Acousmatic and Electroacustic music

For many composers, remaining in the secluded world of the studio allows one to completely internalize one’s ideas, to control every element, and to realize one’s exact musical imagination. While Normandeau is certainly most known for his fixed acousmatic works, he does not restrict himself to the closed and controlled world of the electronic music studio. He embraces process, change, and adaptation, in this case adapting the acousmatic work Le renard et la rose (1995) for four singers, six percussionists, and electroacoustics in Baobabs (2012). This article first contextualizes vocal onomatopoeias in twentieth-century compositions and Normandeau’s output. Following an overview of the Onomatopoeias cycle and Baobabs, analysis is divided into rhythm, tonal and formal relationships, and texture and timbre. The article concludes with a reflection on the fundamental differences between the two works, particularly as they relate to control and the composer/performer binary.

O trabalho pretende, brevemente, discutir aspectos formais da obra de Rodolfo Caesar e Flo Menezes à luz da discussão sobre o problema da estruturação formal na gênese da música eletroacústica, ao lado do olhar dos próprios compositores sobre como lidam com a questão da forma em suas poéticas composicionais.
Abstract: this article aims to discuss, briefly, formal aspects of some works by Rodolfo Caesar and Flo Menezes in the perspective of the debate about formal structure in the genesis of electroacoustic music as well as the composers’ view about the form in their own compositional processes

The compositional method employed in the creation of acousmatic music may seem relatively straightforward, involving three primary stages which may be loosely described as follows: (1) composers choose a range of sounds to record (2) they manipulate and transform those recordings in the studio, and (3) they allow form to develop gradually, and somewhat organically, as the process of manipulation and transformation unfolds. Such a method has been articulated in the writings of contemporary acousmatic composers, such as Smalley (2010) and Harrison (2013), yet it goes back all the way to the pioneering work of Pierre Schaeffer, who employed a similar approach almost seventy years ago (1952). In Schaeffer's day, the articulation of such a method may be justified; his search for a concrete music clearly involved a painstaking, and emotionally draining, search for a compositional approach that lacked precedents, systems, models or established approaches to composition. Today, the situation is somewhat different; the development of an acousmatic community, supported and maintained through the academy, has served to establish and perpetuate such a method as a significant and meaningful form of creative practice. The method itself, however, may be questioned: the process of selecting sound materials, the choice of established technologies employed to develop sounds, the aesthetic preoccupations of individuals and broader communities of practice, the evolution of a performance practice relative to such music, and the concerns and expectations of the listening public, are but some of the manifold factors that radically impinge upon and inform compositional practice. This paper offers an account of these various factors, ultimately suggesting that contemporary writings offer a mythological, rather than methodological, account of the compositional process. To demonstrate this point, it presents a brief discussion of the author's own work (Twin Cities), in which the methodological approach is outlined and discussed in the light of contemporary acousmatic practice.

Acousmatic sound art production has as its goal a transformation of recognizable recorded sound samples into new relations, effectively hiding the origin of the raw material so as to focus on an experience of pure sound.  The author defines the "live" as the "life" from which these samples are pulled, and considers the ways in which the biography of the sample troubles acousmatic art.
From special issue Why Live? ed. Nicolas Collins

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?

Le titre de ce travail peut difficilement refléter la complexité et l’étendue de son sujet essentiel: la naissance et le développement d’une conception quantique  du son. Bien entendu, le point de départ de cette thèse est centré sur un intérêt spécifique envers les techniques granulaires dans la synthèse sonore, mais la recherche m’a poussé peu à peu à découvrir leurs bases scientifiques. Or, les notions quantiques issues de ces bases ont déterminé l’aspect psychoacoustique des méthodes granulaires, et elles ont eu également un effet décisif sur leur aspect esthétique. 

