pleasure in music, and on reflection, I have had an incredibly gratifying insight into what is to come, and what what I have to look forward to.

Short and Sweet

After concluding that our initial composition wasn’t quite strong enough, the new piece was written. With this, it was necessary to complete a revised score. After consideration, I wanted something that was textual, so I began to comprise the score as a 3D visual aid. The concentration of the ‘clouds’ of saturated decay are highlighted by the sort of chrysalis surrounding the notes I had played. With this in mind and in contrast, the percussion section is flat and compressed, highlighted with this regimented block sequence towards the bottom of this graphic score.

I am really quite please with the manner in which this has turned out, and look forward to liaising with the rest of the group so it can be notated an a legend drawn up. Have a look below for the full image (less the notation and legend completion) 

Rework With Reinvention

In spite of scoring our first composition, it was decided that It simply wasn’t strong enough. The conceptually, we were happy with the piece, it had delivered entirely how we had in-visioned from the outset. So we set out to revisit the first piece once more.

Saucy Sound Source…

With A Dash Of ‘Happy Accidents’

Having explored ixiQuark (and still),  I used the same original guitar part, so that the sounds where conducive with natural sounds. The idea of ‘calm before the storm’ still circled, as we wanted to fashion this sound scape with dark undertones in conjunction with melodic and expressive stabs. I stumbled across a technique by where the focus of a sound wave (or aiff in this case) is pin-pointed and exploited. I realized I could control and manipulate the minor peaks, through these ‘happy accidents’.

Get in! The guitar part transposed into a cello type sound, with enough decay to resonate through to dissipate naturally. I was thrilled and excited, because now I have learnt how I can manipulate these sounds, change, amend, transpose….basically redefine the initial sound into a different animal. The result; no connection with emotive playing, which is fantastic. I am sat here, with my laptop, with a previously recorded guitar lick using my a 76′ SG through Mesa f30, and It honestly is indisguishable to It’s previous form. I love this ixi interrogation!

Naturally, the group responded, as everyone relished the chance to develop there sounds. We promptly did this, with each instrument carrying the pieces personality. The original ‘squark’ sound now harbors a greater response, and defines itself well. My particular favorite sounds, is that of the sound of door keys jangling, delayed and sped up. Listen out for it near the beginning, as it clearly sounds like a mobile phone ringing. Its simply just a great sound. 

All in all, reflection Is the most important tool for development, as it helps to mold you, strengthen and tighten up your understanding. I am particularly proud of this piece, as sometime the tendency is to put too much into a composition, and as we all know, it’s perhaps what you leave out that sometimes works best. Consideration was taken to ensure that each musicians sounds worked harmoniously, which is why I feel this piece sits particularly well. The mind set should be that of any band that works well, with no alien sounds, but also to take care not to alienate the whole composition. 

Future development?

Here is the piece in full. Have a listen…

Calm Before The Storm

It has been recorded using mic an SM58 with specific speaker placement. I am happy with the results as it amalgamates the sounds, making it wholesome and uncomplicated. (The score (3rd) Is to be completed soon and will be added shortly).

It would be great to play this live, progressively, and with sharing the the same techniques, we can beginning spiralling melody changes and harmonies. I would like to try this with  with vocals too with real time manipulation of the vocals running alongside a pre-composed vocal though ixi. Batting harmonies and juxtaposing melodies within a band, live, would be great. Through developing confidence within the laptop musicians, It could be suggested that there will be scope for us to get out there and start doing it pretty soon with something that bodes well. 

Thanks for the info people…

Having listened to Furthernoise.org, “Part Three and Coda_edit” – Claudio Parodi from ‘A Ritual Which is Incomprehensible (to the smile of Pauline Olivero), I was very impressed with this composition. The link was useful and informative, to place some order for reference of what I am accomplishing so far. This was very useful.

With the influx of information brought to the table as it were, the importance and relevance of sharing such research helps to benefit each of us, enabling growth and a vast comprehension of what surrounds us.

The group began to define the second piece, so that we could focus on our spatial awareness, but also to concert our efforts within theme. The ‘Trick Snap’ element infers the manner in which you can be fooled, and then what’s left as a result. The chord progression in this piece is something that was introduced during it’s performance to the class. 

