File - Lindsay Vickery

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Exploring New and Emerging Models for
Nonlinear Performative Works
Lindsay Ross Vickery
BMus Ed (Hons) (UWA), MMus (Comp) (UWA)
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Music and Sound
Queensland University of Technology
2013
Keywords
Nonlinear music, parametrical discontinuity, discrete, non-contingent, noncompressible, sequential structure, multilinear structure, nonlinear narrative,
referential structure, spectrogram, parametrical disjunction, Charles Ives, Igor
Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Olivier Messiaen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre
Boulez, Pierre Schaeffer, Iannis Xenakis, Luciano Berio and Earle Brown, James
Tenney, John Zorn.
Abstract
This dissertation seeks to define and classify musical nonlinear structures and to
explore the possibilities they might afford for the creation of new musical works. It
provides a comprehensive framework for the discussion of nonlinear structure in
musical works and provides a detailed overview of the rise of nonlinearity in music
during the 20th century.
Nonlinear events are shown to emerge through significant parametrical
discontinuity at the boundaries between regions of relatively strong internal
cohesion. The dissertation situates nonlinear structures in relation to linear
structures and unstructured sonic phenomena and provides a means of evaluating
Nonlinearity in a musical structure through the consideration of the degree to which
the structure is integrated, contingent, compressible and determinate as a whole.
It is proposed that nonlinearity in music can be classified as a three dimensional
space described by three continuums: the temporal continuum, encompassing
sequential and multilinear forms of organization, the narrative continuum
encompassing processual, game structure and developmental narrative forms and
the referential continuum encompassing stylistic allusion, adaptation and
quotation.
The contribution of cultural, ideological, scientific and technological shifts to the
emergence of nonlinearity in music is discussed and a range of compositional
factors that contributed to the emergence of musical nonlinearity is examined. The
evolution of notational innovations from the mobile score to the screen score is
plotted and a novel framework for the discussion of these forms of musical
transmission is proposed.
A computer coordinated performative model is proposed, in which a computer
synchronises screening of notational information, provides temporal coordination of
the performers through click-tracks or similar methods and synchronises the audio
i
processing and synthesized elements of the work. It is proposed that such a model
constitutes a highly effective means of realizing complex nonlinear structures in
performance.
The use of spectrograms of recorded musical works is proposed as a potential
means of evaluating nonlinearity in a musical work through the visual
representation of parametrical divergence in pitch, duration, timbre and dynamic
over time. Spectral and structural analysis of repertoire works is undertaken as part
of an exploration of musical nonlinearity and the compositional and performative
features that characterize it.
A creative folio comprising 29 original works that explore nonlinearity is presented,
discussed and categorized, utilising the proposed classifications. Spectrograms of
these works are employed where appropriate to illustrate the instantiation of
parametrically divergent substructures and examples of structural openness
demonstrated by different performances.
ii
Exploring new and emerging models
for non-linear performative works
1 Introduction
1
2 Nonlinear Musical Organisation
11
2.1
Factors in the Evaluation of Nonlinear Structure
11
2.3
Defining the Boundaries of Nonlinear Structure
17
2.3.1
The Structured/Unstructured Boundary
20
2.3.2
The Linear/Nonlinear Boundary
21
3 Classifying Nonlinear Structures
3.1
The Temporal Continuum
28
3.1.1
Block, Montage and Mosaic Form
29
3.1.2
Mobile, Polyvalent and Moment Form and The Open
Work
Multilayered Form, Superposition and the Palimpsest
32
3.1.3
3.2
3.3
3.4
4.2
4.3
38
The Narrative Continuum
44
3.2.1
Processual Nonlinearity
45
3.2.1
Game-based Narrative
49
3.2.3
Developmental Nonlinearity
52
The Referential Continuum
57
3.3.1
Nonlinearity based on Quotation
59
3.3.2
Nonlinearity based on Stylistic Allusion
63
The Three Continuums of Nonlinear Structure
67
4 Compositional Techniques for Nonlinear Works
4.1
28
71
The Contribution of Cultural, Ideological, Scientific
and Technological Shifts to the Emergence of
Nonlinearity in Music
Compositional Factors Contributing to
the Emergence of Musical Nonlinearity
71
4.2.1
Expansion of the Sonic Pallet
76
4.2.2
Parametric Thinking
78
The Evolution of Notational Innovations
from the Mobile Score to the Screen Score
iii
74
81
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.3.1
The Emergence of “Mobility” in the Musical Score
82
4.3.2
Issues Complicating the “Real” Mobility of Mobile Scores
86
Computer Controlled Live Performance
89
4.4.1
The Screen Score
91
4.4.2
Performer Co-ordination
99
Structural Implications of Computer Coordinated
Performance
4.5.1 Permutation, Transformation and Generation
100
4.5.2
Multiple versions
102
4.5.3
Poly-structure
103
4.5.4
Erasure
103
Affordances of Computer Coordination
5 The Spectrogram as a tool for the analysis of
Nonlinear Structure
101
104
105
5.1
Sequential Non-referential Nonlinearity:
Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920).
107
5.2
Referential Nonlinearity:
Pierre Schaeffer’s Étude aux Chemins de Fer (1948)
114
5.3
Referential Nonlinearity:
James Tenney’s Collage #1 “Blue Suede” (1961)
118
5.4
Narrative Nonlinearity:
Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Klavierstück IX (1961)
120
6 Exploring Nonlinear Formal Models in my Creative
Practice
6.1
6.2
6.3
124
Block-Form: “Cypher” Works
134
6.1.1
Shifting Planes (2005)
135
6.1.2
offRamp (2002) and Exit Points (2003)
137
6.1.3
Still-life with Visitations (2002), Kreuz des Suedens
(2003) and Night Fragments (2011)
140
Collage and Mobile Models
142
6.2.1
entropology (2002) and Hey Jazz Fans! (2003)
143
6.2.2
<as viewed from above> (2001)
150
6.2.3
Delicious Ironies (2001) and Splice (2002)
154
Permutational Models
163
6.3.1
164
antibody (2010)
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6.4
6.5
6.6
6.7
6.8
6.3.2
echo-transform 1 (2010)
167
6.3.3
Improbable Games (2010) andReconstruction of a
Shifting Path (2011)
170
6.3.4
Partikulator (2011) and questions written on sheets of
glass (2011)
176
Multilinear Models
176
6.4.1
Between the Lines (2002) and
Parallel Trajectories (2003)
178
6.4.2
Tectonic (2007)
181
6.4.3
The Talking Board (2011)
185
Polytemporal Models
187
6.5.1
interXection (2002)
189
6.4.2
Whorl (2003), particle+wave (2004) and
Zwitschern (2005)
190
6.5.3
Transit of Venus (2009)
193
6.5.4
delineate 1 (2010)
199
6.5.5
Hunting Pack (2011)
199
Polystructural Models
202
6.5.1
203
Eraflage (2007) and
corridors, stairways night and day (2009)
Subtractive Models
207
6.7.1
207
ghosts of departed quantities (2010)
The Development of Concepts in the Creative Folio
211
7 Conclusion
213
References
217
v
FIGURES AND TABLES
FIGURES
Chapter 1
Figure 1. The hierarchical relationship between the terminologies for musical structure used in
this dissertation.
Chapter 2
Figure 2: The emergence of substructures through weakening of the continuity of musical
materials in a linear work.
Figure 3: The emergence of substructures through weakening of the continuity of musical
materials in a nonlinear work.
Figure 4. The effect of reordering of subsections that are parametrically consecutive.
Figure 6. The effect of indeterminacy of ordering upon structure.
Figure 7: Factors for the evaluation of nonlinear formal structure
Figure 8. The orchestration of Group A and B in Earle Brown’s Event Synergy II (1967).
Figure 9: Score Excerpts from Earle Brown: Event – Synergy II (1967). Event A1 (Winds), b.) Event
B3 (Strings), c.) Event B2 (Strings) d.) Seating Arrangements for the Ensembles A and B and e.)
Event B4 (Strings) (Score excerpts © 1967 Universal Edition)
Figure 10: A schematic representation a notional realisation of the structural model of Earle
Brown: Event – Synergy II (1967).
Figure 11: Non-retrogradable rhythms from Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time (1941).
Palindromic durational sets establish their own boundaries through symmetry, because of the
finality of the conclusion of the mirrored set of durations. (Score excerpts © 1942 Durand).
Figure 12: Messiaen’s fifth mode of limited transposition comprising an arrangement of
semitones and major thirds, symmetrical around C and F#.
Figure 13: The “Theme of Chords” from Messiaen’s Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus (Messiaen
1947 p. I).
Figure 14: Examples by Bartók, Messiaen, Brown, Eno and “environmental sound” upon the
continuum of formal complexity in relation to integration, contingency, compressibility and
determinacy.
Chapter 3
Figure 15: Nonlinear Temporal states (Adapted from Fitzell 2004 p. 133).
Figure 16: Parametrically disjunctive “Block” substructures in Stravinsky: Symphonies of Wind
Instruments (1920) Bars 1-13 (notated in c). (Score excerpt © 1920 Boosey and Hawkes).
Figure 17. An overview of the Score of Stockhausen’s Klavierstück XI, with the 19 musical
“groups” outlined and numbered and magnification of group 4. The actual score is 53 x 94 cm.
(Score excerpt © 1954 Universal Edition).
Figure 18. a. The modular arrangement of “moments” in Stockhausen’s Momente (1962 –
1964/1969), b. The path taken through the structure in a particular instantiation, the Europe
Version recording of 1972.
Figure 19. Moment KM from Stockhausen’s Momente (Europe Version 1972) from (Stockhausen
1993). The Inserts are outlined with dashed lines. (Score excerpt © 1972 Stockhausen Verlag).
Figure 20: Charles Ives Putnam’s Camp (1912) bars 42-54, showing multilinear superimposition
of metrically- and tempo- divergent layers. The reduction is taken from Cooney 1996 p. 296; the
lettering, enclosures, time signatures and tempi are by the author. (Score excerpt © 1935
Theodore Presser).
Figure 21: Multiple streams in Charles Ives The Unanswered Question (1908), showing distinction
by timbre, tempo, dynamic, rhythm and articulation and illustrating the divergent developmental
trajectories of each stream: Stream 1 increasingly amplified: parameters; Stream 2 a cyclical
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trajectory; and Stream 3 a static trajectory.
Figure 22: Additive melodic processes in Frederik Rzewski’s Le Moutons des Panurge (1969). a.)
Rzewski’s reference sequence b.) The melody derived from additive accretion of pitches and
durations from the sequence. (Score excerpt © 1969 Frederik Rzewski).
Figure 23: A schematic representation of interleaved and permuted narrative contours: a. two
independent permuted structures; b. two interleaved permuted narrative contours retaining their
segment order; c. two freely permuted narrative contours.
Figure 24: The Diminishing, Arch and Block structures of Stockhausen’s Klavierstück IX. (Score
excerpt © 1961 Universal Edition)
Figure 25: The three principal formal structures in Karlheinz Stockhausen: Klavierstück IX (1961)
Figure 26. Excerpts of the six Fundamental Tactics of Iannis Xenakis Duel. The length of each
section is: I - 68 bars, II – 77 bars, III – 42 bars, IV- 71 bars and V – 69 bars. (The “held strings”
and “strings crossing glissandi” tactics are actually labeled II and III respectively in the score)
(Xenakis 1959). (Score excerpts © 1959 Editions Salabert).
Figure 27: Schoenberg Trio Op. 45 bars 35-70, showing parametrically disjunct blocks of musical
material by texture, articulation, melodic contour, tempo and dynamic. (Score Excerpt © 1950
Boelke – Bomart).
Figure 28: Comparison of Berio Sinfonia (1969): Movement III with Mahler Second Symphony (The
Resurrection) (1894): Movement III (Scherzo: In Ruhig Fliessender Bewegung). A: Schematic
representation of the substructures in Mahler Scherzo; B: Indicates the points at which the
Scherzo is obliterated by the introduction of superimposed quotations; C: Deviations from the
temporal outline of the Scherzo (in the form of the insertion or deletion of individual bar units); D:
Labeling of the main sections with upper-case letters; E: Labels the subsections with lower-case
letters; F: The bar numbers for the different sections of Sinfonia; G: The corresponding bar
numbers in the Scherzo. (Adapted from Losada 2008 p. 298).