Dans ce travail, je ne me suis pas limité à l’étude des méthodes granulaires. Mon objectif a été aussi celui de donner une vision globale de l’impact des idées quantiques sur la musique en général. Pourtant, le champ électroacoustique a constitué le noyau de mon travail, et à partir de là, différentes idées esthétiques ont été développées. Or, cette démarche possède une logique. Une technique de synthèse quelconque aura toujours une influence sur les sons produits, et les différentes caractéristiques de cette technique particulière détermineront toujours une esthétique spécifique.

This is the second in a series of three volumes dedicated to digital synthesis and sound design. It is part of a teaching method incorporating a substantial amount of online supporting materials: hundreds of sound examples and interactive examples, programs written in Max, as well as a library of Max objects created especially for this book.
Structured for use in university courses, the book is an overview of the theory and practice of Max/MSP, with a glossary of terms and suggested tests that allow students to evaluate their progress. This book will provide a reader with skill and understanding in using Max/MSP for sound design and musical composition.

CONTENTS
Foreword to the Second Volume by Richard Boulanger
Translator’s Note by Richard Dudas

Chapter 5
DIGITAL AUDIO AND SAMPLED SOUNDS

Interlude C
MANAGING TIME, POLYPHONY, ATTRIBUTES AND ARGUMENTS

Chapter 6 
DELAY LINES

Chapter 7
DYNAMICS PROCESSORS

Interlude D
ADVANCED PRESET MANAGEMENT, BPATCHER, VARIABLE ARGUMENTS, DATA AND SCORE MANAGEMENT

Chapter 8
THE ART OF ORGANIZING SOUND: MOTION PROCESSES

Chapter 9
MIDI AND REAL-TIME CONTROL

Interlude E
MAX FOR LIVE

This essay as specified in the title is only a short introduction to the history of alternative
electronic and experimental music in Asia and Africa, very few has been written on this topic and
forgive me if I didn't mention some important composers or events, and if I didn't develop this topic
a bit more regarding some countries, this is a work in progress that will lead to a book including a
more detailed view on events, composers, music genres and other references. In the present paper, I
speak about some major places where electro-acoustic and experimental music (mostly academical)
developed or are under development and composed by local musicians, I purposely omit expatriates
who live(d) and compose(d) there, not that their works as a lower value, it is simply not the topic of
this paper.

Structured for use in university courses, the book is an overview of the theory and practice of Max/MSP, with a glossary of terms and suggested tests that allow students to evaluate their progress. Comprehensive online support, running parallel to the explanations in the book, includes hundreds of sample patches, analyses, interactive sound-building exercises, and reverse engineering exercises. This book will provide a reader with skill and understanding in using Max/MSP for sound design and musical composition.

Second Edition updated for MAX 6) More than 500 pages, interactive examples, hundreds of patches, online support, theory and Max/MSP glossary, test, reverse engineering exercises, analyses, completion and correction of patches, etc.

Chapter I – Introduction to Sound Synthesis and Signal Processing
Chapter II – Additive Synthesis
Chapter III – Subtractive Synthesis
Chapter IV – Controls and LFO

This thesis concerns the application of psychoacoustic phenomena relating to the non-linear nature of the inner ear as an electroacoustic compositional tool. The compositions included in this portfolio explore the validity of a variety of non-linear inner ear phenomena within composition by employing them as primary compositional devices.

Psychoacoustics research into the non-linearities of the inner ear has proven that the inner ear has much more to offer the composer than has been previously considered. By reversing the role of the ear from, what Christopher Haworth describes as, 'being a submissive receiver',  to becoming an active participant in the creative process, an exciting level of opportunity opens up for both the composer and listener. A focus is given in this research to auditory distortion products and bandwidth phenomena with references to the author's own compositional material.

While it is relatively common for composers to have explored various elements of psychoacoustics in their work, a project of this size, which explicitly explores such material, has not been carried out until now. The work of Maryanne Amacher, Alvin Lucier, Diana Deutsch, and others has highlighted the possibilities of employing psychoacoustic principles in music. This research takes a new approach by placing a direct focus on the benefits of the utilisation of these non-linear mechanisms of the inner ear for the composer, while also positing a number of new creative methodologies with respect to the non-linearities of the inner ear.