Wanting an almost organic persuasion, hence the bird sound representation from the outset. Including the percussion, which was a sample of a fanned book, the group stayed in tune within our theme. The piece reintroduces chord phrasing, so that our objective of audience connection, or expectancy, was adhered to. 

I have completed the groups second installment score, which will be notated and a key will be compiled shortly. Here is a snap-shot of, erm….Trick Snap.

Also, have a listen…trick

I stumbled across this score also. Thought I would include It t, due to how ‘dark’ it is. Seriously, don’t look too much into the characters eyes….  graphical-score-071205) (check out the bottom right once enlarged)

With numerous ambiguous and interesting scores displayed in class, It made me want to investigate further, not just within computer music. I came across a few things, one of which i couldn’t believe. I had never heard of ‘Longplayer’ before, but the notations used are very helpful and fascinating to help establish the sound of the piece.

See below:

The circular graphic highlighted suggests that this piece is infinite and continuous. That’s because it is, and has been since 1999! Read the article. I may have to check this out next time I visit London. It is a shame that there are funding issues, as the premise is fantastic. longplayer.org

Mood Swings – could we play

for that long?

If we could eradicate cost issued and any implicated harm to the environment, and using our equipment within laptop musicianship (including inevitable equipment failure!), it would be great to have a sponsored laptop musician piece, 24 hours non stop, on the fly with copious espresso and a ridiculous amount of confectionery to keep us going!

People could walk onto, as it were, the stage at different times almost on a rota basis so that musicians can interact, inter-change and participate, but also from an audible experience, how the music is transposed throughout this period of time. Recording and referencing would be interesting to see how the mood ‘swings’.

Just a thought…

Creating the basis for this graphical score was pretty tricky, considering that each musical event had to be notated in full. It was fun, and i drew upon my investigation of other graphic scores fore mentioned in my previous blogs. It was helpful, enabling me to demonstrate the architecture of the composition. I loved doing this, and the idea of creating a score on a canvas scale interests me. It’s almost like a expressive ‘music book’, but without some of the ‘kitch’ mid 80′s stories surrounding them! (i think i had a version of E.T, great story but suffice to say, the visuals were pretty rubbish!) The idea that this is indeed a musical score, though transposed looks random and ambiguous, pleases me. 

Further work is necessary to establish what means what, by way of a legend. For example, the expansive red area central in this piece is a large, rumble sound with lots of decay. Using ixiQuarks, I bent the note, warping the sound and peaking before the sound dissipated. This was prior to the ‘Question and Answer’ section , or rather the ‘listeners expectation’ arrival. You can see the vertical broken line in the middle area. This is because the music has broke away so that this phrase can emerge.

This is the first installment. I am completing the second score this week so that the group can finalize our works

Here’s another snap-shot of the section mentioned above.

Work In Progress

The piece has developed further now that advice had been taken on board. A recording was compiled with a simple SM58 and three laptop musicians, compiling a rough recording so that it could be digested and expanded. The piece is ‘getting there’ though as a group, It has been decided that a certain chord phrase needs to be implemented, so that the audiences expectations can be met.

I have included some more snap-shots of what I had done during this performance, and more emphasis had been made with static and continuous sounds. With the application of ixiQuark Tremolo and MR Roque 2x, bright and darker grains could be achieved.

Having being inspired particularly with the film ‘War Of The Worlds’, there is a specific sound of lightening. My initial sound, gives me the impression of viola, sped up, reversed and gated. The manner in which the volume controls the impact is something I wanted to try and recreate, or at least synthesize. With this image, I used the ‘worm’ unction in ixiQuarks where by you can apply as much ‘worm’ as required. By increasing gain quickly, the impression is almost like lightening strikes, with quick impact attacks.

Listen to the lightening scene…. (about 25 seconds)

Fig 1)

The circles represent how aggressive the sound is, but it is possible to create chords with by correcting where they are placed on the sound file. The result being almost of an ‘happy accident’ but it was able to negotiate the sound to build up the layering of sound, with a violin type sound. The reverb allows easy transition between each phrase.

Fig 2)

As the composition delivers more chaos, the introduction and scrambling of further spheres allow greater textures. The timbre is amended, so the chords arrive with more dissonance. This was helpful to convey a disjointed ‘break-out’ as the piece crescendos to calm. 