Figure 29: Style change indications in John Zorn’s Speedfreaks (1991) adapted from the score as
transcribed by John Brackett in Brackett (2010) p. 25.
Figure 30: The First Six Sections of John Zorn’s Snagglepuss (1992). (Score excerpt © 1992 John
Zorn).
Figure 31: The Duration of Substructure in nonlinear works.
Figure 32: The three-dimensions of classification of nonlinear structure.
Figure 33: The works discussed in Chapters One and Two evaluated against the temporal,
narrative and referential continuums.
Figure 34: A chronological overview of the musical works discussed in this chapter categorised
according to the proposed nonlinear formal structures.
Chapter 4
Figure 35: Earle Brown: December 1952 (1954). (score © 1954 AMP/Schirmer).
Figure 36: A fragment of graphical notation from John Cage: Concert for Piano (1958) (Score
Excerpt © 1960 Henmar Press).
Figure 37: The score of Earle Brown’s Calder Piece (1965-6) (Score excerpt © 1966 Edition
Peters).
Figure 38: The arrangement of performers and visual cueing systems in Xenakis’ Duel. (Score
excerpt © 1959 Editions Salabert)
Figure 39: Traditional “Classical” acoustic performance model (left) and the Computer controlled
performance model (right).
Figure 40: Score components (Slides a. through l.) of Mauricio Kagel: Prima Vista (1962-3) (Score
excerpt ©1971 Universal Edition).
Figure 41: Scrolling Score and fixed playhead.
Figure 42: The opening of Bach’s D major Fugue BWV 850 in traditional notation (below),
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proportional traditional notation (centre) and graphically (“piano roll notation”) (above).
Figure 43: Fixed Score with swiping playhead.
Figure 44: The Permutative Score.
Figure 45. Detail from Winkler’s Hybrid II for viola and interactive live electronics (1996/2001),
showing graphs representing (from the top) string position, bow pressure and dynamics Winkler
2010) pp.89-100.
Figure 46: The Transformative Score.
Figure 47: Excerpt from Kim-Boyle’s tunings (2006), showing “real-time blurring and other
distortion techniques” used to transform the score (Kim-Boyle 2006).
Figure 48: The Generative Score -Traditional Notation.
Figure 49: The Generative Score -Separated parameters.
Figure 50: Synchronous “vertical’ permutation (top), A-synchronous “horizontal” permutation
(bottom).
Figure 51: A representation of poly-structure (top) and interleaved poly-structure (bottom).
Chapter 5
Figure 52: The “Rosette of Penderecki's basic system” from (Mirka 2000 p. 4).
Figure 53: A notional three-dimensional representation of textural transitions over a time span.
Figure 54: Metric Modulation at Figure 6 of Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments (Score
Excerpt © 1920 Boosey and Hawkes).
Figure 55: Mapping of orchestration to sectional structure of Symphonies of Wind Instruments
from Somfai 1972 p. 379.
Figure 56: The Block formal structure of Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments compared
to a spectrogram of a performance of the work.
Figure 57: Pierre Schaeffer’s Etude Chemins de Fer (1948). Formal structure and comparison to
Spectrogram, showing Block Form transitions between materials of varied frequency, timbre and
rhythmic content. The seven types of sounds are: A: Guard Whistle, B: Accelerating Train, C:
Carriage Interior, D: Rhythmic Train Rolling, E: Steam Release, F: Sharp Metallic Sound; G: Dull
Wooden Sound.
Figure 58: James Tenney: Collage #1: “Blue Suede” (1961): structural analysis and
spectrographic comparison to the original recording of “Blue Suede Shoes” (1956) by Elvis
Presley.
Figure 59: Rhythmic comparison of Tenney’s Collage #1: “Blue Suede” and Elvis Presley Blue
Suede Shoes showing grid lines corresponding to each four beats of Blue Suede Shoes.
Figure 60: The substructural divisions of Karlheinz Stockhausen: Klavierstück IX compared to a
spectrogram of a recording of the work.
Chapter 6
Figure 61: Formal and Proportional Divisions determined by the nine digit “cypher”: 5 3 2 2 1 4 4
5 1.
Figure 62: Schematic representation of disjunction engendered by divergence in horizontal and
vertical aspects of musical texture in Shifting Planes compared to a spectrogram of a
performance of the work.
Figure 63: The nine beat melodic kernel of offRamp (bar 1) and Exit Points (bars 7-9).
Figure 64: Tempi derived from the first beat of each phase of the melodic Kernel in offRamp and
Exit Points.
Figure 65: Schematic Representation of Tempo disjunction between sections of offRamp and Exit
Points, compared to a spectrogram of a performance of Exit Points.
viii
Figure 66: Reiner Kunze’s Poem Kreuz des Suedens and its English translation.
Figure 67: The cypher structure and titles of the nine movements of Night Fragments.
Figure 68: The “Slide” section emulation of a record-player in Entropology.
Figure 69: An example of Interval Expansion and temporal manipulation in Entropology.
Figure 70: The formal divisions in Entropology, compared to a spectrogram of a performance of
the work.
Figure 71: The performative model employed in Hey Jazz Fans!
Figure 72: Cue notes from the score of Hey Jazz Fans! (excerpt).
Figure 73: Spectrograms of three performances of Hey Jazz Fans! illustrating the range of possible
formal outcomes of the work.
Figure 74: The text from <as viewed from above>.
Figure 75: The performative model employed in <as viewed from above>.
Figure 76: Spectrograms of four performances of <as viewed from above> illustrating the range of
possible formal outcomes of the work.
Figure 77: A representation of the polytemporal generation of events in delicious ironies.
Figure 78: A representation of the ordering of active layers of events generated by delicious
ironies.
Figure 79: The pathway taken by the vocal performer in the Creative Folio recording of Delicious
Ironies (noir).
Figure 80: The deconstructed mobile score for Delicious ironies 3 (KDS).
Figure 81: Three spectrograms of performances of Delicious ironies (noir) demonstrating the
“openness” of the work through their high degree of parametrical variation.
Figure 82: Three spectrograms of performances of three different Delicious ironies works from the
same concert illustrating multiple versioning of the same structure.
Figure 83: The performative model employed in Splice.
Figure 84: Splicer Recording and Playback Modules from Splice.
Figure 85: The cypher structure of Splice, showing parametrical changes in density and register,
contrasted with a performance of the work.
Figure 86: A representation of a notation formal structure created by a performance of Antibody,
showing the progressive degree of permutation of materials and the increasing periods of
improvisation between the notated passages and electronic processing of the acoustic sounds.
Figure 87: A screenshot of the string parts from Antibody (2010), showing measures permutated
in the order mm. 37, 11, 3, 4, 14, 15, 43, 33, 18.
Figure 88: The complete graphical scrolling score for Echo-transform.
Figure 89: The score-player for echo transform.
Figure 90: A spectrogram illustrating the parametrical disjunction occurring between clearly
defined sections in Echo Transform.
Figure 91: An excerpt from the score-player for Improbable Games.
Figure 92: Schematic representation of a possible instantiation of the formal structure of
Improbable Games.
Figure 93: Five spectrograms of performances of Improbable Games indicating significant
variation in terms of formal structure and parametrical diversity.
Figure 94: An excerpt from the screen-score of Reconstruction of a Shifting Path, showing
traditional notation, improvisatory materials and a triggering map of the keyboard for this section
of the work.
ix
Figure 95: The structure of Reconstruction of a Shifting Path showing nested, layers of
substructure proportioned according to the golden section.
Figure 96: The multilinear score of Between the Lines (bars 1-3).
Figure 97: Schematic representation of the possible pathways taken by performers traversing the
score of Parallel Trajectories.
Figure 98: The mobile score layout for the string players in Tectonic.
Figure 99: A schematic representation of the formal structure of Tectonic.
Figure 100: A spectrogram of a performance of Tectonic indicating the presence of multiple
divergent block of texture.
Figure 101: The graphical score for The Talking Board.
Figure 102: A representation of the relationship between the mobile score and the visible score
that appears on the performer’s screen (shown here as the opaque rectangle in the lower righthand corner). The visible portion of the mobile screen is continuously repositioned during the
performance.
Figure 103: A graphical representation of the behaviours of “planchets” in The Talking Board.
Figure 104: InterXection (bar 1-2) showing microphone position indications.
Figure 105: Discrete and continuous control of polytemporal levels of interXection.
Figure 106: Tempo to parameter assignment in the works whorl, particle+wave and zwitschern.
Figure 107: Graphs of the tempo cycles from Whorl, particle+wave and Zwitschern.
Figure 108: Graphical renderings of the three simultaneous click-tracks for Whorl and Zwitschern.
(images taken from soundfiles of the click-tracks).
Figure 109: Excerpts from the scores of Whorl, particle+wave and Zwitschern.
Figure 110: A screen-shot from the real-time score for Transit of Venus.
Figure 111: The development continuum of musical textures employed in Transit of Venus.
Figure 112: Note-form indications from Transit of Venus.
Figure 113: A notional schematic representation of the formal structure of Transit of Venus.
Figure 114: Three spectrograms of Transit of Venus illustrating the significant structural and
parametric diversity in different instantiations.
Figure 115: A schematic representation of the formal structure of delineate.
Figure 116: Diverse forms of polytemporality as a structural determinant in Hunting Pack.
Figure 117: Variations in the pattern of tempo changes between the instruments inHunting Pack.
Figure 118: “Micro-rhythmic” variations in the openning section of Hunting Pack.
Figure 119: The mobile score from Eraflage, showing arrangement of the static looping continuum
material and the 12 musical fragments.
Figure 120: A notional schematic representation of the formal structure of Éraflage.
Figure 121: A notional schematic representation of the formal structure of corridors, stairways,
night and day.
Figure 122: An excerpt of the alto flute and bass clarinet networked screen-score for ghosts of
departed quantities.
Figure 123: The graphical score materials for the bass flute part of ghosts of departed quantities.
Figure 124: A representation of the increasingly short and frequent excisions from the score of
ghosts of departed quantities.
Figure 125: A sonogram of a performance of ghosts of departed quantities. The opening and
closing sections of the work are magnified to demonstrate the change in grain of the work over
time.
x
Figure 126: Categorisation of the creative folio work by timeline and structural categories. The
principal source of organization of their structure is marked in dark grey (fixed score), light grey
(computer interaction) and white (computer control). Connections between works from different
categories are indicated by arrows.
TABLES
Chapter 1
Table 1: Works cited in the dissertation. Examples in bold are discussed in greater detail.
Chapter 2
Table 2: The parametrical variety in Events 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Earle Brown’s Event Synergy II (1967).
Table 3. The Arch Form structure of Béla Bartók’s Az éjszaka zenéje (The Night’s Music) from
Szabadban (Out of Doors 1926) (Score excerpts © 1927 Boosey and Hawkes).
Table 4. The arch form structure of Olivier Messiaen’s Regard de l’Onction Terrible (Contemplation
of the Awesome Anointing) from Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus (Twenty Contemplations of the
Christ Child 1944). (Score excerpts © 1947 Durand).
Chapter 3
Table 5: Terms for nonlinear structures referring to their temporal organisation arranged according
to the continuum of temporal organisation.
Table 6: Classification of Temporal Phenomena in the Music of Charles Ives
Thurmaier 2006 p. 29)
(from
Table 7: The six fundamental tactics and ten simultaneous combinations available to conductors in
Iannis Xenakis Duel (1959) and the Duel "Game Matrix" used to calculate scores (Xenakis 1959 p.
3).
Table 8: Categories of Sonata Deformation
Table 9: Categories of Polystylistic Composition (Adapted from Schnittke 2002 p. 87-90)
Table 10: Categories of integrative and disjunctive collage techniques identified by Catherine
Losada.
Chapter 4
Table 11: A comparison of the structural outcomes generated from Mozart’s Würfenspiel games
Table 12: Examples of Extended Instrumental Techniques.