Bregman claims that just a 'trickle of studies' in auditory research had been published by the late 1960s. Such a finding coincides with the birth of digital audio, which has facilitated such research to flourish and so the employment of electroacoustic music as an investigative tool into auditory studies seems a natural inclusion into the field.

Adorno once stated that the ear is a 'dozy and inert' organ and, by reconsidering such a view, one can destabilise common assumptions about psychoacoustics and the potential of the ears within music composition.  With a specific focus on phenomena relating to the non-linear biomechanical mechanisms of the inner ear, this research seeks to highlight the added physical dimension that can be experienced by the listener whose ears are being performed.

In recent years, a significant number of musical philosophers have aligned themselves with the type-theory. According to this theory, which was popularised by Richard Wollheim (1980), musical works are types – abstract, generalised entities that are encountered in or through their various instances (performances and recordings), known as tokens – concrete, specific entities. Furthermore, musical works have been described as types of sound structures; although there is much debate as to the precise nature of such structures, this view has become something of a dominant ontological paradigm, and is frequently invoked to describe or explain the nature of performance interpretation and authenticity. This paper presents a bespoke type-theory designed to address music of the acousmatic tradition. It starts by suggesting that acousmatic works are types that are encountered in or through their various tokens. However, the language of sound structures requires some adjustment to account for the diverse kinds of compositional methods employed in the acousmatic tradition and, more importantly, the centrality of space. Accordingly, the term sound sculpture is proposed and explained, and various different types of sound sculptures are considered. The paper concludes by indicating future research goals that may build upon the type-theory and the notion of the acousmatic sound sculpture.

Résumé
Cette thèse est une exploration de mon processus compositionnel. En tentant de
comprendre comment s’organise ma pensée créatrice, j’ai dégagé trois observations :
l’organicisme du processus et des oeuvres, la notion de mouvement et la relation récursive
entre la matière et le compositeur. Ces thèmes m’ont amené à établir un lien épistémologique
entre la composition musicale et l’étude des systèmes complexes. Dans ce cadre systémique,
j’ai établi que les informations qui motivent mes prises de décision artistiques ont entre elles
des ramifications opérationnelles et structurelles qui évoquent une arborescence rhizomatique
plutôt qu’une hiérarchie linéaire.
La transdisciplinarité propre à la systémique m’a également permis d’introduire des
notions provenant d’autres champs de recherche. S’articulant d’emblée avec mon processus
compositionnel, ces notions m’ont procuré une vision holistique de ma démarche artistique.
Conséquemment, je considère l’acte de composer comme une interaction entre ma conscience
et tout ce qui peut émaner de la matière sonore, les deux s’informant l’une et l’autre dans une
boucle récursive que je nomme action⟳perception. L’oeuvre ainsi produite n’est pas
exclusivement tributaire de ma propre volition puisque, au fil du processus, mes décisions
opératoires et artistiques sont en grande partie guidées par les propriétés invariantes et les
propriétés morphogéniques inhérentes au matériau sonore. Cette approche dynamique n’est
possible que si l’interaction avec le compositeur se fait en temps réel, ce que permet la lutherie
numérique. Les résultats de mes recherches m’ont guidé dans la composition d’oeuvres
choisies, autant acousmatiques, mixtes, vidéomusicales que pluridisciplinaires.
Mots-clés : Composition, systémique, acousmatique, vidéomusique, musique mixte,
pluridisciplinaire, interaction, temps réel, numérique, granulation audio.

