I have predominantly spent undergrad exploring procedural driven technical projects, developing project specific design objectives and undertaking them systematically. I have really enjoyed the departure from working purely intuitively and developing a clear line between concept development stages and the execution stages of a project. The process of reflection in each task has helped me realise this and build upon it.
My coursework has acted as focal points to teach myself electronic engineering, computer programming and develop music theory skills. Rather than take the corresponding electives I developed all of these skills within arts based practise. It is only now that I find I have to account for this. Unless I have an artistic objective to employ a technology I do not find the process of learning that technology to be engaging in the slightest. Objective oriented learning in conjunction with concept development has proven to be an effective strategy.
In terms of expression, I have found arts based practise to allow more breadth in scope for following conceptual threads in the articulation of sonic design opportunities. Not being tethered to a summed stereo file is liberating to say the least. Of course the scope of stereo sound is vast, and the merits of being able to translate ideas working to a reductive format are numerous - but stepping outside of those constraints in an artistic context has been akin to adding a third axis in cartesian space.
At this junction I'm forced to consider why I am drawn to an installation arts practise and assess how divergent it is from my musical practise. Over the course of my degree I've neglected music almost entirely, I'm not convinced this is accidental. I'm compelled by the research driven component of installation design and the ability to articulate ideas spatially. The spatiality of stereo sound compositions is almost entirely psychoacoustic, I have a need to investigate tactility and materiality in a sonic context. I feel that one practise informs the other. The perspective from experimenting in an installation context has deepened my understanding of sound outside of a musical framework.
This course in particular has required me to reassess and clarify design objectives within my music. Early on I created a laundry list of design elements I am still yet to fully investigate. Elements of my early music were driven by the exploration of chaos and order, steganography, esotericism and temporality. Later I allowed myself to be indoctrinated by conventional compositional expression and standardised production techniques leaving most of this behind. I became tired of music. Installation work allowed an avenue to continue exploring these concepts from a new perspective.
This is perhaps why I selected a project for this course that is musical in nature, but expressed in an installation context. One element I identified early in the course that I wanted to explore and had yet to in academia was algorithmic composition. My motivations behind this are not technical. Chaos and order remain the primary elements that fascinate me in music. Being able to construct and permutate complex rhythms is integral to reconstructing the moments in music I find the most satisfying. To clarify, I have no interest in creating musical algorithms in the sense that renders the only performative gesture as a single catalytic keystroke. To me that is as fascinating as a screensaver. Or a pre-rendered composition. The actuation of process is identical.
To me, the performative possibilities of algorithmic composition are exciting. There is a gestural limit that greatly reduces the improvisational potential of live electronic music. This chasm is primarily what removes electronic music performance from the immediacy and excitement of live instrumental music, what is lost in sonic potential is gained in the immediacy of performance and the range of improvisational possibilities. I guess I like to consider rhythm as a sound object in the way a drone musician considers tone. The ability to manipulate temporal sensation through dynamics and density. My feeling is that drone and noise remain the dominant modes of improvisational electronic music performance purely because of the immediacy of the interfaces used and the speed with which humans can interact with them. I would like to see the microtonal complexity these performances be seen in an improvisational, gestural rhythmic context.
So why not a folio of music compositions? I don't find it to be a suitable way to conclude my degree. I came here to find and explore new modes of expression for sonic concepts. I intend to graduate having created a central installation work that may lead me to residency opportunities and post graduate studies. I am very interested in pursuing deeper academic enquiry into sound based research. Despite having to sacrifice the performative nature I outlined above, I wanted to find a way to incorporate algorithmic composition into an installation piece.
My proposed piece "Elements" explores the nature of matter and meter. 8 metal bowls of ice are arranged in a 1 metre radius each suspended above glass jars. Actuators are attached both the bowls and the jars as euclidean divisions of tempo are dispersed polymetrically around the circle. As the ice melts to water the glasses fill, gradually altering the resonance of each strike.
The title of the piece references Euclid's Elements, the famous thirteen book treatise by the Greek mathematician which contains his life's work.
Articulating this work electro-acoustically allows me to explore elements of materiality and visual aesthetics, elements that are not primary considerations when working digitally. The removal of almost limitless freedom to sculpt sound in the digital domain has forced me to consider sound much more maturely. I am enjoying this. To be restricted to minimalist sound palette with no post processing forces me to consider how sound will react within the space. There is something liberating about this. Being able to step back and just let sound exist. Just using a small set of acoustic parameters to alter the sonic characteristics - that on a nano-level are somewhat aleatoric.
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