The role of physical gesture and space in the creation and performance of acousmatic related music

Contents

1. Themes and problems addressed 2 1.1 Introduction and goals 2 1.2 Background 2

2. Methods 3

3. References 5

4. Results 6 4.1 Artist production 6 4.2 Other documentation 6

5. Timeplan 8

6. Resources and financing 9 6.1 Artistic resources 9 6.2 Practical resources 9 6.3 Financing 9 6.4 Veileders 10

7. Personal skills and qualifications 11

8. List of attachments 12

1 1.0 THEMES AND PROBLEMS

1.1 Introduction and goals “Acousmatic sound”, or electro-sound lacking the immediate visual bond to the acoustic means of production, is common in concert halls, in art galleries and in public-space art installations. Yet although composers, performers and sound-artists often are clear in their reasons for incorporating this art form into their work, the problem of how to perform ‘non- visual’ sound, and how its presentation is embedded in its creation, is an area shrouded in vagueness and ambiguity.

The project will create a number of fully documented compositions and performances designed to investigate and present solutions to three problematic areas in the creation and performance of acousmatic related electro-sound:

• The relationship between the content of the music and the way it is performed: the project will combine composition and performance in both fixed and flexible music forms, focusing on the connection between composed intentions and performance practice.

• The position of the audience in the concert experience: the project will find alternatives to the conventional approach of audiences ‘watching’ loudspeakers by experimenting with how the audience can explore their own relationship to performance- and public-spaces through flexible room interiors and practical ‘atmosphere architecture’.

• The loudspeaker orchestra as a performance instrument: the project will design a system that uses latest 3-D sound spatialisation technology with the goal of finding a practical solution to the requirements of the loud-speaker orchestra performance instrument.

1.2 Background In many ways the era of experimentation in acousmatic, electroacoustic, electronic, and computer music as it was seen from the 1950’s-1990’s has passed. Although one can be “experimental” in approach, the results find direct connection to, or even duplication of, historical practitioners in the field. We are now in a position where various different electro- sound aesthetics are established, and now is the time to build on, and refine what our predecessors achieved. Freed from the spatially static acoustic sound source, acousmatic music has the ability to live throughout space. The need to project and perform the music’s qualities to an audience and enhance the composed spatial information has left an impressive history, knowledge and skills, climaxing in the 60-speaker strong loudspeaker orchestras of France and the UK. However, increased interest amongst composers and sound-artists is currently coupled with a decreased interest amongst the public outside commercial film and popular music. Three areas of cause can be identified:

It is rare for the composed intentions of the acousmatic related music to be seriously considered in performance practice. The relationship between the composed content of the music and the best performance technique can be assessed by combining a study of the existing repertoire with the complete through-process of composition and performance. Application and testing of appropriate performance practice is inherently tied to the performance instrument.

Practicality, cost and portability of the loudspeaker orchestra as a performance instrument are important performance obstacles. A loudspeaker orchestra catering for a wide variety of electro-sound forms requires significant (and rarely available) skill, financial investment, and labour. It furthermore has to be redesigned to function in the geometry and acoustics of each performance space, which although is interesting in that each design is uniquely connected to each room, in practice rarely results in the optimum sound due to unreasonable set-up and testing time requirements.

2 The ‘sound-carrier’ in electro-sound is the loudspeaker, and audiences normally find themselves ‘watching’ loudspeakers in a concert situation designed for acoustic music. In the past this mystery was new and exciting, but the loudspeaker is not ‘the source of the music’ and the ‘loudspeaker novelty’ has worn off. Unlike an acoustic concert which can be regarded as a multi-media event involving both visual and sound as inseparable and immediate elements, acousmatic material is a mono-media involving sound alone and its capacity to evoke our imagination as a common collective group and as individuals. The nature of the mono-media can be approached as a positive aspect of the art-form and allow an investigation of how the audience’s physical location and individual choice may be more appropriately considered in relation to the music.

2.0 METHODS

Following through composition into performance In investigating ways to perform different styles of acousmatic related sound it is necessary to begin at the compositional level. The project takes as its starting point the main difference between acoustic and acousmatic art: physical presence verses physical implication through gesture and space. Composition focusing on gesture and space will be followed through into performance. The mediator will be implied physicality and its connection to real spatial sound gesture. Practical work will therefore necessitate both pure “acousmatic” and mixed electro- acoustic art-forms in the investigation of space, gesture and physicality.

