Difference between revisions of "Incorporate"

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This wiki page serves as a multimedia research documentation for the piece ''Incorporate'' by Chris Lortie and attempts to analyze its compositional rhetoric. ''Incorporate'' was written in early 2018 (premiered March 10, 2018) for a subset of [Ensemble Proton https://ensembleproton.ch/en/] consisting of flute, clarinet, violin, and cello. The piece makes use of very minimal electronics that are entirely fixed and non-interactive. Although the premiere of ''Incorporate'' made use of a fifth performer (designated as the “Operator”) as well as theatrical staging and costuming, these elements will not be reviewed here. The piece is largely improvisatory and makes use of audio score(s) as the primary means of composer-performer communication. A supplementary written PDF is provided as a verbal reiteration of contents from the audio score(s).
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This wiki page serves as a multimedia research documentation for the piece ''Incorporate'' by Chris Lortie and attempts to analyze its compositional rhetoric. ''Incorporate'' was written in early 2018 (premiered March 10, 2018) for a subset of [https://ensembleproton.ch/en/ Ensemble Proton] consisting of flute, clarinet, violin, and cello. The piece makes use of very minimal electronics that are entirely fixed and non-interactive. Although the premiere of ''Incorporate'' made use of a fifth performer (designated as the “Operator”) as well as theatrical staging and costuming, these elements will not be reviewed here. The piece is largely improvisatory and makes use of audio score(s) as the primary means of composer-performer communication. A supplementary written PDF is provided as a verbal reiteration of contents from the audio score(s).
  
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==Background==
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[https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~cjl93/incorporate-wiki/incorporate-unmastered.wav A full recording of the work can be cound here (recorded 11 March, 2018 at Elliot Program Center, Stanford University -- Ensemble Proton)]
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Beethoven was a lover of nature who spent a great deal of his time on walks in the country. He frequently left Vienna to work in rural locations. The composer said that the Sixth Symphony is "more the expression of feeling than painting",<ref>The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed., Stanley Sadie (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), vol. 20, p. 396.</ref> a point underlined by the title of the first movement.
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The first sketches of the ''Pastoral Symphony'' appeared in 1802. It was composed simultaneously with Beethoven's more famous—and more fiery—[[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|Fifth Symphony]]. Both symphonies were premiered in a long and under-rehearsed [[Beethoven concert of 22 December 1808|concert in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on 22 December 1808]].
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[[File:Frontview.PNG|500px|thumb|right|front view of ensemble at the premiere]]
  
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==Instrumentation==
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==Audio Scores and Affordances==
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The symphony is scored for the following instrumentation:
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{{col-begin}}
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The piece was inspired by my research with Charlie Sdraulig into the various affordances and limitations of the audio score format. An audio score can be defined as a score which employs sound as the primary means of communication between composer and performer. As opposed to conventionally-noted written scores, audio scores represent information and instructions within the same domain as the performed product (Sdraulig and Lortie, 2018).
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{{col-break}}
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'''[[Woodwind]]s'''
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:1 [[piccolo]] (fourth movement only)
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:2 [[flute]]s
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:2 [[oboe]]s
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:2 [[clarinet]]s in [[soprano clarinet|B{{music|flat}}]]
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:2 [[bassoon]]s
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'''[[Brass instrument|Brass]]'''
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Many of the arguments in that paper, and some of the arguments in this documentation, are posited within the context of affordance theory. Affordances can be defined as “the potential actions made possible by an object or environment to a given individual,” a concept that implies a mutually-influencing, transactional relation between actor and object (Gibson, 1979. p. 172).  A material format alone does not wholly determine the action possibilities it affords; composers and performers (i.e. the actors in this context), as well as audio scores (i.e. the object), are themselves situated and dynamically shaped within wider networks and histories of cultural practice. These practices mediate and constrain potential relations: for instance, the act of deploying a sound recording as if it were a score suggests a translation of prior scoring practices across media; equally, functioning as a score is just one of the many potential use cases afforded by sound recordings. Nevertheless, at this particular intersection of cultural practice and material format, audio scores representing information and instructions in sound afford some distinct and different possibilities to composers and performers when compared to scores which deploy some form of symbolic visual representation of sound or sound-producing movement. ''Incorporate'' was conceived as an applied study of these affordances, along with an exploration of possible new applications for this medium.
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:2 [[French horn|horns]] in F and B{{music|flat}}
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:2 [[trumpet]]s in C and E{{music|flat}} (third, fourth, and fifth movements only)
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:2 [[trombone]]s ([[alto trombone|alto]] and [[tenor trombone|tenor]], fourth and fifth movements only)
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{{col-break}}
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'''[[Percussion]]'''
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:[[Timpani]] (fourth movement only)
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'''[[String section|Strings]]'''
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  '''case studies referenced in Charlie Sdraulig and Chris Lortie, ''An Investigation of Affordances and Limitations in Recent Audio Scores'', 2018'''<nowiki>
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:[[Violin]]s I, II
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- Cassandra Miller — Guide
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:[[Viola]]s
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- Carola Bauckholt — Zugvögel
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:[[Cello]]s
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- Louis d’Heudieres — Laughter Studies 1-3
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:[[Double bass]]es
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- Carolyn Chen — Adagio
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{{col-end}}
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- Laura Stanic — Open Air Bach</nowiki>
  
