2013
“Extended Non-Linear Applications and the Visual Aesthetics of Real-Time Scores”
Abstract:The author examines some of the unique musical possibilities afforded by the use of performance scores that are generated in real-time. The approaches of
various composers is examined and their use of such scores especially well suited to exploring extended musical applications of non-linear processes. The prevalent use of animated graphic notation within many of real-time scores is shown to lend them a unique visual appeal and place a renewed emphasis on the score's visual aesthetics. The author argues that works featuring such scores allow performers to engage with musical processes in unique ways and, to that end, offer exciting new musical and formal possibilities.
2010
“Real-time Score Generation for Extensible Open-Form Environments”
Abstract: While composers have often employed graphic scores and extended notation systems to explore open-form, collaborative, and aleatoric musical processes, the notational forms themselves through which these structures have been communicated are traditionally presented through fixed, paper-based media. In this article, several compositions by the author are described in which animated scores are generated in real-time during a performance and projected for the performer to read from a laptop screen. The processes used to generate such scores will be described in detail and a number of the practical and musical challenges presented by the notational procedures employed will also be addressed.
Published: Contemporary Music Review, 29:10, 3-15 (2010).
2008/2009
“Network Musics - Play, Engagement and the Democratization of Performance”
Abstract: The rapid development of network communication technologies has allowed composers to create new ways in which to directly engage participants in the exploration of new musical environments. A number of distinctive aesthetic approaches to the musical application of networks will be outlined in this paper each of which is mediated and conditioned by the technical and aesthetic foundations of the network technologies themselves. Recent work in the field by artists such as Atau Tanaka and Metraform will be examined, as will some of the earlier pioneering work in the genre by Max Neuhaus. While recognizing the historical context of collaborative work, the author will examine how the strategies employed in the work of these artists have helped redefine a new aesthetics of engagement in which play, spatial and temporal dislocation are amongst the genre’s defining characteristics.
Published: Contemporary Music Review, 28:4, 363-375 (2009); Proceedings of the Spark 2008 Festival, Minnesota 2008; Proceedings of the New Interfaces for Musical Expression Conference 2008, Genoa, pp. 3-8; Proceedings of the 2008 International Computer Music Conference, Belfast.
2008
“Spectral Spatialization - An Overview”
Abstract: Several frequency-domain spatialization techniques are described ranging from basic spectral mapping through to the use of emergent systems for the mapping of more complex spatial movements. A recent “matrix-mapping” technique is also outlined and an innovative Jitter-based spectral spatialization interface is presented. This interface is shown to be an elegant and visually intuitive way to manipulate the large quantity of data typically processed in frequency-domain based spatialization. Perceptual issues of spectral spatialization are discussed and the author demonstrates some musical possibilities of the techniques.
Published: Proceedings of the 2008 International Computer Music Conference, Belfast.
2006
“Spectral and Granular Spatialization with Boids”
Abstract: The author describes applications of Craig Reynolds’s boids algorithm for sound spatialization. A MaxMSP/Jitter patch is presented where the movement of individual boids in two dimensional space is rendered in OpenGL and is used to map the spatial trajectories of granular voices in a granular sampling patch and also the spatial location of a sound’s spectral components. Musical possibilities of the technique are discussed and some performance considerations are also outlined.
Published: Proceedings of the 2006 International Computer Music Conference, New Orleans, pp. 139-142.
“Real-time Generation of Open-Form Scores”
Abstract: The author describes a recent work for cello and computer in which an open-form score is generated in real-time with a MaxMSP/Jitter patch. The generative technique is described in detail and compared to an earlier method of score generation employed by the author as well as considered in the context of traditional open-form scores.
Published: Proceedings of the 2006 Digital Arts Week Symposium, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zürich 2006.
2005
“Sound Spatialization with Particle Systems”
Abstract: The author describes recent research in the use of particle systems for sound spatialization. A MaxMSP/Jitter patch is presented that maps the spatial trajectories of the individual particles in a particle system to the spatial movement of individual granular voices in a simple granular sampling patch. The ability to model the spatial trajectories of natural phenomena is also explored, as are applications outside granular sampling.
Published: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFX-05), Madrid 2005, pp. 65-68; Proceedings of the Journées d’informatique musicale Conference, Paris 2005, pp. 143-146.
“Musical Score Generation in Valses and Etudes”
Abstract: The author describes a recent composition for piano and computer in which the score performed by the pianist, read from a computer display, is generated in real-time from a vocabulary of predetermined scanned score excerpts. The author outlines the algorithm used to choose and display a particular excerpt and describes some of the musical difficulties faced by the pianist in a performance of the work.
Published: Proceedings of the 2005 International Computer Music Conference, Barcelona 2005, pp. 810-812; Proceedings of the New Interfaces for Musical Expression Conference, Vancouver 2005, pp. 238-239.
“Integration of Sound and Image in Two Works for Piano and Computer”
Abstract: The author describes aesthetic and practical considerations involved in the integration of sound and image in two recent compositions for piano and computer. In the first of these works, Shimmer (2004), video imagery is derived from the work’s sonic materials while in the second, Canon (2005), visual canons are generated from the real-time movements of the pianist’s hands. The author describes each of these works and outlines how these considerations have been addressed.
Published: Proceedings of the 2005 International Computer Music Conference, Barcelona 2005, pp. 636-639.
2004/2005
“Spectral Delays with Frequency Domain Processing”
Abstract: In this paper the author presents preliminary research undertaken on spectral delays using frequency domain processing. A Max/MSP patch is presented in which it is possible to delay individual bins of a Fourier transform and several musically interesting applications of the patch, including the ability to create distinct spatial images and spectral trajectories are outlined.
Published: Proceedings of the Spark 2005 Festival, Minnesota 2005, pp. 50-52; Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFX-04), Naples 2004, pp. 42-44.
2004
“Musical Score Generation”
Abstract: The author describes work on a recent composition for piano and computer in which the score performed by the pianist is generated in real-time from a vocabulary of predetermined scanned score excerpts. The author outlines the algorithm used to choose and display a particular score excerpt and describes some of the musical difficulties faced by the pianist in a performance of the work.
Published: Proceedings of the 2004 Generative Art Conference, Milan 2004.
“Musical Image Generation with Max/MSP/Jitter”
Abstract: The author describes the real-time image generation process used in a recent work for piano, resonant glasses and Max/MSP/Jitter. In this work, which was premiered at the 2004 International Computer Music Conference in Miami, images are generated in an unusual way that involves visually capturing and processing the wave-like motions generated in a liquid by the work’s sonic materials. These visual transformations take place in the Jitter environment with a series of techniques analogous to many of the MSP audio processing techniques employed in the piece. The author will outline some of these processes in detail as well as describe some of the aesthetic considerations involving the integration of sonic and visual materials in the work.
Published: Proceedings of the 2004 Generative Art Conference, Milan 2004.
1995
“The Ontology of Virtual Performance”
Published: Context No. 8 (Summer 1994-95; Proceedings of Synaesthetica ’94 Symposium on Computer Animation and Computer Music, Canberra 1994.