Composition work will be designed to answer questions such as how a gesture at one point in time can find continuity into an electronically transformed and abstracted sound at a different point in time; how a physical gesture can connect to a sound through sensory and muscular activity; how a link to unseen physicality on the composed level can find a link to listener physicality in the performance space.

Custom made controllers and software interfaces will be investigated for controlling sound transformation and spatialisation in real-time. These tools will allow a direct and practical investigation of the physical-gestural connection. Custom made devices will be necessary. In addition to personal experience and technical skills, contact will be made with international groups working with within this field. In particular, STEIM (Holland), IRCAM (France), MIT (USA) and ARTeM (Bruxelles) have knowledge and experience. Technical resources may be available from these institutions as well as from Norway’s NoTAM and TEKS.

The collaboration with performers will allow me to explore the relationship between gesture, physicality, and electro-sound as both composer and performer. This is an important stage in understanding the integration of performance and composition in the field. Collaborative work will feature both fixed and open or improvised forms, and allow an exchange with professionals (see artistic resources) and students at NMH.

Practical work with spatial-gestural performance Modern technology can provide a modern solution to the problems of large sound-diffusion performance instrument.

3-D sound field recreation allows, with a minimal number of loudspeakers to achieve similar results to traditional virtuosic spatialisation diffusion achieved using the larger loudspeaker orchestras. But currently there are few suitable tools for live use of this technology, and little performance practice. Tools to control 3-D sound-fields in both the composition and performance stage will be designed and used practically to perform already composed multi- channel and stereo sources. Although no group is currently working with this idea, a few groups are experimenting with 3-D spatialisation, and contact will be made with these institutions: IRCAM, York Music Technology Group (UK), Radio France, Swiss Centre for Computer Music. A practical discussion has already taken place between myself and the Swiss Centre for Computer Music.

3 Workshops and performances will be a necessary part of the practical work. Students at NMH will be invited to test spatial-gestural performance tools in a workshop situation. This will allow me to assess the practicality, flexibility and intuitiveness of the tools I find useful and appropriate. These tests will gradually be integrated with performance.

A commissioned work from another composer will be a useful part of the performance development. I will be able to compare how the performance tools and techniques function for a work commissioned under specific criteria compared to a work from the existing repertoire, without my direct effect as a composer influencing the results.

Investigating the listener and the ‘unseen’ sound With an architectural approach to space new audience-performance-space relationships will be investigated. The goal is to place the listener in different focused or relaxed spaces, enhancing the listening experience appropriate to types of electo-sound. In this malleable space the public will be able to physical move between open works and fixed music forms, explore different seating possibilities and find their own physical-spatial relationship to the music. The method will involve literature research in fields of music and architecture, collaboration with the architect Birger Sevaldson from AHO, collaboration with a video-light artist (as yet undecided), and realisation of the most successful design ideas.

4 3.0 REFERNCES Books / CD-rom J. Blauert. Spatial Hearing - Revised Edition, new material and English translation, (MIT press) 1999. P. Cook, Music. Cognition, and Computerized Sound, (MIT Press) 1999. S. Emmerson. The Relation of Language to Materials. In The Language of Electroacoustic Music. (Emmerson, S Ed.. London: MacMillan Press) 1986. L.B Meyer. Emotion and Meaning in Music. (Chicago: University Press) 1956. C. Roads. The Computer Music Tutorial, (MIT Press) 1995. M. Sandler, T. Todoroff. "Spatial effects" and "Control of DAFX" in DAFX - Digital Audio Effects, (Wiley) 2002. Truax, B. Acoustic Communication. (Ablex Publishing Corporate) 1994. T. Winkler. Composing Interactive Music, (MIT Press) 1999. Trends in Gestural Control of Music, IRCAM CD-rom publication

Journals Contemporary Music review, Routledge Live Electronics In Contemporary Music Review, 6:1 (P. Nelson & S. Montague Ed.), Gelhaar, R. (1991). "SOUND=SPACE: an interactive musical environment." Contemporary Music Review 6:1.

