University of Southampton Research Repository Eprints Soton
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University of Southampton Research Repository ePrints Soton Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF HUMANITIES School of Music The Application of Electronic Collage Techniques to the Composition of Acoustic Instrumental Music by Leo Grant Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2011 2 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF MUSIC Composition Doctor of Philosophy THE APPLICATION OF ELECTRONIC COLLAGE TECHNIQUES TO THE COMPOSITION OF ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC By Leo Grant During my Master’s degree I created a series of electronic collage compositions by superimposing pre-existing recordings of ‘found’ musical material. The aim of my PhD has been to expand upon this work by applying a modified version of the same electronic techniques to the composition of acoustic instrumental music, employing transcription as a means of converting audio recordings into MIDI information, which was edited using a computer sequencer to create new works. In Section One ‘PhD Background and Development’, I present a summary of the earlier work to illustrate the technical and conceptual concerns that were the point of departure for my thesis. An overview of the PhD work follows, focusing on central issues such as: the relationship between material, process and structure; definitions of musical information; the philosophical implications of using collage techniques, embodied in the phrase ‘the refusal of totality’; and the practicalities that result from working with notation and acoustic instruments as opposed to electronic media. In addition, I contextualise my work and practice in relation to those musicians who have directly affected my compositional aesthetic, thereby demonstrating how I have attempted to build upon pre-existing lines of development to create original music. In Section Two ‘Analysis’, I outline my compositional technique in greater detail, and provide individual analyses for each of the works in the portfolio. 3 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION ONE: PHD BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT Introduction..............................................................................................................21 Various Forms of Ambiguity....................................................................................24 I: Harmonic Ambiguity (Tonality vs. Atonality)...................................................24 II: Gestural Ambiguity .........................................................................................25 III: Contextual Ambiguity ....................................................................................26 IV: The General and The Specific ........................................................................27 Limitations...............................................................................................................28 PhD Aims ................................................................................................................31 Material and Process ................................................................................................31 I: Atomisation ......................................................................................................32 II: Harmonic Ambiguity Revisited........................................................................33 III: ‘Intactness’ Revisited .....................................................................................35 IV: Continuity vs. Discontinuity...........................................................................35 Practical Issues.........................................................................................................36 Instrumentation: Real vs. Virtual Instruments.......................................................36 Notation and Transcription...................................................................................38 Structure ..................................................................................................................39 Possible Solutions ....................................................................................................40 Collage and Found Material .....................................................................................45 Choosing Source Material (or Information Content Revisited) .................................47 1. ‘Purely Musical’ Information ...............................................................................47 Instrumentation ....................................................................................................49 Dynamics .............................................................................................................50 5 Counterpoint ........................................................................................................50 The Limitations of Timbre....................................................................................51 Malleability..........................................................................................................53 2. Extramusical Information.....................................................................................54 Conceptual Background .......................................................................................55 Politics .................................................................................................................56 Influences.................................................................................................................58 Charles Ives..........................................................................................................59 John Cage.............................................................................................................61 Michael Finnissy ..................................................................................................63 Jungle...................................................................................................................66 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................67 SECTION TWO: ANALYSIS Overview .................................................................................................................69 1st Year: Experimentation.....................................................................................69 2nd Year: Consolidation ........................................................................................70 3rd Year: Exploring New Territory........................................................................74 Internet MIDI File Experiments........................................................................74 Sources of MIDI...............................................................................................75 Implications......................................................................................................75 New Approaches to Rhythm and Tempo...........................................................76 Analysis 1: Canpiom ................................................................................................79 Source Material....................................................................................................79 Conceptual Background: Quantum Foam .............................................................80 Structure...............................................................................................................82 Editing .................................................................................................................83 6 Analysis 2: Quartut..................................................................................................89 Conceptual Background: Quarantine and Quantum Mechanics ............................89 Editing .................................................................................................................89 Structure...............................................................................................................90 Analysis 3: Untitled 1, Untitled A.............................................................................95 Source Material....................................................................................................95 Conceptual Background: Emergence ....................................................................95 Processing ............................................................................................................97 Structure.............................................................................................................100 Analysis 4: This Moving with Respect to That ........................................................103 Source Material..................................................................................................103