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Re-inventing Harmony in Electroacoustic Music reflects on research regarding structuring pitch-based material in my music written between 1999 and 2010. The selected works illustrates the process leading up to my research based on psychoacoustic consonance and dissonance and my strategies to create a new kind of harmony – a harmony based on concrete sounds with inharmonic spectra. The discussion will refer to pieces by composers who have worked with harmony based on the analysis of sound spectra; instrumental and mixed works by spectralist composers such as Grisey, Murail and Saariaho and electroacoustic works by Harvey and others. I will address the importance of research in the psychoacoustic field, in particular, research by William A. Sethares regarding inharmonic spectra and scales and how it has affected my works.

Dawkins introduced the concept of the meme as the cultural equivalent to the gene (1989, pp. 189-201). To illustrate the concept, Dawkins cited ‘tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes, fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches’ (1989, p. 192) as examples of memes. All of Dawkins’ examples are elements of culture that have evolved over time. Because music is a part of culture, then under Dawkins’ hypothesis, memes should exist in music. After all, the first of Dawkins’ examples was a ‘tune’. Jan expanded on Dawkins’ ideas with a thorough investigation into memes in music (2007). This was done on a number of different levels within music, from melodic lines to overall structure, using a range of examples within music. Whilst providing a strong case for memes, Jan was not able to provide evidence from an analysis encompassing a large dataset of music. However, Jan does provide a number of possible methodologies for analysing memes in music, including investigating memes across time periods using single lines of notes (2007, p. 211). The present research expands on Jan’s suggested methodology by looking at short monophonic three- to eleven-note patterns in music across five different non-traditional musicological time periods within a large dataset of string quartets. A search for memes in music is conducted using a range of scores. These are converted to MusicXML documents, which are then imported into a relational database. Data mining is then implemented on the resultant dataset to produce a series of ranking positions for monophonic note patterns within the music based upon the relative frequencies of their appearances within specified time periods. Additionally, a similarity algorithm is used to investigate the possible ancestral relationships between different monophonic note patterns. Within the limitations of the working definitions and assumptions made in the research, it was shown that there is evidence for the evolutionary properties of selection, replication and variation, and the replicator properties of longevity, fecundity and copying fidelity for some monophonic note patterns within the dataset.

The commentary investigates Japanese aesthetics of space, silence and emptiness - ma and mu - that informed my compositional practice during the research period 2012 - 2015. The portfolio comprises text compositions and sound installations in which forms of micro events and sustained events are employed. Throughout, the emphasis is on my personal engagement with, and manifestation of emptiness that concerns a particular model of listening and perception. Chapter 1 discusses six primary research areas: ma and mu, material, text, form, listening and perception. Firstly, I introduce ma and mu by examining noh culture and Zeami's teaching of senu hima (where there is no-action) in the context of my personal approaches to music. The following subjects are then used to contextualise my PhD practice by means of examples from various composers and visual artists. Here, these particular and enigmatic concepts are explored through Japanese art as well as Western contemporary works by Alvin Lucier, Eliane Radigue and those of the Wandelweiser collective. Part 2 provides contextual commentaries on selected compositions from the portfolio that mostly articulate my aesthetics in relation to the topics covered in Chapter 1. koso koso addresses my methodologies to investigate the essence of senu hima, followed by treow that discusses my approach to materials and the importance of space. I move on to grade two and grade two extended in order to examine text scores, and then, look into Espèces d'espaces 03 and 04 as examples of musical forms that I employ. Finally, listening and perception are investigated through the compositions gnome and con.de.structuring. Throughout, I describe how my works explore emptiness as a result of my particular emphasis on listening over composing.

The following portfolio of sonic artworks and accompanying commentary comprises creative and theoretical research undertaken between 2008 and 2012. Alongside a portfolio and commentary of sonic artworks, it will also feature an exposition of the theoretical concepts that have propelled and informed their creation. At the centre of the research is the development of an integrated theoretical and creative practice in sonic art. I will discuss the context that has led me, as a creative practitioner, to question the nature of the dynamic relationships that potentially operate between both sonic and physical media and the perceptive occupant that inhabits the artwork. The concept of a tri-polar dynamic forms the theoretical crux of this project. It outlines the potential for the perceptive occupant to play a completing role within the portfolio of sonic artworks: a kinetic activation of dormant syncretic potential held within the artistic materials. Influenced by the philosophical models of Nattiez, Kramer, Merleau-Ponty, Delueze and Guattari, the works also explore satellite topics of temporality, the internal monologue and phenomenology. The commentary outlines the creative processes involved in the development of the artworks focussing in particular on how they embody and activate aspects of the tri-polar dynamic. The overarching aim of the research is the development of an integrated approach of both a theoretical and creative exploration of a selfreferential theme: the dynamic relationships between myself as the sonic artist, the creative media with which I work and the perceptive occupant.