Abstract
This thesis is an exploration of the poietic foundation of my compositional process. As
I tried to understand how my creative thinking strutures itself, I came upon three themes: the
organicism of my process and work, the notion of movement and the recursive relationship
between composer and material. These themes lead me to draw an epistemological parallel
between musical composition and the study of complex systems. Within this systemic
framework, it was ascertained that the information that motivates my artistic decision-making
are operationally and structurally ramified in a way that evokes a rhizomatic arborescence
rather than a linear hierarchy.
The transdisciplinarity characteristic of systemics also helped introduce notions from
other fields of research. Readily articulating themselves with my compositional process, these
notions militated in favor of a holistic view of my artistic practice. The act of composing is
thereby construed as the interlinking of my conscience and the sound material, the two
influencing one another through a recursive loop labeled action⟳perception. The work thus
composed is not the exclusive tributary of my own volition since over the length of the process
my artistic and operational decisions are to a great extent guided by both the invariant and
morphogenic properties inherent to the sound material. This dynamic approach is only
possible if the interaction with the composer is made in real time, something that the digital
instruments allows. The results of my research guided me in the composition of chosen
works – acousmatic, mixed, videomusical and pluridisciplinary.

For almost a century composers and engineers have been attempting to create systems that allow drawings and imagery to behave as intuitive and efficient musical scores. Despite the intuitive interactions that these systems afford, they are somewhat underutilised by contemporary composers. The research presented here explores the concept of agency and artificial ecosystems as a means of creating and exploring new graphic sound synthesis algorithms. These algorithms are subsequently designed to investigate the creation of organic musical gesture and texture using granular synthesis. The output of this investigation consists of an original software artefact, The Agent Tool, alongside a suite of acousmatic musical works which the former was designed to facilitate. When designing new musical systems for creative exploration with vast parametric controls, careful constraints should be put in place to encourage focused development. In this instance, an evolutionary computing model is utilised as part of an iterative development cycle.

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.

This thesis aims to discuss some contemporary approaches about form in music. It starts from a general problem: how to deal with the issue of form (time and space organization of materials and ideias) in musical works, when relations between parameters (duration, timbre, frequency, etc.) is not based on a system, more or less, pre-delineated. Thus, we propose a reflection on the problem of form in three axes, taking the perspective of the compositional and creative acts. At first, we seek to conceptually discuss the idea of form, starting with the very common sense of the term that refers to the Aristotelian hylemorphism and its later unfoldings. Then, in the context of the aesthetic debate about form in the twentieth century, Adorno's critique of the formal outputs adopted by contemporary currents. We also brought the fundamental contribution of Umberto Eco and the concept of Open Work and its relation to open forms in music. Yet in the field of conceptual debate, we deal with form as a musical category, based on the attempt of a taxonomy outlined by Wennerstrom and the also the proposal of a general classification on form made by Stockhausen.
Secondly, we analyze works by composers who, for didactic purposes, we
separate in two groups. In the first, we deal with certain approaches around the idea of non-sequential forms, starting from the sectional forms of the early twentieth century and coming to a climax with the proposition of Stockhausen, the Momentform. The second group consists of works with open forms experiences. To address these formal outputs, we chose to discuss works in the context of the New York School, which explored different modes of openness, from micro to macroforms, from minimal openness to indeterminacy, and improvisation. To a certain extent, these two groups, although dialoguing and influencing each other, took opposite ways of dealing with the degree of control the composer can exercise over the musical work. Thereafter, we bring the reflections to the present, presenting works and discussions about the form in the compositional process of three Brazilian composers: Flo Menezes, Rodolfo Caesar and Tatiana Catanzaro. Finally, in chapter 5, we discuss two of our compositional experiences in dealing with issues related to form, the first for guitar and live electronics called Gest'Ação I, which exposes precisely this dilemma, amplified with the inclusion of the synthesis in real time universe. The second work also for guitar, but solo, One Night in Rio, sought to deal with the idea of Momentform, experiencing the limits of the proposal of total discontinuity, starting from the opposite direction of the first work, from macro to microform.

This paper explores the impact of technology on composition as process, examining how certain forms of technology induce the composer into modes of composition different from that of more traditional methods.