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==Form==
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The Sdraulig/Lortie paper surveyed a collection of recent audio scores primarily associated with experimental art music as case studies. Among these, we identified two primary sub-categories associated with the temporal relations composed between performer and audio score: reactive and rehearsed. On the one hand, performers primarily react to the audio score during performance; on the other, the audio score shapes the performers’ interpretations in rehearsal, well before public performance. In practice, these two categories may be combined, weighted, and hybridized to varying degrees. After this research, I became interested in this hybridized deployment of the audio score object and sought to create a piece which features several layers — or modes — of audio scores simultaneously.
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==The Four Modes of Audio Score in ''Incorporate''==
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''Incorporate'' makes use of four distinct modes of audio scores which serve to communicate instruction in different areas of the composition.
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===Mode 1: Instructions===
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- Category: Rehearsed
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- Format: Fixed Audio Files (7) and Video Overview
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- Contents: Narration, Instructions, Exercises
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The first mode of audio score deployed in this piece comes in the form of the score’s instructive narration. This narration is segmented into eight files, including one video overview, and seven audio files. The video overview provides an explanation of the structure, development, and actions performed within the piece. The seven audio files serve to demonstrate and clarify the musical events of the piece along with their boundaries and internal logic.
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This narration could be likened to an “audiobook” version of a conventional text score, with the exception that this score takes advantage of the unique affordances of recorded audio. Here, the audio format serves not only to instruct but actively engage the listener through a series of musical exercises. These exercises invite participation in real time from the performer and serve as a tool for individual rehearsal.
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For example, one exercise consists of a 15-minute meditation with a particular focus towards deep listening and sound reproduction. Another consists of alternating narrated and interactive segments which serve to progressively build up in complexity. The primary affordance enacted by this mode of the audio score is in demonstrating a specific system of listening and interaction. Furthermore, the score arguably benefits from representing these instructions in the same domain as the performed product, affording an immediacy of communication.
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The use of an audio score as a means to direct modes of listening can also be observed in Hildegard Westerkamp’s [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg96nU6ltLk ''Kits Beach Soundwalk'']. The piece, existing as a static audio file, provides narrated commentary of a soundwalk at Kits Beach in Vancouver:
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"[...] I'm trying to listen to those tiny sounds in more detail now. Suddenly, the background sound of the city seems louder again. It interferes with my listening. It occupies all acoustic space and I can't hear the barnacles in all their tininess. It seems too much effort to filter the city out. Luckily, we have bandpass filters and equalizers. We can just go into the studio and get rid of the city -- pretend it's not there. Pretend we are somewhere far away..." (Westerkamp, 1989)
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Like other members of the [https://www.sfu.ca/sonic-studio/WSP/index.html World Soundscape Project] (M. Schaefer, Truax, et al.), Westerkamp is keen on pointing out the complex layering of our contemporary soundscapes; unlike her colleagues, however, she makes an effort to espouse these modern distractions by pondering their unique complexity. Likewise, she promotes the technological tools available to effectuate this goal, referencing “bandpass filters and equalizers.” By making public her own listening practice, Westerkamp invites the listener to empathize and engage with these narrated observations.
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===Mode 2: Sound Files===
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- Category: Rehearsed
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- Format: Fixed Audio Files (60)
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- Contents: Concrete Sounds, Field Recordings, Sampled Material
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The second mode of audio score used in ''Incorporate'' takes the form of sound files that are provided before every rehearsal and performance. Each performer is given three recordings, ranging from 5 seconds to 30 seconds in length. The performers were not given descriptions of what was contained within each file, but were instead instructed (via mode 1’s narration) to focus only on sonic qualities. During the piece, the players are instructed to perform a faithful reproduction these sound files on their particular instrument in the form of an ongoing loop; this material serves as the initial starting point for the ensemble’s improvisations for each formal section.
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[https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~cjl93/incorporate-wiki/SF-narration.wav Excerpt from Mode 1's Narration explaining the use of Sound Files in Mode 2]
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The sound files are comprised of a collection of field recordings and sampled materials, and are assigned to a player based upon an assumed affinity to their instrument. These allocations were done as an attempt to reduce the amount of translation between recording and performer.
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The sound files and their contents were selected to be consistent across certain criterea towards specific ends. For instance:
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'''·''' Most soundfiles are non-pitched, or do not contain easily-discernable pitch. This affords a homogenous texture to the ensemble that is weighted towards non-pitched sounds and extended techniques.
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'''·''' Most soundfiles are shorter than 10 seconds long. This affords a detailed scrutiny of their rhythmic and timbral qualities, as anything longer than 10 seconds would not be easily compressed into the player’s echoic memory.
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'''·''' Most soundfiles do not have large variations in dynamic over time, and generally do not contain abrupt jumps in dynamic. This affords a slowly-evolving ensemble dynamic that benefits more from textural information than dramatic or gestural information.
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'''·''' All recordings have been reduced to mono, which prevents the performer from being distracted or influenced by spatial information.
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Some examples of sound files used in Incorporate:
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[https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~cjl93/incorporate-wiki/SF-1.wav Example 1]
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[https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~cjl93/incorporate-wiki/SF-2.wav Example 2]
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[https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~cjl93/incorporate-wiki/SF-3.wav Example 3]
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[https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~cjl93/incorporate-wiki/SF-4.wav Example 4]
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The last example on this list was used on the day of the premiere performance. In the excerpt below, one can hear the clarinet player Richard Haynes reproducing this sound on his instrument from memory.
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[https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~cjl93/incorporate-wiki/mode-2-excerpt.wav Excerpt with Clarinet reproduction of Example 4 above]