Table 13: Cage’s Chance Techniques.
Table 14. Paradigms for the presentation of notation to live performers. (The categorizations in this
table are based on similar categories proposed by Aarseth 1997 p.64.)
Table 15. Classification of Score components that be presented in a Screen-Score
Chapter 5
Table 16: Larry Polansky’s analysis of the four Sections in James Tenney: Collage #1: “Blue Suede”
(Polansky 2003)
Chapter 6
Table 17: Nonlinear Structural Techniques in early works by the author.
Table 18: Performative Techniques in early works by the author.
Table 19: Categorisation of the creative folio by instrumentation.
xi
Table 20: Categorisation of the Creative Folio by Performative Model.
Table 21: Chronological categorisation of the Creative Folio by sequential and multilinear
nonlinearity, with indications additional narrative and referential qualities.
Table 22: Categorisation of Block Form works indicating principal methods of parametrical
divergence.
Table 23: Categorisation of Creative folio Collage works by materials, score, transformation and
emergent formal structure.
Table 24: Categorisation of Creative folio Permutational Structure works by materials, score,
transformation and emergent formal structure.
Table 25: Multilinear Narrative sequences in Mike Figgis’ Time Code.
Table 26: Categorisation of the Creative Folio by Polytemporal works indicating forms of
Polytemporality, score type, transformation type and Formal Structure.
Table 27: Categorisation of the Creative Folio Polystructural works indicating forms of Polystructure,
score type, transformation type and Formal Structure.
Table 24: Multilinear Narrative sequences in Mike Figgis’ Time Code
Table 25: Categorisation of the Creative Folio by Polytemporal works indicating forms of
Polytemporality, score type, transformation type and Formal Structure.
Table 26: Forms of polystructure
Creative Folio
Compact Discs
Lindsay Vickery PhD Creative Folio CD1: Block-Form works
1
shifting planes
(2005)
13:33
Ensemble Scintilla
Divina
Scintilla Divina Festival 2005
2
offRamp (2002)
08:23
HEDKIKR
from the album HEDKIKR: hies (2002)
3
exit points (2003)
06:31
Grit
Lunchtime Concert,
Western Australian Academy of Performing
Arts
4
still-life with
visitations (2002)
10:49
The Collective
Scale Variable Concert,Lawrence Wilson
Gallery
5
kreuz des
suedens I-V
(2003)
12:46
Ensemble Scintilla
Divina
6
Hunting Pack
(2011)
08:24
Decibel
Pretty Things, Perth Institute for
Contemporary Arts
7
Night Fragments
(2011)
16:57
Caitlin Cassidy and
Decibel
Decibel: Voice from a Dark Place, Perth
Institute for Contemporary Arts
HEDKIKR: Darren Moore - Drums and Lindsay Vickery - Tenor Saxophone
Decibel: Caitlin Cassidy - Mezzo-Soprano (7), Cat Hope - Flute/Alto Flute (7), Lindsay Vickery Clarinet/Bass Clarinet (7), Tristen Parr - Cello (6, 7), Stuart James - Keyboard (5,7) and Joshua
Hogan - Cimbalom
xii
Lindsay Vickery PhD Creative Folio CD2: Collage Works
1
entropology (2002)
9:00
Magnetic Pig
Totally Huge New Music Festival 05 (2002)
2
Hey Jazz Fans! (2003)
5:57
Lindsay Vickery
from the album HEDKIKR: hies
3
<as viewed from
above> (2001)
5:22
Lindsay Vickery
Lunchtime Concert: Western Australian Academy
of Performing Arts
4
delicious ironies 1
(noir) (2002)
6:01
Melissa
Madden Gray
and HEDKIKR
Studio Recording
5
delicious ironies 2
(mcj) (2005)
6:20
Matthew Jones
Studio Recording
6
delicious ironies 3 (dr
woo) (2010)
8:28
Lindsay Vickery
transformations concert 15 May 2010
7
splice 2002)
6:21
Lindsay Vickery
Studio Recording
8
echo-transform 1
(2010)
8:27
Lindsay Vickery
transformations concert 15 May 2010
9
Improbable Games
(2010)
Decibel
Studio Recording
11:22
reconstruction of a
The Mechanical Piano: Western Australian
9:09 Mark Gasser
shifting path (2011)
Academy of Performing Arts
Magnetic Pig: Jessica Ipkendanz - Violin, Lindsay Vickery - Alto Saxophone, Robyn Sarti - Vibraphone, Philip
Waldron - Double Bass and Emily Green-Armytage - Piano
10
HEDKIKR: Melissa Madden Gray - Voice, Darren Moore - Drums and Lindsay Vickery - Tenor Saxophone
Decibel: Cat Hope - Alto Flute, Lindsay Vickery - Bass Clarinet, Tristen Parr - Cello
Lindsay Vickery PhD Creative Folio CD3: Multilinear,
Polystructural and Subtractive Structure
1
between the lines
(2002)
6:51
HEDKIKR
from the album HEDKIKR: hies
(2002)
2
parallel trajectories
(2003)
9:19
Ensemble
Scintilla Divina
3
Tectonic (2008)
17:04
Cloud Chamber
Orchestra
Tectonic: A Program of Works by
Lindsay Vickery Art Gallery of
Western Australia
4
éraflage (2007)
8:18
Ensemble
Scintilla Divina
5
corridors, stairways,
night and day (2009)
9:45
Lindsay Vickery
Sound Spectrum : LIVE new
electronic music
6
antibody (2009)
14:19
Decibel
from the album Decibel:
Disintegration| Mutation
7
ghosts of departed
quantities (2010)
10:12
Decibel
from the album Decibel: STASIS
ECSTATIC
HEDKIKR: Darren Moore - Drums and Lindsay Vickery - Tenor Saxophone
Decibel: Cat Hope - Alto Flute (6), Bass Flute (7), Lindsay Vickery - Clarinet (6),Bass Clarinet
(7), Aaron Wyatt - Viola, Tristen Parr - Cello and Stuart James - Keyboard (6), Piano (7)
xiii
Lindsay Vickery PhD Creative Folio CD4: Polytemporal Structures
1
interXection (2002)
8:23
HEDKIKR
Studio Recording
2
whorl (2003)
6:28
Grit
Lunchtime Concert: Western Australian
3
Particle + Wave
(2004)
6:42
resonator
Studio Recording
4
zwitschern (2005)
6:46
Ensemble
Scintilla
Divina
5
transit of venus
(2009)
9:25
Decibel
from the album Decibel: Disintegration|
Mutation
6
delineate 1 (2010)
5:52
Callum
G'Froerer
International Trumpet Seminar, Chosen
Vale, New Hampshire
7
The Talking Board
(2011)
7:44
Decibel
Camera Obscura, Perth Institute for
Contemporay Arts
8
partikulator (2011)
7:21
Lindsay
Vickery
Shock of the New: The Velvet Lounge,
Perth
9
Questions written on
Sheets of Glass
(2011)
3:40
Lindsay
Vickery
The Mechanical Piano, Western Australian
HEDKIKR: Darren Moore - Drums and Lindsay Vickery - Microphone
Decibel: Cat Hope - Double Bass (5), Bass Flute (7), Lindsay Vickery - Bass Clarinet (7), Aaron
Wyatt - Viola (5,7), Tristen Parr - Cello (5,7) and Malcom Riddoch (7) Processing and
Spatialisation
DVD
1. PhD Recordings
VickeryAntibody20091118.m4a
WA Academy of
Performing Arts
decibel
VickeryAntibodyDistintegrationMutation2011.m4a
Studio
decibel
VickeryAsViewedfromabove20000613.m4a
Korzo Theatre Den
Haag,
NETHERLANDS
Lindsay Vickery
VickeryAsViewedfromAbove20000809.m4a
University of Western
Australia, Perth
Lindsay Vickery
VickeryAsViewedfromAbove2000LTC.m4a
WA Academy of
Performing Arts,
Perth
Lindsay Vickery
Vickeryasviewedfromabove20040923.m4a
Lasalle College of
the Arts, SINGAPORE
Lindsay Vickery
VickeryBetweentheLines20021208.m4a
Artswatch, Louisville
Kentucky USA
HEDKIKR
Cantebury House,
Ann Arbor, Michigan
USA
HEDKIKR
xiv
Spectrum Gallery,
Perth
HEDKIKR
VickeryBetweentheLinesStudio2003.m4a
Studio
HEDKIKR
VickeryBetweentheLinesTake120030402.m4a
Studio
HEDKIKR
VickeryBetweentheLinesTake220030402.m4a
Studio
HEDKIKR
Vickerycorridorsstairwaysnightandday
20090815.m4a
SPECTRUM PROJECT
SPACE, ECU
Lindsay Vickery
Vickerycorridorsstairwaysnightandday
20090908.m4a
WA Academy of
Performing Arts
Lindsay Vickery
Vickerycorridorsstairwaysnightandday20090701.m
4a
The Octagon,
University of WA
Lindsay Vickery
VickerydeliciousIronies(3)20010305.m4a
WA Academy of
Performing Arts,
Perth
Lindsay Vickery
Vickerydeliciousironies(anak2)20100515.m4a
WA Academy of
Performing Arts
Lindsay Vickery
Vickerydeliciousironies(cyphers)desk20080621.m4
a
Art Gallery of
Western Australia
Vickerydeliciousironies(December1952Redux)2009
0326.m4a
WA Academy of
Performing Arts
Lindsay Vickery
Vickerydeliciousironies(drwoo)20100515.m4a
WA Academy of
Performing Arts
Lindsay Vickery
Vickerydeliciousironies(kds)20071107.m4a
Lasalle College of
the Arts, SINGAPORE
Fusion Chamber
orchestra
Vickerydeliciousironies(kds)desk20080621.m4a
Art Gallery of
Western Australia
Dan Russell and
Tristen Parr
Vickerydeliciousironies(mcj)Studio2005.mp3
Studio
Matthew Cellan Jones
Vickerydeliciousironies(noir)20020411.m4a
Victorian College of
The Arts, Melbourne
GRIT
WHATISMUSIC?
