The Computer-Aided Composer (researcher: Andrea Agostini)
The term “Computer-Aided Composition” (CAC) is usually associated with an established set of practices, mostly related to the application of essentially algorithmic processes to the writing of score-based music, and mostly relevant within a few specific aesthetic attitudes. This set of practices has not undergone radical rethinking since the 1980s or ‘90s. On the other hand, over the last decades, the way composers leverage computer technology has changed profoundly, but there has not been a systematisation of these novel approaches. As a first, direct consequence, composers find themselves constrained to less-than-optimal toolsets, often composed of various programs that are somehow hacked into working together. Even more importantly, new approaches to technology foster new kinds of musical expression: for example, the role of self-recording and remote collaboration is pervasive today, in ways that were unimaginable a few decades ago. The artistic research project I am submitting aims to investigate the need for new conceptual frameworks and tools and the potential they may unleash from the point of view of a composer with an ample, unorthodox vision and a strong aptitude for technology.
Results
electronic music, as well as hybrid forms of recorded vocal and instrumental music featuring substantial post-production work. More specifically, the major works I would like
to produce over the next few years include a string quartet with electronics; a collection of short acousmatic pieces based upon algorithmic processes; and, hoping to have access to the necessary financial and logistic means, a new studio-produced song cycle for voice and electronics. As mentioned above, an integral part of the reflection upon the
affordances of computer technology will be concerned with strategies for the dissemination of music produced through it.
The musical works will be complemented by a written description of my own
compositional processes, specifically focusing on the way they are augmented and facilitated by computer technology; and an analysis of the kind of tools that might improve on existing technologies. This written material will also feature discussions with other composers and musicologists, so as to not only represent my own point of view,
but to pinpoint practices and concerns of a community.
In addition, and according to the needs highlighted by the artistic and theoretical part of the research, I might choose to take advantage of my admittedly self-taught programming skills, so as to present at least some sketches of what a modern, comprehensive, accessible and, as far as possible, style-agnostic computer-aided composition ecosystem could be.
Extending the concept of computer-aided composition ultimately relates to the artistic object that is produced, easily transcending the traditional concert piece. In my wildest dreams, there is a whole community of composers and music creators waiting for opportunities and contexts for music conceived according to practices that have been commonplace in popular music since more than 50 years, beyond the limitations imposed by the concert setting. In such a scenario, this line of artistic research might act as a catalyst for sparking a discussion about what a musical artefact could be in the age of
mechanical reproduction.
On the other hand, the results of my research will be disseminated in the scientific world through articles to be submitted to specialised conferences and journals, as well as
workshops for composers and musicians, which I intend to deliver once a theoretical and
practical framework is at least partly defined.