While new technologies have facilitated new approaches to composition thought, questions remain as to the artistic validity of the outcomes, in particular the extent to which new compositional technologies risk undermine the role of the composer in the creative act.

The aim of the current research is to examine works where the composer has utilised a given technology as an aid to the compositional process itself. From here the rapport between composer and technology in open and closed compositional systems is scrutinised. Specific focus is given to so-called ‘phase relation’ works, which draw upon the actual mechanics of electronic technologies in order to transmit and realise the composer’s intent.

Barry Truax's Riverrun (1986) is generally remembered for having been the first piece of electroacoustic music to use real-time granular synthesis in its composition. This was a monumental technological achievement—however, I suggest in this brief paper that the success of this piece reaches beyond the mechanics of its sonic contents. Truax's seamless integration of soundscape and narrative in Riverrun amounts to a unified and teleologically satisfying aesthetic experience. Riverrun's narrative—the journey of water flowing from a trickling stream all the way to the sea—bears an inherent telos that is realized in part through micro- and macrostructural uniformity as well as the consistent use of contextually appropriate sound materials.

Resumo. O artigo propõe uma reflexão sobre a forma musical no pensamento de Rodolfo Caesar, tendo por base principal a experiência empírica relatada pelo próprio compositor. Assim, propomos analisar o "problema" da forma na criação musical contemporânea sob a perspectiva criativa, buscando entender em que medida a forma como categoria ontológica se apresenta no processo criativo de Caesar. Tratamos da análise de três obras do compositor, sugerindo elementos que tiveram papel na organização espaço-temporal de cada peça. Foi possível notar que a intertextualidade, em suas múltiplas dimensões, e a narratividade exercem papeis estruturantes na maneira como Caesar lida com suas necessidades formais nessas obras.
Abstract. The article proposes a discussion on musical form in Rodolfo Caesar’s musical thinking, based on the empirical experience reported by the composer himself. Thus, we propose to analyze the "problem" of form in contemporary musical creation from a creative perspective, seeking to understand to what extent the form as an ontological category presents itself in Caesar's creative process. We analyzed three works by the composer, suggesting elements that, on our view, played a role in the spatio-temporal organization of each piece. It was possible to notice that intertextuality, in its multiple dimensions, and narrativity play both structural roles in the way Caesar deals with his formal needs in these works.

The essay focuses on Carsten Nicolai’s (a.k.a. Alva Noto) musical, audiovisual and multimedia language. In order to deepen this topic, a comparative analysis of the three trioon versions by Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto is presented: trioon I and trioon II from the album vrioon (2002) and trioon, the audiovisual performance recorded in insen live (2006).
The continuity among musical and visual, formal and temporal construction, will be highlighted through the comparative analysis. The three versions are based on a limited set of materials. Nonetheless, they follow their own formal path. They diverge both on the macro-formal niveau, that is, on the structuring of the material and the sections, and on the micro-formal one, that is, on the temporal dimension, on the rhythms construction and on the tonal evolution. The rhythmical techniques and their perception constitute the core of the analysis. The essay highlights the continuity of the work on the gestalt principles, on the form in all its dimensions, and on its perception, underlying Alva Noto’s artistic thought and praxis: a perspective that he shares with other EDM’s artists, such as Ryoji Ikeda.

El aporte de la música electroacústica en el ámbito costarricense se establece como un movimiento de ruptura, en su sentido estético no oficial. Una ruptura creativa no solo actora, sino también receptora de un cambio paradigmático en la creación, la elabora- ción de información y adquisición de conocimiento mediante instrumentos tecnológi- cos en la música; que instaura actores humanos y artefactos que se vinculan mediante herramientas basadas en las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) y constituyen un sistema en red.

- - - - - - -


The contribution of electroacoustic music in the Costa Rican sphere is established as a movement of rupture, in its unofficial aesthetic sense. A creative rupture not only an actor, but also a recipient of a paradigm shift in creation, the elaboration of information and the acquisition of knowledge through technological instruments in music; that establishes human actors and artifacts that are linked through tools based on information and communication technologies (ICT) and constitute a network system.

