“I.B.R. Variations” are improvised compositions, where only the hardware set-up and the signal paths are predetermined. Although it is improvised, the questions of form and structure are dominating, creating a tension between the structure-oriented and the process-oriented approach to composition. The basic idea is to break the virtual linearity and predictability of the musical tension-resolution interplay, usually encountered in compositions or improvisations, and to introduce additional empirical factors (visual and tangible) upon which the temporal organization of compositional elements could be based on. Due to the physical inclusion of the musician in the electronic circuit of the instrument, he is able to experience a tangible feedback accompanying any sound he induces. In fact, he gets to feel the actual sound itself through its electronic abstraction. In extreme situations, the source electrodes can generate up to 14 volts (RMS), which causes a rather painful experience especially if the musician puts the cable into his mouth. Consequentially, the aural aesthetics and functionality of elapsed sonic events loose their forefront position in the upcoming sonic event selection procedure. Of course this is true not only for the horizontal density development (time domain), but also for the vertical density (momentary signal structure and velocity). Thereby, the composition structure is conditioned through the real-time process of the actual instrument playing, though the process is not supposed to enslave the structure, but merely to reduce the composer’s free will in aural thinking

Composers Forum Mittersill/ Austria/2006

video:

Cube - Institute for Electronic Music (IEM)/Austria

Studio session