Papers by Louise Rossiter
AIREA, 2020
This article provides an overview of the Music-Bodies-Machines: Fritz Kahn and Acousmatic Music p... more This article provides an overview of the Music-Bodies-Machines: Fritz Kahn and Acousmatic Music project and accompanying suite of music-Der Industriepalast. The project is inspired by the work of infographics pioneer Fritz Kahn (1888-1968) who developed works such as Der Mensch als Industriepalast. There is a body of work examining Kahn's work (Sappol, 2017; Von Debschitz, 2017; Doudova, Jacobs, et al.) that has revealed Kahn's intent of making the human anatomy accessible to the non-specialised reader through visual metaphors; unlike the descriptive anatomical illustrations of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which show how the human body looks, Kahn's works visually explain how internal structures work using concepts, metaphors, and allusions. This article explores some of the ways in which Kahn's striking visual images have inspired the composition of five novel acousmatic works of music. The article starts with a survey of existing works making use of similar, extra-musical influences to examine how extra-musical influences such as infographics and painting may influence the formal design of acousmatic music. It goes on to consider how, exactly, the infographics of Fritz Kahn have been used within the project. In some cases, this guides the choice of particular materials (such as the sound of a beating heart to represent an image of a heart monitor), but in other cases, there is influence on phrasing, placement, and even the formal design of entire pieces. Taken as a whole, the article seeks to explore the following questions; 1) What impact does the context of a particular image have on a composers' response? 2) How do composers respond to visual stimuli in acousmatic music? What is their compositional process? 3) How do such parallels between the specific sonic and visual examples offer new interdisciplinary insight to artistic practices and research? 4) How do sound recording techniques inform acousmatic music and generate new creative processes that operate within the sphere of human-machine relations?
Acousmatic music, facilitated by the mediation of recording, encourages the idea that no sound li... more Acousmatic music, facilitated by the mediation of recording, encourages the idea that no sound lies outside the realm of music and that all are created equally. However, the freedom to record any sound challenges received notions of how future events and expectations will be comprehended within the genre. This talk will examine the following questions:
How does the provenance of a sound influence a listeners' expectation?
What risks might a composer take when anticipating a listeners' expectations?
This paper will examine the phenomena of silence and gesture within acousmatic music and ways tha... more This paper will examine the phenomena of silence and gesture within acousmatic music and ways that the relationship between them impact on musical expectation. This will be considered through the analysis of two acousmatic works, Shortstuff (Stollery, 1993) and Break, (Williams, 2004), both of which make dramatic use of silence and short gestures at the beginning of the work.
Through consideration of existing literature in the field and analysis of these two works, it will be suggested that the use of silence has some wider implications for the creation of expectation in acousmatic music than in tonal western music.
My current research is on the role and definition of expectation within acousmatic music. Within... more My current research is on the role and definition of expectation within acousmatic music. Within this paper I will give an overview of my research so far. My re- search is based around an investigation of various methods and strands of elec- troacoustic music- in particular, Stereo and multi-channel composition tape works. I feel that there are several key elements that can heighten a listener’s aural experience in a listening situation involving electroacoustic and in particular acousmatic music.
These elements being the effective use of expectation and techniques that con- tribute to this - such as gesture and texture - and the ability of a composer to write effectively so that the piece can stand up well in different situations and, possibly most importantly- the expectation within a piece of electroacoustic mu- sic.This paper then sets out to introduce some of the basic ideas that are funda- mental to expectation and its existence within music, and suggest how these may apply to Acousmatic Music in particular.
Talks by Louise Rossiter
Environmental and spatial installation are prone to research and experimentation into the approac... more Environmental and spatial installation are prone to research and experimentation into the approach of the artist and public relationship. An audience mostly have the opportunity to accept the built environment as designers and architects intended - the challenge is to integrates the visitor as a integral part of the structure. Installation art in a compositional perspective offer an alternative to re-appropriate spaces where technology potentially provides all the necessary to includes the passive participant as actor.
Thesis Chapters by Louise Rossiter
The experience of expectation within acousmatic music is regarded as
problematic because the elec... more The experience of expectation within acousmatic music is regarded as
problematic because the electronic mediation of sound permits and even
encourages composers to combine and integrate sounds of widely varying origins
that may carry equally divergent aesthetic implications. Because of this, the
compositional management of expectation in acousmatic music presents many
challenges beyond those found in Western tonal music where familiar musical
grammar assists the listener in comprehending the tensions and implications that
contribute to expectation.
Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the nature of expectation
within acousmatic music by means of a practice-based methodology.
The composition portfolio itself has led to two new frameworks being proposed.
The first, acousmatic skip-diving, provides a method for the ad hoc evaluation of
materials and their interactions in situations where large numbers of existing
sound materials are available.