Computer music jounal, MIT press Sound Spatialisation and Spatial Perception, Computer music journal 19:4 Compositional Processes, Computer music journal 23:1 Expressive Deviations, Computer music journal 24:1 Sound in Space, Computer music journal 25:4 New Performance Interfaces, Computer music journal 26:3

Organised Sound,Cambridge University Press D. Arfib, J. M. Couturier, L. Kessous, V. Verfaille, Strategies of mapping between gesture data and synthesis model parameters using perceptual spaces,Organised Sound 7:2 D. J. Levitin, S. McAdams, R. L. Adams, Control parameters for musical instruments: a foundation for new mappings of gesture to sound, Organised Sound 7:2 Y. Harris, B. Bongers, Approaches to creating interactivated spaces, from intimate to inhabited interfaces, Organised Sound 7:3 N. Fells, On space, listening and interaction: Words on the streets are these and Still Life, Organised Sound 7:3 G. Paine, Interactivity, where to from here?, Organised Sound 7:3 S. Emmerson, New spaces / new places: a Sound House for the performance of electroacoustic music and sonic art Organised Sound 6:2 B. Truax, The aesthetics of computer music: a questionable concept reconsidered Organised Sound 5:3 J. Harrison, Sound, space, sculpture: some thoughts on the 'what', 'how' and 'why' of sound diffusion Organised Sound 3:2

Proceedings A. Hunt et al., The Importance of Parameter Mapping in Electronic Instrument Design, NIME proceedings, Dublin, 2002. A. Camurri, G. De Poli, M. Leman, G. Volpe, A Multi-layered Conceptual Framework for Expressive Gesture Applications, Workshop on Current Research Directions in Computer Music, Barcelona, Nov 15-16-17, 2001. J. Dack. The Evocation of Space as a Compositional Determinant Systems Research in the Arts: vol.2 Music, Environmental design and the Choreography of Space, The International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics, 2000 S. Dahl and A. Friberg, What can the body movements reveal about a musician's emotional intention? In R Bresin (Ed.) Proceedings of the Stockholm Music Acoustics Conference 2003, Vol II pp. 599-602.2003

5 C. Cadoz. "Instrumental Gesture and Musical Composition." Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference, 1988

Further reference to relevant ICMC proceedings

Web resources on ambisonics: University of York's Music Technology Group (http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/mustech/3d_audio/welcome.html)

Discography

Acousmatic works Bayle, Chion, Dufour, Henry, Lejeune, Malec, Mion, Parmegiani, Schaeffer, Schwarz, ZanÈsi. "Concert imaginaire" Ina-GRM | INA_C 1000 | 1984 R. Normandeau "see list from DIEM": unpublished mutli-channel work. C. Calone "Les corps Èblouis": empreintes DIGITALes | IMED 9838 | 1998 A. Field "CyberNation" Multichannel Sound Design Composition, unpublished R.Dow "Burnt Umber" unpublished.

Repertoire collections: empreintes DIGITALes; Ina-GRM; Computer Music Currents; CDCM Computer Music Series; Arts Electronica CD-rom music documentation.

Live-electronics and interactive performance To be completed.

6 4.0 RESULTS

4.1 Artistic production Artistic production consists of composition, performance and design. In each area small and large-scale works will be created.

Composition part of the project: • Small and medium scale works Acousmatic works: three works focusing on space and physical gesture in fixed-form composition for different listening spaces and contexts. Live computer works: two composed fixed-forms works and a two improvisation projects involving collaboration. • Large-scale work A multi-section work integrating acousmatic and live compositions in both fixed and flexible forms with the scope to incorporate other composers’ fixed works. This work is designed to demonstrate main areas of the project’s investigation.

Design part of the project: • Performance spaces Theoretical creation of different spatial performance environments, and realisation of the most practical solutions. Locations will be within and outside NMH. • Software and hardware Development of software and hardware interfaces for 3-D gestural-spatialisation and sound transformation control in live performance. Practical application of these devices.

Performance part of the project: The number of performances and presentations will partly depend on the available resources, but will include at least one performance in each area of the project, where I am active as a performer: Performance and workshop presentation using 3-D gestural-spatialisation tools, performance of collaborative projects and performance of composed works.

4.2 Other documentation of the project In addition to the artistic results, the project will include the following documentation: • Written material Historical conclusions and literature summary; documentation of custom-made hardware and software; documentation of results from the project for peer reviewed paper publication, documentation of responses from interactive participants, assessment of problems and the possibility for further work. • Recorded material All composed and improvised creations will be recorded. • Visual documentation Plans and sketches of spatial designs, virtual models of conceptual spaces, photographic and video documentation of real peformance-space solutions, video documentation of performance work. • Seminars Seminars will be presented for students at NMH and NoTAM forum. Other platforms will also be investigated.