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

Mannerism and the use of aesthetic clichés in its language have isolated acousmatic music from a potential universal audience. The term acousmatic here is being seen from the perspective of acousmatic space-form (everything that can be recorded and played back). This paper proposes a new musical vernacular regarding acousmatic creativity based on culture-specific sonic and storytelling elements, related directly to the sentiment of the specific cultural group. Most acousmatic works seem to have inherited a particular style governed by the “unity of sentiment” as Rosen describes it (Rosen, 2010). On the other hand, according to Truax, cultural sonic elements might include soundmarks, keynote sounds, sound events and sound romances (Truax, 2001). Those elements combined with recorded speech can form a storytelling device, utilizing the inherited sounds and stories derived from a community. Taking as a case study a site-specific sound installation presented at a rural audience in Southern Greece, using as context vehicle Smalley’s ecological concept of acousmatic space-form (Smalley, 2007), Landy’s “something to hold on to factor” (Landy, 1994) and expanding the notion of Young, that the acousmatic medium has the unique capacity to function as a mirror held up to lived experience (Young, 2009), this paper explores possibilities to universalise the acousmatic practice and expand its audience.

Can electroacoustic music concerts become places of ritual? This question is the starting point of an analytical and practical investigation of the societal interplay of electroacoustic music and the sublime experience of acousmatic listening. The research highlights a common emphasis on the spiritual qualities and social values between electroacoustic music and religious rituals. The aim is to elevate the acousmatic concert into a powerful process of transformation.

Furthermore, the research expands the framework of electroacoustic music and suggests methods for further theoretical interrogation and artistic practice. A practice-based and qualitative methodological approach is adopted, including reflective journaling, fieldwork, studio composition and artistic collaboration. Additionally, the research draws inspiration from ethnomusicological and anthropological contexts to establish a link between the evocative and transcendental atmosphere of religious rituals and electroacoustic music concerts.

At the core of the research is the creative practice: a portfolio of four substantial electroacoustic music compositions which draw upon the communal experience of listening in concerts, the communication between composer and audiences and their interaction with performance spaces and the rest of the physical and supernatural world.

Este trabajo aborda un fenómeno cada vez más recurrente en la música hecha con tecnología: la cita. Un procedimiento que consiste en la presencia de fragmentos de obras preexistentes en una composición nueva y que expande las posibilidades de hacer música mediante el uso o apropiación de música ya grabada. Luego de plantear una breve referencia histórica sobre el vínculo entre sonido y tecnología, desarrollo el impacto perceptivo que produce la cita para ver cómo la utilización de un sonido preexistente cumple una función discursiva determinada en el interior de la obra y genera referencialidad en el oyente.

En una era donde las nuevas tecnologías se van apropiando poco a poco de la composición musical, cada año tiene lugar en Morelia un encuentro en que los diseñadores del sonido hallan un tesoro de retroalimentación informática-sonora y conviven con personas con intereses similares. El Festival Internacional de Música y Nuevas Tecnologías Visiones Sonoras es un evento único en su tipo en México, que a lo largo de 11 años ininterrumpidos se ha convertido en un importante espacio donde el arte y la ciencia se ven de frente.

Resumen: Fundado en el año 1972, el Centro de Investigaciones en Comunicación Masiva, Arte y Tecnología fue un espacio donde confluyeron grupos de trabajo provenientes de diversas disciplinas, cuya propuesta de una labor multidisciplinaria y actualizada estuvo planteada como posibilidad de continuar los proyectos iniciados en el ITDT. Sin embargo, a diferencia de aquel mítico centro, el CICMAT se insertó en la esfera estatal y, en consecuencia, estuvo en relación directa con los acontecimientos de la política local. En un contexto que demandaba una toma de posición en relación a los discursos políticos, las actividades oficiales del laboratorio de música electroacústica se mantuvieron próximas a los ideales de la autonomía del arte. Los años de dictadura acentuaron esta divergencia: clausurado el centro en 1976, el laboratorio continuó con su actividad hasta diciembre de 1977. El presente trabajo se propone informar sobre el avance en la reconstrucción de la actividad de estos últimos años.