The second framework – sonic evidence – is based on some of the fundamental
principles of forensic science and crime scene investigation. While not derived
from my compositional practice, this reflection on the practical outcomes of the
research is intended as a useful tool for the listener or musicologist to consider
future development of events in a piece of music in terms of expectations
aroused.
While this study was never intended to provide a definitive answer to the issues
surrounding expectation in acousmatic music, it has further illuminated the
challenges facing listeners when attempting to anticipate events within a work,
and how composers may create moments of surprise within their music.
Furthermore, the ideas explored within the dissertation provide important building
blocks through which further examination of expectation within the genre may
take place.
Conference Presentations by Louise Rossiter
As an electroacoustic composer, I think a lot about cause, effect, and in particular the relation... more As an electroacoustic composer, I think a lot about cause, effect, and in particular the relationships between materials in my work and how these might lead to expectations for the listener. What I have had a lot of difficulty with is finding a terminology which allows me to communicate descriptively the reasons that a particular sounds behaviour imparts sonic information which encourages listeners to anticipate future events. This came to a head early on in my doctoral studies when I
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Papers by Louise Rossiter
How does the provenance of a sound influence a listeners' expectation?
What risks might a composer take when anticipating a listeners' expectations?
Through consideration of existing literature in the field and analysis of these two works, it will be suggested that the use of silence has some wider implications for the creation of expectation in acousmatic music than in tonal western music.
These elements being the effective use of expectation and techniques that con- tribute to this - such as gesture and texture - and the ability of a composer to write effectively so that the piece can stand up well in different situations and, possibly most importantly- the expectation within a piece of electroacoustic mu- sic.This paper then sets out to introduce some of the basic ideas that are funda- mental to expectation and its existence within music, and suggest how these may apply to Acousmatic Music in particular.
Talks by Louise Rossiter
Thesis Chapters by Louise Rossiter
problematic because the electronic mediation of sound permits and even
encourages composers to combine and integrate sounds of widely varying origins
that may carry equally divergent aesthetic implications. Because of this, the
compositional management of expectation in acousmatic music presents many
challenges beyond those found in Western tonal music where familiar musical
grammar assists the listener in comprehending the tensions and implications that
contribute to expectation.
Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the nature of expectation
within acousmatic music by means of a practice-based methodology.
The composition portfolio itself has led to two new frameworks being proposed.
The first, acousmatic skip-diving, provides a method for the ad hoc evaluation of
materials and their interactions in situations where large numbers of existing
sound materials are available.
The second framework – sonic evidence – is based on some of the fundamental
principles of forensic science and crime scene investigation. While not derived
from my compositional practice, this reflection on the practical outcomes of the
research is intended as a useful tool for the listener or musicologist to consider
future development of events in a piece of music in terms of expectations
aroused.
While this study was never intended to provide a definitive answer to the issues
surrounding expectation in acousmatic music, it has further illuminated the
challenges facing listeners when attempting to anticipate events within a work,
and how composers may create moments of surprise within their music.
Furthermore, the ideas explored within the dissertation provide important building
blocks through which further examination of expectation within the genre may
take place.
Conference Presentations by Louise Rossiter
How does the provenance of a sound influence a listeners' expectation?
What risks might a composer take when anticipating a listeners' expectations?
Through consideration of existing literature in the field and analysis of these two works, it will be suggested that the use of silence has some wider implications for the creation of expectation in acousmatic music than in tonal western music.
These elements being the effective use of expectation and techniques that con- tribute to this - such as gesture and texture - and the ability of a composer to write effectively so that the piece can stand up well in different situations and, possibly most importantly- the expectation within a piece of electroacoustic mu- sic.This paper then sets out to introduce some of the basic ideas that are funda- mental to expectation and its existence within music, and suggest how these may apply to Acousmatic Music in particular.
problematic because the electronic mediation of sound permits and even
encourages composers to combine and integrate sounds of widely varying origins
that may carry equally divergent aesthetic implications. Because of this, the
compositional management of expectation in acousmatic music presents many
challenges beyond those found in Western tonal music where familiar musical
grammar assists the listener in comprehending the tensions and implications that
contribute to expectation.
Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the nature of expectation
within acousmatic music by means of a practice-based methodology.
The composition portfolio itself has led to two new frameworks being proposed.
The first, acousmatic skip-diving, provides a method for the ad hoc evaluation of
materials and their interactions in situations where large numbers of existing
sound materials are available.
The second framework – sonic evidence – is based on some of the fundamental
principles of forensic science and crime scene investigation. While not derived
from my compositional practice, this reflection on the practical outcomes of the
research is intended as a useful tool for the listener or musicologist to consider
future development of events in a piece of music in terms of expectations
aroused.
While this study was never intended to provide a definitive answer to the issues
surrounding expectation in acousmatic music, it has further illuminated the
challenges facing listeners when attempting to anticipate events within a work,
and how composers may create moments of surprise within their music.
Furthermore, the ideas explored within the dissertation provide important building
blocks through which further examination of expectation within the genre may
take place.