The domain of this thesis is electroacoustic computer-based music and sound art. It investigates a facet of composition which is often neglected or ill-defined: the process of composing itself and its embedding in time. Previous research mostly focused on instrumental composition or, when electronic music was included, the computer was treated as a tool which would eventually be subtracted from the equation. The aim was either to explain a resultant piece of music by reconstructing the intention of the composer, or to explain human creativity by building a model of the mind. Our aim instead is to understand composition as an irreducible unfolding of material traces which takes place in its own temporality. This understanding is formalised as a software framework that traces creation time as a version graph of transactions. The instantiation and manipulation of any musical structure implemented within this framework is thereby automatically stored in a database. Not only can it be queried ex post by an external researcher—providing a new quality for the empirical analysis of the activity of composing—but it is an integral part of the composition environment. Therefore it can recursively become a source for the ongoing composition and introduce new ways of aesthetic expression. The framework aims to unify creation and performance time, fixed and generative composition, human and algorithmic “writing”, a writing that includes indeterminate elements which condense as concurrent vertices in the version graph. The second major contribution is a critical epistemological discourse on the question of ob- servability and the function of observation. Our goal is to explore a new direction of artistic research which is characterised by a mixed methodology of theoretical writing, technological development and artistic practice. The form of the thesis is an exercise in becoming process-like itself, wherein the epistemic thing is generated by translating the gaps between these three levels. This is my idea of the new aesthetics: That through the operation of a re-entry one may establish a sort of process “form”, yielding works which go beyond a categorical either “sound-in-itself” or “conceptualism”. Exemplary processes are revealed by deconstructing a series of existing pieces, as well as through the successful application of the new framework in the creation of new pieces.

This essay describes a single case self-study of a music composer in order to track the compositional process in real time. In the study the subject and the researcher are the same person. The study builds on previous empirical studies that have used methodological approaches such as analysis of computer-based digital data collection, verbal protocol and video observations. It deals with issues of the compositional process related to for example time consumption, number of artistic decisions, the different roles and skills of a music composer, and methods of research in the musical composition process. During three shifts the researcher worked as a music composer dealing with the issue of converting an audio sketch of a composition into a representative finished audio product. The aim of the study was to highlight a specific phase the composititional process. The results can be divided into artistic and a scientific perspective. An artistic result is a developed and improved musical composition. Examples of scientific results is making visible and discussing artistic strategies in the context of musical composition. The study discusses different artistic roles that the composer uses during composing, each role with different skills and conditions, and how this role-playing significantly may influence the artistic result.

Detta är en studie om lärande- och skapandeprocesser. Mer specifikt innefattar studien en observation av hur jag arrangerar 3 låtar för olika instrument under en tidsbestämd period. De frågor som behandlas är vilka tekniker jag använder, vilka problem som uppstår och hur det fungerar att arrangera på tid. Slutsatsen av hela observationen har visat att det är en bredd av faktorer som samspelar i kompositionsprocessen. Det har visat sig att jag applicerar intuition, diskursivt tänkande, musikteoretisk teknik och erfarenhet i arrangeringen av musik. Observationen är till stor del belyst av det fenomenologiska perspektivet och fenomenologisk metod används i analysen av mitt observerade material. / This is a study about learning and creative processes. More specifically, the study contains an observation of how I arrange three songs for different instruments within a specific time limit. The questions that are accounted for in this study are what techniques I use, which problems arise and how the time limit affects the result. The result of this study shows that a variety of factors are present during my composition/arranging process. It shows that I apply intuition, discursive thinking, music theoretical techniques, and experience in the field of arranging music. The observation is, to some extent, analysed from phenomenological perspective.

