abstract: CYOA is a prototype of an iPhone application that produces a single, generative, musical work. This document details some of the thoughts and practices that informed its design, and specifically addresses the overlap between application structure and musical form. The concept of composed instruments is introduced and briefly discussed, some features of video game design that relate to this project are considered, and some specifics of hardware implementation are addressed. / Dissertation/Thesis / D.M.A. Composition 2013

Cette thèse porte sur une réflexion autour de la composition musicale arabe et les nouvelles technologies, avec comme élément central, les particularités idiosyncratiques inhérentes au langage musical.La rencontre avec les nouvelles technologies soulève plusieurs interrogations sous-jacentes. L’approche proposée consiste en la détermination d’un cadre formel avec un ensemble de structures idiomatiques selon un angle pluridisciplinaire musicologique et ethnomusicologique, mais aussi historico-acoustique et théorico-empirique à la fois.Le modèle musicologique dégagé permet de souligner : l’importance des cellules mélodiques primaires, une quantification acoustique des systèmes intervalliques, les aspects de monodie et d’hétérophonie selon le niveau individuel et collectif, une instabilité des degrés, et des aspects liés à l’interprétation musicale. Des approches originales sont envisagées concernant l’étude des mécanismes d’ornementations et trois catégories sont baptisées.La confrontation de ce modèle musicologique avec la rencontre des nouvelles technologies est établie et les conséquences de celle-ci sont soulignées. Les notions de simulation et d’émulation mettent en évidence la centralité du timbre et le recours à des échantillons audiovisuels permet d’identifier le domaine implicite de l’expérimentation. Une comparaison avec le modèle expérimental sur le plan de la musique électronique en général et l’informatique musicale en particulier est alors réalisée.Enfin, un essai de modélisation informatique dans l’environnement Csound est proposé et retrace les éléments idiosyncratiques identifiés. Des compositions électroacoustiques sont citées et une pièce est analysée. / This thesis focuses on Arabic musical composition and new technologies, with the idiosyncratic characteristics inherent in the musical language as central element.The encounter with new technologies raises several underlying questions.The approach suggested consists of a formal frame with a set of idiomatic structures according to a pluridisciplinary angle musicological and ethnomusicological, but also historical-acoustical and theorico-empirical at the same time.The musicological model revealed underlines: the importance of primary melodic cells, acoustic quantification of interval systems, monody and heterophony aspects according to individual and collective level, instability of degrees, and aspects related to musical interpretation.Original approaches are envisaged concerning the study of the mechanisms of ornamentations and three categories are baptized.The confrontation of this musicological model with new technologies’ encounter is established and the consequences of this one are underlined.Simulation and emulation concepts highlight the centrality of timbre and the use of audio-visual samples allows the identification of the implicit domain of experimentation.A comparison with the experimental model of electronic music in general and computer music in particular is therefore made.Finally, a computational modelling test in the Csound environment is proposed and traces the idiosyncratic elements identified. Electroacoustic compositions are cited and a musical work is analysed.

With a lineage originating in the days of silent films, visual music, in its current incarnation, is a relatively recent phenomenon when compared to an historically broad field of creative expression. Today it is a time-based audio/visual territory explored and mined by a handful of visual and musical artists. However, an extensive examination of the literature indicates that few of these composers have delved into the associable areas of merging virtual holography and holophony toward visual music composition. It is posited here that such an approach is extremely rich with novel expressive potential and simultaneously with numerous novel challenges. The goal of this study is, through praxis, to instantiate and document an initial exploration into the implementation of holochory toward the creation of visual music compositions. Obviously, engaging holochoric visual music as a means of artistic expression requires an interdisciplinary pipeline. Certainly, this is demonstrated in merging music and visual art into a cohesive form, which is the basis of visual music composition. However, in this study is revealed another form of interdisciplinarity. A major challenge resides with the development of the means to efficiently render the high-resolution stereoscopic images intrinsic to the animation of virtual holograms. Though rendering is a challenge consistent with creating digital animations in general, here the challenge is further exacerbated by the extensive use of multiple reflections and refractions to create complexity from relatively simple geometric objects. This reveals that, with the level of computational technology currently available, the implementation of high-performance computing is the optimal approach. Unifying such diverse areas as music, visual art, and computer science toward a common artistic medium necessitates a methodological approach in which the interdependency between each facet is recognized and engaged. Ultimately, a quadrilateral reciprocative feedback loop, involving the composer's sensibilities in addition to each of the other facets of the compositional process, must be realized in order to facilitate a cohesive methodology leading toward viability. This dissertation provides documentation of methodologies and ideologies undertaken in an initial foray into creating holochoric visual music compositions. Interlaced matrices of contextualization are intended to disseminate the processes involved in deference to composers who will inevitably follow in the wake of this research. Accomplishing such a goal is a quintessential aspect of practice-based research, through which new knowledge is gained during the act of creating. Rather than formulating theoretical perspectives, it is through the praxis of composing holochoric visual music that the constantly arising challenges are recognized, analyzed, and subsequently addressed and resolved in order to ensure progression in the compositional process. Though measuring the success of the resultant compositions is indeed a subjective endeavor, as is the case with all art, the means by which they are achieved is not. The development of such pipelines and processes, and their implementation in practice, are the basic building blocks of further exploration, discovery, and artistic expression. This is the impetus for this document and for my constantly evolving and progressing trajectory as a scholar, artist, composer, and computer scientist. / Doctor of Philosophy / In this paper the author explores the idea that, owing to their shared three-dimensional nature, holophons and holograms are well suited as mediums for visual music composition. This union is ripe with creative opportunity and fraught with challenges in the areas of aesthetics and technical implementation. Squarely situated upon the bleeding edge of phenomenological research and creative practice, this novel medium is nonetheless within reach. Here, one methodological pipeline is delineated that employs the convergence of holography, holophony, and super-computing toward the creation of visual music compositions intended for head mounted displays or large scale 3D/360 projection screens and high-density loudspeaker arrays.