Fig 3)

As the piece fades out, I apply slow gradual grain slides, which are transposed reversed. The injection of ‘Trick-Snap’ is a in the application of voice, allows the piece to come to a close. 

snap

From this, I am ready to finalize the graphical score. The group have previously researched numerable scores, and have made a decision on how this is going to be tackled. 

Modes and Scales

Today i had a little insight into various scales and modes. 

In music, any of several ways of ordering the notes of a scale according to the intervals they form with the tonic, thus providing a theoretical framework for the melody. A mode is the vocabulary of a melody; it specifies which notes can be used and indicates which have special importance. Of these, there are two principal notes: the final, on which the melody ends, and the dominant, which is the secondary centre.

I have also located a useful website to enable a greater understanding of modes and scales. This Is something that I am learning and familiarizing myself with.

www.wisegeek.com

(love the title)

A short critique – working progress

Well, I had the chance of performing the second of our groups work. Digesting the previous comments with regard to my awareness spatially, specifically placement of speakers, It was decided to fashion this by arranging them into a ‘wall of sound’. Thick and abrasive, the intention was to dissociate each laptop musician from their particular speaker, or output, so the sound heard was almost engineered to harbor an almost ‘cliff face’ expression.

This was unfortunately unsuccessful, as the general consensus of the audience was to relate each sound zonally. This displacement could collectively draw the listeners in to the piece. I was disappointed, but could see the relevance, as the amendments made to the movements of the speakers allowed a greater interrogation for the sounds to to heard. 

With my learning outcome of the last piece, it could be considered that a more tangible experience for the listener should be exploited. By this, It could be suggested that it is useful for an audience expectations to be met. Question and Answer? Well, It’s self explanatory. Suggest to the audience what is to come, highlight to them that the timbre is imminently soon to change, let them know to expect the expected. This is not meant to sound ambiguous, but I should be liaising with their anticipations and persuade them to get on board. 

Falling slightly short of this, I feel that on reflection, greater investigation is necessary. After all, a prerequisite of the newest piece would be the order of calm. The interpretation was to convey chaos, so that the metaphor of ‘calm after the storm’ was conveyed. This failed in it’s execution by the way that it hadn’t identified long enough with the audience, which is entirely essential to what was needed for this to be successful.

With this, further development is needed to really involved the audience. More time Is needed to allow the listener to grasp what is being shown to them visually, with our order of queues, more inherently, where the piece Is going. This piece, in my opinion, is a working progress and further development is needed so that the message is conveyed. Character and the emotive connection between both listener and performer is something that needs to be synonymous with each performance, something that Will be remedied, manifesting itself within the piece.

I have included a small snap-shot below to highlight some of the further developments made within ixiQuarks. I will also include a sample of the piece nearer It’s completion, including my attributes toward the composition.

The sample is a guitar loop but the focus is on two bright tones specifically. I wanted to dissociate the original sound and convert this into something a ‘dark unholy’. The circle function represents expansion, the larger the circular, the larger the sound. With the addition of the octave function and application of compressed reverb, the tones delivered are truly sombre. Again, i will add to this blog, so that the piece and be heard and seen in full.

So what’s the score?

A musical graphic notation generally refers to the use of non-traditional symbols and text. It allows us to convey information about the performance for a piece of music. It is also mnemonic by the manner in which is helps you remember. 

Some examples of employed graphical symbols:

	Line indicating relative duration
	Relative spacing between notes (as beams)
	Relative spacing between notes (as note heads )
	“feathered beam,” getting faster
	“feathered beam,” getting slower
	highest possible pitch / lowest possible pitch
	tone cluster / tone cluster glissando

Following on from this, i wanted to research other notation so that It could help me develop my own understanding to complete my own. I have included one of my favorite graphical notations. The colours and textures evolve the piece, but I rather like it as a piece of art in itself. I would be more than happy to include this within my repertoire of art work, as i feel it has that underlining message. I learnt to consult, absorb and digest it’s information in my head and began to interpret exactly how i felt the piece would relate.

Hans-Christoph Steiner’s score for ‘Solitude’ is noted below. Its interesting to look at this prior to listening to the piece. I have included the piece as it is quite good fun to try  and comprehend the below communication.

