Picture from my video about my
composition "Music to Chew On"
|
Many years I have a dream to run Autobusk [Clarence
BARLOW
/ P-ART Journal
#20] and
other exclusive music programs like Presto (G. Mazzola) for Atari on
the
Mac platform. Marc Evans (USA) taked up this challenge: he resolved the
protracted
problem of interchange between computer platforms by arranging an
easy-to-install manual and dedicated zip (http://www.marcevansmusic.com/OtherStuff/Atari.zip).
I enjoy his groundbreaking hi-tech art of composing, his
back-to-earth view and innovative approach of making music in fluid
boundaries with other art media. Last but not least, Marc is participating to the announced DVD "The Intuitive P'ARTy". P-ART |
"Music can be so deeply social"
Click and listen to my intuitive/algorithmic composition Foothills
My Creative Manifesto
I have always been a person of many and disparate interests, so instead of one unifying theme, let me present to you several themes which I circle back to again and again in my art.
1. Nature and Shaped Randomness:
I have long been inspired by nature, and, coming from a lineage of mathemeticians, I also have a passion for science and abstract thinking. I find that a fruitful intersection of these interests is shaped randomness. Consider, for instance, all of the random forces that affect the growth of a tree, and how they are shaped by its genetic code. In my algorithmic music, I like to include random elements, which I then shape with my intuition.
2. Computation and Intuition:
Computers are exceptionally good at computation and other tasks for which the process can be clearly defined. They have what economists would call comparative advantage in this area. We, on the other hand, have remarkable associative abilities. Ask a person to approximate the log to the base π of 42 to 10 decimal places, and they will scratch their head, whereas computers have long done such things with ease. On the other hand, how many years of effort has it taken for computers to recognize speech with any accuracy, let alone comprehend it? The natural approach is a partnership. The only trick is to learn which situations call for which partner.
3. The Intersection of Instrument and Composition:
I have been very influenced over the years by conversations I have had with my good friend David Kanaga (http://www.davidkanaga.com). One of our most beloved topics of conversation is the increasingly blurred line between instrument and composition. Both, after all, are things that you play. For instance, consider a game (like Electroplankton) in which you are presented with an environment of sound-making objects, which you can manipulate to make music. The sound objects have been chosen and arranged so as to make musical sense, so in this sense it is a composition, but it also clearly an instrument of some kind, not just played, but played with. There seems to be an increasingly fluid continuum in which musical decisions may take place, with improvisation floating somewhere in the mix as well.
4. Intermedia and Interaction:
Each generation of artists has new and exciting forms and possibilities unavailable to the last. Computers and the digital revolution allow for so many types of art that could never have existed before, particularly those dealing with an intergration of different media and with interaction. Of course, not all art need be cutting edge, nor is new an end in of itself. But still, it feels some how aligned with our age to work in such realms.
5. The Human World and the Physical World:
Another reason I’m drawn to interaction is that it involves other people. It’s a way of being inclusive in my music. I sometimes wonder if I could do more good in the world by directly helping people in need, but I think composing can be a very noble profession when it draws people in and nourishes their souls.
This points also to the matter of subjectivity and objectivity. I am fascinated by the subjective world of human experience and expression, but I am equally fascinated by the obejctive worlds of astronomy, physics, math, and the other sciences. In what ways can compositions merge the objective (e.g. the incorporation of the exact timings of frogs croaking in the night) and the subjective (e.g. the felt experience of sharp-9 chord) to make focused and potent music?Marc EVANS
Contact: click here for email me
Click and look at my newest concert pieces (with my explanation)
based on the computer as creative composing partner https://youtu.be/zwQ7CcHxnIc
part of the UCSB Summer Music Festival 2020
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