tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25987650527270265842024-02-19T07:54:49.301-08:00A Musical PerspectiveAine Leamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02493052131362355535noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598765052727026584.post-11058256051816370202011-09-18T05:14:00.000-07:002011-09-18T05:14:27.086-07:00Active Musing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/zBft8qY6caE?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Having not posted anything in what seems a very speedily gone two months, I have decided that perhaps I will return to the original premise of this blog - which was to archive my modern musings on music. Instead of continuing this as a article formed blog, I will update of my current listening experience and hope that this will evolve into something more substantial. Since my last post, my living situation has changed, I am now based in London, hence the lack of contact. <br />
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London is an incredible city, one that will feed the art hungry and musically thirsty. Gigs and concerts spread the city, and compared to Ireland, are attained for a reasonable price. Here's one I've been eyeing up for November - Quantic. Quantic are performing along side other acts from their label Tru Thoughts, such as Hidden Orchestra and Nostalgia 77, in KoKo, Camden, north London on 19th November 2011 at 9pm. With a line up stretching twelve acts, this independent brighton-based music label is sure not to disappoint.<br />
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Quantic is one of the production names for Will Holland, others are the Limp Twins and Quantic Soul Orchestra. Quantic is a fantastic music act fusing jazz, funk and soul, resulting in this very original yet some how comfortingly jazzy sound, as it creates down beats and funky rhythms. Have a listen, let yourself get caught up in the Quantic age, this song is from Apricot Morning, check out other albums such as Mishaps happening and Pushin On (Quantic Soul Orchestra) and journey your way through over ten years of evolving style.<br />
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<a href="http://www.quantic.org/">http://www.quantic.org/</a></div>Aine Leamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02493052131362355535noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598765052727026584.post-90367364170827893932011-07-10T16:31:00.000-07:002011-07-10T16:31:20.835-07:00Ricardo Climent and Oxidising the Spectrum<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 72.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 36.0pt;"></div><div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 48px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><br />
</span></div><!--StartFragment--><div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 48px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Ricardo Climent was born in Valencia, Spain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His developments in music epitomise what it is to be a scientist-composer, as he engages in scientific research for the purpose of composing a piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His work <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oxidising the Spectrum</i> (2004), calls for Climent to overtly work with scientific elements, as he experiments with microbial electrochemistry.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 48px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify; text-indent: 48px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">Climent’s compositional output extends from compositions for orchestra and ensemble to compositions for fixed media (tape) and artistic and scientific collaborations.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">Climent’s focus in music can be seen to be overtly scientific as even his works for conventional instruments exhibit scientific motivation.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Biometric Fingerprints </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">(2005), is a work for Brass quintet, the title of the work can be seen as being influenced by scientific developments, as it refers to a unique way of measuring fingerprints, focusing on how fingerprints can ‘stimulate a spiral musical event’.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">His work for Clarinet in Bb and String quartet ‘working as a tape’, entitled </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">emc<sup>2 </sup></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">(2000), can be seen as exclusively scientific in motivation, referencing Albert Einstein’s famous theory of mass-energy equivalence, e = mc</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><sup>2</sup></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">Climent states that this piece is research on how acoustical instruments can mimic the role of a tape; they are thus ‘working as a tape’.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">Interestingly, this idea can compared with some of Edgard Varèse’s instrumental works, such as </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Intégrales</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">, which pre-empts sound structures of electronic music and music for magnetic tape.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">In Climent’s literary introduction to his work </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Trombonsis </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">(1999), the composer explains the Thrombosis effect, which involves blood clots that form in veins, a biological concern.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">The composer elaborates to say that this piece is ‘inspired by several human microcosmic phenomena’s which are visualised as imaginary landscapes in the composers mind’, highlighting that scientific concerns are to the forefront of his creative personae. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">However, what is of interest for this study in particular, is Climent’s scientific collaborations; the experiments and compositions which overtly portray him as a scientist-composer. