Laptop Performance
Semester 2 2010-11
Notes

http://rhoadley.net/courses/laperf/examples
http://www.ludions.com/aru/laperf/
Assessment Submission Details
MPA Writing Guide



Week 1
Set exercise:
Each person to plan some rules for a short (ten minute max) improvisation.
The suggested plan is for three sections, ABA, where A has a certain character, 
and B has a contrasting character.
You are to suggest and if necessary implement such features, using whichever 
software you think is appropriate.



Week 2
Metre and pitched sounds

Revision of the diatonic scales and modes and the pentatonic scale: as interval 
patterns and as a consequence of the circle-of-fifths. Revision of the concept 
of metre, and the notion of strong and weak beats. Revision of the use of time 
signatures to denote a particular metre.

Simple algorithmic patterning ideas in SC patches to distribute and experiment with?

Resources
Revise chapters on meter, additive rhythm, circle-of-fifths and the diatonic 
modes (chapters 7, 14, 19, 20) in Hewitt.

Examples:
- Messiaen Quatour - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WICLxcveoIg&feature=related
- Gamelan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRS13e5R8GI
Cage prepared piano - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUTXNxFvjDw&feature=related
Aphex Twin - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQE36wRM7HY
Minimalism (Reich, Piano Phase etc.) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4_8KjmzZk
Glassworks - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imbwn6iVryQ


Folk
Bartok String Quartet 4, Movement 5
Folk Music: Crni Voz
Rite of Spring, Symphonies of Winds

Others
Octotonic (see Messiaen)
Wholetone


1. Improvisation practice 1: exercise from last week.
2. Revision and Examples
3. Improvisation practice


Week 2 exercises:
2.1. Bring along pieces that emphasise the use of scales and patterns of pulses.

2.2.1. Compose an example or method using at least one scale and one metre 
(perhaps use the SC example here ( http://rhoadley.net/courses/laperf/examples ) as a start).
2.2.2. Ensure that you can demonstrate it individually as well as practice it 
with your group.
2.2.3. Ensure that you have sufficient information included so that others 
understand what they should do.




Week 3
Duration and unpitched sounds

We investigate live musical works that draw on the tradition of musique concrete 
and noise music. We discuss performance strategies for music lacking metre and 
pulse: the example of Cage's Imaginary Landscape No.4:

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0BNsBlzQII (from 2:00)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A4kcW1QnIk
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXIrCuQbe8k

Imaginary Landscape 4 by John Cage. In the composition for 12 radios, 24
performers, and director, two performers each operate radios whose
kilocycle, amplitude, and timbre changes are notated. The score was
conceived using the same methods as those used for the composition "The
Music of Changes", namely the factors of chance adapted from the Chinese
"Book of Changes". According to Cage, this complex and time-consuming
compositional process has the following goal: 

"It is thus possible to make a musical composition the continuity of
which is free of individual taste and memory (psychology) and also of
the literature and 'traditions' of the art. The sounds enter the
time-space centered within themselves, unimpeded by the service to any
abstraction, their 360 degrees of circumference free for an infinite
play of interpenetration. Value judgments are not in the nature of this
work as regards either composition, performance, or listening. The idea
of relation being absent, anything may happen. A 'mistake' is beside the
point,, for once anything happens it authentically is." (From: John
Cage 1952, zit. nach: ders. , Silence, 1967, Cambridge Mass. S. 59.)


Other resources
	-	John Cage Williams Mix (1952) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6pgklMAgIA
	-	Morton Feldman Intersection for Magnetic Tape (1953)
	-	John Cage Cartridge Music (1960)
	-	Helmut Lachenmann Pression for solo cello (1968)
		-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFFAFBbgxZ8							
		-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXUH6jAIa4E
	-	Lou Reed - Metal Machine Music (1975)
	-	Autechre Vi Scose Poise - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZpd1KCCAqs
	- Christian Fennez - Black Sea (2008)
	-	Merzbow Pulse Demon - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlGh_okr5nI
	
Improvisation example: Max Modulating Noise, Logic Environmental Sounds (EXS24)

Discussion: what is musical expression and how can one express oneself 
meaningfully using a laptop?  How does this compare with acoustic musical 
instruments? Does any comparison matter?

Week 3 exercises:

3.1 Bring along some pieces for next week (week 4) that feature spatialisation in one way or another.  They don't need to be electronic in nature.

3.2.1. Bring along plans to lead a group in a laptop performance of concrete or noise music (perhaps use the MaxMSP example here  
http://rhoadley.net/courses/laperf/examples ) as a start), or use the Logic EXS24 sampler.
3.2.2. Ensure that you can demonstrate it individually as well as practice it 
with your group.
3.2.3. Ensure that you have sufficient information included so that others 
understand what they should do.