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This mode of the audio score was directly influenced by a similar implementation in ''Zugvögel'' by Carola Bauckholt. ''Zugvögel'' is a reed quintet in which players interact with and rehearse the audio score well before public performance. The audio recordings, which consist of bird calls of various species, are not played in performance; instead, the quintet members are instructed to familiarize themselves with these bird calls and memorize all their time-based nuances in order to reproduce them on their respective instruments.
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[https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~cjl93/incorporate-wiki/Bauckholt_AB.wav Excerpt of birdsong recording and subsequent reproduction of recording on instruments]
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Bauckholt’s use of the audio score format directs this activity towards high-fidelity transcriptions of bird calls rather than reduced abstraction or overt musicalization (the obvious historical precedent for the latter occurs in the works of Olivier Messiaen) (O'Callaghan, 2012). By using recordings of her sources, Bauckholt’s audio score affords of a higher degree of specificity and dimensionality to performers than most visual, symbolic representation of those sources (particularly in regards to spectro-temporal variation in timbre, for example.)
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[[File:Zugvogel.PNG|400px|thumb|left|visual score for ''Zugvögel'']]
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In ''Zugvögel'', each performer establishes a distinct relationship with the recordings due to their objective of producing a faithful imitation through whatever means necessary. This mimetic process begins with the task of parsing each recording’s most salient elements. In contrast to the traditional practice of bird call transcription in a conventionally-notated medium, the recorded format omits much of the symbolic filtering and prioritizations of the composer. It instead defers any such filtering to the instrumentalists of the reed quintet, allowing a more intimate understanding of the instruments’ capabilities to inform a precise rendering. Hence, the performers’ personal knowledge of their instrument’s compatibility with the source material affords a higher degree of fidelity in its reproduction. Through this process, the performer may also come to discover previously hidden action-potentials in relation to their instrument.
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It should be noted that each recording is symbolically transcribed by Bauckholt in an accompanying visual score. She adds in her prefatory notes, however, that “the notation should only be taken as a guide,” suggesting that the notated transcription holds only a supplementary role in relation to the audio score (Bauckholt, 2011-12). However, this visual aid helps to mitigate one of the audio score format’s primary limitations: the act of memorization. Because the minute features of each recording must be encoded into memory and recalled in performance, the musical information itself is subject to variability and even corruption over time. Factors influencing the performer’s ability to reproduce the recording may include: the time spent rehearsing, the effort expended in memorizing the recording, the recognizability (or lack thereof) of each sound, the player’s aptitude or preferences towards certain sounds, and/or the player’s assumed ensemble role during performance. Employing a visual score in conjunction with the audio score would seem to effectively redress this limitation.
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By contrast, the sound files provided in ''Incorporate'' are purposefully not supplemented with an accompanying visual score. The score’s contents are thus subject to a lower-fidelity translation via the performer’s memorized impression. ''Incorporate'' instead opts for a qualitative embodiment of the audio score, relying on the mediations of the performers’ identities and subjective inclinations to shape the source material.
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===Mode 3: Shocks===
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- Category: Reactive
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- Format: Fixed Audio Files (15) with randomized timings
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- Contents: Sampled Material
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[[File:Incorporate-form.png|350px|thumb|right|formal diagram of Incorporate]]
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The third mode of the audio score comes in the form of the electronics during performance.  The electronics consist of very short sound files (each less than a second long) played at a high volume, each triggered at random intervals over the course of the piece. These serve the role of enforcing the pacing and form of the piece as a whole by demarcating the beginning of each formal section. The form of ''Incorporate'' resembles simple loop of actions that happens anywhere from 6 to 11 times. The electronic “shocks” serve to signal the beginning of a new loop.
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Here, the audio score falls into the reactive category, because the players are asked to respond to these shocks in real time. They cannot anticipate the shocks and have no forewarning that they are about to occur. The use of both unpredictability and indeterminacy affords the performance a certain level of theatrical anxiety.
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Below is an example of one of these shocks in the context of the performance. In this excerpt, players react to the shock in real time by performing a specific action (the anxious breathing).
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[https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~cjl93/incorporate-wiki/mode-3-excerpt.wav Excerpt with a shock]
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The use of a reactive audio score as a means to create anxiety can also be seen in Becky Brown’s ''Tomorrow, When I Grow Up''. Brown’s piece, scored for solo voice and electronics, varies between each performance. Although the electronics are entirely fixed, they are rearranged in a DAW between rehearsals and performances by the composer so that they cannot be feasibly predicted. This affords the soloist a certain amount of performance anxiety in the subsequent performance, aligning with the programmatic narrative of the work (Brown, 2018).
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[http://becky-brown.org/work/tomorrow-when-i-grow-up link to Becky Brown's ''Tomorrow, When I Grow Up'']
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=== Mode 4: Operations ===
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- Category: Reactive
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- Format: Live Performance
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- Contents: Improvised material from ensemble
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[[File:Panels.PNG|450px|thumb|left|computer screen display showing operations]]
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The fourth mode of the audio score comes in the form of 19 operations, or keywords, that serve  as improvisatory cues. These are displayed on a computer screen in real time by an operator, who stands behind the ensemble at a laptop. The operations are designated as an audio score because the players perform real-time manipulations of each other’s improvised material. The verbal cues given on the screen do not dictate what sounds are to be produced, but instead direct the players towards what to attend to as source material and how to manipulate that material. Conceivably any sound can be filtered through these operations.
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Players come to be familiarized with each of these operations through the aforementioned audio narration of Mode 1. The operations are defined and clarified through exercises and meditations. These set the expectations and boundaries for possible use cases in performance. The vocabulary of operations is modular, in that the list of possible keywords can be amended or reduced for a given performance.
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[[File:Incorporate-stage-setup-small.PNG|450px|thumb|left|stage diagram for Incorporate]]
  