Festival, The Ninth
Ward, Melbourne
Art Gallery of
Western Australia
Univ University of
Western Australia,
Perth ersity of WA
Vickerydeliciousironies(noir)Studio2002.m4a
Studio
Vickerydeliciousironies(noir)StudioDM2002
Studio
Vickerydeliciousironies(noir)StudioMMGLV2002.m4
a
Studio
Vickerydeliciousironies(ragingbelle)1.m4a
Studio
Gemma Horbury
Studio
Gemma Horbury
Studio
Gemma Horbury
xv
HEDKIKR
Studio
Gemma Horbury
Vickerydeliciousironies(ragingbelle)Studio2002.m4a
Studio
Gemma Horbury
Vickerydeliciousironies(shmil)20100515.m4a
WA Academy of
Performing Arts
Lindsay Vickery
Vickerydeliciousironies(sichuan)20020411.m4a
Art Gallery of
Western Australia
Magnetic Pig
Vickerydeliciousironies(sichuan)Studio2002.m4a
Studio
Clocked Out
Vickerydeliciousironies(vox)Studio2002.m4a
Studio
Melissa Madden Gray
Vickerydelineate120100515.m4a
Kurongkurl Katitjin
Gallery, ECU
Lindsay Vickery
Vickerydelineate120100617.m4a
Chosen Vale, Enfield,
New Hampshire, USA
Callum G'Froerer
Vickeryechotransform120100515.m4a
Kurongkurl Katitjin
Gallery, ECU
Lindsay Vickery
Vickeryechotransform120100515.m4a
WA Academy of
Performing Arts
Lindsay Vickery
VickeryEntropology20020411.m4a
Art Gallery of
Western Australia
Magnetic Pig
Vickeryeraflage120070818.m4a
Scintilla Divina
Festival Jena,
Germany
Ensemble Scintilla
Divina
Art Gallery of
Western Australia
Cloud Chamber
Orchestra
Scintilla Divina
Festival Jena,
Germany
Ensemble Scintilla
Divina
VickeryExitPoints20040419.m4a
WA Academy of
Performing Arts
GRIT
The Hellenic Centre,
Perth
GRIT
Callaway Auditorium,
University of WA
Guapo
Vickeryghostsofdepartedquantities20100624.m4a
Australian National
University, Canberra
decibel
Vickeryghostsofdepartedquantities20120119.aif
WABE, Berlin
decibel
Vickeryghostsofdepartedquantities20120127.aif
Biberach, Germany
decibel
VickeryghostsofdepartedquantitiesStudio2012.m4a
Studio
decibel
VickeryHeyJazzFans20020204.m4a
Studio
Lindsay Vickery
Perth
Lindsay Vickery
WA Academy of
Performing Arts
Lindsay Vickery
Lasalle College of
the Arts, SINGAPORE
Lindsay Vickery
xvi
VickeryHopeTalkingBoard20110921.m4a
Decibel - Camera
Obscura PICA
decibel
VickeryHopeTheTalikingBoard20120127.aif
WABE, Berlin
decibel
VickeryHopeTheTalkingBoard20120129.aif
Biberach, Germany
decibel
VickeryHuntingPack20110620.aif
Decibel - Pretty
Things PICA
decibel
VIckeryImprobableGames20101201.wav
Createworld
decibel
VIckeryImprobableGames20101203.mp3
MSA Conference
Dunedin
decibel
VickeryImprobableGames20110128.m4a
Albany
Entertainment
Centre
decibel
Karri View Winery
Denmark
decibel
Painted Tree Gallery
decibel
Nannup Town Hall
decibel
Peking Spring: Street
Theatre ANU
Canberra
decibel
Sydney
Conservatorium
decibel
ABC Studios, Perth
decibel
VickeryInterXection20020804.m4a
Perth Institute of
Contemporary Arts
HEDKIKR
WA Academy of
Performing Arts,
Perth
HEDKIKR
Spectrum Gallery,
Perth
HEDKIKR
VickeryInterXectionA20031203.m4a
Queensland
University of
Technology
HEDKIKR
VickeryInterXectionB20031203.m4a
Queensland
University of
Technology
HEDKIKR
VickeryInterXectionStudio2002.m4a
Studio
HEDKIKR
VickeryKreuzdesSuedens20020913.aif
Scintilla Divina
Festival Jena,
Germany
Ensemble Scintilla
Divina
VickeryKreuzdesSuedens20040424.m4a
WA Academy of
Performing Arts
GRIT
VickeryNightFragments20110328.m4a
Perth Institute of
Contemporary Arts
decibel
VickeryoffRamp20021208.mp3
MadLab Columbus
Ohio, USA
HEDKIKR
VickeryoffRamp20021211.m4a
Cantebury House,
Ann Arbor, Michiga,n
HEDKIKR
xvii
USA
The Rotunda,
Philidelphia
HEDKIKR
Spectrum Gallery,
Perth
HEDKIKR
Queensland
University of
Technology
HEDKIKR
VickeryoffRampStudio2003.m4a
Studio
HEDKIKR
VickeryParallelTrajectories20020913.m4a
Scintilla Divina
Festival Jena,
Germany
Ensemble Scintilla
Divina
Perth
GRIT
WA Academy of
Performing Arts,
Perth
GRIT
Art Gallery of
Western Australia
Cloud Chamber
Orchestra
WA Academy of
Performing Arts,
Perth
Resonator
Vickeryparticleandwave20051013.m4a
University of WA
Guapo
VickeryparticleandwaveStudio2004.m4a
Lasalle College of
the Arts, SINGAPORE
Fusion Chamber
Orchestra
VickerypartikulatorStudio2012.aif
Sound Spectrum,
The Velvet Lounge
Perth
Lindsay Vickery
VickeryQuestionswrittenonSheetsofGlass20111027
.aif
The Mechanical
Piano WAAPA
Auditorium, Perth
Lindsay Vickery
Vickeryreconstructionofashiftingpath20110916.m4
a
Piano Tapestry THNM Festival STC
Perth
Mark Gasser
Vickeryreconstructionofashiftingpath20111027.aif
The Mechanical
Piano WAAPA
Auditorium
Mark Gasser
VickeryShiftingPlanes20050911.m4a
Scintilla Divina
Festival Jena,
Germany
Ensemble Scintilla
Divina
VickerySplice(BTL)Studio2003.m4a
Studio
HEDKIKR
VickerySplice(MrLucky)20040921.aif
Lasalle College of
the Arts, SINGAPORE
Danielle Micich
VickerySplice(offRamp)Studio2003.m4a
Studio
HEDKIKR
VickerySplice(Scratch)20040419.m4a
Club Zho, Perth
Lindsay Vickery
xviii
VickerySplice(Scratch)20040424.m4a
WA Academy of
Performing Arts,
Perth
Lindsay Vickery
VickerySplice20020204.m4a
University of Western
Australia, Perth
Lindsay Vickery
WA Academy of
Performing Arts,
Perth
Lindsay Vickery
Perth
Lindsay Vickery
Lasalle College of
the Arts, SINGAPORE
Lindsay Vickery
VickerySpliceStudio2003.m4a
Studio
Lindsay Vickery
VickeryStilllifewithVisitations20020914.aif
Lawrence Wilson
Gallery, Perth
The Collective
VickeryTectonic(LSCamera1)20071107.m4a
Lasalle College of
the Arts, SINGAPORE
Fusion Chamber
Orchestra
VickeryTectonic(LSCamera2)20071107.m4a
Lasalle College of
the Arts, SINGAPORE
Fusion Chamber
Orchestra
VickeryTectonic20080621.m4a
Art Gallery of
Western Australia
Cloud Chamber
Orchestra
Vickerytransitofvenus20090602.m4a
Spectrum Gallery,
Perth
Trumpet Trio
University of WA
resonator
WA Academy of
Performing Arts,
Perth
decibel
Vickerytransitofvenus20120124.wav
Logos, Gent
decibel
VickerytransitofvenusDistintegrationMutation2011.
m4a
studio
decibel
VickerytransitofvenusStudio2011.wav
studio
decibel
VickeryWhorl20040424.aif
WA Academy of
Performing Arts,
Perth
GRIT
Vickerywhorl20071107.m4a
Art Gallery of
Western Australia
Cloud Chamber
Orchestra
Vickeryzwitschern20050911.aif
Scintilla Divina
Festival Jena,
Germany
Ensemble Scintilla
Divina
VickeryzwitschernLS.m4a
Lasalle College of
the Arts, SINGAPORE
Fusion Chamber
Orchestra
2. PhD Scores (.pdf format)
Between the Lines (2002). Tenor Sax And Drums
(betweenthelinesScPhD.pdf)
Entropology (2002). Violin, Alto Saxophone, Double Bass, Vibraphone and piano
(entropologySC.pdf)
xix
éraflage (2007). Flute, Harp, String Quartet, Double Bass And Percussion
(eraflageScPhDSc.pdf)
ExitPoints (2003). Soprano Saxophone, Violin, Viola, Double Bass, Piano
(ExitPointsSc.pdf)
Hey Jazz Fans! (2003). Alto Saxophone and Interactive Electronics
(HeyJazzScPhD.pdf)
interXection (2002). Drums, Microphone and Ring Modulator
(interXectionsc.pdf)
Kreuz des Suedens (2003). Violin And Cello
(kreuzdessc.pdf)
offRamp (2002). Tenor Sax And Drums
(offRampSc.pdf)
Parallel Trajectories (2003). Chamber Orchestra
(parallelScPhDSc.pdf)
particle+wave (2004). Soprano Saxophone, 2 Sundanese Gamelan Instruments (or Three
Instruments) and Independently Controlled Click-Tracks
(particle+waveScPhDSc.pdf)
Shifting Planes (2005). Clarinet, Harp, Theorbo And String Quartet
(shiftingplanesJenaScPhd.pdf)
Still-life with Visitations (2002). Chamber Orchestra
(stilllifeScPhd.pdf)
Tectonic (2008). Chamber Orchestra and Electronics
(TectonicScPhDSc.pdf)
whorl (2004). Saxophone, Celeste, Percussion (or Three Instruments) and Independently Controlled
Click-Tracks
(whorlScPhDSc.pdf)
zwitschern (2005). Clarinet, Violin And Theorbo and Independently Controlled Click-Tracks
(zwitschernScPhDSc.pdf)
3. PhD Video (.mov format)
Screen-Score Screen Captures
Transit of Venus (2009) Explanation of the Mobile Score
(scoreexplanationTransitofVenus.mov)
Antibody (2010) Explanation of the Mobile Score
(scoreexplanationAntibody.mov)
ghosts of departed quantities (2010) Explanation of the Mobile Score
(scoreexplanationghostsofdeparted.mov)
Improbable Games (2010) Explanation of the Mobile Score
(scoreexplanationImprobableGames.mov)
Night Fragments (2011) Screen capture of Flute Mobile Score
(NightFragments_Fl.mov)
The Talking Board (2011) Explanation of the Mobile Score
xx
(scoreexplanationTheTalkingBoard.mov)
4. PhD Refereed Papers (.pdf format)
Vickery, L. and Hope, C. (2011). Screen Scores: New Media Music Manuscripts,
Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference 2011, Huddersfield
(Screen Scores: New Media Music Manuscripts.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2011). The possibilities of novel formal structures through computer controlled
live performance, Proceedings of the Australasian Computer Music Conference, The
School of Music University of Auckland New Zealand
(2011VicPossibilitiesofNovel.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2011). Screening the Score, Audible Designs, PICA PRESS
(2011VicScreeningtheScore.pdf)
Vickery, L. and Hope, C. (2010). The Aesthetics of the Screen-Score, Proceedings of
CreateWorld 2010, Griffith University, Queensland
(2010HopeVicAestheticsScreenScore.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2010). Mobile Scores and Click-Tracks: Teaching Old Dogs, Proceedings of the
Australasian Computer Music Conference, Australian National University, Canberra
(2010VicMobileScores.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2009). The Evaluation of Nonlinear Musical Structures, Proceedings of the
Totally Huge New Music Festival Conference
(2009VicEvaluationofNL.pdf)
Hope, C. & Vickery, L. (2008). Freedom and structure take on instruments and hardware: a
conversation with Lindsay Vickery, Resonate: online journal of the Australian Music
Centre
(2008HopeVicFreedomandStructure.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2005). Western Electric: a survey of recent Western Australian Electronic Music,
SOUND SCRIPTS: Proceedings of the Inaugural Totally Huge New Music Festival
Conference
(2005VicWesternElectric.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2004). The Problem of Objectivity and the Artistic Conception of the Participant
Observer, Proceedings of the Creative Connections Symposium, WAAPA, Edith Cowan
University Perth
(2004VicProblemofObjectivity.pdf)
Burtt, J., Lavers, K., and Vickery, L. (2004). Representations of recombinant memory in
interactive performance works, Proceedings of Qi + Complexity Consciousness reframed
Conference, Beijing China
(2004VicRecombinant.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2004). Nine aspects of appropriation, Proceedings of the Cover or Remix
Symposium, WAAPA, Edith Cowan University Perth.
(2004Vic9Aspects.pdf)
xxi
Vickery, L. (2004). Interactive control of higher order musical structures, Proceedings of the
Australasian Computer Music Conference, Victoria University, Wellington New Zealand.
(2004VicHigherorder.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2003). Non-linear structures for real-time interactive musical works,
Proceedings of the Australasian Computer Music Conference, WAAPA, Edith Cowan
University Perth.
(2003VicNonlinStruct.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2002). The RoboSax Project (1991-2001): forms of performer/machine
interaction in works by Jonathan Mustard and Lindsay Vickery, Proceedings of the
Australian Computer Music Conference, RMIT Melbourne.
(2002VicRobosax.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2002). The Yamaha MIBURI MIDI jump suit as a controller for STEIM’s
Interactive Video software Image/ine, Proceedings of the Australian Computer Music
Conference, RMIT Melbourne.
(2002VicMiburi.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2001). The Western Edge: some recent electronic music from Western Australia,
Organised Sound issue 6/1 Music Technology in Australasia/South East Asia (Ed. Leigh
Landy and Tony Myatt), Cambridge University Press.
