Blok 3 Composition

Blok 3 Composition Workgroup

Design & Composition for (Interactive) Installations

Wednesdays 15:10 - 16.30

Weeks 29 - 36

Instructors: Dyane Donck & Marcel Wierckx

web: http://kmt.hku.nl/~marcel/blok3_composition

email: ja.donck - at - hetnet.nl / marcel - at - kmt.hku.nl

Introduction

The walls separating the plastic arts and music have been crumbling; or, depending on your perspective, are being torn down. Today many composers (especially those working in the domain of electronic, dsp or computer-assisted composition) have turned to new modes of expression, including installation art, interactive performance and automated (or generative) composition. In the past decades much research has been done in the fields of non-linear and time-independent music composition and presentation. From the avant-garde compositions of John Cage to the hyper-commercial video game soundtrack genre, many people are seeing these new modes of expression as not only a liberation from old forms but as the only possible future direction in music. This research has raised many interesting issues and challenges for composers, ranging from the practical problems inherent in the non-linear delivery (presentation) of their music to the more philosophical challenges of creativity and techniques.

Concepts

How does one go about composing music with no beginning and no ending? or if the composer does not know at which point the listener enters or exits the piece? or where different musical material should be used depending on the listener's reaction?

Traditional concepts about composing music are based on the development of ideas over time, using techniques such as tension and resolution and the demarcation of time into segments. However when time is "open" - when events do not necessarily proceed in a predetermined order - these concepts break down.

By studying examples of existing works and reading articles by other artists working in the field our goal is to see how others have developed or replaced traditional ideas about composition in order to adapt to these new modes of expression.

Course Requirements

There are three basic requirements for this blok:

All students must visit at least one museum in which an (interactive) sound or multimedia installation is on display. Each student must write a short report (±1/2 A4) describing and analyzing one piece they've seen. Time will be set aside during the course to present and discuss these reports.
Working together with a visual artist, realize a composition which has the form of an (interactive) (multidisciplinary) installation. Make sure that equal emphasis is placed on the audio and visual aspects of the installation. Develop the concept together as a team!
Give weekly presentations to the group about the progress of your project. At the end of the blok there will be an exposition of everybody's final work.

Course Outline (tentative)

week 29 - Introduction

course requirements, projects, agenda, possible field trips to museums etc.

week 30 - Formulate and develop your concept together with the artist.
week 31 - Presentation and discussion of project proposals
week 32 -
week 33 -
week 34 -
week 35 -
week 36 - Final presentation of projects

(The lessons between week 32 and week 25 are left open for now. At least one of these lessons will be used to take the group to a museum or gallery to see an installation, the rest will be used to discuss students' work and to analyze articles and listen to repertoire.)

Course Materials and Links

Here is a list of links which may be useful in your research (these links are in no particular order, and some may be more useful than others. If you come across a web page which may be interesting for this course, please let us know so that we can share it with the group!)

Texts by David Rokeby:

Dreams of an Instrument Maker

Transforming Mirrors

The Construction of Experience

http://soundtoys.net/journals - lots of good links

http://vispo.com/misc/ia.htm - interactive web audio

Longplayer home - 1000 year composition project

http://www.iasig.org/ - Interactive Audio Special Interest Group

nm_algorithmic.html - Algorithmic Composition

On Composing Interactive Music

Composition with Algorithms: A Bibliography

Computer Pitch Techniques