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The symphony has five movements, rather than the four typical of symphonies of the [[Classical music era|Classical]] era. Beethoven wrote a programmatic title at the beginning of each movement:
 
  
 
:{| class="wikitable"
 
:{| class="wikitable"
 
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!
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!Name of Operation
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!German title
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!Description (simplified)
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!Translation
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!Tempo marking
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!Key
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|-
 
|-
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|I.
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|Incorporate
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|''Erwachen heiterer Empfindungen bei der Ankunft auf dem Lande''
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|''incorporate the sonic environment into current material''
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|Awakening of cheerful feelings on arrival in the countryside
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|Allegro ma non troppo
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|style="white-space: nowrap;" |F major
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|-
 
|-
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|II.
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|Articulate
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|''Szene am Bach''
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|''make the beginning of each musical event more distinguishable''
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|Scene by the brook
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|Andante molto mosso
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|style="white-space: nowrap;" |B{{music|flat}} major
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|-
 
|-
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|III.
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|Embellish
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|''Lustiges Zusammensein der Landleute''
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|''determine the most salient features of the texture and add accentuating information''
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|Merry gathering of country folk
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|Allegro
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|style="white-space: nowrap;" |F major
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|-
 
|-
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|IV.
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|Clarify
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|''Gewitter, Sturm''
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|''make different types of sounds within the texture more distinct from each other''
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|Thunder. Storm
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|Allegro
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|style="white-space: nowrap;" |F minor
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|-
 
|-
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|V.
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|Specialize
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|''Hirtengesang. Frohe und dankbare Gefühle nach dem Sturm''
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|''observe affordances of instrument and merge material with those unique possibilities''
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|Shepherd's song. Cheerful and thankful feelings after the storm
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|Allegretto
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|style="white-space: nowrap;" |F major
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−
|}
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The third movement ends on an [[imperfect cadence]] that leads straight into the fourth. The fourth movement leads straight into the fifth without a pause. A performance of the work lasts about 40 minutes.
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===I. Allegro ma non troppo===
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|-
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{{listen|filename=Ludwig van Beethoven - symphony no. 6 in f major 'pastoral', op. 68 - i. allegro non troppo.ogg|title=First movement|description=Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. Music courtesy of [[Musopen]]|format=[[Ogg]]}}
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|Constrain
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The symphony begins with a placid and cheerful movement depicting the composer's feelings as he arrives in the country. The movement, in [[2/4 time|{{music|time|2|4}} meter]], is in [[sonata form]], and its [[Motif (music)|motifs]] are extensively developed. At several points, Beethoven builds up orchestral texture by multiple repetitions of very short motifs. Yvonne Frindle commented that "the infinite repetition of pattern in nature [is] conveyed through [[rhythmic cell]]s, its immensity through sustained pure harmonies."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070519041404/http://www.apollosfire.org/program_notes/prog_note_Beet_Schub.htm Program notes for the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra]</ref>
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|''observe the restrictions of the instrument and force the musical material against those limitations''
  
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=== II. Andante molto mosso ===
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|-
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{{listen|filename=Ludwig van Beethoven - symphony no. 6 in f major 'pastoral', op. 68 - ii. andante molto mosso.ogg|title=Second movement|description=Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. Music courtesy of [http://www.musopen.com Musopen]|format=[[Ogg]]}}
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|Mediate
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The second movement is another sonata-form movement, this time in {{music|time|12|8}} and in the key of B{{music|flat}} major, the [[subdominant]] of the main key of the work. It begins with the strings playing a motif that clearly imitates flowing water. The cello section is divided, with just two players playing the flowing-water notes on [[Mute (music)|muted]] instruments, and the remaining cellos playing mostly [[pizzicato]] notes together with the double basses.
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|''produce the current sound through different physical means''
  
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Toward the end is a [[cadenza]] for woodwind instruments that imitates [[Bird-calls|bird calls]]. Beethoven helpfully identified the bird species in the score: [[nightingale]] (flute), [[quail]] (oboe), and [[cuckoo]] (two clarinets).[[File:B6-2 Birds.jpg|thumb|480x480px|Cadenza of bird calls in second movement; bird species are noted in German.|center]]
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|-
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|Trail
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|''act as a delay line for another instrument''
  