Descriptive notes on six audio-visual compositions contained in the DVD  Music to see, a collection of electro acoustic music with multimedia created by Igor of Gandarias (composer) and Guillermo Escalón (filmmaker), during a period of twenty-five years working together. These productions illustrate their aesthetic proposal, which seeks to get an organic interaction of music parameters (rhythm, timbre, volume and pitch) with visual ones (speed, direction of motion, motives, color, brightness and shape). They are focussed on different aspects of Latin American and especially Guatemalan culture and nature.

Η συγκεκριμένη εργασία θα μπορούσε να θεωρηθεί μία σπουδή πάνω στην ακουσματική παράδοση. Στη σύνθεση του κομματιού ‘νησίδες’ χρησιμοποιήθηκαν ήχοι από το περιβάλλον καθώς και καταγεγραμμένοι ήχοι στον ‘κλειστό’ χώρο ενός στούντιο.
Μέσα από την διαδικασία της σύνθεσης ερευνήθηκαν οι βασικές έννοιες με βάση τις οποίες ένας ήχος μπορεί να συνδυαστεί με κάποιον άλλο, καθώς επίσης και η σταδιακή παραλλαγή ενός ηχητικού γεγονότος κατά την διάρκεια της ακουστικής εμπειρίας.
Η καταγραφή των εννοιών αυτών, όπως παρουσιάζεται στην παρούσα εργασία, έχει σκοπό στην οργάνωση της σκέψης του αναγνώστη πάνω στη συνθετική διαδικασία ηλεκτροακουστικής μουσικής.

Entre  2015 et 2019, François Bayle poursuit et synthétise sa quête du graal de l’écoute pure, au-delà des apparences et références terrestres.
Qui ? (2016/19) - Comme…* (2017/19)- Sans… (2015/19) - Vers…* (2018/19) - Où ? (2015/19). 62', octophonique.
Notes d'écoute 1. rapides chez F.Bayle. 2. Plus analytique en studio "Métamorphoses d'Orphée" de Musiques & Recherches (Belgique)

It has often been a challenge to secure adequate financial and institutional support to present electro-acoustic music in appropriate physical spaces, with sufficient staffing and technical infrastructure. A handful of unusual opportunities arose in the late 1960s for partnerships between a business and artists. One of these was the Electric Circus, a discothèque in New York City, based upon an artistic conception by electronic composer Morton Subotnick in collaboration with visual artist Tony Martin. This paper explores the dynamics between artistic and commercial values at the Electric Circus and in a series of new music venues that ensued. It also offers as a counter example the highly non-commercial activity that flowed from Subotnick’s open access studio housed at New York University, sparking the careers of a group of young composers of note.

Against the backdrop of what I would like to call ‘radical vocality’ as a notion to reconsider vocal art history, I will focus on the social and aesthetic implications of extended techniques – including body movements – in vocal performance art. Starting from the disposition of the human singing voice – if we can conceive such a thing – and its extensions as well as its distortions by means of technology, I will discuss a conceptual framework that re-attaches the aesthetic implications of the phonographic practice, such as it developed through ‘schizophonia’ and interactivity, to the social realm of experience in terms of vocal space, vocalic body, activism of voice, the listener’s attention, acoustic community and finally, aurality. My contribution will bring together some of my latest research on interactive music, locative media and other new forms of connectivity in an attempt to conceptualize and analyze a rehabilitated sense of ‘community’ through the experience of voice in the digital age.