(2001VicTheWesternEdge.pdf)
5. PhD Presentations (Pdf format)
Vickery, L. and Hope, C. (2011). Screen Scores: New Media Music Manuscripts,
Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference 2011, Huddersfield
(2011VicthescreenedscoreICMC11.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2011). The possibilities of novel formal structures through computer controlled
live performance, Proceedings of the Australasian Computer Music Conference, The
School of Music University of Auckland New Zealand
(2011VicPossibilitiesofnovelACMC11.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2011). Electronic Audio Surrealism, Edith Cowan University, Music Research
Seminar 13 October 2011
(2011VicElectronicAudio-SurrealismECUSS.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2011). Immanence and the real-time aesthetic in music, Totally Huge New
Music Festival Conference, 16 September 2011
(2011IVicmmanenceandtheRTTHNMF11.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2011). Increasing the mobility of Stockhausen’s Mobile Scores, Musicological
Society of Australia, University of Otago, Dunedin
(2010VicStockhausenMSA10.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2011). some nonlinear musical models, Edith Cowan University, Music
Research Seminar 15 April 2010
(2010VicSomeNLmusicalmodelsECUSS.pdf)
xxii
Vickery, L. (2010). Mobile Scores and Click-Tracks: Teaching Old Dogs, Proceedings of the
Australasian Computer Music Conference, Australian National University, Canberra
(2010VicMobileScoresACMC10.pdf)
Vickery, L. and Hope, C. (2010). The Aesthetics of the Screen-Score, Proceedings of
CreateWorld 2010, Griffith University, Queensland
(2010HopeVicAestheticsScreenScoreCW10.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2010). composer, score, performer, computer, Edith Cowan University, Music
Research Seminar 29 July 2010
(2010composerscoreperformercomputerECUSS.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2010). Exploring new and emerging models for interactive non-linear
performative works, SymbioticA Seminar Series,June 20 2008
(2008VicExploringNewSymbiotica.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2007). Sampling Time, Sonic Image: Proceedings of the Totally Huge New Music
Festival Conference 2007
(2007VicSampTimeTHNMF07.pdf)
Burtt, J., Lavers, K., and Vickery, L. (2004). Representations of recombinant memory in
interactive performance works, Proceedings of Qi + Complexity Consciousness reframed
Conference, Beijing China
(2004VicRecombinantCR04.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2004). New Structural Models for Solo Interactive Multimedia Works,
Presentation as part of the Audio Art Festival 2004, Cracow Academy of Music
(2004VicNewStructKAM.pdf)
Vickery, L. (2004). Interactive control of higher order musical structures, Proceedings of the
Australasian Computer Music Conference, Victoria University, Wellington New Zealand.
(2004VicHigherorderACMC04.pdf)
xxiii
Statement of original authorship
The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet
requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the
best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously
published or written by another person except where due reference is made.
Signature
Date 29 DEC 2011
Acknowledgments
Grateful thanks to:
My supervisor Andrew Brown who has patiently steered this project over a number
of years.
My wife and family for their support.
My colleagues in various musical projects - Cathie Travers (Magnetic Pig), Amy
Knoles (Squint), Darren Moore (HEDKIKR) and Cat Hope (Decibel) – who have
helped bring many of these works to public performance.
xxiv
1.
Introduction
The term nonlinear, literally “not in a straight line”, has come to be applied to a
broad range of musical structures that are characterised by incongruities caused
through disruption in their apparent linear continuity.1 In the most prosaic terms, it
might be said that music is always linear, it “never exists as a whole at any given
moment, but rather unfolds in a linear manner over time” (Hanoch-Roe 2003 p.
146). However, the experience of music, its apparent temporal flow, together with
the atemporal analytical consideration of the relationships between its constituent
parts, often proves significantly more complex. The notion of a nonlinear model in
music, reflects the circumstance that disruptions, such as episodes of interruption,
disjunction, fragmentation, or dislocation, may give rise to structures that may
appear impossible to frame within a consistent or stable, linear form.
In the literature, the inability of nonlinear models of structure to “privilege any order
of reading or interpretation” (!i"ek 2000 pp. 37) is ascribed to a range of factors.
Kramer minimally characterises nonlinearity in music as the result of the generation
of each event independent of all others (1981 p. 554), suggesting that both the
degree of disjunction and provenance of musical materials may play a role in the
emergence of a nonlinear event. However, structure emerges, in all music, not as a
consequence of an individual event, but “through the division of the musical
timespan into sections” and “the individuality of these sections is brought about
through a balance between change and continuity” (Kuhl and Jensen 2007 p. 266).
In this sense, disjunction is necessary for the emergence of structure in both linear
and nonlinear works. Therefore, the particular role played by disjunctive ruptures
within the context of a work, is key to any definition of nonlinear structure.
Fitzell states that in nonlinear works the “directionality of events defies meaningful
expectation” (2004 p. 6). This suggests that the interrelatedness or independence
of events, both in relation to each other and in relation to the continuity of the work
as a whole, contribute to a sense of nonlinearity: that in nonlinear structures,
disjunctions not only function to delineate substructures, as they do in linear works,
but also to disturb the temporal flow of the work through their lack of contingency.
Perhaps the most comprehensive examination of nonlinearity in music was made by Jonathan
Kramer (see Kramer 1973, 1978, 1981, 1988, 1995 and 1996).
1
1
Berio, on the other hand, identifies the absence of expectation as a key quality.
While still providing a definition based on the absence of contingency between
substructures, he describes the nonlinear work as “an agglomeration of events,
without any prearranged center; events which nonetheless find, locally and
sometimes surprisingly, their connections, their necessities, and, occasionally, their
beauty” (2006 pp. 97-98). Berio’s definition suggests that the number of
independent substructures present in a work contributes to a sense of nonlinearity,
that the “agglomeration of events” resists reduction or compression into the kind of
greatly simplified schematisation found in linear forms.
Thomas Delio proposes a more comparative definition, implying that nonlinearity
emerges from the relationship between a particular instantiation of a work and its
potential other manifestations. He states that a “structure is open if it presents no
single fixed view of reality, but instead reinforces those variable conditions under
which each unique consciousness becomes manifest” (1981 p. 359). Similarly,
Galia Hanoch-Roe foregrounds the conceptual and atemporal implications of
nonlinearity stating that such works are brought into being through listening “just as
in a picture or an architectural space. The succession of events is a mere exposition
of something that in its nature is simultaneous” (2003 pp. 148-9). Both of these
definitions point to the indeterminacy or variability of the ordering of substructures
as a key indicator of nonlinear structure.
These definitions of musical nonlinearity raise a number of questions in regard to
the formation of a robust understanding of what constitutes nonlinear structure in a
musical work. If nonlinearity can be identified at a minimal level in an “independent
musical event” as proposed by Kramer:
•
what range of circumstances might lead to the emergence of such an
event?;
•
is it possible to define the degree of disjunction that results?; and
•
does the degree of disjunction, by itself, play a role in the emergence of a
sense of nonlinearity?
Since disjunction is a key indicator of all forms of music structure, it would appear
that the determination of nonlinearity in a structure is a matter of degree, therefore
2
•
what boundaries define nonlinear works upon a continuum between linear
forms and the complete absence of form2?
These questions will be principally addressed in chapter two of the dissertation
through the investigation of four factors as key to the determination of nonlinearity
in a musical work:
•
integration - the degree to which of musical substructures are discrete;
•
contingency - the degree to which substructures in a work imply temporal
continuity;
•
compressibility – the degree to which it is possible to simplify the structure
though schematization; and
•
determinacy - the degree to which the structure is repeatable.
Works by Mozart, John Cage and Lejaren Hiller, Earle Brown, Béla Bartók, Olivier
Messiaen and Brian Eno are discussed in relation the establishment of the
boundaries demarcating both linear and nonlinear structures and nonlinear
structures and the absence of form.
Although nonlinear structure has been seriously discussed since the 1950s, no
comprehensive taxonomy or categorisation of such works has ever been adopted. A
variety of terms, often denoting the same type of structure and often not mutually
exclusive, are used in the literature, these include: Block Form3, Montage4,
Mosaic5, Mobile6, Polyvalent7, Moment Form8, The Open Work9, Multilinearity10,
Examples of formless sound might include, for example, naturally occurring environmental sounds.
Henry 1919, Strickland 1991 pp. 124-140, Watkins 1994 p. 255, Taruskin 1996 p. 1452, Cross
1998 p. 21, Beard 2001, Koozin 2002 p. 32, Fitzell 2004 pp. 43-44, Adlington 2006 p. 121,
Brackett 2010 p. 59.
4 Andriessen and Schonberger 2006 p. 161.
5 Messiaen 1966, Healey 2008 p. 183, Keym 2008 p. 190.
6 Selz 1966 p. 72, Morgan 1975 p. 9.
7 Coenen 1994 p. 218.
8 Wörner 1973 p. 46, Morgan 1975 p. 8, Kramer 1978 p. 18, Pasler 1982 p. 68, Maconie 1990 p.
63, Cross 1998 pp. 60-63, Albaugh 2004 p. 3.
9 Eco 1989 p. 19.
10 Deleuze and Guattari 1987 p. 296, Landow 1992 pp. 66-67, Aarseth 1997 p. 43, Capper and
Wright 2002 p. 575, Tofts 2003, Hawkes, Law and Murphy 2000 p. 16, Bolter 2001 p. 128, Reiser
2002 p.152, Vandendorpe 2009 p. 147 and Hesse-Biber 2010 p. 593.
2
3
3
Spatial
Music11,
Multilayered
Form12, Superposition13,
Structure15, Developmental Nonlinearity16
and Quotation17.
Palimpsest14, Game
The
range
of
terminology reflects variations in perspective, ideology and sometimes technique,
between theorists, as well as shifts in critical thought over time. Chapter three
seeks to classify the possible categories of nonlinear structure and to place the
varied terminology within a consistent framework. To this end, interlinked
continuums of classification are proposed, accommodating the existing terminology
for the evaluation of nonlinear works within three principal perspectives:
•
the Temporal Continuum – categorizing works according to the temporal
disposition of their constituent structures, upon a continuum bounded by
sequential and multilinear structure;
•
the Narrative Continuum – categorizing works according to their use of
disjunctions in processual, algorithmic and developmental narrative as a
means for emphasising disjunction;
•
the Referential Continuum– categorizing works according to their use of
quotation, adaptation and stylistic Allusion as a means for emphasising
disjunction.
Works by Ives, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Messiaen, Stockhausen, Boulez, Xenakis,
Earle Brown, Berio and John Zorn are explored as exemplars of these categories
and classified according to this model.
Over the last century, the term nonlinear has been applied to the structure of a
broad range of musical works. Arguably the emergence of nonlinearity as a
structural technique was a logical consequence of the increasing complexity of
formal experimentation during the Modernist era. The frequent application of terms
that imply disruption of linearity such as interruption, reordering, disjunction,
11 Morgan 1976 and 1980, Kramer 1996 p. 76, Salzman 2001 p. 159, LaBelle 2006 p. 192,
Iverson 2011.
12 Morgan 1976 p. 153.
13 Healey 2008 p. 178.
14 Derrida (1974), Kristeva (1980), Sarup 1993 p. 33 Genette (1997).
15 Sward 1981 p. 244, Butor and Pousseur 1971, Xenakis 1992 p. 123, Havryliv 2005 p. 24, p.
107, Heile 2006 p. 47, Anderson 2007.
16 Pasler 1982, Kramer 1988 pp. 48-49.
17 Burkholder 2001, Schnittke 2002 p. 87-90.
4
fragmentation, juxtaposition, permutation, and stratification in discussion of work
by composers in the early years of the twentieth century such as Mahler, Ives
Debussy and Stravinsky are indicators of the increasing prevalence of a nonlinear
aesthetic.18
Composers work within the context of the ideologies and frameworks that bind
societies. The last hundred years saw challenges to existing linear notions of
stability, and the grand narrative of progress. This period of rapid change and
evolution
of
cultural,
ideological,
scientific,
technological
and
aesthetic
understandings greatly opened the field of nonlinear possibilities available to the
composer.
