Contrasting Approaches: The Continued Relevance of Pre-recorded Live Electronics in Australian Music

Abstract

As new technology has taken effect over the decades since the earliest electronic music was created, ‘real-time’ rather than ‘pre-recorded’ technologies have largely come to dominate the medium of ‘live electronics’. Yet despite the rapid developments of real-time and particularly ‘interactive’ technologies, many composers continue to use various forms of pre-recorded electronics. This article offers some explanations as to why this medium is still relevant for many composers and discusses a number of live electronic works written by the author and others. The advantages of pre-recorded, live electronic works and possibilities for allowing the performer(s) various levels of temporal freedom to interpret certain musical phrases and gestures freely is also discussed as an integral part of this medium.

Acknowledgements

This article is a substantial re-work and extension of an earlier, less detailed article that was published under the title ‘Freedom Within the Prism’ in the Australian Music Centre’s online magazine Resonate in November 2013. (Accessed March 2016) http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/insight-freedom-within-the-prism

Notes

¹ Peter McNamara, ‘The Role of Timbre and Microtones in the Music of Peter McNamara’, (PhD Thesis, University of Sydney, 2011), 1–4.

² Shiau-Uen Ding, ‘Developing a Rhythmic Performance Practice in Music for Piano and Tape’, Organised Sound 11/3 (2006), 256.

³ Simon Emmerson, Living Electronic Music (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), 104.

⁴ Ros Bandt, ‘Grainger’s Free Music and Free Music Machines: A Living Tradition’, Sounds Australian 46 (1995), 7.

⁵ Simon Emmerson, ‘Live Electronic Music in Britain: Three Case Studies’, Contemporary Music Review 6/1 (1991), 181.

⁶ Robert Rowe, Interactive Music Systems: Machine Listening and Composing (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1993), 78.

⁷ Dominique Jameux, ‘Boulez and the “Machine”’, Contemporary Music Review 1/1 (1984), 11.

⁸ Ibid., 15.

⁹ A device to transform sound in real-time.

¹⁰ Andrew Gerzso, ‘Reflections on Répons’, Contemporary Music Review 1/1 (1984), 23–34.

¹¹ Greg Schiemer, ‘Improvising Machines: “Spectral Dance” and “Token Objects”’, Leonardo Music Journal 9 (1999), 107–10.

¹² Donna Hewitt, ‘eMic About’ (Accessed May 2014), <http://donnahewitt.net/emic/emic-extended-mic-stand-interface-controller/>.

¹³ Jon Drummond, ‘Understanding Interactive Systems’, Organised Sound 14/2 (2009), 132.

¹⁴ Chapman Welch, ‘Programming Machines and People: Techniques for Live Improvisation and Electronics’, Leonardo Music Journal 20 (2010), 25.

¹⁵ Xenia Pestova, ‘Models of Interaction: Performance Strategies in Works for Piano and Live Electronics’, Journal of Music, Technology and Education 2/2–3 (2008), 118.

¹⁶ Ibid., 121.

¹⁷ Emmerson, ‘Live Electronic Music in Britain’, 187.

¹⁸ Ibid.

¹⁹ Simon Emmerson, ‘In What Form Can “Live Electronic Music” Live On?’, Organised Sound 11/3 (2006), 212.

²⁰ Larry Sitsky, Australian Chamber Music with Piano (ANU Press, Acton, ACT, 2011), 164, 〈http://press.anu.edu.au?p=146951〉.

²¹ Ding, ‘Developing a Rhythmic Performance Practice’, 270.

²² Ambrose Field, ‘Simulation and Reality: The New Sonic Objects’, in Music, Electronic Media and Culture, ed. Simon Emmerson (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000), 37.

²³ Ding, ‘Developing a Rhythmic Performance Practice’, 270.

²⁴ Personal correspondence with Claire Edwardes.

²⁵ These are not necessarily limited only to pre-recorded forms of media.

²⁶ Simon Emmerson, ‘Acoustic/Electroacoustic: The Relationship with Instruments’, Journal of New Music Research 27/1–2 (1998), 151.

²⁷ Pestova, ‘Models of interaction’, 114.

²⁸ Anne Sivuoja-Gunaratnam, ‘Desire and Distance in Kaija Saariaho’s Lonh’, Organised Sound 6/1 (2006), 73.