Have a listen…at.or.at/hans/solitude 

After conducting out piece, i looked at how the composition could be represented if another musician was to perform by way of sight reading. With this, I was introduced to Gyorgy Ligeti’s composition, ‘Artikulation’. This clever way of creating a score, enables the listener to comprehend visually exactly what the music suggests. I have included a video below, so this visual aid can help demonstrate the sections of the piece via it’s graphical score. 

Artikulation 

I love this piece. It was useful to help me comprise all the areas of the composition as one solitary piece of art work (notation) This audio and visual syncopated is extremely successful, as you can sense the sounds shapes. My favorite expression in this score,  is that which is used to communicate decay and reverberation, with blocked out colour indicating this. In contrast, a tight flat sound is apparent with the symbols without barriers.

With the main structure of the composition complete, it was important to document how the piece was conceived. I began to evaluate the architecture of the song, so that it could be transposed as something visual. I have included a snap shot below of a draft version for my Graphical Score. A rough understanding can be established of what the piece entailed. Note where my finger points, as this is when i began my ascent in the composition (see previous post!)

(fig 1)

With these visual aids in place, it became apparent to me that this effective way of arranging these components, is an impressive and creative aid of how the piece was constructed. My ideas could now be cemented. I began to research other scores with similar visual ‘stories’. The next point of reference is noted below, where the sporadic sound with varying velocity is highlighted with different sized spheres. 

(fig 2)

Check out the below sites. I am intrigued by the way that these images below are, for want of a better word, as ‘musical story’ Some appear ambiguous, but i have learnt that with this manner of expression, then we must articulate ourselves in this manner of design.

www.graphicalscores.org/

www.strangetractor.org/…/ references/scores

Some other practitioners of graphic notation worth looking into.

How I got started

After familiarising myself with ixi, I began to think how we could incorporate this within real time performance. I also wanted to integrate a simple guitar lick so that the source of the tone manipulated was from an organic, traditional instrument. After recording the sample with my guitar, and importing it into ixi, I began to amend the properties so that in an attempt to negotiate the sound into something indistinguishable from the original noise sound.

What I did next…

With ixi’s real time reverbs, vocoders etc, i wanted to imply an over zelest level of decay and reverb, so that the now transposed sound bounces between my other laptop musicians. In a sense, i wanted complete ambiance, a contrasting from stabs to grained lengths, so that the dynamics could harmonically change the textures that were being heard.

I got to work, learning that with ‘SoundScratcher’, using the warp function, i could focus on minimal sections of the sound wave, so that aiff that i had imported could be managed and controlled. The initial rotation of the mouse i was using in unison with my laptop, enabled tactile movements, and therefore the results of what i was hearing were easily flexible in it’s production. The lucid tone that initiated the piece is my opening piece, which bounces with two other tones in conjunction. 

Next, much of the same technique, i motioned further up, so that the tone was brighter and the attack remained the same. Continuity was parallel as i was aiming for almost a dissonance noise after each tonal stab. Instead, it was almost a sequential tone. I began to learn that the idea of real time audio synthesis impresses me, as a minor nuances can amend the total sound. The idea of ‘happy mistakes’ is an integral part of the creation in music, not just electronica. When you listen to the piece, you will see minor inflection with the tones.

The next step was for me to manually enable the guitar loop to syncopate with the percussive element of the song. Through audible and visual communication, the syncopation between the pulse sounds, used in SC, and the introducing of the guitar loop from which all sounds were devised from, initiated. The clever use of frequency and time manipulation resulted in percussive tones forming. The additional and integral involvement of another one of ixi’s tools, ScaleSynth, again using the same guitar aiff for continuity and cohesion, subtly became more involved, lending itself to the aesthetics sound of the piece. 

This of course was the exception of the dark, screeching sound that was used sporadically to randomize within the composition. The general feel of the songs of the phrasing was ‘loose’, which is the approach that was intended. From this, the slow crescendo and intense build up with a represented pulse ‘kick drum’ brought the piece together. At the same time, i added a small section of the loop using ixis’s BufferPool player, still employing the CombVocoder and ixiReverb filter and effects.