Chapter four provides an overview of the development of compositional techniques
employed by composers in the creation of nonlinear works. A number of the critical
cultural, ideological, scientific and technological shifts are considered. The
discussion encompasses the work of a diverse range of composer including: Ives,
Busoni,
Russolo,
Schoenberg,
Webern,
Cowell,
Varésè,
Messiaen,
Cage,
Stockhausen, Ligeti and Xenakis, Tenney, Rosenboom, Grisey, Murail, Rissett,
Lachenmann, Berio, Aaron Cassidy, Schaeffer, Denis Smalley, John Oswald, Richard
David James and Yasunao Tone. It charts the emergence of “mobility” in the
musical score and indeterminacy of notation in works by Cage, Earle Brown,
Feldman, Boulez, Cornelius Cardew and Haubenstock-Ramati. Technological
solutions such as the “screen-score”, computer interactivity computer coordination
of live performers are discussed, in relation to the works of Kagel, Emmanuel
Ghent, Gerhard Winkler, Jason Freeman, David Kim-Boyle, Marek Cho!oniewski,
George Lewis, Lawrence Casserley and Evan Parker, William Hsu and John Butler.
The implications of these developments for the investigation of new models of
nonlinear structure are also considered.
Chapter five explores the possibility of the spectrogram as a tool for the analysis of
nonlinear Structure. Structure is principally identifiable through the presence of
Examples include: “Extended” Sonata Forms (See Newlin (1947), Rosen (1988), Hepokoski
(1993), (2001) and (2002), Darcy (1997) and Schmidt-Beste (2011)); Ives pluralistic use of
polystylism (Cowell (1969), Whitesell (1994), Cooney (1996), Thurmaier 2006); Debussy’s
exploration of permutative fragmentation in Jeux (1913) (See Kramer (1978) p. 189, Meyer (1989)
p. 304, Pasler (1982) p. 64; and Stravinsky’s development of independent rhythmic cells,
polyrhythmic ostinati and nondevelopmental “blocks” (See Boulez, P. (1991) pp. 55-110, Taruskin
(1996) pp. 1486-1497 and Code (2007)).
18
5
parametrical disjunction between substructures that comprise relative parametrical
continuity. The spectrogram allows the visual identification of changes in pitch,
duration, amplitude and timbre over time and therefore is potentially capable of
detecting discontinuities between substructures based upon these parameters,
potentially providing an opportunity to examine the degree of integration,
compressibility and contingency in a work. Through inspection of multiple
spectrograms of the same work it is also possible to examine the degree to which
the structure of a work is variable and indeterminate. In order to explore these
possibilities, works by Stravinsky, Pierre Schaeffer, James Tenney and Stockhausen
are analysed employing this method.
The Spectrograms in this dissertation were created using Chris Cannam’s Sonic
Visualiser software distributed by Queen Mary, University of London (Cannam et al
2010). In order to maximise the key parameters of pitch, duration, amplitude and
timbre, a Y Axis (frequency) resolution of 0 Hz to 3520Hz and an X axis (duration) of
roughly 1 second per millimeter are employed unless otherwise noted.
Spectrograms exceeding 24.61 cm (equivalent to works exceeding four minutes
and 6.1 seconds) are proportionally reduced to fit vertically on the A4 page. In
cases where several recordings of the same work are compared found in chapter
six, the frequency resolution may be altered to allow a number of spectrograms to
be displayed on the same page. In such cases the same temporal resolution is used
for each spectrogram, so that they are proportional in length to the durations of the
works analysed.
The following parameters were used in the generation of the spectrograms:
maximum Bin size of 32768 (giving the finest resolution in frequency), the
maximum Window Overlap of 93.75% (to compensate for the reduced time
resolution of the large window size), and the Normalize Visible Area function
(allotting the brightest available colour to the frequency bin with the highest value
within the visible region of the spectrogram). These values were judged to provide
a resolution that resulted in the best compromise between pitch, timbre and
amplitude resolution versus time, for the purposes of evaluating substructural
discontinuities. The images were exported from the software’s spectrogram layer to
Portable Network Graphics (.png) file, using the default green-yellow-red colour
6
spectrum setting: where green indicates frequencies with low energy and red
indicates frequencies with high energy.
The final chapter is an exegesis, charting the development of my own explorations
into the formal possibilities of Block-Form, Collage, Permutation, Multilinear,
Polytemporal, Polystructural and Erasive nonlinear models. The relationship and
connection between current work and earlier compositional concerns is addressed
showing the development upon the implications of previous work, as well as new
nonlinear models in more explicit and focused terms. The creative folio comprises
29 works encompassing a range of forces, both in size and diversity, from solo to
chamber orchestra. The creative folio exhibits a gradually evolving means of
coordinating
nonlinear
performance
through
the
mobile
score,
guided
improvisation, the click-track, the real-time score and coordinated processing of live
audio that resulted in the development of a computer coordinated performance
model. The categories of nonlinear formal model defined in chapter three are
applied to the works in the creative folio, allowing for the classification and
assessment of the developments made in their course of its composition.
In this dissertation, structure is discussed principally from the standpoint of
standard musical analysis, namely the description of manipulation of musical
parameters to give rise to structure. Other lines of enquiry, including philosophical19
or psychological20 frameworks, afford important avenues for further investigation of
nonlinearity in music, but are only broadly examined.
In consideration of the centrality of structure to this discussion, several terms are
defined specifically, namely: structure, model and form.
Structure is defined as an overarching term, reflecting the understanding that any
sounding music (as opposed to conceptual or non-cochlear21 forms of music)
inherently comprises sonic events that have structural implications. Structure is
considered here as a continuum comprising three subdivisions: linear structures
Both Fitzell (2004) and Kramer (1988) develop a concept of nonlinearity through a discussion of
phenomenology, in particular Edmund Husserl’s The Phenomenology of Internal Time-Consciousness
(1964 [1928]).
20 Arthur Bregman’s Auditory Scene Analysis (1990) and the work that has followed it, provide tools
for evaluating nonlinearity in psychological terms. Recent developments in neuroscience even
suggest the existence of a “structure tracking” region of the brain (Levitin and Vinod 2005 p. 571).
21 See Kim-Cohen 2009.
19
7
encompassing all linear models and forms, nonlinear structures encompassing all
nonlinear models and forms and finally structures that exhibit a complete absence
of form due to lack of integration, compressibility, contingency and determinacy.
The term model refers in this text to a construct informed by ideological and
technical considerations. For example, a developmental model of structure draws
on ideological assumptions that accept that thematic materials may be modulated
and varied without dissipating their identity and compositional techniques that
allow for these modifications. A nonlinear permutational model, on the other hand,
assumes that the identity of a work is not dissipated by the rearrangement of its
internal substructures.
Models, in this definition, give rise to formal structures, the most specific of the
three terms, that may define a particular class derived from a structural model, for
example a developmental model gives rise to sonata form, and also a specific
instance of this form, for example the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata No.
16 K. 54. This is an important distinction in the case of nonlinear works, as while
sonata form might be attributed analytically to the first movement of Mozart’s Piano
Sonata No. 16 in the abstract, that is from the score, with the assumption that it will
retain this precise form in all cases, a work conceived according to a permutational
model, for example Stockhausen’s Klavierstuck XI can only be described in a
general way in the abstract, that is, as a model because its actual form is variable,
indeterminate. It can only be described with precision formally in specific instances
of individual performances. The hierarchical relationship between the terminologies
for musical structure used in this dissertation is illustrated in figure 1.
8
Structure
linear
nonlinear
formless
enviromental sound
M odel
developmental
permutational
Stockhausen:
Klavierstück XI
Form
sonata
Mozart: Piano
Sonata No. 16
K. 54: Mvt I
Figure 1. The hierarchical relationship between the term inologies for
m usical structure used in this dissertation.
The musical works discussed in this dissertation are delimited in order to provide
examples that may be evaluated and interpreted structurally. The examples
discussed are limited to works that are:
•
composed, to the degree that the contents of their performance is at least
minimally prescribed, as opposed to freely improvised;
•
coordinated and/or defined through notated traditional, graphic, textual
score and/or audio cues;
•
intended to be performed by instruments, voices and/or electronics;
•
of a fixed or variable duration, but intended for performance in a concert
format as opposed to an open-ended format such as installation and sound
art.
Over fifty works (excluding the author’s own) are cited in the dissertation in relation
to nonlinear structure. Charles Ives The Unanswered Question (1908) is the earliest
of only nine works from the first half of the 20th Century; the remaining examples
are drawn relatively evenly from the 1950s until the present. The works discussed
are listed in Table 1 below. Those highlighted in bold are discussed in greater detail.
The rationale for inclusion of these works principally emphasises primary examples
of novel nonlinear models and techniques, and secondarily their significant
successors.
9
1908
1912
1913
1920
1927
1942
1944
1946
1948
1951
1952
1953
1954
1956
1957
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1967
1969
1974
1976
1977
1979
1983
1984
1987
1991
1992
1993
1994
1997
1998
2001
2004
2006
Ives: The Unanswered Question
Ives: Putnam ’s Camp
Debussy: Jeux
Stravinsky: Sym phonies of W ind Instrum ents
Bartók: Az éjszaka zenéje
Cage: Credo in US
M essiaen: Regard de l’Onction Terrible
Schoenberg: String Trio Op. 45
Schaeffer: Étude aux Chem ins de Fer
Cage: Imaginary Landscape No. 4
Brown: Decem ber 1952/Cage: Imaginary Landscape No. 5
Feldman: Intermission 6
Earle Brown: Folio and Four Systems
Stockhausen: Klavierstück XI
John Cage: Winter Music
Xenakis: Duel/Stockhausen: Refrain/ Messiaen: Cantéyodjayâ
Foss: Time Cycle/Stockhausen: Kontakte/Pousseur: Repons
Stockhausen: Klavierstück IX/Tenney: Collage #1 “Blue Suede”
Xenakis: Strategie
Boulez: Third Sonata/Kagel: Prima Vista
Stockhausen: Mixtur/Kagel: Match
Brown: Event-Synergy II
Berio: sinfonia/Stockhausen: Momente/Birtwistle: Verses for Ensembles
Zorn: Klarina
Cage: Apartment House 1776
Rasmussen: Berio-Mask: A Palimpsest
Xenakis: Palimpsest
Birtwistle: The Mask of Orpheus
Zorn: Cobra
Lewis: Voyager
Winkler: Hybrid I
John Zorn: Speedfreaks
Takemitsu: Archipelago S.
John Oswald: Z /Sciarrino: Sonata V/Adams: John's Book of Alleged Dances
Tone: Solo for W ounded CD
Benjamin: Palimpsest I
W inkler: Hybrid II/Cho!oniewski: Passage/ Richard David Jam es
(Aphex Twin): Gwarek2
Freem an: Glim mer
David Kim-Boyle: tunings
Table 1: W orks cited in the dissertation. Exam ples in bold are discussed
in greater detail.
Throughout their progress, both the theoretical and creative work have been subject
to academic and public evaluation and critique. This has included twenty
conference presentations and journal articles and over a hundred public
performances of the creative works, which are documented on the accompanying
DVD. The most successful performances are collected on four compact disks.
10
2.
Nonlinear Musical Organisation
The first part of this discussion seeks to identify the circumstances that determine
or contribute to the functioning of a musical structure in a nonlinear manner. The
notion of form in music is dependent upon hierarchical strategies for representing
musical structure that involve the reduction of larger spans of musical time into
schematically represented substructures. It follows that this strategy can potentially
generate schema that can be evaluated upon a continuum from simple to complex
structure. At the point of greatest simplicity, musical substructures are reduced to a
schema that captures a small necessary number of formal divisions. At the point of
greatest complexity, a schema approaches a Borgesian level of absurdity, where the
representation of musical substructure is irreducible - a so-called “one-to-one” map
of the world.22 Music, at the point of greatest complexity can be considered
formless. It is argued here that nonlinear structures fall between these two poles
and may be identified by four factors that determine or contribute to their
distinction both from linear structures and from formless structures.