I projektet ville jag undersöka vilka personliga berättelser som finns hos musikerna vid KMH. Det vi pratar om när vi pratar om musiker är ofta utbildning, teknik och musikaliska förebilder. Men jag tror inte att det är vad musikerna själva vill kommunicera med sin musik. Under min kandidatutbildning på KMH upplevde jag att fokuset på hantverkskunnande överskuggade reflektion kring konstnärlig identitet. Jag ville i detta projekt resonera kring vad som skulle kunna hända om man reflekterade kring de båda lika mycket. Förutom att presentera en scen för de personliga berättelserna ville jag också undersöka andra tillvägagångssätt än de traditionella för både kompositionoch instudering av musik. Kompositionsprocessen har till stor del handlat om semantik som metod för komposition. / When talking about musicians we usually talk about education, technique and musical role models. But I don’t believe that that is what the musicians themselves want to communicate with their music. In this project I wanted to investigate the personal stories of the musicians at KMH. During my education at KMH I've experienced that the reflection about artistic identity was overshadowed by the focus on craftmanship. I wanted to discuss what might happen if one gave the two the same attention. Apart from presenting a scene for the personal stories I also wanted to investigate alternative ways for composing and studying music. An extensive part of the composition process has been about semantics as a method for composition.

O objeto de estudo desta Dissertação de Mestrado é o processo de composição da personagem teatral tendo imagens da pintura como estímulo para a mobilização física e emocional do ator no momento de criação. Traz alguns conceitos e definições sobre o trabalho do ator, abordados nesta pesquisa. Propõe um breve encontro com encenadores que buscam motivações diversas em suas propostas de criação cênica e que se aproximam de alguma forma do objetivo desta. Apresenta a experiência prática sobre o processo de composição das personagens do texto “A Filha do Teatro”, de Luís Augusto Reis. Tece considerações sobre os caminhos escolhidos, sobre a repercussão da proposta na criação artística do ator e sobre encaminhamentos futuros. / The object of study of this dissertation is the process of the composition of the theatrical character having paintings as a motivation for a physical and emotional mobilization of the actor that made part of this research, in their cultivation moment. The text presents some concepts about the actor process, adressed in this research. It proposes a brief encounter with theater artists that search different motivations in their scenic developing proposals that are closer to the objective of this paper. It presents a practical experience about the character developing of the play "A filha do teatro", by Luís Augusto Reis. It evolves considerations about paths chosen and about the repercutions in the artistic creation and future referrals.

O objeto de estudo desta Dissertação de Mestrado é o processo de composição da personagem teatral tendo imagens da pintura como estímulo para a mobilização física e emocional do ator no momento de criação. Traz alguns conceitos e definições sobre o trabalho do ator, abordados nesta pesquisa. Propõe um breve encontro com encenadores que buscam motivações diversas em suas propostas de criação cênica e que se aproximam de alguma forma do objetivo desta. Apresenta a experiência prática sobre o processo de composição das personagens do texto “A Filha do Teatro”, de Luís Augusto Reis. Tece considerações sobre os caminhos escolhidos, sobre a repercussão da proposta na criação artística do ator e sobre encaminhamentos futuros. / The object of study of this dissertation is the process of the composition of the theatrical character having paintings as a motivation for a physical and emotional mobilization of the actor that made part of this research, in their cultivation moment. The text presents some concepts about the actor process, adressed in this research. It proposes a brief encounter with theater artists that search different motivations in their scenic developing proposals that are closer to the objective of this paper. It presents a practical experience about the character developing of the play "A filha do teatro", by Luís Augusto Reis. It evolves considerations about paths chosen and about the repercutions in the artistic creation and future referrals.

O objeto de estudo desta Dissertação de Mestrado é o processo de composição da personagem teatral tendo imagens da pintura como estímulo para a mobilização física e emocional do ator no momento de criação. Traz alguns conceitos e definições sobre o trabalho do ator, abordados nesta pesquisa. Propõe um breve encontro com encenadores que buscam motivações diversas em suas propostas de criação cênica e que se aproximam de alguma forma do objetivo desta. Apresenta a experiência prática sobre o processo de composição das personagens do texto “A Filha do Teatro”, de Luís Augusto Reis. Tece considerações sobre os caminhos escolhidos, sobre a repercussão da proposta na criação artística do ator e sobre encaminhamentos futuros. / The object of study of this dissertation is the process of the composition of the theatrical character having paintings as a motivation for a physical and emotional mobilization of the actor that made part of this research, in their cultivation moment. The text presents some concepts about the actor process, adressed in this research. It proposes a brief encounter with theater artists that search different motivations in their scenic developing proposals that are closer to the objective of this paper. It presents a practical experience about the character developing of the play "A filha do teatro", by Luís Augusto Reis. It evolves considerations about paths chosen and about the repercutions in the artistic creation and future referrals.