[microsound] Pieces that play & "listen"

Randal Davis randal_davis at operamail.com
Mon Jun 21 17:09:52 EDT 2010


Norbert -

There are, perhaps, some problems with your terminology, but I think I know what you are working toward.

The condition of a procedure "incorporat[ing] what has previously been played" would be met in a minimum condition by any system using delays.  Rich history here, of course, from early Pauline Oliveros and Terry Riley, through Fripp & Eno, and so on.  This is probably, though, not exactly what you mean. Note: "delay" here could refer as well to the effect or, even more generally, to various species of counterpoint.

The condition of a procedure which "incorporates...what it is...about to play" would be met in a minimum condition by at least most common practice music, requiring only the assumption that the composer "knows" what has already happened.  Or, put differently, a procedure that knows the future does not necessarily need to "listen."  But I think this is not quite what you mean either.

Some of the clearest examples of the interactive systems I think you are really most interested in are the network music of The League of Automatic Music Composers and The Hub, or, most recently, George Lewis' various experiments in this direction, notably Voyager.  

You might also want to alook into some of the works of Earle Brown and Christian Wolff (mostly their works of the 1950s), and the Scratch Music Orchestra, as well as John Zorn's "game pieces" for examples of complex interactive systems involving live performers, though not necessarily electronics.  

RD

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Norbert Herber <norbert at x-tet.com>
> To: microsound at or8.net
> Subject: [microsound] Pieces that play & "listen"
> Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2010 07:33:34 -0400
> 
> 
> Hello microsounders,
> 
> I'm looking for titles of pieces that are algorithmic, generative,  
> procedural, etc. and also "listen." Has anyone made a piece that  
> procedurally incorporates what has previously been played into what 
> it  is currently playing or about to play? Technically and 
> conceptually I  can think of many reasons this has already been 
> done but I can't  recall hearing (or hearing about) such a work.
> 
> Thank you for your suggestions. ::Norbert
> _______________________________________________
> microsound mailing list
> microsound at microsound.org
> http://or8.net/mailman/listinfo/microsound

>


-- 
_______________________________________________
Surf the Web in a faster, safer and easier way:
Download Opera 9 at http://www.opera.com



More information about the microsound mailing list