	
Week 4
Sound diffusion in practice

This week we introduce the issues involved in the performance of electonic 
music, including the notion of so-called diffusion of electronic sound. There 
are many approches and variations to this subject, depending on both technical, 
musical and aesthetic issues.

Resources
	-	Links at ears website
	-	Iannis Xenakis Rebonds



Week 5
Rehearsals for performances of tasks 1 and 2
Group rehearsals in preparation for performances the following week.



Week 6
Performances of tasks 1 and 2
All groups to perform the first two tasks.

All compositions should be between 5 and 10 minutes in duration.

Task 1: composition using pitched sounds and metre

Create a piece of music using pitched sounds modelled on modes or scales
and contrasting approaches to metre (e.g. different time signatures)
using a ternary (ABA') structure. You should use the computer for live
generation of musical materials. Think carefully about your choice of
scales and the way that they are deployed throughout the piece. Explore
the relationship between different metres and pulse groups and consider
the schemes used in various folk musics (e.g. 9 = 2+2+2+3).

Task 2: composition using unpitched sounds and duration

Create a predominantly unmetred piece of music using unpitched sounds.
You might choose to create synthetic noise-sounds (SuperCollider etc) or
might choose to load recorded sound objects into a sampler with optional
live processing (Logic, ixiQuarks etc). If you adopt the latter
approach, remember the techniques for creating musique concrete, and
consider using them in this live context: think about gesture, texture,
energy and envelope; edit familiar sounds to make them less familiar;
match the beginning of one sound with the end of another; use silence
dramatically. Material may be generated algorithmically with the laptop,
but it must be unpitched. You might abandon pulse and metre altogether
(as in most musique concrete and acousmatic music) or might choose to
subtly retain them.



Week 7
Feedback on tasks 1 and 2

Graphic scores and structured improvisation
We examine the possible systems of communication for performance afforded by graphic scores.



Week 8
Timbre and stasis

We investigate music in which timbre and/or stsis is important and discuss the concept of Klangfarbenmelodie (sound-colour-melody).

Resources
	-	John Cage Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fPSz-o4zzY
	-	Karlheinz Stockhausen 'Michael's Reise' from Donnerstag aus Licht - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG-Rq-zgwnE
	-	Giacinto Scelsi Quattro Pezzi (su una nota sola) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xIRbD8mtmo
	- Velvet Underground, Venus in Furs, Heroine, Black Angel's Death Song.
	- Ligeti: Continuum; String Quartet 2, movement 2; Etude for Organ, 1; Lux Aeterna;
	- Berio O King
	- Eno: Thursday Afternoon, 1985

_________________________________

Week 9
Heterogeneous materials: combining sound types
Contrasting textures, filmic notions:


fast-slow
high-low
lyric-rhythmic
static!
quiet-loud
solo-tutti


Strategies and techniques for creating music which combine the techniques and approaches taught thus far in the module.
Resources
CD Booklet to Schaeffer, P. (1998) Solfege de l'objet sonore. Paris: INAgrm

- Ligeti: String Quartet 2, 1;
- Stravinsky: Rite of Spring
- Bach: Brandenburg Concerti


_________________________________


Week 10
Rehearsals for performances of tasks 3 and 4
Group rehearsals in preparation for performances the following week.

_________________________________

Week 11
Tasks 3 and 4

All compositions should be between 5 and 10 minutes in duration.

Task 3: composition using timbre and stasis
Create a piece of music in which the focus is on the timbre of
individual sounds and the way that the timbre of one sound relates to
another. Use any sounds you want, from pitched materials to noise; but
when using pitched sounds it is wise to keep their pitch static (or
nearly static) so that our attention is drawn to timbre and the way that
timbre changes over time. Despite this, you can build on your use of
scales and metre in the first performance. Consider the adoption of the
gradual evolution of timbre; and consider how you can use timbre to
define the structure of your piece. 

Think of the ways in which the timbre of traditional instruments is 
modified (trumpet mutes, wah-wah pedals etc) and equivalent techniques 
on the laptop (filters, modulation, distortion). Remember that the internal 
'grain' of a sound constitutes an important aspect of its timbre: in the 
electronic domain this can be modified using sub-audio amplitude modulation.


Task 4: composition using heterogeneous materials: combining sound and texture types
In this composition you should aim to combine a number of the techniques
used in earlier tasks, such as techniques for organising pitch and
rhythm, for organising unpitched sounds, and for organising timbre.
Consider the many ways in which you might do this: for example through
changes in continuity (between different textures), or through the
stratification of musical elements (i.e. layers of material). How you go
about this has ramifications for the overall structure and development
of your piece, and should be carefully planned. 

It is highly recommended that you use a score of one sort or another to 
coordinate your group.


_________________________________

Week 12
Documentation

We review the written elements of the module, espectially in relation to the MPA
writing guide.

Please bring along drafts of your submissions for us to go over.

Resources
MPA writing guide

_________________________________