7 5.0 TIME PLAN Documentation will occur continuously. It is planned to attend two international festivals or conferences each year, and also use these place as a meeting ground for international collaboration.

First semester (official start point to be discussed due to my being on pregnancy permission into the autumn 2004).

• Practical assessment and fixing of project framework with veileders. • Contact with national and international groups. • Time plan agreement with collaborators and applications for external funding. • Composition of small-scale acousmatic work in conjunction with initial research and development of gestural-control software and hardware.

Second semester • Collaboration with performers to explore the relationships between gesture, physicality, electronically abstracted sound and performance processes. • Composition of a small-scale duet for electronic and acoustic performers. • Collaboration with a programmer or research group for development of software interfaces for 3-D gestural-spatialisation in live performance. • Initial investigations on the requirements of a malleable performance space.

Third and fourth semester • Collaborative work with improvised forms and sounding gestures. • Medium sized composed work in collaboration with performers. • Large scale composed acousmatic-related work. • Continued research and practical construction of gestural control interfaces for sound transformation and spatialisation. • Final development of 3-D spatialisation interface. • Personal performance development using completed software and hardware. • The commissioning of a short acousmatic-related work. • Practical experimentation with performance spaces with architect and video / light artists. •Small-scale public performances of composed 3-D gestural-spatialisation works and collaborative projects.

Forth and fifth semesters • Two large scale composed works: one acousmatic project, one involving performers. • Conclusion of collaborative work with performers, architects, artists, and of technical projects. • The design and realisation of an appropriate audience space in which the performance will take place. • The integration of the two large-scale works, spatial design and improvisation collaboration into a performance incorporating, gestural control and sound transformation interfaces, real- time 3-D spatialisation, fixed and improvised forms. • Final written, recorded and visual documentation and paper presentation.

8 6.0 RESOURCES AND FINANCING

6.1 Artistic resources Performers Two professional performers have been approached: in Norway the cellist Tanja Orning with whom I already have a co-operation, and from abroad, Elio Martusciello (Italy) as a solo performer-composer and his group Ossatura.

Performances Although Nymusikk and NoTAM present concerts in areas related to the project, the now currently inactive NICEM was the only organisation with direct relation. This means it is difficult to, at this moment, clarify collaboration, funding and a performance schedule connected to a Norwegian institution. Unlike the main acoustic ensembles in Norway, there is no active ensemble or performer of this work with an annual funding structure. The individual performers mentioned above are interested in working with my ideas, and funding needs to be obtained. Although I cannot be certain on Norwegian performances for all areas of the project, my work is frequently performed abroad, and the following performance organisations will be contacted after the project has begun: IMEB (France), GRM (France), Rein a Voire (Canada), Swiss Centre for Computer Music (Switzerland), Electric Spring (UK), Sonic Arts Network (UK), Festival l’Espace du Son (Belgium), DIEM (Denmark), Festival Archipel (Geneva). NoTAM (who is currently administrating NICEM) will also be approached, as will NyMusikk and Norwegian contemporary music festivals.

Composers One commissioned composer will be chosen. Current choices are Anders Vinjar (Norway), Åke Parmerud (Sweden), Robert Normandue (Canada).

Other collaborators • Birger Sevaldson – architect and possible part-time veileder • Video-light artist (to be investigated) • Henrik Sundt, Svein Berg, Øyvind Hammer (assistance in hardware construction, funding required). • Swiss Centre for Computer Music: practical ambisonics spatialisation performance experience. • Other collaborations have been listed in the main project text, and will be further investigated.

6.2 Practical resources Travel: personal travel to conferences and events in Europe, two per year. Workspace: private workspace available in home studio. Larger room or chamber hall space required for collaborative work, performance and spatialisation testing. A timetable will be arranged that is convenient with NMH (one day per week from the second semester). Recording and documentation work may require some studio time at NMH or NoTAM. Equipment: necessary computers, software and loudspeaker equipment currently owned. One faster computer required for years 2-3. Performance resources: see ‘public creations’ under financing.

6.3 Financing Research, collaborative and artistically related travel • Personal travel in Europe: two events per year. 12,000 kr per year.

Equipment • Fast computer for use through years 2-3. 20,000 kr • Materials costs for hardware controllers. 10,000 kr over three years. • Consumables cost: 1000 kr per year.