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=== III. Allegro ===
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|-
−
{{listen|filename=Ludwig van Beethoven - symphony no. 6 in f major 'pastoral', op. 68 - iii. allegro.ogg|title=Third movement|description=Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. Music courtesy of [http://www.musopen.com Musopen]|format=[[Ogg]]}}
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|Granulate
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The third movement is a [[scherzo]] in [[3/4 time|{{music|time|3|4}} time]], which depicts country folk dancing and reveling. It is in F major, returning to the main key of the symphony. The movement is an altered version of the usual form for scherzi, in that the trio appears twice rather than just once, and the third appearance of the scherzo theme is truncated. Perhaps to accommodate this rather spacious arrangement, Beethoven did not mark the usual internal repeats of the scherzo and the trio. [[Theodor Adorno]] identifies this scherzo as the model for the scherzos by [[Anton Bruckner]].<ref>Theodor W. Adorno, ''Beethoven: The Philosophy of Music'', edited by Rolf Tiedemann, translated by Edmund Jephcott. Stanford: Stanford University Press (1998): 111. "The ''Scherzo'' is, no doubt, the model for Bruckner's ''scherzi''. ... The caricatured dance with the famous syncopation is practically as independent of the ''Scherzo'' itself as a trio, and is also in the same key. The movement is ''self-contained'' like a suite of three dances."</ref>
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|''continuously rearrange the previous material; reorder musical segments in new ways''
  
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The final return of the theme conveys a riotous atmosphere with a faster tempo. The movement ends abruptly, leading without a pause into the fourth movement.
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|-
 +
|Consolidate
 +
|''remove the silences between events''
  
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=== IV. Allegro ===
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|-
−
{{listen|filename=Ludwig van Beethoven - symphony no. 6 in f major 'pastoral', op. 68 - iv. allegro.ogg|title=Fourth movement|description=Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. Music courtesy of [http://www.musopen.com Musopen]|format=[[Ogg]]}}
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|Suspend
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The fourth movement, in [[F minor]], depicts a violent thunderstorm with painstaking realism, building from just a few drops of rain to a great climax with thunder, lightning, high winds, and sheets of rain. The storm eventually passes, with an occasional peal of thunder still heard in the distance. There is a seamless transition into the final movement. This movement parallels [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s procedure in his [[String Quintet No. 4 (Mozart)|String Quintet in G minor K. 516]] of 1787, which likewise prefaces a serene final movement with a long, emotionally stormy introduction.<ref>The parallel is noted by Rosen (1997:402), who suggests that the Sixth Symphony be regarded as fundamentally a four-movement work, the storm music serving an extended introduction to the finale.</ref>
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|''sounds should be continuous, with no perceptible re-entry''
  
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=== V. Allegretto ===
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|-
−
{{listen|filename=Ludwig van Beethoven - symphony no. 6 in f major 'pastoral', op. 68 - v. allegretto.ogg|title=Fifth movement|description=Performed by the Skidmore College Orchestra. Music courtesy of [http://www.musopen.com Musopen]|format=[[Ogg]]}}The finale, which is in F major, is in [[6/8 time|{{music|time|6|8}} time]]. The movement is in [[sonata rondo form]], meaning that the main theme appears in the [[Tonic (music)|tonic]] key at the beginning of the development as well as the exposition and the recapitulation. Like many classical finales, this movement emphasizes a symmetrical eight-bar theme, in this case representing the shepherds' song of thanksgiving.
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|Pause
 +
|''pause activity with a memory of the current material loop''
  
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The [[Coda (music)|coda]] starts quietly and gradually builds to an ecstatic culmination for the full orchestra (minus "storm instruments") with the first violins playing very rapid triplet [[tremolo]] on a high F. There follows a fervent passage suggestive of prayer, marked by Beethoven [[Dynamics (music)|''pianissimo'']], [[Sotto voce (music)|''sotto voce'']]; most conductors slow the tempo for this passage. After a brief period of afterglow, the work ends with two emphatic F-major chords.
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|-
 +
|Resume
 +
|''resume activity as if nothing during the pause has transpired''
  
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==In film==
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|-
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The symphony was used in the 1940 animated film ''[[Fantasia (1940 film)|Fantasia]]'', albeit with alterations in the length of the piece made by conductor [[Leopold Stokowski]].
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|Interrupt
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|''rearrange your current material as interruptions to another player’s activity take attention away from this player''
  
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Excerpts from the first movement were featured  in the death scene in the 1973 sci-fi film [[Soylent Green]].
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|-
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|Evade
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|''avoid playing at the same time as any other player''
  
−
==Notes==
+
|-
−
{{reflist}}
+
|Support
 +
|''emphasize and align with material in one other player’s improvisations; support them''
 +
 
 +
|-
 +
|Provide
 +
|''establish what is needed in the environment and provide that resource''
 +
 
 +
|-
 +
|Hide
 +
|''execute all events with the aim of drawing attention away from oneself''
 +
 
 +
|}
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
  
−
*[[Antony Hopkins]], ''The Nine Symphonies of Beethoven'' (Scolar Press, 1981, {{ISBN|1-85928-246-6}}).
+
Bauckholt, Carola. ''Zugvögel'' for reed quintet. Freiburg, Germany: Thuermchen Verlag, 2011-12.  
−
*[[David Wyn Jones]], ''Beethoven: Pastoral Symphony''  (Cambridge University Press, 1995, {{ISBN|0-521-45684-3}}).
+
 
−
*[[Charles Rosen]], ''The Classical Style'' (2nd edition 1997, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, {{ISBN|0-393-31712-9}}).
+
Brown, Becky, “Tomorrow, When I Grow Up,” Composer's personal website, Published February 26, 2018 http://becky-brown.org/work/tomorrow-when-i-grow-up.
−
*''Sixth and Seventh Symphonies'' (Dover Publications, Inc., 1976, {{ISBN|0-486-23379-0}}).
+
 
 +
Gibson, James Jerome. ''The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1979.
 +
 
 +
O'Callaghan, James. "Mediated Mimesis: Transcription as Processing." In Ems-network.org. ''Proceedings of the Electroacoustic Music
 +
Studies Network Conference: Meaning and Meaningfulness in Electroacoustic Music''. Stockholm., 2012. http://www.ems-network.org/IMG/pdf_EMS12_ocallaghan.pdf.
  