²⁹ Ding 2006, 256.

³⁰ Warren Burt, ‘Experimental Music in Australia Using Live Electronics’, Contemporary Music Review 6/1 (1991), 163.

³¹ As suggested by Kyle Gann in reference to a similar trend in the USA during his presentation at the ‘Intercultural Modernity and Contemporary Music—A Paradox?’ symposium at the International Society of Contemporary Music Festival, Vienna, 13 November 2013.

³² Please refer to Ben Carey’s soundcloud page for examples: (Accessed February 2015), 〈https://soundcloud.com/emeidos〉.

³³ Ben Carey, ‘_derivations’ (Accessed February 2015), 〈http://www.bencarey.net/#_derivations〉.

³⁴ This work can be viewed online: (Accessed February 2015), 〈https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3-moIk6_hc〉.

³⁵ Decibel, ‘The Decibel ScorePlayer’ (Accessed February 2015), 〈http://www.decibelnewmusic.com/decibel-scoreplayer.html〉.

³⁶ A performance of this work can be viewed online: (Accessed February 2015), 〈http://www.cathope.com/kuklinskis-dream-2010.html〉.

³⁷ A performance of this work can be viewed online: (Accessed February 2015), 〈http://www.cathope.com/chunk-2011.html〉.

³⁸ A Disklavier piano can performed as a normal piano, but is also MIDI programmable.

³⁹ Personal correspondence with Cat Hope.

⁴⁰ ‘Composer’s notes for “Eureka!”’, (Accessed February 2015), 〈http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LY821SsWvc〉.

⁴¹ Personal correspondence with Ivan Zavada.

⁴² ‘Composer’s notes for “Tangent”’, (Accessed February 2015), 〈http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYrNqYBUHq4〉.

⁴³ ‘Psychic Synth Programme Notes’, Performance Space 2014, 3, (Accessed January 2015), 〈https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6np_jzh8hx4U2MzVGk2RklnWTg/edit〉.

⁴⁴ It could be argued, however, that the visitor becomes the performer in this work.

⁴⁵ A performance of this work can be viewed online: (Accessed February 2015), 〈https://vimeo.com/99792517〉.

⁴⁶ Personal correspondence with Alex Pozniak.

⁴⁷ A performance of this work can be viewed online: (Accessed February 2015), 〈https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVimu6YJOjE〉.

⁴⁸ A performance of this work can be viewed online: (Accessed February 2015), 〈https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2GoznjDSW8〉.

⁴⁹ ‘Calliphora’ programme notes.

⁵⁰ Personal correspondence with Alicia Crossley.

⁵¹ ’Pat-a-Cake’ programme notes, ‘Pat-a-Cake’ score, Purble Ink, Lilyfield, NSW, 1980.

⁵² This is also an important feature in all of my future works discussed later.

⁵³ Throughout this article, as ‘Krazny’ and ‘Amplitude’ (discussed later) have no bar numbers, I shall refer to various sections by time-codes that are indicated in the scores of these works. Examples in ‘Landscape of Diffracted Colours’, however, shall be referred to by bar numbers.

⁵⁴ Murail would later explore extensively the possibilities of real-time technologies rather than pre-recorded. ‘Disintigrations’, however, greatly influenced and shaped my compositional aesthetic at the time, which is the reason I have used this work as an example.

⁵⁵ Tristan Murail, ‘Spectra and Pixies’, translated by Tod Machover, Contemporary Music Review 1 (1984), 163.

⁵⁶ Ensembles in the Netherlands traditionally tune to ‘A’ 442 Hz rather than ‘A’ 440 Hz.

⁵⁷ Discussed during a forum of composers at Gaudeamus Music Week, Amsterdam, 2 September 2008.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peter McNamara

Peter McNamara is gaining a reputation as one of Australia’s most talented emerging composers. He has worked as a freelance composer across a wide variety of areas including orchestral, chamber, electronic, installation and film composition. McNamara’s works have been commissioned and performed by a variety of major international orchestras and ensembles including Ensemble Modern and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He is also a co-artistic director of the Sideband collective, which produced its inaugural CD in 2014 and presents concerts featuring experimental and live electronic works. McNamara is currently a sessional lecturer at the University of Sydney in the Departments of Composition & Music Technology and Musicology.