This dissertation examines key issues relating to minimal techno, a sub-genre of electronic dance music (EDM) that emerged in the early 1990s. These key issues are the aesthetics, composition, performance, and technology of minimal techno, as well as the economics of EDM production. The study aims to answer the following question. What is the musical and social significance of minimal techno production and performance? The study is conducted in two parts. The history of minimal music is traced from Satie in the 1890s to Plastikman in the 1990s, a central contribution to minimal techno. Plastikman is a stage name for the subject of the first part, a case study of minimal techno artist Richie Hawtin. A chapter on Liine, a company I founded with partners including Richie Hawtin, describes the performance software we developed for his 2010-2011 Plastikman Live tour. A chapter on minimal techno performance methods examines the structure of the Ableton Live set created for Plastikman Live. A theory chapter, based on Jacques Attali’s Bruits (2001), studies the relationship between technology, money, power and techno music production on both an individual and collective scale. The second part provides a detailed commentary on music I composed during the project in response to the theoretical issues raised. A final chapter discusses the overall thesis, and draws conclusions. Minimal techno, as it is practiced through Liine software, the Plastikman Live show, or through my own productions, is revealed to be a deeply improvisatory form of music. The relationship between body, mind and sound emerges as one of the major themes. Minimal techno production and performance can be seen as a reflection of the profoundly changing relationship between man and digital technology.

Despite the extensive research by ethnomusicologists on a number of musical cultures, little attention has been given to Iraqi music. The term besta (literally, happiness) is used by Iraqis to signify the genre, which in formal Arabic is called ʾughniyeh. This thesis examines the besta genre in the community of the villages in Dhi-QAr province in southern Iraq. The aims of the study are: to place the songs of the area in their cultural context, classify the repertoire into different categories, develop an analytical methodology, analyse (recorded) examples of the besta song and archive the songs as rare examples f a somewhat endangered Iraqi genre. Two approaches were followed in order to achieve these objectives: an ethnographic approach, to study the local community and explore the social context of singing, and an analytical approach, to explore the musical characteristics of the besta songs. The analysis involves study of the songs’ texts and their melodic features. The results show that traditions are stronger than religious values in what is a completely male-dominated society, one in which women have little cultural role to play. Results of the analysis of the text identified poetic elements of the text such as the darmi as the dominant poetic metre, with parting as the main theme, and anguish and sadness as the central emotions of the texts. The results of the melodic analyses show that the intervallic structure of the songs’ melodies relies on a number of Iraqi and Arabic tetrachords, and that the Beyat tetrachord in particular is the most common among the songs. A number of structural characteristics of the melodies have been identified. Beside other patterns, the Maqsum is the most common accompaniment in the songs. It is hoped that the ethnographic and analytical approach developed in this study will lay the foundations for future studies of Iraqi and Arabic music.

Within this composition commentary, I seek to outline my practice for composing for laptop ensembles, as well as the notational approaches I have developed to facilitate composition, direction, rehearsal and ultimately performance within an intentionally non-homogeneous laptop ensemble. Illustrating the requirement to move beyond the current typical ‘application as score and meta-instrument’ paradigm, I outline my own notational approach for laptop ensemble writing and the features it offers to the operation of laptop ensembles. As a consequence of the notational approach I seek to outline the performative coding role of the player and acknowledge the compositional role it extends to the performer. These theoretical considerations are considered within the practical operation of the Huddersfield Experimental Laptop Orchestra (HELO) and its sibling HELOpg. As a consequence of these experiments I present my preference for graph and text based notations for directing the laptop performer.

This commentary reflects on how indeterminacy has been used in the music I have written over the period of my doctoral studies, 2005-2008. Non-musical ideas play a major role in my compositional language and this is reflected in the use of 'strange attractors' as a metaphor for the philosophical and aesthetic stance behind composing with indeterminacy. After a brief introduction chapter, the links between strange attractors—and chaos theory in general—and indeterminate music are discussed. And applications of indeterminacy to pitch organisation techniques such as spectral modelling and frequency modulation are examined as part of a frequency-based harmonic continuum. Different methods of generating ambiguous pitch percepts that sit at the boundaries of the harmony/timbre duality are considered In pieces with text processes.

Playing electroacoustic music raises a number of challenges for performers such as dealing with obsolete or malfunctioning technology and incomplete technical documentation. Together with the generally higher workload due to the additional technical requirements the time available for musical work is significantly reduced. Many of the issues have their roots in composers, publishers, performers and promoters considering how their work process could easily be adapted to the additional demands of electroacoustic music. It was also found that the employment of music technologists cannot sufficiently make up for incomplete documentation and inadequate archiving of compositions. Using case studies made up of single compositions and whole concerts, solutions are proposed, which the several parties could effortlessly employ to considerably ease the process of preparing and performing electroacoustic music. Finally hands-on methods on how performers can deal with the situation as it is today are proposed. It is being hoped that by implementing these strategies not only better performances of electroacoustic music will be facilitated but also that electroacoustic works in general will enjoy a longer life-span in the future, thus enabling the sustenance of a vivid electroacoustic repertoire.