−
==External links==
+
Score Follower. "Carola Bauckholt — Zugvögel [w/ score]." YouTube video, 12:39, December 1, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEAHxLNyVxw.
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{{Commons category|Symphony No. 6 (Beethoven)}}
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*{{IMSLP2|work=Symphony No.6, Op.68 (Beethoven, Ludwig van)|cname=Symphony No. 6}}
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*{{MUSEDATA|id=beethoven/sym-6|title=Symphony No. 6}}
+
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*[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5478661 Interview with Christoph Eschenbach]
+
  
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{{Beethoven symphonies}}
+
Sdraulig, Charlie and Chris Lortie, ''An Investigation of Affordances and Limitations in Recent Audio Scores'', 2018
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{{Disney's Fantasia}}
+
  
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{{Authority control}}
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Westerkamp, Hildegard, ''Kits Beach Soundwalk,'' 1989.
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[[Category:1808 compositions]]
+
−
[[Category:Symphonies by Ludwig van Beethoven|06]]
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−
[[Category:Segments from Fantasia]]
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[[Category:Compositions in F major]]
+

Latest revision as of 00:39, 15 June 2018

This wiki page serves as a multimedia research documentation for the piece Incorporate by Chris Lortie and attempts to analyze its compositional rhetoric. Incorporate was written in early 2018 (premiered March 10, 2018) for a subset of Ensemble Proton consisting of flute, clarinet, violin, and cello. The piece makes use of very minimal electronics that are entirely fixed and non-interactive. Although the premiere of Incorporate made use of a fifth performer (designated as the “Operator”) as well as theatrical staging and costuming, these elements will not be reviewed here. The piece is largely improvisatory and makes use of audio score(s) as the primary means of composer-performer communication. A supplementary written PDF is provided as a verbal reiteration of contents from the audio score(s).

A full recording of the work can be cound here (recorded 11 March, 2018 at Elliot Program Center, Stanford University -- Ensemble Proton)

front view of ensemble at the premiere

Audio Scores and Affordances

The piece was inspired by my research with Charlie Sdraulig into the various affordances and limitations of the audio score format. An audio score can be defined as a score which employs sound as the primary means of communication between composer and performer. As opposed to conventionally-noted written scores, audio scores represent information and instructions within the same domain as the performed product (Sdraulig and Lortie, 2018).

Many of the arguments in that paper, and some of the arguments in this documentation, are posited within the context of affordance theory. Affordances can be defined as “the potential actions made possible by an object or environment to a given individual,” a concept that implies a mutually-influencing, transactional relation between actor and object (Gibson, 1979. p. 172). A material format alone does not wholly determine the action possibilities it affords; composers and performers (i.e. the actors in this context), as well as audio scores (i.e. the object), are themselves situated and dynamically shaped within wider networks and histories of cultural practice. These practices mediate and constrain potential relations: for instance, the act of deploying a sound recording as if it were a score suggests a translation of prior scoring practices across media; equally, functioning as a score is just one of the many potential use cases afforded by sound recordings. Nevertheless, at this particular intersection of cultural practice and material format, audio scores representing information and instructions in sound afford some distinct and different possibilities to composers and performers when compared to scores which deploy some form of symbolic visual representation of sound or sound-producing movement. Incorporate was conceived as an applied study of these affordances, along with an exploration of possible new applications for this medium. 

 case studies referenced in Charlie Sdraulig and Chris Lortie, An Investigation of Affordances and Limitations in Recent Audio Scores, 2018
 - Cassandra Miller — Guide
 - Carola Bauckholt — Zugvögel
 - Louis d’Heudieres — Laughter Studies 1-3
 - Carolyn Chen — Adagio
 - Laura Stanic — Open Air Bach

The Sdraulig/Lortie paper surveyed a collection of recent audio scores primarily associated with experimental art music as case studies. Among these, we identified two primary sub-categories associated with the temporal relations composed between performer and audio score: reactive and rehearsed. On the one hand, performers primarily react to the audio score during performance; on the other, the audio score shapes the performers’ interpretations in rehearsal, well before public performance. In practice, these two categories may be combined, weighted, and hybridized to varying degrees. After this research, I became interested in this hybridized deployment of the audio score object and sought to create a piece which features several layers — or modes — of audio scores simultaneously.


The Four Modes of Audio Score in Incorporate

Incorporate makes use of four distinct modes of audio scores which serve to communicate instruction in different areas of the composition.

Mode 1: Instructions

- Category: Rehearsed
- Format: Fixed Audio Files (7) and Video Overview
- Contents: Narration, Instructions, Exercises

The first mode of audio score deployed in this piece comes in the form of the score’s instructive narration. This narration is segmented into eight files, including one video overview, and seven audio files. The video overview provides an explanation of the structure, development, and actions performed within the piece. The seven audio files serve to demonstrate and clarify the musical events of the piece along with their boundaries and internal logic.

This narration could be likened to an “audiobook” version of a conventional text score, with the exception that this score takes advantage of the unique affordances of recorded audio. Here, the audio format serves not only to instruct but actively engage the listener through a series of musical exercises. These exercises invite participation in real time from the performer and serve as a tool for individual rehearsal.