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oxidising the Spectrum, </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">The Microbial Ensemble (2004), is perhaps an extreme example of a scientist-composer at work, as the composer works not only with scientific theories but conducts a scientific experiment with live microbes.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">Climent delves into areas which are purely scientific, in an attempt to create a radically new musical composition, one which exhibits both musical expression and scientific conduct.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">The composer explains that</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">‘the originality of the project resides in the fact that we do not employ any musical instrument, we simply compose the melody from the sounds generated by the microbes, as we can introduce variance by altering external conditions, such as the glucose or the temperature’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Below is a photo of Ricardo Climent performing his sonic work <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oxidising the Spectrum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; 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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjpKwx9PzMwI5c_XzMVHDCmefhydTQJ0vSHdLz_8h4hXzTpy6GItAGTcCiQv1qlrXMCLa2dTl9e3VPMuBeDKDrGAADvFejOXd4KajRWin0gT9J4Y4c-BSBPpIoXQjLetOR-rvF9ht1CMM/s1600/Microbes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjpKwx9PzMwI5c_XzMVHDCmefhydTQJ0vSHdLz_8h4hXzTpy6GItAGTcCiQv1qlrXMCLa2dTl9e3VPMuBeDKDrGAADvFejOXd4KajRWin0gT9J4Y4c-BSBPpIoXQjLetOR-rvF9ht1CMM/s400/Microbes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> Immediately, one is presented with the image of a scientist, as the composer wears a white laboratory coat and gloves while performing the piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One can also see the arrangement of connecting wires from the microbes to micro-processors and the main computer, which monitors the activity of the Microbial Fuel Cells.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">On the 15 July 2008, I conducted an interview with Ricardo Climent at the NOVARS Research centre, University of Manchester.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throughout the interview, Climent talks about the development of music in line with science and technology, particularly in relation to his own work, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oxidising the Spectrum</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also considers the concept of the scientist-composer and concludes that<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">‘These two figures of the composer and the computer-scientist, or physicist, have merged into a single person and formed this new composer-scientist that you talk about’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Climent recognises the existence of the scientist-composer, but adds that he thinks it is something that has only happened very recently, in the last ten/fifteen years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The evolution of technology is at a focal point in the twenty first century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Climent identifies that it is only with modern technological advances that the scientist-composer can enter into limitless possibilities within the two disciplines.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The composer elaborates on what he believes the role of the scientist-composer is in contemporary composition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He states that it is ‘no longer valid just to know about music’, claiming that composers must also be aware of developments in computer-science and electronic engineering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here, one can see that the phenomenon of the scientist-composer has developed further into scientific concerns, as composers must be aware of new developments in scientific fields.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, was Varèse right in saying that in order for music to reach new possibilities, it was necessary to develop in line with science?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Climent commented that he thought purely instrumental music had reached a point that hindered it from continuing with the same creative and experimental force, and agreed with Varèse about the new possibilities that science would and have brought to music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the composer claims that it is too early to say if science was the only route music could have taken, although he adds it is the route he has chosen to take.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The development of new technologies have proven central to the phenomenon of the scientist-composer, as composers were permitted to experiment with new techniques of sound synthesis and sound recording.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Varèse was limited to the technological advances of the late 1950s, but since the 1980s and 1990s an abundance of new technology has been invented and used by contemporary composers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, with this abundance of technology, has the musical aspect survived? Or alternatively, are composers so overcome with new technology that musical creativity has been sacrificed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Climent states that composer should not always be challenging new technologies, but instead, should remain a ‘step behind and look for something very creative’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He maintains that technology is merely a tool in composition, and highlights the limitations that accompany it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The scientist-composer recognises problems with using and relying on scientific technology, stating that compositions can be lost as new technology is invented and replaced.