Pictured above Manuella Blackburn performing at Digital Media, Valencia
SAHC, School of Arts Histories and Cultures at University of Manchester secured a PhD travel award to Manuella Blackburn towards her trip to Buenos Aires, to present a new paper at the Electronic Music Studies Conference 09 , (EMS) in Buenos Aires (22nd - 25th June 2009)
Paper Abstract:
Novars Research Centre, The University of Manchester
Denis Smalley’s concept of Spectromorphology (1997) provides the listener of electroacoustic music with thorough and accessible sets of vocabulary to describe sound events, structures and spaces. Traditional means of describing Western art music are usually inadequate in this regard, since we are dealing with music that is not note-based and often lacking a representation equivalent.
The use of this descriptive tool need not stop here. Fortunately, and often unconsciously for the composer, it does not, since all composers create music that is spectromorphological with or without an awareness of its presence at work.
In a reversal of conventional practice, spectromorphology can be approached from an alternate angle that views the vocabulary as the informer upon sound material choice and creation. In this reversal, vocabulary no longer functions descriptively; instead the vocabulary precedes the composition, directing the path the composer takes within a piece. This new application is an attempt at systemization and an effort to (partly) remedy the seemingly endless choice of possibilities we are faced with when beginning a new work.
The author envisions a number of advancements for the future use of this tool. Composing from vocabulary has scope to be developed into a pedagogical tool. Using vocabulary sets and combinations as starting points for sound material creation is one example of how this methodology can be employed in an educational situation. A further look into the future sees spectromorphological vocabulary as a suitable way to tag sounds as metadata. This vocabulary seeks to build upon this concept, first implemented by Ricard and Herrera (2004) using Schaefferian typo-morphology for sound labeling and retrieval. Little research has looked beyond this retrieval stage. The use of more exoteric spectromorphological labels within a sound recall system may provide a number of approaches for the electroacoustic music composer to create new material and new sounds assembling strategies.
This paper presents these concepts and thoughts within the context of fixed media works. An outline of composition methodologies developed from spectromorphology is presented using examples from these works, highlighting how this language promotes stimulation of visual and sounding equivalents in the compositional process.
This new application undoubtedly raises a number of questions. If we can use spectromorphology to describe the internal functioning of sounds and entire work structures that we find to be rewarding, is it possible to re-use this language in the creation of future works? Is it possible to isolate the language we regard as ‘successful’? In searching for a methodology that uses ‘successful’ language to generate sound material we expectedly run into issues of language subjectivity, and whether or not composer intuition is relinquished while working with such a scheme. Guiding the reader through these themes in works utilizing spectromorphological vocabulary will provide answers to these questions, while presenting a practical example of how one might implement these concepts.
For details about the EMS conference, please visit this link