9 Additional technical requirements – costs of engineering • 3-D ambisonics spatialisation software tools and interface (real-time), hardware construction of data contollers. 35,000 kr.

Collaborations requiring external funds: • Elio Martuscielo (Italian performer / composer). Performance fees to be arranged. Funding options under investigation (applications will be made to Italian and Norwegian foreign offices). • Tanja Orning (performer). Performance fees to be arranged. Funding options under investigation. • Birger Sevaldson (professor in architecture and computer design AHO). Situation as veileder or artist collaborator undecided. Funding for his work as an artistic collaborator from AHO and Kulturråd. • Commissioned composer: application for standard NKF fee to normal sources.

Public creations: • Hire of necessary loudspeaker equipment: three public events over three years (30,000 kr each event). Funding to be investigated. • Hire of external locations (options include Black Box, Dance School, Fabrikken, empty warehouse spaces, Henie Onstad Kunst Senter): Approximate cost 8 000 kr per event, funding to be investigated. • Design / material costs: 5000 kr per event.

Funding options and effect on project Funding for performance fees, performance equipment and spaces are the three areas needed further investigation. The normal funding bodies will be approached, as will festivals and performance organisations that are related to the subject of the project. As mentioned above, the international scene may prove to be useful in some performance projects. If funding in these areas is not successful, the project work will continue, but the scale of public performance will need to be reduced. If funding for the commissioned composer is not available, student composers in the UK and Canada will be investigated (the UK and Canada have a full education programme in electroacoustic composition from first degree through to doctoral degree level, and adequate skills amongst students are more likely to be found).

6.4 Veileders: suggested options

Ivar Frounberg: NMH; Rolf Inge Godøy: UiO; Birger Sevalsdon: AHO

10 7.0 PERSONAL SKILLS RELATED TO THE PROJECT (for more details see full CV)

Composition Since completing my education qualifications I have been active as a composer of acousmatic works, mixed electroacoustic works, public space sound installations, interactive projects, and collaborations with dancers and architects. My work is performed regularly abroad, and has received recognition in many international competitions (see CV). Of particular reference are the spatialisation composition projects Exploratio Invisibilis, The Utility of Space, Prince Prospero’s Party and AGORA (skills in ambisonics 3-D spatialisation), work with AGORA and Boundary Conditions from a spatial-architectural aspect, and the work with real-time installations Adsonore, Displaced:Replaced, and Mimentic Dynamics. Documentation from the Internet has been printed as attachment.

Performance Trained in traditional sound diffusion performance as part of a Masters Degree in composition and analysis (Birmingham University, UK), from 1999-2001 I was leader of NICEM. In this position I directed acousmatic performance in Norway, and designed and installed traditional sound diffusion systems for public concerts. I am regularly invited abroad as guest composer and lecturer specialising in spatialisation aesthetics and performance, and have performed many concerts of my own and other composers’ work. In 2002, I received second place in the first international acousmatic spatialisation competition, Bruxelles. Since 1996 have been assisting acoustic performers (technically and artistically) with the computer parts in fixed-form live electronics works. Of particular reference are the compositions Symbiosis, Diabolus, Ras (see enclosed).

Programming and other technical skills Since 1999 I have developed live-interaction programming techniques using MAX/MSP (on Macintosh platform) and Pd-Pure-Data (on LINUX platform), designed interactive controllers and investigated ways to allow the instrumental performer to control live-sound processing. I am competent with most available software for sound processing and computer compositions.

Publication and research record Although not holding an academic position since 1999, have continued to publish in peer- reviewed journals (Organised Sound, Computer Music Journal and ICMC proceedings), and am updated with latest technology, methods and problems concerning creative aspects of sound, spatialisation and acoustics.

11 Attachements

CV

Education and lecturing documentation

Information on competence status in Norway

Printed information on installation projects: Adsonore Boundary Conditions and AGORA installation Displaced:Replaced II Mimetic Dynamics

Acousmatic Compositions most relevant to the application (stereo reductions of multi-channel spatialisation works): Prince Prospero’s Party Exploratio Invisibilis The Utility of Space AGORA (DVD)

Live electroacoustic compositions most relevant to the application (Cds and scores): Symbiosis Diabolus Ras Microclimate I

SCORES AND Cds TO BE ADDED

12