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Compositions like Varèse’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Poème électronique </i>are currently being recovered from their original existence and transformed into the digital era, as was highlighted in chapter two with the Virtual Electronic Poem project. Throughout the interview, Climent discusses new ideologies in music, and how the advent of technology has affected musical composition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a scientist-composer, he is aware of new developments in scientific fields and utilises these scientific advances in his musical compositions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">During the summer of 2004, after Climent had composed <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oxidising the Spectrum, </i>the Spanish media became interested in his work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As translated from Spanish, journalists wrote about how he composed ‘a work from the acoustics generated by microbes’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They highlighted that the work was ‘much closer to science than to art’. Generally, the media’s interpretation of Climent’s newly composed work was slightly misconstrued, but it succeeded in creating new interest in his work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Journalists highlighted Climent’s radically new and progressive work, quoting the General Society of Authors and Editors (SGAE), who emphasised that this initiative ‘supposes a unique and pioneer-like experience’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A close analysis of the composer’s work will reveal the true scientific and musical elements involved in this composition. Climent’s proposal for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oxidising the Spectrum </i>issues a detailed description of the technology used for composing this piece, as well as an explanation of how the life span of microbes can be manipulated and altered in order for the composer to gain control of musical parameters.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Oxidising the Spectrum </span></i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">‘is a sonic installation which explores the possibilities of microbial electrochemistry in the compositional environment’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In preparation for this composition, Climent studied in a chemical laboratory for a year under chemical engineer Dr Quan Gan, Queens University, Belfast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The purpose of his years’ study was to enable him to understand how microbes behave, and to what stimulus they react.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The composition involves a ‘small ensemble of microbial performers’, this consisted of four strains of microbes, of which Climent manipulated in order to create music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The microbes, also known as microorganisms, that were used for his experiments were P. vulgaris.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In order to understand the experiment one must be aware of key facts about microbial behaviour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The graph below displays the life span of a microbe, unaltered by humans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The microbes rapidly develop and then more steadily decline until they die; a process that is musically quite boring.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;">This is a process of voltage charge and discharge and is one of the key principles of this musical composition. A Microbial Fuel Cell (MCF), Climent explains, ‘is capable of generating electricity, which can be converted into data to control several musical parameters’. Below is a diagram of a Microbial Fuel Cell circuit, as provided by Climent in his proposal for this piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It explains the movement of elements throughout the Microbial Fuel Cell, as the exchange of electrons create electricity.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"> Climent manipulates the conditions of the cell in order to control the level of voltage charge; attempting to control the number of electrons which pass through to create electricity. The composer highlights that ‘the manipulation of the musical parameters was thus not created through software but by biological means’.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">In order to present the microbes as musically interesting, Climent manipulates the conditions of the cell by destabilising its optimum conditions.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">He destabilised the microbes by feeding them or starving them at different times, using a carbohydrate such as glucose.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">This would cause the cells to start a process of voltage charge and discharge, and would create a more varied curve in the music.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">The graph below presents a comparison between a stable microbe, which has been unaltered by humans, and a destabilised microbe which has been manipulated through methods highlighted by Climent.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">As one can see, the curvature varies significantly.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">Both microbes rapidly produce voltage charge; however one can see that the destabilised cell produces erratic levels of voltage charge, leading to the formation of a more musically interesting curve, this was what Climent aimed for when manipulating the microbial cells.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhASyHd0Z_8HUiMq99y4Ip0aP5LOgLkZ88kpkNx6ZF4q9Y97lCHd3k7m-ynnZr76dHAA4R3bvk8w5yGkoFqIOU8ovHaZV-se-YKP54TIa9v6nsRzHmStY13UVaGru80Ou-uo0kfMMkJhJY/s1600/Graph+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhASyHd0Z_8HUiMq99y4Ip0aP5LOgLkZ88kpkNx6ZF4q9Y97lCHd3k7m-ynnZr76dHAA4R3bvk8w5yGkoFqIOU8ovHaZV-se-YKP54TIa9v6nsRzHmStY13UVaGru80Ou-uo0kfMMkJhJY/s1600/Graph+2.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">Climent also used changes in temperature to stifle the microorganisms; optimal temperatures are approximately thirty-five degrees celcius.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other ways of destabilising the cells included changing the mediator’s (thionin) concentration and combining different cells which would react with one another to create musical parameters such as pitch, pulse and timbre.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Destabilising the cells would create varied voltage signals, which were then boosted using Operational Amplifiers and then sent to a micro-controller which converted them into digital data.