This study aims to explore the boundaries and creative possibilities of composing and improvising music with a base in sampled saxophone fragments inside of Ableton Live. The study have included things as: exploring different sound design techniques, manipulation of saxophone samples, composing and rearranging music as well as rehearsing with a band and trying different concepts and approaches to performing the music in a live situation. The work includes creating polytonal sample instruments built inside of Live and the creation of more texture based ones as well. This work also resulted in composing 6 different compositions and the rearranging of an earlier composition to match the aesthetic character of the other ones. I’ve also tried to stretch the linear boundaries of Ableton Live with a more rubato based approach to composing to see what possibilities the program had to handle that type of context.As a composer I’ve early on created an aesthetic vision of what I wanted this sample based music to sound like and tried to very precisely recreate what I’ve heard inside of my head in detailed sketches in Ableton Live using midi instruments together with the sampled textures and instruments. I then realised that a great deal of the final task of this study was to bring this vision to the ensemble and make them play the music in a way that resonated with what I’ve heard when I composed it.

Premise and Objectives In our increasingly technology driven society, the impact of technology touches nearly every aspect of our lives in some form or another. This has been acutely felt within the world of percussion, with electroacoustic works representing perhaps the most rapidly expanding area of concert percussion over the last twenty years. Electroacoustic music couples electronic technology with traditional acoustic instruments and/or performance practices. Broadly, this paper outlines a systematic approach to teaching electroacoustic performance practice, based on elements found in a cross-section of percussion literature. In using such an approach, not only does each student become more capable of dealing with this growing body of literature, but also the process of educating these students becomes more efficient for the teacher. As a result, delivery becomes more effectively standardized, and resources can be shared more efficiently among multiple students who may be studying different types of electroacoustic repertoire. Method To organize this exploration, three main genres of electroacoustic repertoire for percussion are compared: prerecorded soundscape, live processing, and electronic pieces. This comparison illuminates the tools and techniques that are relevant to each type of repertoire and reflects not only the narrower focus of electroacoustic percussion, but also the broader goals of applied percussion instruction in the context of a “total” percussion program. Each classification is explored by addressing its critical elements using prime examples from the relevant standard repertoire. For the first classification of works, tape pieces, the project includes discussion on signal flow, balancing electronic and acoustic sound sources, an introduction to digital audio workstations (DAWs), and monitoring techniques. Two primary examples of the repertoire are used to contribute to this discussion; Javier Alvarez’s Temazcal for maracas and tape, and Brian Blume’s Strands of Time. Live processing works present increased challenges with concepts, including sound reinforcement, recording production, how to edit and creatively manipulate sound both in post-production and live, and detailed concepts of signal flow, often including MIDI protocol. To explore the concepts specifically relevant to live processed works, Nigel Westlake’s classic work, Fabian Theory, for amplified marimba and three toms, is offered. Electronic works give students further opportunity to explore MIDI mapping, patch and parameter changes using both hardware and software, and sometimes sound design. In this context, there is a brief exploration of Steve Reich’s Violin Phase. Finally, an exploration of Hans Werner Henze’s, Prison Song demonstrates how all of this technology and technique can come together in combination works. The work requires live sound reinforcement, pre-recorded soundscapes, separate monitoring, live processing, and live MIDI controllers. The paper closes with a brief summary of extra pedagogical considerations, including resource management, pedagogical philosophy, and further implications. Conclusion By examining the logical steps of pedagogically developing through the different broad categories of electroacoustic music, with an emphasis on its reflection of broader liberal values and critical applied analysis, it is believed that this research could yield a model for a more thoughtful approach for applied percussion teachers.

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Mémoire en recherche-création ; Aide financière octroyée : CIRMMT Student Award / Les conditions d'utilisation de théories scientifiques au cours du processus de composition musicale et plus généralement pour l'élaboration de théories esthétiques musicales sont au coeur du travail proposé. Une position critique est tout d'abord avancée relativement aux nombreux écueils historiques relevés. Elle permet d'en dégager quelques pistes d'exploration pour les processus compositionnels que je me suis proposé de suivre au fur et à mesure des pièces électroacoustiques et mixtes présentées. En particulier, des spécificités empruntées aux mécanismes vibratoires non-linéaires, aux modèles sociologiques déterministes ou prédictifs sont injectés au sein même des processus de création des mes oeuvres. Cinq pièces sont présentées. Les thématiques et les contraintes occasionnées par les modèles empruntés sont décrits ainsi que les réalisations techniques qui leur ont servi de support. Chaque pièce présente donc une démarche et des outils technologiques et informatiques particuliers. Ces pistes exploratoires feront intervenir contrainte formelle, limitation du contrôle du compositeur, improvisation, traitement et spatialisation en temps réel et développements originaux implémentés en Max/MSP et en Python. Par ailleurs, un outil d'aide à la composition spatiale proposant une perspective inédite de visualisation du champs de pression produit par les trajectoires et par le système de reproduction virtuel, et développé pendant ma maîtrise est présenté. / The use of science theories during the compositionnal process, especially in a purpose of esthetical properties abstraction is questionned. First, a criticist point-of-vue is adressed, on the basis of several historical examples. A personnal method dedicated to the development of original compositionnal process were deduced. In particular, the specific mecanisms related to nonlinear vibrations and deterministic sociological model could be inserted into the creative processes. Five electroacoustic and contemporay music pieces are presented. Themes and constraints provoked by the model insertion are detailed. They gather form-contraints, control limitations, improvisation, real-time processing and real-time spatialization implemented in Max/MSP and Python. Moreover, a refined sound-field rendering tool dedicated to computer-assisted composition is introduced.