In/Retrospection is an audiovisual composition employing audio and video in an interactive form, written for a ten-piece orchestra, electronically generated audio, and video that interact with each other in a variety of ways. Not only is the use of overall interaction employed, but each element of the composition is given its own space to develop and take its place in the forefront of the listeners/viewers focus, thus shifting attention to various aspects of the composition. In this way, the composition is neither a video with accompanying audio or audio with accompanying video, but a combination of both forms. On top of this, the electroacoustic portion of the piece, employing both traditional orchestral instruments as well as electronically manipulated sounds and music, adds yet another level of interaction and attention-shifting mechanics to the composition. The constant shifting of the listener's/viewer's focus is the fundamental idea explored in In/Retrospection. / School of Music

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Thesis (M.M.)--University of North Texas, 2002. / A two-week event in four parts: invitation, installation, reception, and thank-you card. Installation for 2 hosts, 2 ushers, photographer, 4 posers, exerciser, sound persons, and blindfolded guests, with a mix of live and recorded sounds. Includes instructions for performance. Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-67).

Amongst the modern day abundance of audio-visual media, where sounds represent everything from the swooping of virtual cameras through 3D spaces to the pressing of buttons and receiving of emails, and conversely where VJs routinely accompany live musical performance with an increasingly sophisticated language of abstract computer animation, the notion of music as a necessarily exclusively aural medium seems somewhat out of place. Psychological theories relating to the cognition of sound, in particular physical schema, accounting for the ubiquity of vertical plane pitch metaphors in most musical cultures, provide evidence of a deep-rooted spatially informed understanding of sound thus providing a common ground for both sound and vision in music. Furthermore, Western Classical composition is rife with examples of visually conceived forms from Bach’s Crab Canon (1747) to Xenakis’ architecturally inspired Metastasis (1954). However, in practice the gap between the listener’s auditory experience and the composer’s visual concept is often insurmountable. Rising to Schaeffer’s call for “Primacy to the ear!” (Schaeffer, 1967, pp. 28-30), acousmatic composers have sought to derive music exclusively from experientially verifiable criteria. However, in its pervasiveness of other musical genres, no doubt aided by technologically and commercially driven domination of the pre-recorded over the live listening experience in the latter half of the twentieth century, such an approach has lead to the neglect of visual aspects in the live performance of much art-music. This research aims to begin to redress this balance through the composition of, largely computer realised, audio-visual works whose conception arises not from a superimposition of one medium upon another, but through the very relations between the media themselves. Utilising modern computers’ ability to synchronise physical and virtual visual events with synthesised sound in real time not only affords composers an invaluable tool for enhancing listener’s perception of formal structures but also implies causal relationships between the sonic and the visual which can provide a base of intuitive understanding on which more complex formal ideas can be built.

Research on the musical language as well as the technical realisation of the tape part to a kindred spirit, for ensemble and tape, was realised at the Electronic Music Studio of McGill University from September, 1984 to September, 1986. / The following excerpt from the programme note in the score summarizes the 'spirit' of the composition. / "The computer generated sounds on tape form a large body in which instrumental sounds float and from which they appear, like weeds oscillating on a sometimes calm and often turbulent sea of sound. / 'You're afraid, in the mirror, of the sea, in front of, you're afraid ... ' and 'searching, for a common pulse, to sustain, to carry on, searching ... ' are circular phrases in the text which reflect elements of both doubt and courage. Mourning that which can never return. Celebrating that which will always be with us."

Vox Machina, for soprano, chamber ensemble, real-time digital signal processing and digital sounds, deals with the historical relationship between humanity and machines. The text uses excerpts drawn from a variety of sources, all in the public domain, as well as material written especially for the piece by the composer. The instrumental ensemble consists of 8 performers: flute, b-flat clarinet, horn, violin, viola, cello, guitar and percussion. A conductor is required, as well as a technician to control a mixing board and the performance of computer-generated sections of music. Digital sounds may be performed directly from computer, or may be played from DAT cassette.

The notion of identity between the ancient and the contemporary, which has its source in Mayan studies, informs the design principles of this work. Specific techniques are listed for the design of musical space and time in Guacamayo, which is "a musical drama that strives for synthesis." There follows an outline of the principle motivic material, approaches to melodic construction and text setting, techniques used to design space (or pitch) and time (or rhythm)--including traditional harmony, symmetrical modes, non-octaviating space and random number generation in the first case, and speech rhythm, folk rhythm, metre and tempo in the second--as well as the role of summation series in the construction of both time and space. A discussion of dialectic concepts, and the ways in which different techniques are combined to create a sense of motion between simple textures and complex ones leads to consideration of form-determining placement of important scenes from the opera. Comments on the composition of the orchestra and electroacoustic music conclude the essay.

This thesis presents a method of algorithmic composition in which the music is seen as motion through a multidimensional musical space. An analogy is drawn between physical space and musical space, each direction of the physical space corresponding to a musical parameter. A computer program was developed using the MAX programming environment to simulate the goaldirected motion of a mobile robot through an environment containing obstacles. The potential field method of mobile robot path planning was used. The program maps the location of the robot to musical parameters in the musical space. Based on the instantaneous values of the musical parameters, the program generates melodic material and transmits the resulting MIDI data to a synthesizer. For this research, the program was limited to three spatial dimensions and one obstacle. The program successfully created simple compositions consisting of large musical gestures. A model composition was created. Suggestions were made for further development and more elaborate applications of the method. / School of Music

This project has created electronic music as a dramatic device for the play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard. An accompanying paper has reported how the project was successful in arousing an emotional response from both cast and audience. In addition, the paper discusses methods and considerations in creating an electronic score for theater.

An Analytical System for Electronic Music is a systematized method for the analysis of an electronic work and is directed towards making electronic music (E. M.) more accessible to the general audience and the experienced analyst.The uniqueness of E. M. is characterized by new sonic materials. These new sonic compositions require new methods of analysis. Because electronic music composition is sound dependent, a look at the surface, syntax, and the way in which the different hierarchical levels interact had to be considered. The word "topography" was adapted to conceptualize the formal and structural principles of the medium.In most cases scores are not available for electronic music compositions.Because of this, new perceptual and cognitive capabilities are required by both the analyst and appreciative listener.In E. M., pitch, duration, loudness, timbre, and the spatial properties of sound have an equal potential to be the primary generator of the musical material. The Analytical System assists the analyst in identifying significant musical events in any parameter. Pitch-contour, vertical-density, attack-density, dynamic-contour, timbral-characteristics, and spatial-location graphs are integral components of the method. Adaptable to any hierarchical level, the graphs clearly depict the sonic activity. With the addition of a detailed graphic representation of the significant musical events and objective verbal descriptions, an electronic work can be accurately recorded in sufficient detail to allow indepth analysis.The System is purposefully broad in its approach to the individual electronic work. It has been devised to be applicable to the many diverse styles of the medium. The method of analysis will easily guide the analyst through a large portion of the literature of electronic music.