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Climent’s experiments with the microbes were merely one part of the challenge that he faced in creating the piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">As the composer gained a level of control over the microbial behaviour, it was now time to transfer the results of the microbial activity to a computer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The previous part of the experiment permitted the composer to become a worker in a chemical laboratory, now Climent must further his knowledge and learn about new computer software.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the purpose of this work, Climent used a software application called Max-MSP.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Max-MSP is an interactive music and multimedia software application programme, of which Climent used as a blank canvas for the development of software that would ‘transform the sound of the microbes’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The photo below shows the software running on the main computer, to the right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The photo also includes other technological devices: to the bottom left of the image is a mixing desk; the device on the middle left hand side is a Basic Stamp micro-controller; and to lower middle part of the photo is an A-D converter.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdrC8Uz_zaY-xaniOlej3CuhWuN3MDLXfEjlXrQFquVHj-Hv9LsGcNb8BaFTdMsy_HJ2AVH_VpSoKQMSKxdpE71VIR2a_PkN5TlvzyZiRR9Tjb3j4lyggyIuMe9Dnhw3DZa8MzJQLwz6g/s1600/MAX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdrC8Uz_zaY-xaniOlej3CuhWuN3MDLXfEjlXrQFquVHj-Hv9LsGcNb8BaFTdMsy_HJ2AVH_VpSoKQMSKxdpE71VIR2a_PkN5TlvzyZiRR9Tjb3j4lyggyIuMe9Dnhw3DZa8MzJQLwz6g/s400/MAX.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">In order to realise the sound of the microbial activity, Climent uses organic sounds such as water. One will find a two minute recording of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oxidising the Spectrum </i>on Climent’s website acousmatic.org<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The clip begins with sounds of gushing water, representing the sounds of microbial charging and discharging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throughout the recording, Climent uses sounds of water, orchestral instruments, a female voice and electronic sounds to embody the microbial activity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The electronic sounds are quite similar to that used by Edgard Varèse in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Poème électronique</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, at 0’27’’, Climent includes a quotation from Varèse’s electronic work, as he claims that this inclusion really sounds ‘like bacteria talking’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The microbes quickly generate a pulse in the music, for which Climent uses György Ligeti’s (1923-2006) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Poème Symphonique </i>for 100 metronomes (1962).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Climent states that he used the cell from the metronome and ‘transformed it in real time’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As the composer was dealing with microbial cells, he asserted that he ‘also metaphorically wanted to hear the sounds of cells of a composition’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, he used the two aforementioned compositions by Varèse and Ligeti to extract cells of which he would transform in real time, in order to represent the sounds of the microbes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The work has only been performed live twice, once at the Tropical Ravine in Belfast Botanic Gardens, and again in Temple Bar Music Centre in Dublin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A produced recording of the work does not yet exist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One might ask why Climent has only given two live performances of this piece.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The composer explains that although his experiments with scientific elements have provided him with a radically new and diverse composition, such efforts are not appreciated by airport authorities. Climent expresses how travelling to countries with microbes and other chemical products has proven difficult and opposes health and safety regulations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thus, a problem has arisen for the phenomenon of the scientist-composer, as composers must choose their scientific experiments wisely, so that it does not result in sacrificing performances of the finished work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">In order to evaluate the musical and scientific agenda of this work, one must consider key aspects of both a musical work and a scientific experiment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A scientific experiment is usually conducted by a scientist in order to test a theory or demonstrate a well known fact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The experiment must be repeatable as otherwise it cannot be standardised.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scientific experiments are carefully monitored events, which follow set rules of procedure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In light of this, can <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Oxidising the Spectrum</i> be considered to engage in methods of scientific conduct? Climent refers to this piece as ‘speculative research’, stating what is important is ‘the process and the advancement of research in the area’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Climent defines arbitrary rules when conducting experiments with the microbes, as he changes the parameters of the experiments to suit his results.