For example, one exercise consists of a 15-minute meditation with a particular focus towards deep listening and sound reproduction. Another consists of alternating narrated and interactive segments which serve to progressively build up in complexity. The primary affordance enacted by this mode of the audio score is in demonstrating a specific system of listening and interaction. Furthermore, the score arguably benefits from representing these instructions in the same domain as the performed product, affording an immediacy of communication.

The use of an audio score as a means to direct modes of listening can also be observed in Hildegard Westerkamp’s Kits Beach Soundwalk. The piece, existing as a static audio file, provides narrated commentary of a soundwalk at Kits Beach in Vancouver:

"[...] I'm trying to listen to those tiny sounds in more detail now. Suddenly, the background sound of the city seems louder again. It interferes with my listening. It occupies all acoustic space and I can't hear the barnacles in all their tininess. It seems too much effort to filter the city out. Luckily, we have bandpass filters and equalizers. We can just go into the studio and get rid of the city -- pretend it's not there. Pretend we are somewhere far away..." (Westerkamp, 1989)

Like other members of the World Soundscape Project (M. Schaefer, Truax, et al.), Westerkamp is keen on pointing out the complex layering of our contemporary soundscapes; unlike her colleagues, however, she makes an effort to espouse these modern distractions by pondering their unique complexity. Likewise, she promotes the technological tools available to effectuate this goal, referencing “bandpass filters and equalizers.” By making public her own listening practice, Westerkamp invites the listener to empathize and engage with these narrated observations.


Mode 2: Sound Files

- Category: Rehearsed
- Format: Fixed Audio Files (60)
- Contents: Concrete Sounds, Field Recordings, Sampled Material

The second mode of audio score used in Incorporate takes the form of sound files that are provided before every rehearsal and performance. Each performer is given three recordings, ranging from 5 seconds to 30 seconds in length. The performers were not given descriptions of what was contained within each file, but were instead instructed (via mode 1’s narration) to focus only on sonic qualities. During the piece, the players are instructed to perform a faithful reproduction these sound files on their particular instrument in the form of an ongoing loop; this material serves as the initial starting point for the ensemble’s improvisations for each formal section.

Excerpt from Mode 1's Narration explaining the use of Sound Files in Mode 2

The sound files are comprised of a collection of field recordings and sampled materials, and are assigned to a player based upon an assumed affinity to their instrument. These allocations were done as an attempt to reduce the amount of translation between recording and performer.

The sound files and their contents were selected to be consistent across certain criterea towards specific ends. For instance:

· Most soundfiles are non-pitched, or do not contain easily-discernable pitch. This affords a homogenous texture to the ensemble that is weighted towards non-pitched sounds and extended techniques.

· Most soundfiles are shorter than 10 seconds long. This affords a detailed scrutiny of their rhythmic and timbral qualities, as anything longer than 10 seconds would not be easily compressed into the player’s echoic memory.

· Most soundfiles do not have large variations in dynamic over time, and generally do not contain abrupt jumps in dynamic. This affords a slowly-evolving ensemble dynamic that benefits more from textural information than dramatic or gestural information.

· All recordings have been reduced to mono, which prevents the performer from being distracted or influenced by spatial information.

Some examples of sound files used in Incorporate:

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

The last example on this list was used on the day of the premiere performance. In the excerpt below, one can hear the clarinet player Richard Haynes reproducing this sound on his instrument from memory.

Excerpt with Clarinet reproduction of Example 4 above

This mode of the audio score was directly influenced by a similar implementation in Zugvögel by Carola Bauckholt. Zugvögel is a reed quintet in which players interact with and rehearse the audio score well before public performance. The audio recordings, which consist of bird calls of various species, are not played in performance; instead, the quintet members are instructed to familiarize themselves with these bird calls and memorize all their time-based nuances in order to reproduce them on their respective instruments.

Excerpt of birdsong recording and subsequent reproduction of recording on instruments

Bauckholt’s use of the audio score format directs this activity towards high-fidelity transcriptions of bird calls rather than reduced abstraction or overt musicalization (the obvious historical precedent for the latter occurs in the works of Olivier Messiaen) (O'Callaghan, 2012). By using recordings of her sources, Bauckholt’s audio score affords of a higher degree of specificity and dimensionality to performers than most visual, symbolic representation of those sources (particularly in regards to spectro-temporal variation in timbre, for example.)

visual score for Zugvögel

In Zugvögel, each performer establishes a distinct relationship with the recordings due to their objective of producing a faithful imitation through whatever means necessary. This mimetic process begins with the task of parsing each recording’s most salient elements. In contrast to the traditional practice of bird call transcription in a conventionally-notated medium, the recorded format omits much of the symbolic filtering and prioritizations of the composer. It instead defers any such filtering to the instrumentalists of the reed quintet, allowing a more intimate understanding of the instruments’ capabilities to inform a precise rendering. Hence, the performers’ personal knowledge of their instrument’s compatibility with the source material affords a higher degree of fidelity in its reproduction. Through this process, the performer may also come to discover previously hidden action-potentials in relation to their instrument.

