Artefact Creation

The Exotica Project

Definitions

Exotic

[ad. L. extic-us, a. Gr. , f.  outside. Cf. Fr. exotique.] 

    A. adj.

    1.    a. Belonging to another country, foreign, alien (obs.).    
b. In narrowed sense: Introduced from abroad, not indigenous. 
Now chiefly of plants (in popular language with added sense of ‘not naturalized or acclimatized’);
also, of words, forms of speech or writing, fashions, etc. 
 
1599 B. JONSON Ev. Man out of Hum. IV. iii, Magick, Witchcraft, or other such exotick arts. 
1646 SIR T. BROWNE Pseud. Ep. II. vi. §3. 98 As Exotick observers deliver, it groweth upon Almond trees.
1650 FULLER Pisgah I. xii. 38 It was an exotick and forain territory. 
1660 SHARROCK Vegetables 34 [The] Mulbery is..an exotique plant. 
1680 MORDEN Geog. Rect., Wales (1685) 27 [Welsh] hath the least mixture of Exotick words of any now used in Europe. 
1756 FOOTE Engl. ret. fr. Paris Wks. 
1799 I. 123 I'll have these exotic attendants..sent post to the place from whence they came. 
1779-81 JOHNSON L.P., Hughes, The Italian Opera, an exotick and irrational entertainment. 
1793 MURPHY Tacitus (1805) I. 235 And invited to reign over them an exotic king. 
1839 DE QUINCEY Recoll. Lakes Wks. 
1862 II. 78 Rome had cast much of her literature in her own moulds before these exotic models had begun to domineer. 
1845 Florist's Jrnl. 23 The exotic class of the order.

Oxford English Dictionary Online [link available on APU campus only].

Exotica

[L., neut. pl. of exticus EXOTIC a.] 

    Exotic objects or items. 
 
1876 W. E. A. AXON (title) Exotica...Translations in verse. 1957 A. GRAF (title) Exotica. Pictorial cyclopedia of indoor plants. 
1958 BLESH & JANIS They all played Ragtime iv. 73 The brasses included exotica like flügelhorn, euphonium, French horn, and Sousaphone. 
1959 Listener 2 Apr. 592/2 Glass-sided office buildings, banks, cafeterias, department storesall have become filled with exotica. 
1970 Sunday Times 6 Dec. 43/5 Mrs. Boston, whose small shop..will contain a wide spectrum of exotica.

Oxford English Dictionary Online [link available on APU campus only].

Introduction

So many people are so taken with one form of western music or another that they forget, or don't know, or don't want to know, how expressive music really can be. You don't have to do things in a really formalised way, or a very complex way - a single note or series of notes can be intensely expressive without complexity or formalised ideas.

What I mean exotic, I mean music where the sensual and visceral elements are uppermost. Music is not primarily about style or structure (although on a different level these elements are, of course, important, but about feeling, sensation and the visceral use of the physical instrument performed by a sensuous human being.

Here are some examples:

Kaija Saariaho, Lonh for soprano and electronics, [*.mp3, 22050Hz, mono, 24kbps, 170k]
Kaija Saariaho, Six Japanese Gardens for percussion and electronics, [*.mp3, 22050Hz, mono, 24kbps, 176k]
Gyorgy Ligeti, 'Cello Concerto, [*.mp3, 22050Hz, mono, 24kbps, 354k]
Pierre Boulez, Le Marteau Sans Maitre, movement IX conclusion, 'Bel edifice et les presentiments - double', [*.mp3, 22050Hz, mono, 24kbps, 279k]

With these, note, above all, the simplicity of the musical ideas. They are, however, quite intense.

Listening List

Stravinsky - 'Surge Aquilo' from Canticum Sacrum
Boulez - Le Marteau sans Maitre
Birtwistle - The Triumph of Time
Ligeti - 'Cello Concerto (and others)
Schoenberg - Pierrot Lunaire
...and many more...

One of the keys to this is being really expressive. Formalised music can be extremely powerful, but young composers too often use it to cover up their true expressive feelings, or to 'stylise' them in a way that they think is expressive whereas in reality, it's just an exhibition. This project is for you to try to get out of these habits and let go a bit, if only momentarily.

Take the Song of Solomon, and listen to Stravinsky's rendition of a part of it in Canticum Sacrum. Make something beautiful and exotic, without intellectual inhibition...

Techniques

One of the most common techniques you have at your disposal is contrast.
In my mind, one of the key elements that springs to mind is the use of melisma.
Contrast between pulsed and pulseless material.
As the above definition implies, exotica are from abroad, from 'outside', so one fertile area for investigation is world musics. Although I currently have nothing specific to recommend, you can look to virtually any world music to find something of interest, something different. I would not recommend, however, that you copy examples root and branch. Instead, try 'transposing' different ideas into 'western' music.
Related to the above is the idea of ritual, maybe a particular, strange and foreign one. Remember, though, that the exotic is foreign to you, not necessarily foreign geographically. There are many strange British rituals, (Morris dancing, for one - although, of course, Morris dancing is based on imitation of 'moorish' dancers)...

The Rules

Compositions should be between three and five minutes in duration
Compositions may be for any number or type of instruments, including single instruments. However, bear in mind that you are highly discouraged from using similar instrumentation in different projects. Credit will be given for variety and versatility.
Try to avoid a sense of pulse throughout. If you do want to use one, contrast it with passages that are, perhaps, entirely free from pulse, or where the pulse is hidden or irrelevant.
In order to encourage this, I'm taking the drastic step of banning the use of 4/4, or the use of any time signature for longer than four bars at a time!
Have fun!

Some Ideas

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General Notes from the last time this was done

This project has not run before (oh no...!).

A few other general points:

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Good luck!