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As previously discussed, Climent manipulates the optimal conditions of the Microbial Fuel Cell in order to produce erratic changes in voltage charge and discharge, resulting in interesting motifs in the music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By modifying the growth pattern of the microbes, Climent gains a degree of control over the results of the experiments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scientists, alternatively, do not change the parameters of their experiments to suit their results, as otherwise the experiments would not be repeatable and could not be standardised for testing a theory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not a fault on Climent’s part, nor does it diminish the validity of his work, it merely presents Climent as a composer, who uses scientific elements but does not follow scientific conduct, and is therefore not a scientist. Climent displays a concept that has developed as part of musical consciousness; he is a composer who uses science as a vehicle for artist expression. However, perhaps one could consider this work as a microcosm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Climent creates a scientific experiment within his own set parameters, he experiments with microbes and manipulates them accordingly, is that science? If one views this piece as a microcosm, perhaps to some degree it is science.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, Climent does not behave as a scientist; his goals for this work are musical, and he is therefore not a scientist, but a musical composer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Climent’s experiments with microbes can be seen as merely another tool for composition, the laboratory experiments allow the composer to realise new and exciting forms of musical composition.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-top: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 14.2pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br />
</span></div><div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;"> </div></div><!--EndFragment-->Aine Leamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02493052131362355535noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598765052727026584.post-59557744231279335492011-07-03T11:19:00.000-07:002011-07-03T11:19:48.301-07:00Introducing the Scientist-Composer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 36.0pt; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘Music which should pulsate with life needs new means of expression, and science alone can infuse it with youthful vigour’. (Edgard Varèse)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Throughout history, music and science have shared common ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Developments in scientific knowledge have similarly led to the advancement of musical research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Phythagoras used mathematics to explain the vibrations of a string, closely studying the intervals of tones that it produced, ‘the first physics was musical’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pythagorean musical tuning is based on this study of broken intervals of a vibrating string. Robert Root-Bernstein, in his article ‘Music, Creativity and Scientific Thinking’, suggests that musical and scientific abilities are ‘correlative talents’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He highlights that skills associated with music, such as ‘pattern-forming...aesthetic sensibility, analogising and analysis’, are also important correlative talents of scientists. The author presents a table of composers, who were, in fact, also scientists, but are not known for such involvement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was a physician, Camille St. Saens (1835-1921) was interested in astronomy, Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) was a chemist, and George Antheil (1900-1959) was an endocrinologist and inventor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Other scientific careers held by the composers catalogued by the author include: mathematician, surgeon, microbiologist, inorganic chemist, zoologist, geologist, engineer and cardiologist. The author also highlights the musical element to science, and how music has played an important part in scientific research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, geneticist Susumo Ohno, who <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 29.45pt; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘converted DNA sequences into musical equivalents that sound like Chopin nocturnes in order to listen for patterns that lie hidden within our genes’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Music is used in other ways as a tool for scientific research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hidden patterns can be distinguished through the use of music, and this has presented scientists with a useful tool for furthering areas of scientific research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our sense of hearing, of listening, is manipulated in music and can therefore yield further results when used for scientific research; as the eye can only process a certain amount of information. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Composers of the twentieth century have taken on a new personae, that of the ‘scientist-composer’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A scientist-composer is a composer who engages in scientific research and development for the purpose of composing a piece, or furthering research into new ways of composition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are primarily a composer, and rely on scientific research solely as a point of reference. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A scientist-composer can be seen to use key theories and terminology from science, in an attempt to develop new compositional techniques and ideologies. Root-Bernstein highlights the existence of musical-scientists, a concept very different to that of the scientist-composer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A musical scientist, in comparison, is a scientist who uses musical elements exclusively to further research in the field of science, as he/she is primarily a scientist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The phenomenon of the scientist-composer can be said to have began in the early twentieth century with the inventions of Thaddeus Cahill (1867-1934), Léon Theremin (1896-1993) and Maurice Martenot (1898-1980).