The second part of this discussion explores application of these four factors in the
evaluation of works that, it is argued, exemplify nonlinear structure and examples at
the boundary between linear and nonlinear structure and nonlinear structure and
formlessness.
2.1. Factors in the Evaluation of Nonlinear Structure
Nonlinear structures may be distinguished from linear structures by the presence of
strong discontinuity between their internal substructures. This implies that such
substructures are discrete rather than integrated with one another. Discrete
substructures are characterised both by the internal contrast and independence of
their constituent musical materials from prior and succeeding substructures, and
the strength of the disjunctive boundaries severing them from prior and succeeding
substructures. The degree to which substructures in a work are discrete or lacking
in integration is the first factor in identifying nonlinearity in a musical structure.
22
A map “that was the same scale as the empire, and coincided with it point to point” (Borges 1975
p. 131).
11
The emergence of substructures from the fabric of musical discourse derives, in all
music, from shifts in the level of continuity from one moment to the next. These
shifts are marked by perceptible changes, discontinuities, between “form-bearing”
musical parameters.23 In order for such a shift to imply a boundary between two
substructures, the discontinuity must be significant in relation to the preceding
substructure, and both the preceding and succeeding substructures must evidence
relatively strong internal cohesion.24
The use of disjunction to mark structural divisions is a common practice in musical
composition. In sonata form, for example, continuity is often broken by disjunctions
such as a quickening of harmonic rhythm, a cadence in a new key, and a short
silence, to mark the boundary between substructures. However, a high level of
homogeneity and contingency between the substructures is usually maintained
through relative continuity in other parameters such as meter, tempo and the
proximity of the modulation. Figure 2 illustrates this process.
discontinuity
substructure A
substructure B
continuity in musical materials
discontinuity
Figure 2: The em ergence of substructures
through
substructure
B
substructure A
weakening of the continuity of m usical m aterials in a
linear work.
continuity in
in
musical materials
When the degree continuity
of discontinuity
between two substructures
is raised to a critical
musical materials
degree, the impression of homogeneity and stability, the sense of temporal flow
between the two musical substructures, breaks down. Borrowing a term from music
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
McAdams proposes the parameters “timbral brightness, pitch, duration, dynamics and spatial
location” as possessing form-bearing capacities (McAdams 1989 p. 195). The potential for
referential and/or narrative musical materials to bear form will be discussed below.
24 “Musical form is constituted through the division of the musical timespan into sections of a certain
size; that the individuality of these sections is brought about through a balance between change and
continuity; and that this play of variation inside a frame of overall unity is grounded on the tendency
of the human mind to create coherence in event structure” (Kuhl and Jensen 2007 p. 266) also see
Snyder (2000) p. 194.
23
12
discontinuity
substructure A
substructure B
perception, several critics have called this an absence of “belongingness”25: the two
substructures cannot be reconciled as belonging to an unfolding continuity. Figure 3
illustrates this process.
continuity in musical materials
discontinuity
substructure A
continuity in
musical materials
substructure B
continuity in
musical materials
Figure 3: The em ergence of substructures through
weakening of the continuity of m usical m aterials in a
nonlinear work.
In a nonlinear event, disjunction between substructures reaches a critical point and
continuity cannot be maintained across the rupture. Pierre Boulez described this
process as “anesthetizing the frontiers” between musical substructures, leading to
a situation in which “listening time is no longer directional but time-bubbles, as it
were” (Boulez 1986 p. 178). The nonlinear event is the minimal phenomenon
indicating nonlinearity. It is a necessary characteristic of nonlinear structures.
Substructures that “anesthetize the frontiers” between musical substructures can,
however, be found in linear works: the dramatic ruptures in the musical fabric of the
final movement of Beethoven’s Ninth symphony are an example. The emergence of
nonlinear formal structure also depends on the evaluation of the degree of
contingency between its substructures, the cumulative effect of how much they
“follow on” from one another and the degree to which they are contextualised by
other substructures, in addition to external understandings and expectations.
Consider the following example, a structure comprised of five substructures, each
parametrical divergent. The parametrical divergences allow for an ordering of the
substructures in such a way that the parametrical shifts are made consistently in
the same direction, for example: gradually louder, faster and higher in register. A
consecutive ordering might suggest that the relationships between the
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
See Fitzell (2004) p. 25 and Lalitte et al. (2004). The concept of “belongingness” from Bregman
(1990) pp. 196–203, further elaborated in Handel (1993) pp. 377–381.
25
13
substructures are linear: that each new substructure is the consequence of the
previous one. If the same five substructures are rearranged in order to minimise the
continuity between them, the contingency between substructures is reduced
creating a nonlinear structure. This arrangement is illustrated in figure 4.
This suggests that the factor of
contingency
in
a
structure
is
somewhat independent of the degree
of discreteness of the substructures
themselves, although substructures
that
Figure 4. The effect of reordering
of subsections that are
param etrically consecutive.
exhibit
arguably
greater
weaken
disjunction
contingency
in
consecutively ordered substructures
and increase the lack of contingency in a non-consecutive ordering.
The number and duration of discrete, non-contingent substructures also impacts
the degree of contingency. In the simplest forms, there are a relatively small
number of discrete substructures. Sectional forms such as binary, ternary and
rondo, are all generally considered linear structures, as a consequence of the
contingency provided by a small number of substructures that are contextualised as
departures away from and then returns to, an opening, predominant substructure
which may also be longer in duration or repeated more frequently (in rondo form for
example).
In contrast, nonlinear structures may exhibit weakening of contingency through lack
of dominance, through number of occurrences, and proportion of duration, of one
subsection over the others. The degree of contingency in a musical structure is the
second key factor to the evaluation of nonlinearity.
In larger and more complex linear works the ordering of, and relations between,
substructures may still be compressed into simple schema by grouping or nesting
them into higher (and longer) substructural layers. This class of linear structures
includes developmental forms such as sonata form. In such works a minimum of
contingency between the musical materials of the substructures allows them to be
evaluated as belonging to an overarching continuity.
14
As the number and heterogeneity of substructures increases, the ability to place
them into an overarching unified structure or to group them into less complex layers
decreases. In nonlinear works the degree to which the subsections can be reduced
to simpler schematic formulae is diminished in comparison to linear sectional and
developmental forms. This issue can be termed “compressibility”.
Figure
five
illustrates
the
importance of the issue of
compressibility, schematising
two structures with the same
number (13) and variety (5) of
discrete subsections. In the
first example, the ordering of
subsections
grouping
allows
for
only
three
into
principal formal blocks. In the
second ordering the thirteen
subsections
can
only
be
grouped into nine principal
formal blocks. Compressibility
is the third factor necessary
Figure 5. The effect of grouping upon
the factor of com pressibility.
for the evaluation of nonlinear
structure.
In
a
subset
of
nonlinear
structures, so-called mobile or
open models, substructures may
be reordered in each instantiation
of the work. In such examples, the
potential for multiple orderings is
a
Figure 6. The effect of
indeterminacy of ordering upon
structure.
factor
in
reducing
the
importance of compressibility, as a
formal schema applied to one
particular version of the work cannot hold for all possible cases. Figure 6 illustrates
how a reordering of the example in Figure 5 can result in an entirely different
15
grouping of the same subsections. Indeterminacy of formal structure is a quality of
all mobile works.
The issues discussed above suggest that nonlinear structures can be evaluated by
•
a high degree of non-contingency and discreteness in comparison to linear
works;
•
an intermediate degree of compressibility: less compressible than linear
works, but not entirely formlessly incompressible;
•
(in the case of mobile works) the degree of indeterminacy of their
substructural ordering.
The situation of nonlinear formal structures upon a continuum of formal complexity
may be evaluated against three factors: the degree of integration, contingency and
compressibility, and in the case of mobile structures an additional factor of
NONLINEAR
STRUCTURE
integrated
discrete
contingent
noncontingent
compressible
determinate (repeatable)
noncompressible
UNSTRUCTURED
LINEAR STRUCTURE
determinacy, as illustrated in figure 7.
indeterminate (unrepeatable)
Figure 7: Factors for the evaluation of nonlinear form al structure
The positioning of nonlinear structure upon a continuum of formal complexity,
presumes the presence of a boundary along the continuum at which linearity gives
way to nonlinearity, and a boundary at which structure itself gives way to
formlessness. The following section explores several examples of such boundary
works.
16
2.2. Defining the Boundaries of Nonlinear Structure
Earle Brown’s (1926-2002) work Event-Synergy II (1967)26 is not the earliest
example of mobile form, but provides a relatively simple and clear example of a
nonlinear structure as defined in this dissertation. In this work, 19 performers are
divided into two ensembles (designated A and B) each with an independent
conductor. The instrumentation of the work is shown in figure 8. The conductors, via
hand signals, indicate to the performers which of four “events” they are to play. The
conductors spontaneously determine the order and duration of the events and
indeed the duration of the work as a whole, during the performance. They may also
freely cue other indications such as tempo, dynamic and fermata.
A
Flute
Oboe
Cor Anglais
Bb Clarinet
B
Flute
Oboe
Eb Clarinet
Bb Clarinet
Bass Clarinet
Bassoon
String Quartet
Bassoon
String Quartet
Figure 8. The orchestration of Group A and B in Earle Brown’s Event Synergy
II (1967).
Figure 9 shows excerpts of the score from each of the four events, as well as the
seating arrangement for the ensemble. Event 1 and Event 3 (examples a. and b.
respectively) are further divisible: Event 1 into five sections and Event 3 into four
subsections. These subsections are performable in any number or order.
A performance of this work on the 26th of March 2009 by students of the Western Australian
Academy of Performing Arts with Anthony Pateras and myself conducting is included in the support
materials DVD.
26
17
a.
b.
c.
e.
d.
Figure 9: Score Excerpts from Earle Brown: Event – Synergy II (1967).
Event A1 (W inds), b.) Event B3 (Strings), c.) Event B2 (Strings) d.) Seating
Arrangem ents for the Ensem bles A and B and e.) Event B4 (Strings) (Score
excerpts © 1967 Universal Edition)
18
The musical material in each of the four events is distinct. The parametrical variety
of the events is summarised in Table 2. In addition to the parameters listed, the
conductors are afforded significant flexibility not only in deciding the order and
tempo of the events, but also to ““over-ride” the indicated dynamic values and raise
or lower the over-all loudness” (Brown 1962).
Texture
Dynam ic
Articulation
Orchestration
Pulse
Clef
1
Contrapuntal
rapid
changes
(p-f)
Legato with some
accents and staccatos
Fixed
Yes
Yes
2
Extended
techniques
rapid
changes
(pp-ff)
Glissandi and other
graphical indications
Free
No
No
3
Chords
none
none
Fixed
No
Yes
4
Solo
none
Some glissandi,
accents and staccatos
Free
No
No
Event
Table 2: The param etrical variety in Events 1, 2, 3 and 4 of Earle Brown’s
Event Synergy II (1967).
The spatial disposition of the ensembles provides a further distinction between the
materials performed by each group. The discrete nature of the four events ensures
disjunction between materials in any particular iteration of the work. The level of
both integration and contingency in the work is therefore low.
Event-Synergy is an “open” work, in the sense that the final structure of any
performance is primarily dependent upon the decisions taken by the conductors.
The possible number of instantiations of the work, considering that it does not have
a fixed duration, is extremely large within the boundaries set by the composer,
namely the materials, the performers and the number of conductors. Because of
the indeterminacy of structure it is only possible to schematically represent the
work’s structural model in a notional realization of the work. Such a schematization
is illustrated in Figure 10.
19
!
"!
!#
A2
B3
(1, 1)
"$
!
"!
A1
A4
B2
"!
!!
A2
(2, 3, 4)
B3
(1, 1, 2, 4)
!
B4
# !!
#
#
"! !
A3
(1, 1, 4, 2)
B1
(3, 4, 3, 4)
A4
B2
!!! #
!!
A1
(4, 1, 3)
B3
(1)
"$
#
Figure 10: A schem atic representation a notional realisation of the
structural m odel of Earle Brown: Event – Synergy II (1967).