It should be noted that each recording is symbolically transcribed by Bauckholt in an accompanying visual score. She adds in her prefatory notes, however, that “the notation should only be taken as a guide,” suggesting that the notated transcription holds only a supplementary role in relation to the audio score (Bauckholt, 2011-12). However, this visual aid helps to mitigate one of the audio score format’s primary limitations: the act of memorization. Because the minute features of each recording must be encoded into memory and recalled in performance, the musical information itself is subject to variability and even corruption over time. Factors influencing the performer’s ability to reproduce the recording may include: the time spent rehearsing, the effort expended in memorizing the recording, the recognizability (or lack thereof) of each sound, the player’s aptitude or preferences towards certain sounds, and/or the player’s assumed ensemble role during performance. Employing a visual score in conjunction with the audio score would seem to effectively redress this limitation.

By contrast, the sound files provided in Incorporate are purposefully not supplemented with an accompanying visual score. The score’s contents are thus subject to a lower-fidelity translation via the performer’s memorized impression. Incorporate instead opts for a qualitative embodiment of the audio score, relying on the mediations of the performers’ identities and subjective inclinations to shape the source material.


Mode 3: Shocks

- Category: Reactive
- Format: Fixed Audio Files (15) with randomized timings
- Contents: Sampled Material
formal diagram of Incorporate

The third mode of the audio score comes in the form of the electronics during performance. The electronics consist of very short sound files (each less than a second long) played at a high volume, each triggered at random intervals over the course of the piece. These serve the role of enforcing the pacing and form of the piece as a whole by demarcating the beginning of each formal section. The form of Incorporate resembles simple loop of actions that happens anywhere from 6 to 11 times. The electronic “shocks” serve to signal the beginning of a new loop.

Here, the audio score falls into the reactive category, because the players are asked to respond to these shocks in real time. They cannot anticipate the shocks and have no forewarning that they are about to occur. The use of both unpredictability and indeterminacy affords the performance a certain level of theatrical anxiety.

Below is an example of one of these shocks in the context of the performance. In this excerpt, players react to the shock in real time by performing a specific action (the anxious breathing).

Excerpt with a shock

The use of a reactive audio score as a means to create anxiety can also be seen in Becky Brown’s Tomorrow, When I Grow Up. Brown’s piece, scored for solo voice and electronics, varies between each performance. Although the electronics are entirely fixed, they are rearranged in a DAW between rehearsals and performances by the composer so that they cannot be feasibly predicted. This affords the soloist a certain amount of performance anxiety in the subsequent performance, aligning with the programmatic narrative of the work (Brown, 2018).

link to Becky Brown's Tomorrow, When I Grow Up


Mode 4: Operations

- Category: Reactive
- Format: Live Performance
- Contents: Improvised material from ensemble
computer screen display showing operations

The fourth mode of the audio score comes in the form of 19 operations, or keywords, that serve as improvisatory cues. These are displayed on a computer screen in real time by an operator, who stands behind the ensemble at a laptop. The operations are designated as an audio score because the players perform real-time manipulations of each other’s improvised material. The verbal cues given on the screen do not dictate what sounds are to be produced, but instead direct the players towards what to attend to as source material and how to manipulate that material. Conceivably any sound can be filtered through these operations.

Players come to be familiarized with each of these operations through the aforementioned audio narration of Mode 1. The operations are defined and clarified through exercises and meditations. These set the expectations and boundaries for possible use cases in performance. The vocabulary of operations is modular, in that the list of possible keywords can be amended or reduced for a given performance.

stage diagram for Incorporate


Name of Operation Description (simplified)
Incorporate incorporate the sonic environment into current material
Articulate make the beginning of each musical event more distinguishable
Embellish determine the most salient features of the texture and add accentuating information
Clarify make different types of sounds within the texture more distinct from each other
Specialize observe affordances of instrument and merge material with those unique possibilities
Constrain observe the restrictions of the instrument and force the musical material against those limitations
Mediate produce the current sound through different physical means
Trail act as a delay line for another instrument
Granulate continuously rearrange the previous material; reorder musical segments in new ways
Consolidate remove the silences between events
Suspend sounds should be continuous, with no perceptible re-entry
Pause pause activity with a memory of the current material loop
Resume resume activity as if nothing during the pause has transpired
Interrupt rearrange your current material as interruptions to another player’s activity take attention away from this player
Evade avoid playing at the same time as any other player
Support emphasize and align with material in one other player’s improvisations; support them
Provide establish what is needed in the environment and provide that resource
Hide execute all events with the aim of drawing attention away from oneself

References

Bauckholt, Carola. Zugvögel for reed quintet. Freiburg, Germany: Thuermchen Verlag, 2011-12.

Brown, Becky, “Tomorrow, When I Grow Up,” Composer's personal website, Published February 26, 2018 http://becky-brown.org/work/tomorrow-when-i-grow-up.

Gibson, James Jerome. The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1979.

O'Callaghan, James. "Mediated Mimesis: Transcription as Processing." In Ems-network.org. Proceedings of the Electroacoustic Music Studies Network Conference: Meaning and Meaningfulness in Electroacoustic Music. Stockholm., 2012. http://www.ems-network.org/IMG/pdf_EMS12_ocallaghan.pdf.

Score Follower. "Carola Bauckholt — Zugvögel [w/ score]." YouTube video, 12:39, December 1, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEAHxLNyVxw.

Sdraulig, Charlie and Chris Lortie, An Investigation of Affordances and Limitations in Recent Audio Scores, 2018

Westerkamp, Hildegard, Kits Beach Soundwalk, 1989.

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