Compositional and Performance Mapping in Computer Chamber Music: A Case Study

The mapping problem is inherent to digital musical instruments (DMIs), which require, at the very least, an association between physical gestures and digital synthesis algorithms to transform human bodily performance into sound. This article considers the DMI mapping problem in the context of the creation and performance of a heterogeneous computer chamber music piece, a trio for violin, biosensors, and computer. Our discussion situates the DMI mapping problem within the broader set of interdependent musical interaction issues that surfaced during the composition and rehearsal of the trio. Through descriptions of the development of the piece, development of the hardware and software interfaces, lessons learned through rehearsal, and self-reporting by the participants, the rich musical possibilities and technical challenges of the integration of digital musical instruments into computer chamber music are demonstrated.

Thomas Moore Music Project:The Genesis of Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies

This is a selection of images from the Gibson-Massie Moore Collection, supplement by a table created by curator Sarah McCleave. The purpose is to identify the numerous creators involved in the Irish Melodies series (music editor, illustrators, engravers, etc.), and to illustrate some characteristics kinds of variants

Trio Performance with 'Faint' at "Sounds New Contemporary Music Festival":Graphic Scores and Free improvisation: Canterbury, Kent

The programme contained a performance by the trio FAINT (Pedro Rebelo - Piano and instru- mental parasites, Franziska Schroeder - Saxophone and Steve Davis - Drums). The performance includes short electroacoustic works based on the trio's free improvisation and a performance of Rebelo's Cipher Series graphic scores.

The whole song is greater than the sum of its parts: Local and structural features in music listening

Four experiments reported here demonstrate the importance of structural as well as local features in listening to contemporary popular music. Experiment 1 established that listeners without formal musical training regard as salient the formal structure that links individual sections of songs. When asked to listen to and assemble the individual sections of unfamiliar contemporary songs to form new compositions, participants positioned the sections in ways consistent with the true structure of the music. In Experiment 2, participants were provided with only the song lyrics with which to arrange the individual sections of contemporary songs. It was found that in addition to musical features
studied in Experiment 1, lyrical content of contemporary music also acts as a strong cue to a song’s formal structure. Experiments 3 and 4 revealed that listeners’ enjoyment of music is influenced both by structural features and local features of music, which were carried by the individual song sections.
The influence of structural features on music listening was most apparent over repeated hearings. In Experiment 4, listeners’ liking for contemporary music followed an inverted U-shape trend with repeated exposure, in which liking for music took a downward turn after just four repeated hearings. In contrast, liking for restructured music increased with repeated hearings and almost eliminated an initial negative effect of restructuring by the sixth hearing. In sum, our findings demonstrate that structural features as well as local features of contemporary music are salient and important to
listeners.

Musicologist-driven writer identification in early music manuscripts

Recent renewed interest in computational writer identification has resulted in an increased number of publications. In relation to historical musicology its application has so far been limited. One of the obstacles seems to be that the clarity of the images from the scans available for computational analysis is often not sufficient. In this paper, the use of the Hinge feature is proposed to avoid segmentation and staff-line removal for effective feature extraction from low quality scans. The use of an auto encoder in Hinge feature space is suggested as an alternative to staff-line removal by image processing, and their performance is compared. The result of the experiment shows an accuracy of 87 % for the dataset containing 84 writers’ samples, and superiority of our segmentation and staff-line removal free approach. Practical analysis on Bach’s autograph manuscript of the Well-Tempered Clavier II (Additional MS. 35021 in the British Library, London) is also presented and the extensive applicability of our approach is demonstrated.

Improvisation, Indeterminacy and Game-Mediated Participation in Network Music Performance

This chapter focuses on the relationship between improvisation and indeterminacy. We discuss the two practices by referring to play theory and game studies and situate it in recent network music performance. We will develop a parallel with game theory in which indeterminacy is seen as a way of articulating situations where structural decisions are left to the discernment of the performers and discuss improvisation as a method of play. The improvisation-indeterminacy relationship is discussed in the context of network music performance, which employs digital networks in the exchange of data between performers and hence relies on topological structures with varying degrees of openness and flexibility. Artists such as Max Neuhaus and The League of Automatic Music Composers initiated the development of a multitude of practices and technologies exploring the network as an environment for music making. Even though the technologies behind “the network” have shifted dramatically since Neuhaus’ use of radio in the 1960’s, a preoccupation with distribution and sharing of artistic agency has remained at the centre of networked practices. Gollo Föllmer, after undertaking an extensive review of network music initiatives, produced a typology that comprises categories as diverse as remix lists, sound toys, real/virtual space installations and network performances. For Föllmer, “the term ‘Net music’ comprises all formal and stylistic kinds of music upon which the specifics of electronic networks leave considerable traces, whereby the electronic networks strongly influence the process of musical production, the musical aesthetic, or the way music is received” (2005: 185).