Event – Synergy II conforms to the definition of a nonlinear structure proposed in
the previous section, through the discrete nature of its substructures, and the
discontinuity between them. The structural model entails indeterminate ordering of
its substructural components in performance, however given the prescribed nature
of the materials, orchestration and the rule set governing the work, the
compressibility and determinacy of Event-Synergy might be regarded as moderate
in comparison to utter lack of structure.
2.2.1. The Structured/Unstructured Boundary
The example of Event-Synergy draws attention to the outer boundary of the
continuum of formal complexity – between structured and unstructured
nonlinearity. In defining this boundary, composer Brian Eno’s (1948- ) experience of
listening to a recording of chance environmental events that were arbitrarily
captured on tape, is pertinent. Although something of a “thought experiment” given
that this “work” has never been publically available, it focuses on the role of
determinacy in evaluating nonlinearity.
According to Eno,
I recorded whatever sounds there happened to be: cars going by, dogs,
people, (cut it down to three and a half minutes and then) kept running it over
and over. I tried to learn it, exactly as one would a piece of music: oh yeah,
that car, accelerates the engine, the revs in the engine go up and then that
dog barks, and then you hear that pigeon off to the side there. This was an
extremely interesting thing to do, first of all because I found you can learn it.
Something that is completely arbitrary and disconnected as that, with
sufficient listenings, becomes highly connected.
(Toop, 1995 p. 129)
The structure described by Eno presumably comprises discrete, noncontingent, and
only marginally compressible substructures, three of the identified distinguishing
20
features of a nonlinear structure. However, as a recording, the capability to repeat
the structure very precisely determinacy is maximised. The sounds alone might be
considered unstructured, but the high degree of determinacy of the recording of the
sounds draws it within the boundary of structure rather than formlessness.
This example emphasizes the important role that technology has played in the issue
of nonlinearity: before the advent of recording this technique for capturing a
segment of unstructured sound was impossible. It is also something of a perverse
example, in that the obsessive listening strategy needed to render “completely
arbitrary and disconnected” sonic events as “highly connected” is not a normative
behaviour. The issue is pertinent as repetition is the only link such a work retains
with the notion of structure. Increasing familiarity with the sonic materials promotes
the formation of connection and contingency between the discrete events.
Theorist Holger Shulze comments on Eno’s observations:
we simply cannot bear to be surrounded by anything that is literally
meaningless and generated by chance. We forget its aleatoric genesis and
find ourselves involved in a mental game, a heuristic fiction.
(Schulze 2003 p. 63)
2.2.2. The Linear/Nonlinear Boundary
The boundary between linear and nonlinear structure is perhaps best explored
through the comparison of two works from opposing sides of this “border”. Béla
Bartók’s Az éjszaka zenéje (The Night’s Music) from the Szabadban (Out of Doors
1926) and Olivier Messiaen’s Regard de l’Onction Terrible (Contemplation of the
Awesome Anointing) from Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus (Twenty Contemplations
of the Christ Child 1944) are piano works, of similar length, that share an “arch”
(ABCBA) formal structure.27 Despite the external formal similarities between the
works, the composers’ approach to the musical materials comprising their
subsections is markedly varied.
The Night’s Music, Bartók’s first excursion into what would become one of his
signature musical styles (Curcio 2009 p. 64), can be divided formally into five
sections: the outer two eponymous exemplars of nocturnal “nature sounds and
noises”, the second and fourth usually referred to as a “Chorale” or “song of
See discussion of The Night’s Music as “a preliminary study of (Bartók’s) five-part 'arch form'” in
Gillies 1994 p. 178 and Messiaen’s exploration of non-retrogradable form in Healey 2008 p. 168172.
27
21
loneliness” and a central section featuring a synthetic “peasant flute” melody.28 The
opening phrase of each section is given in Table 3. Although no attempt here is
made at a thorough analysis, it is clear even from the fragments presented in the
Table that there are relationships between the five sections – if only in the
complimentary exploration intervallic shapes at the head of each melody: eschappé,
mordent and cambiate.
SECTION A
bars 1-17
“nature sounds
and noises”
Eschappé
SECTION B
Bar 18-37
“Chorale”, “song
of loneliness”
Mordent
SECTION C
bars 38-48
“peasant flute”
Cambiate
28
These descriptors are used by Somfai (1984 p. 5) and Tallián (1981 p. 144).
22
SECTION B
bars 49-60
“Chorale”, “song
of loneliness”
SECTION A
bars 61-65
“nature sounds
and noises”
Table 3. The Arch Form structure of Béla Bartók’s Az éjszaka zenéje (The
Night’s M usic) from Szabadban (Out of Doors 1926) (Score excerpts © 1927
Boosey and Hawkes).
Somfai, who does provide a thorough analysis of The Night’s Music in his article
“Analytical Notes on Bartók's Piano Year of 1926” (1984), comes to the following
conclusion, regarding the growth of the work from the seeds of the “hidden melody”
(the central stave of section A in Table 3).
One should mention as an almost reflex presence of the organic thinking in
Bartók's composition that the hidden melody of the ostinato foreshadows
quite clearly the polymodal chromatic line of the third and fourth phrases of
the Chorale melody.
(Somfai 1984 p. 10)
Messiaen in contrast, builds Regard de l’Onction Terrible with sections that are
entirely distinct and discrete. Healey describes Messiaen’s approach as derived
from his exploration of non-retrogradable rhythms – rhythmic palindromes that
remain identical when reversed.
The movements in non-retrogradable form demonstrate Messiaen’s
application to the structural domain of a technique designed for small-scale
use. (…) The eighteenth of the Vingt Regards is a perfect example of the
symmetry produced by this form.
(Healey 2008 p. 172)
Non-retrogradable rhythms create peculiarly discrete structures. To paraphrase T. S.
Elliot, their “end is in their beginning” and this means their identity is bound to their
symmetry and must always terminate in a boundary beyond which they cannot
pass. Figure 11 shows three measures from Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End
of Time displaying non-retrogradable rhythms.
23
2 2 3
5
3
2 2
1 1 3
2
2
1 2 2
3
1 1 2
1 1 1 3
1 1 1 2
Figure 11: Non-retrogradable rhythms from Olivier M essiaen’s Quartet for
the End of Tim e (1941). Palindromic durational sets establish their own
boundaries through sym m etry, because of the finality of the conclusion of
the m irrored set of durations. (Score excerpts © 1942 Durand).
Healey identifies palindromic formal structures in a number of Messiaen’s works
including movements of the Visions de l’Amen (1943) and Vingt regards sur
l’Enfant-Jésus (1944) (2008 p. 168).
The three sections vary in the range of pitch classes that they employ and their
registral compass. The first and fifth sections are fully chromatic and cover seven
octaves from A0 to A7. They consist entirely of 016 trichords that chromatically
traverse a range of two and a half-octaves. These superimposed chromatic scales
employ “chromatic durations”29
- one descending with durations of increasing
length, and the other ascending with durations of decreasing length. The two scales
are retrogrades of one another (transposed by a tritone) and the fifth section is also
a retrograde of first. The three parametrically divergent substructures that give rise
to the arch form structure of Regard de l’Onction Terrible are shown in Table 4.
SECTION A
“chromatic
durations”
bars 1-23
For an account of Messiaen’s development of the “chromatic durations” technique see Sholl
(2008) p. 73.
29
24
SECTION B
“rocket-like
groups”
bars 24-90
SECTION C
“chorale”
bars 91-97
SECTION B
“rocket-like
groups”
bars 98-177
SECTION A
“chromatic
durations”
bars 178196
Table 4. The arch form structure of Olivier M essiaen’s Regard de l’Onction
Terrible (Contemplation of the Awesome Anointing) from Vingt regards sur
l’Enfant-Jésus (Twenty Contemplations of the Christ Child 1944). (Score
excerpts © 1947 Durand).
The second and fourth sections are based on Messiaen’s fifth mode of limited
transposition30 (see figure 12) and have a range of slightly more than seven octaves
from Bb0 to B7. They comprise two types of material: melodies of five-note “quintal”
chords alternating with a variety of arpeggiations that Healey refers to as “rocketlike groups” (2008 p. 168). The third, central section is based on Messiaen’s
“Theme of Chords”31 (figure 13), seven to ten-note chords of equal duration, and
occupies less than 3 octaves from C#2 to B4. The section is fully chromatic,
including all twelve notes of the chromatic scale.
Rogosin (1996) p. 119
In the preface to Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus, Messiaen notes three recurring themes that
appear in various movements of the work: the “Theme of God”, the “Theme of the Star and the
Cross” and the “Theme of Chords”. See Messiaen (1947) p. i
30
31
25
& # # œœ # n œœ
bœ
? b œ n n œœ
& œ bœ œ #œ œ œ
! "# !
!
"# !
Figure 12: M essiaen’s fifth m ode of
lim ited transposition com prising an
arrangem ent of sem itones and m ajor
thirds, sym m etrical around C and F#.
#œ #œ
#œ #œ
n n œœ n œ
nœ
Figure 13: The “Them e of
Chords” from Messiaen’s Vingt
regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus
(Messiaen 1947 p. I).
Both the Bartók and Messiaen examples are highly determinate and also readily
compressible into quite simple formal schemes. It is feasible to envisage other
possible avenues for contextualizing these works, for example: they both exhibit
programmatic aspects32 that might lead to different conclusions about the
relationships between their substructures. However the discrete nature of the three
kinds of musical materials found in Regard de l’Onction Terrible, resists attempts
on a purely musical level to assign an overarching continuity or contingency to the
formal structure of the work. For this reason, and in comparison to the Bartok
example, Regard de l’Onction Terrible can be considered to have a nonlinear formal
structure and The Night’s Music to have a linear structure. These two works occupy
opposing sides of the border between linear and nonlinear structure.
Figure 14 places these five examples upon the continuum of formal complexity
illustrating how each one is evaluated in relation to integration, contingency,
compressibility and determinacy. Brown’s Event Synergy II is a well-defined example
of a nonlinear structure with clearly discrete and non-contingent substructures and
a intermediate degree of compressibility and determinacy in the structure overall.
The environmental sounds from which Eno extracted his recording bear all the
hallmarks of formlessness, with the exception of a very determinate and relatively
compressible “structure” (as it is a very short recording). Bartók’s work comprises a
highly compressible and determinate formal structure (arch form) and relatively
integrated and contingent formal substructures, and is therefore best described as
a linear substructure. Messiaen’s similar arch form work is also highly compressible
See Bartók: Weissmann (1950) p. 15 and Schneider (2006) pp. 81-87; and Messiaen: Bruhn
(1998) pp. 391-6 and Burger (2009).
32
26
and determinate in formal structure, however the internal substructures are
discrete and non-contingent enough for the entire structure to be regarded as
Environmental
Sound
Brian Eno:
Recording
Earle Brown:
Event Synergy II
Olivier Messiaen:
Vingt regards 18
NONLINEAR
STRUCTURE
integrated
discrete
contingent
noncontingent
compressible
determinate (repeatable)
noncompressible
UNSTRUCTURED
LINEAR STRUCTURE
Béla Bartók:
The Night’s Music
nonlinear.
indeterminate (unrepeatable)
Figure 14: Examples by Bartók, Messiaen, Brown, Eno and “environmental
sound” upon the continuum of form al com plexity in relation to integration,
"Béla Bartók: String Quartet
4:
Olivier
III "Messiaen:
Vingt regards
Earle Brown:
contingency,
com pressibility
and 18
determ
inacy. Event Synergy II
Integration
Integration
Integration
Low
Moderate
Low
Contingency
Contingency
Contingency
Low
Moderate
Low
This chapter
provides four
factors for consideration
in the
evaluation of
nonlinearity
Compressiblit
Compressiblity
Compressiblity
in musical works the: degree of integration determined by parametrical disjunction
High
High
Moderate
y
between
substructures;
the
degree
of
contingency
determined
by
parametrical
Determinacy High
Determinacy High
Determinacy Moderate
relationships between substructures; the degree of compressibility determined by
the degree to which the structure can be reduced to a minimum number of discrete
substructures; and determinacy determined by the degree to which a structure is
repeatable.
27
Brian Eno:
Integration
Contingen
Compress
Determina

File - Lindsay Vickery

Transcription

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