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These inventors stimulated composers such as Edgard Varèse (1883-1965) and Futurist Luigi Russolo (1885-1947) to envision new prospects for music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They shared a vision that new scientific technology and machinery could be used to create new music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interestingly, this idea had been previously foreseen by Lady Lovelace (1815-1852), who worked with Charles Babbage (1791-1871) on building and designing ‘the analytical machine, a mechanical ancestor of the computer’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She anticipated the possibility of using the machine for ‘non-numerical tasks, in particular that of musical composition’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This illustrates that the concept of the scientist-composer was not necessarily born in the twentieth century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, it has developed as part of musical consciousness, and has perhaps manifested itself in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">The array of composers involved in the phenomenon is vast and includes such composers as Karlheinz Stockhausen (1922-2007) and Futurist Luigi Russolo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russolo and the Italian Futurists initiated a movement in music, literature and art in the early twentieth century called Futurism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This movement succeeded in creating grounding for a new aesthetic in music, largely due to Russolo’s Futurist manifesto <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Art of Noises, </i>(1913).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russolo was captivated by new industrial noises and the ‘noise-sounds’ of machinery and technology of the early twentieth century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Russolo’s manifesto displays how industrialisation affected music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This radically new way of thinking led to the development of a new psychology in music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After the Futurist movement, other composers became interested in concepts highlighted by Russolo, namely the use of new technology and the use of ‘noise-sounds’ for musical composition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Malcolm MacDonald highlights that in the twentieth century<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 42.55pt; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘the figure of the scientist came to subsume the prophetic, spiritually authoritative functions of magician and priest’.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Here, the author highlights an idea which will prove to be central to the phenomenon of the scientist-composer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The figure of the scientist is placed on a pedestal, and regarded not only as one who works with laws of nature and the universe, but one who has the key to hidden truths, he becomes a mystical figure. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Pierre Schaeffer (1910-1995) developed Russolo’s idea of ‘noise-sounds’ and began to use sounds, not only from new technology and machinery but also from the surrounding environment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He worked as a radio technician at the </span><span lang="GA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: GA;">Radiodiffusion Française (RTF), which allowed him access to a wide range of broadcasting equipment, of which he used for experiments with music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Schaeffer coined the term ‘sound objects’ </span><span lang="GA" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: GA;">to signify sounds that were distinct from their acoustic beginnings, sounds that were to be appreciated only within themselves, as seperate from their origin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1952, Schaeffer redefined his idea of ‘sound objects’, he stated that they could be classified in terms of seven values of sounds: mass; dynamics; tone quality/timbre; melodic profile; profile of mass; grain; and pace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such an evalutation provides an almost scientific analysis, and presents Schaeffer as composer involved in the phenomenon.</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Karlheinz Stockhausen was a leading German composer, whose electro-acoustic compositions and aesthetical writings display an innate scientific commitment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scientific agenda seemingly penetrated both his writings and compositions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stockhausen uses scientific theories to develop new ideas in music, such as his theory of micro-time and macro-time. His developments in music display scientific agenda, as the composer is captivated by astronomy and mathematics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) worked as an architect as well as a composer and, as a result, the scientific element to his work inevitably refers to his mathematical training as an architect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Xenakis uses the Fibonacci series to determine time structure in his work <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Metastaseis </i>(1953/54). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The composer also developed Stochastic compositional techniques, a mathematical term applied to music which ‘is a theory of probability: that the results of chance will reach a determinate end’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An overview of the phenomenon reveals that science had advanced with musical consciousness as composers began to think of music and science as being interdisciplinary.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> <!--StartFragment--> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Franco-American composer, Edgard Varèse wrote and lectured about the ‘necessity of closer collaboration between composer and scientist’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His writings reveal that he viewed science and scientific discoveries as inspirational.