Next steps…

It is important that the manner in which i had drawn the curve was constant and concise. It was also imperative that the inherent feedback was controlled. The reason for this, is that it was essential that i held this note so that myself and the other musicians were able to relate to one another, with further improvisation.  A collage of sounds, rather intense, were oscillating. It was here that a simple visual reference, such as the raising of my hand, made it clear to everyone that we were about to change the dynamics of the piece. 

Questiuon and Answer

Learning that the everything could be manipulate real time, it made the next transition simple, but effective. A quick disabling of the reverb function in ixi meant that the sound became tighter. A ‘question and answer’ almost juxtaposed the piece, so that it became a little disjointed but ultimately organised. Once this phrase had ended, the reactivation of the delays was another audible signal that a further crescendo was imminent. All laptop musicians proceeded to become more aggressive, so that the listener knew that we were ‘swinging’ the piece with heavier, darker attacks. The timbre changes as the sound becomes strident, with a higher level of expression. 

See below: Although the the gradient is climbing, i included higher frequency peaks on the sound wave to enable a greater level of confusion. The trails of the delay and the vocoder tool working harder.

Again, this real time amendments transformed the music, so that chaos intervened. The percussive element of the pulse sounds became more intense, more busy. The ScaleSynth, which is my favourite phrase of the piece, became aggressive and erratic, with the squawking screeching sound become ever more intense. It was here that  the piece concluded, with all musicians understanding each other and through the audible crescendo pointers, came to a stop. 

All in all, the piece was conceived pretty well. i feel that the arrangement of ourselves left a little bit to be desired, as the sonic sound hadn’t really bounced effectively. On reflection, it would be nice to have arranged each speaker  spherically (perhaps looking further into Ge Wang’s arrangement techniques) so that the sound had travelled inwards to the listener, and is specialized more effectively. The harmonics of the noise sounds heard would have a much greater impact. The idea of engulfing the listener with these sounds is something that i wish to encompass next within the piece. For me, this is all about exploration, and i want to have more movement between the sounds that are being created. This is something that i aim to accomplish next time the group liaise. 

Here’s an example of what i found, researching ideas for better placement and arrangement for sound. This piece is amazing. It helps you put perspective on what can be achieved. I will take this on board and and learn from the clever placement and interaction of other laptop musicians. Need to get a hole lot better!

watch?v=gOsaANAfZcw

Have a cheeky listen to the piece in full. It is a poor quality recording made in Garage Band, but it gives you an idea as to how the piece was conceived. Take note of the above particularly, as the initial tone heard, is that which have described above.

ixi-and-sc-live perfomance

Super Dupa Collider…

The main emphasis for this lesson is to try an understand SC and to start using some of its features. As SC and ixiQuarks was free to download, we promptly did so. We had a listen to some of what Julio had been putting together, using his sounds recorded from his cycle. The sound of the wheels spinning to the zipping of his panier was inherent within the composition. I was able to see what SC is all about. I learnt a few things too! Here’s a little indication of this noted below, with explanations of what certain things mean!

What’s syntax? This the manner in which the language works. For example;

SinOsc.ar(freq, phase, mul, add) – this examples are called arguments and have values that have different results. {SinOsc.ar} (SinOsc is an object, ar is audio rate – freq of 440. A pitch of SinOsc is measured in frequency. For now, we will class MUL as volume (amplitude) A polite amplitude volume is 0.3. The volume ranges from 0-1. Anything more than this you would consider it to be distorted. 

Here are some basics that i learnt;

{xxxxx}.play; = function play – this will of course begin to play.

{ } –  Curl brackets is used to explain function

[ ] - Indicates relevance to channel distribution. Dependent on the sound card, there could be multiple channels (for example, if there were x [ [ ] ] , then there would be x 4 outputs. 

( ) - Parenthesis – this is to evaluate 

You have to type ar. to create audio range, or kr, control rate, to save cpu that doesn’t change too much)

Ugen is short for unit generator, for example, SinOsc is a unit generator, which is a sound mechanism that gets played on the audio server. I learnt that looking in the help files within SC, i could find numerous UGENS to play with. With this, I copied and pasted this into the ‘Post’ window within SC, and began to manipulate the sounds. It was great fun!! 

I also learnt a little about creating a ProxySpace, which is basically an environment enabling improvisation. I can now begin to see the importance of using ProxySpace (ProxySpace.push;), amending composition real time and bouncing with other laptop musicians.