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Authors: |
Iazzetta, Fernando. | |
Title: |
Mapping the world into music | |
Keywords: |
music composition; computer music; algorithmic composition;music technology; modeling | |
Abstract: |
In 1955 Hiller and Isaacson fed a
computer with formal rules to create astring quartet. That piece of music, entitled Illiac
Suite for StringQuartet started a new path in music composition by delegating the
controlof music composition to a machine. In the last 40 years many composers have been
using thecomputers as a tool for music creation and today the computer music fieldis a
very well established one. An increasing number of composers, performers, engineers, softwaredevelopers and interface designers are constantly studying and developingnew ways of applying computer technology in music creation.This process involves the interrelation of a variety of fields, rangingfrom music theory to artificial intelligence to hardware engineering. Manypublications spread worldwide are devoting lots of pages to computer musicsubjects and many music schoolshave understood the importance of having music technology classes in theircurricula. Despite all this development very little attention has beendrawn to the aesthetic consequences of using computers as compositionaltools.The very intense computer music production saw in the last decades werenot followed by efforts to deeply investigate how computer music affectsmusic language itself. One important question arises when the practice of using extra-musicalmodels in music composition becomes a commonplace in computer music arenas.Fractal images, chaotic processes, genetic algorithms, neural networks arenow largely used by the skilled composer as a basis for the compositional processes. Mapping thesebiological, mathematical, physical or even social models to musiccompositions can easily lead to the construction of beautifulprocesses and terrible musical results. The composer is often totallyseduced by the process he has created and his concern about the product ofthis process becomes less important. For example, to map a geometricfractal form to a music compositionmeans to transpose a significant structure from one realm (visual,mathematical) to another (aural, musical), but it does not assure that theperception of the significance of that structure will be maintained. In this paper we will be analyzing the aesthetic implications that the useof computers in music composition brought about and how the process ofmapping an extra-musical model into music can simply invalidate thatmodel. |
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| Iazzetta, Fernando. iazzetta@pucsp.br
Universidade de São Paulo Fernando Iazzetta was born in 1966. He teaches Electroacoustic
Music atthe Music Department of the "Universidade de S‹o Paulo" (USP) and
is aResearch Associate at the Graduate Program in Communication and Semioticsof the
"Pontif'cia Universidade Cat-lica de S‹o Paulo" (PUC-SP). He holds
aPercussion degree from the Sao Paulo State University and a Ph.D. inCommunication and
Semiotics from the Catholic University of Sao Paulo witha thesis entitled "Sons de
Sil'cio: Corpos e M‡quinas Fazendo Mœsica" (Silicon Sounds: Bodies and
Machines Making Music). As a composer hehas written for different instrumental ensembles
as well as for electronicmedia. His research is directed towards the study of new forms of
musictechnology andmusic interaction. During 1994-95 he visited the Center for New Music
andAudio Technologies (CNMAT) at the University of California, Berkeley wherehe developed
a research on interactive music systems. He is the author ofthe book "Mœsica:
Processo e Din‰mica" (AnnaBlume, 1993) and a number of articlesabout music. |
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