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He stated<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 42.55pt; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘For me there is more musical fertility in the contemplation of the stars... and the high poetry of certain mathematical expositions than in the most sublime gossip of human passions’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">He regarded scientific research, such as that into astrology and mathematics, as innately more musically inspirational than any human emotion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here, one can see how Varèse can be considered to be a scientist-composer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through an analysis of his compositions and lecturers, a deeper understanding of his scientific commitment will be portrayed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Stockhausen and Xenakis, Varèse created new theories in music which were scientific in nature; they employed scientific theories and terminology. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A central compositional idea for Varèse was his concept of ‘spatial projection’ of sound or music projected in space. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Varèse developed his theory of moving sound-masses and shifting planes, as he envisioned the new possibilities science could bring to music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>John D. Anderson, in his article, ‘Varèse and the Lyricism of New Physics’ presents his concept of spatial projection as a parallel to Einstein’s quantum theory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He states that in 1905 <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin-left: 36.0pt; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">‘Einstein augmented the quantum theory by hypothesizing the existence of photons, or travelling particles of light energy. Each photon was the energy equivalent of one quantum. Photons could travel through space for infinite distances but would remain undiminished in energy. A close parallel to the concept of the photon is Varese’s projection in space, in which sounds were conceived as entities capable of travelling infinite distances, undiminished in intensity’.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2598765052727026584#_ftn3" name="_ftnref" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;">[3]</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><!--StartFragment--> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Spatial projection of music was to the forefront of Varèse’s creative mind, particularly in his work for magnetic tape, <i>Poème électronique</i> (1957/58), a work </span>commissioned by Philips Corporation which would be premiered at the Brussels World Fair in 1958<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">. </span><i>Poème électronique</i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> was the only work </span>in which Varèse truly achieved spatial projection of music, although his earlier works for conventional instruments must also be considered in terms of this concept. Varèse was. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Poème électronique</i> is a pivotal work of the twentieth century, as it ignited huge change in the compositional possibilities for composers. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; tab-stops: 42.55pt; text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Has music developed so much in line with science that the scientific element has taken over? Or rather, is this the progression that music must take, to uncover sounds of our environment and the hidden world of which our ears know nothing about?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="mso-element: footnote-list;"><br />
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<div id="ftn" style="mso-element: footnote;"> </div></div><!--EndFragment--> </div>Aine Leamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02493052131362355535noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2598765052727026584.post-32746809511538522602011-06-28T16:42:00.000-07:002011-06-30T13:37:41.849-07:00A Scientific Agenda<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I begin this blog with a desire to archive my musings, detailing those bursts of inspiration that capture my love for the new and exciting events in musical composition. Music that perhaps challenges our perception of what music should be, and how it should be created, has been prolific in the minds of contemporary composers.<br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Curious about the beginnings of electronic music, I began research into the so called 'father of electronic music', Edgard Varese and his electro-acoustic work <i>Poeme Electronique.</i> Captivated by the extraordinary avand garde nature of the work, I began to delve into areas more specific, that of the new musical machine, that is the new musical technology of the 1950s. Having consumed Russolo's Manifesto and explored the electronic inventions of Cahill and Theremin, it soon became apparent that scientific invention or technology was now central to a composers future. The evolution of musical technology sparked a palpable science to composers, a new vehicle for artistic expression, and here my blog will begin.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Science and Music - A relationship epitomised by a few experimental and daringly creative composers, I am constantly in search of new music, new composers, new ideas.<br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">This all began with Spanish-born composer, Dr Ricardo Climent, and his work <i>Oxidising the Spectrum - The Microbial Ensemble </i>(2004). The work is fascinating even in theoretical terms, as Climent composed this work using microbes, he alternates their optimum conditions as he attempts to disturb the normal life cycle of the microbe, his changes result in a more erratic life cycle which in turn creates more interesting music. Climent's website http://www.electro-acoustic.com/ and acoustmatic.org provides sounds clips and videos of the composition process. </div><div><br />
</div></div>Aine Leamyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02493052131362355535noreply@blogger.com0