CD digipack + 28 pages booklet. Sub Rosa, Brussels, Belgium.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Roberto Gerhard gathered a significant magnetic tape collection in his home studio, creating a major repository of early electronic sound recordings of his own works. The pieces on this record present a complex set of challenges for audio restoration, givin' at the end a complete understanding of his compositional process and allowing the spirit and vitality of his electronicwork to speak clearly to the listener

for Spirituality and sound art in the 20th century: A study of Mark Peter Wright and A Quiet Reverie Spirituality and sound have gone hand in hand since pre history. Now sound is seen as an art form, in modern terms spirituality can be looked at not as a reason for sound, but as an inspiration for it. Mark Peter Wright's 2008 work A Quiet Reverie was an exploration of four ruined abbeys, places of spirituality and former worship in the north east of England. Silence was part of a monastic daily ritual, actively observed with monks communicating through hand signals and gesture. Mark Peter Wright makes interesting points that listening does not have to be communicated through sound alone, this will be explored further. Overall his work is informed by conceptual and site-specific art histories which will be looked at. I will also explore how art can be a cultural and political act-a platform for social, historical and ecological endeavour now and in history. The essay will look at how spirituality influences environmental sound, from the point of view that it's influence is more one of genius loci, or 'spirit of place'. It will also explore A Quiet Reverie, and how sound can be used to capture and induce a sense of place or audible presence.

Tensiones entre el modelo UNESCO y el modelo Banco Mundial en los Discursos Institucionales en Educación Artística. La diferencia entre la educación concebida como un servicio que se transa en el mercado y la educación como un derecho que es obligación del estado traza la línea divisoria entre el modelo Banco Mundial (BM) y el modelo UNESCO en educación y por consecuencia en educación artística. La Constitución colombiana, las leyes y las políticas sectoriales que la desarrollan están claramente inscritas en el modelo BM.

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.

Abstract: in March of 1973, the machines at one of the most important electronic music laboratories of Latin America in Buenos Aires were turned back on. It was built in the previous decade at the Torcuato Di Tella Institute, with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation (Novoa 2007). Changes in the political and economic landscape led to the closing of the Institute in 1971 (Orobigt et al. 2003, Dal Farra 2006). Its’ main actors, Francisco Kröpfl, José Maranzano, Fernando von Reichenbach, Gerardo Gandini and Gabriel Brnčić, were forced to look for a new place to further develop their activities. In this framework a new center was founded inspired by the multidisciplinary premise: the Center for Research in Mass Communication, Art and Technology
(CICMAT). Unlike its predecessor, the funding came from municipal source, and consequently the project was directly related to the political situation and its’ objective was to be partly devoted to “community service”. By 1973, the new Peronist administration changed
the agenda and reformed some “research areas” incorporating new divisions with substantial differences form the original work groups, which were in the line of modernist international avant-garde (Garutti 2015).

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?

En el corazón del Centro Histórico de Morelia, existe un sitio donde los sonidos fluyen por los muros coloniales y se entrelazan con las modernas tecnologías destinadas a la composición musical. El Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras (CMMAS), supone así una alternativa para los amantes de las nuevas formas de creación sonora.

Ashtánga es una pieza musical para violonchelo electroacústico y medios visuales interactivos que busca un estado de conciencia expandida. Es una obra en la que el intérprete hace uso de las múltiples correspondencias del lenguaje musical y permite a los oyentes, a través de dos interfaces, disfrutar del diálogo especular de un mundo intermediado, mientras accede al mismo tiempo a los sistemas que lo hacen posible. El resultado son varios timbres y texturas que, al ser superpuestas, abren un universo de posibilidades de orquestación. La visión proyectada justo encima del intérprete ofrece una síntesis de la unidad y la multiplicidad, es una narración dotada con crecimiento dinámico y las variaciones presentadas obedecen de forma orgánica al sonido, protegiéndola sin embargo de la reproducción caótica que abrumaría a los presentes. En resumen, se pone en escena un mundo, un conjunto conectado de objetos e individuos, un entorno habitable, una totalidad razonablemente inteligible para los observadores externos y un campo de actividad para su intérprete.