Digital Culture & AudioVisual Challenges

The development of a precise notation system, in order to record music as accurately as possible, began during the Gothic period (c. 1150-1450) and over the centuries has evolved depending on the musical needs of each era. This system today is not sufficient to capture the expressiveness and content of music, especially within the progress of musical writing since the late 19th century, which led to a gradual modernization of musical scoring beyond sound recording. Moreover, in contemporary music, where notation in the classical diatonic sense does not exist, but musical composition focuses on sound shapes and spectral behaviors (Smalley: 1996 Spectromorphology), we are called upon to visualize the musical content in a different way: this involves a graphical representation with shapes, symbols and images that best capture not only the recorded sound material, but also the live part of a musical instrument.  

Modern music that began during the interwar period and evolved throughout the second half of 20th century (futurist, aleatoric, spectral, concrete, electronic) is often difficult or even impossible to represent via the diatonic notation code. Thus, composers have tried to devise ways to make the music and its meaning as comprehensible as possible, both to the performer and to the reader-listener by schematic visualisations. This depiction has at times been distinguished in different genres, starting with simple drawings on paper, paintings with shape and colour and, later with the development of technology, reaching digital depictions of the sound with a still or moving image. Such a contemporary representation can be divided into two categories: A. Objective imaging (spectrogram with digital analysis of the sound by FFT) , B. Subjective depiction of the shapes and symbolism of the sounds (narrative, sound-symbols, emotions-elements that a computer cannot render) and a combination of the above, where subjective and objective elements co-exist (e-analysis, acousmographe).

In this article we highlight a form of subjective visualization through the examples of two electroacoustic music compositions for flute and electronic sounds (Machine Gun and 59 Winds). published by Forton Music. In these the score aims a) to optimally capture the flute part musically (contemporary techniques, dynamics, expression, narrative) for an accurate musical performance and b) to explore a simple digital imprint as a subjective musical notation. In these works the sounding content is approached spectrally and cannot be rendered by notes alone, both in the live part and the electronic part of the context. 

key-points: 

• performance of the electronic part
• musical chords together with shapes, 
• invented notation, 
• special fingerings and musical symbols, 
• narrative and sonic abstraction

Scoring combines elements of traditional notation, graphs, symbolism, written instructions, time and sound signs. Original notation involves dynamic and spectral intensity symbols,  narrative and abstract shapes, morphological shapes (horizontal or vertical lines for attacks and sonic longitudes accordingly) and anything that can be schematically described in the context. The instrumental part also includes traditional notation, while several extended flute timbral techniques are based on Robert Dick's existing notation. Invented sound forms are notated with original notation. The graphic representation of the electronic part describes sound behaviors and characteristics, based on the ideas of sound ‘event’ and ‘texture’.  The illustration of temporal sequence is present in both parts, while written instructions point towards particular techniques and timbres of the flute.

Thus, the electronic part of 59 Winds mostly demonstrates a graphical representation, written instructions and time points, while the score of Machine Guncombines traditional notation (instrumental part) with graphs (electronic part), being the most representative score identifying the author’s personal writing style.  Particularly in the depiction of the electronic part, some general symbols, used in earlier works (clicks, pauses) have been developed further in the discussed context of the above-mentioned works. 

The conclusions drawn from the above practical research concern an original style of music representation, which however is based on the tradition of contemporary music scoring and offers the performer more possibilities to render the work as accurately as possible. Technology is evolving rapidly and offers many possibilities for recording music. Nevertheless, the composer's subjective impression of the music must be preserved in every case in order to convey the symbolism and anthropogenic elements of the composition. So the digital imprinting of music remains a creative process, a kind of visual art, where the medium -the digital image- functions as the canvas on which we paint the music.

Key words: graphic score, performance, contemporary technique, flute, electronic sounds, aesthetics