Visual Music

Shamanic diffusions: A technoshamanic philosophy of electroacoustic music

by Jon Weinel

Forthcoming in Sonic Ideas/Ideas Sonicas

Electroacoustic music affords the possibility of creating journeys through non-realistic or illusory spaces, through... more Electroacoustic music affords the possibility of creating journeys through non-realistic or illusory spaces, through the use of sonic materials.  This article proposes the application of the concept of ‘technoshamanism’ as a principle for composing and performing electroacoustic works of this type.  I shall commence by examining the use of the term ‘technoshaman’ in relation to psy-trance culture.  Through consideration of Rouget’s (1985) definitions of ecstasy and trance, I will discuss the relationship of psy-trance culture to Rouget’s definition of trance.  From this position I shall then propose the use of electroacoustic music in relation to Rouget’s definition of ecstasy.  This will enable me to define ‘shamanic diffusions’ as an opposing technoshamanic approach to that which is used in psy-trance.  Under this discussion, electroacoustic music will be considered as an ecstatic technology.  I shall then conclude with some comments and speculation regarding how this concept may be useful as an approach for the composition and performance of electroacoustic music.  For example, in various composed works I have used altered states of consciousness and hallucinations, as a principle for the design of sonic materials and musical structure.  Through the course of this article then, I will describe a conceptual model through which to consider electroacoustic composition and performance.

Altered states of consciousness as an adaptive principle for composing electroacoustic music

by Jon Weinel

PhD Thesis

The aim of this research was to use altered states of consciousness (ASCs) as an adaptive principle for composing... more The aim of this research was to use altered states of consciousness (ASCs) as an adaptive principle for composing electroacoustic music, in which common features of the ASC experience provide a basis for the design of sonic material and inform the structural design of corresponding musical sections. Various cultures throughout history have sought to undergo visionary journeys using hallucinogenic plants and drugs. In many cases these experiences have been used as a basis for the creation of art, literature and music. Informed by a survey of relevant work, this practice-led research develops a compositional process for creating electroacoustic music that is based upon hallucinogenic perceptual states. Though situated within the electroacoustic idiom, the work also draws significantly upon Western psychedelic culture and electronic dance music. The output is a creative portfolio containing a series of musical compositions, software and video. This supporting commentary describes the compositional processes in detail, and it is hoped that it will be of interest to other creative practitioners dedicated to exploring this theme in music and other mediums.

The Augmented Tonoscope

by Lewis Sykes

published in the online proceedings of the Electronic Visualisation of the Arts (EVA) 11 conference, London, UK, 6-8 July 2011

The Augmented Tonoscope is an artistic study into the aesthetics of sound and vibration through its analogue in visual... more The Augmented Tonoscope is an artistic study into the aesthetics of sound and vibration through its analogue in visual form – the modal wave patterns of Cymatics. Key to the research is the design, fabrication and crafting of a sonically and visually responsive hybrid analogue/digital instrument that will produce dynamic Visual Music based on the physics, effects and manifestations of sound and vibration. This paper describes the first stage of the study – a series of artistic investigations into analogue tonoscope and digital tone generator design integrating light and camera control – driven by an artistic experimental method devised specifically for the project. The paper concludes with future directions for the research: Can the inherent geometries within sound provide a meaningful basis for Visual Music? Will augmenting these physical effects with virtual simulations realise a real-time correlation between the visual and the musical?

Mother: Making the Performance of Real-Time Computer Graphics Accessible to Non-programmers

by Ilias Bergstrom

Harnessing the Enactive Knowledge of Musicians to Allow the Real-Time Performance of Correlated Music and Computer Graphics

by Ilias Bergstrom

Graphical GROOVE: memorial for the VAMPIRE, a visual music system

by Laurie Spiegel

Organised Sound 3(3): 187-191 1998 Cambridge University Press

Once upon a time there was a computer music system called GROOVE (Generating Realtime Operations On Voltage-controlled... more Once upon a time there was a computer music system called GROOVE (Generating Realtime Operations On Voltage-controlled Equipment, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey), which outputted in the realm of sound, and was a wonderful and still-unique tool for the composition thereof. Once upon a time a then-young composer who was using GROOVE for music got the hairbrained idea that if she made a few minor changes here and there she could use it to compose images as well. This she did in 1974-6, and though the untimely demise of the system completed, owing to massive hardware changes in this system's home lab, prevented creation of much documentation in the form of aesthetic works of its output, the system did function sufficiently to make some description worthwhile. While it is true that the mid-1960s DDP-224 computer on which GROOVE became a VAMPIRE (Video And Music Program for Interactive Realtime Exploration/Experimentation) was a massive roomsized computer, it has by now long been eclipsed in power by the constantly improving home computer. It is worth describing the concepts involved in part because there are by now many small computers capable of emulating its musical methods. Besides, I had a deep personal relationship with that computer, and wish to commemorate it. Here then follows the tale of Graphical GROOVE, a.k.a. the VAMPIRE.

Tiny Jungle: Psychedelic Techniques in Audio-Visual Composition

by Jon Weinel

Forthcoming, proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC 2011).

Tiny Jungle (duration 7:10) [1] is a psychedelic audio- visual montage, with a soundtrack based upon electroacoustic... more Tiny Jungle (duration 7:10) [1] is a psychedelic audio- visual montage, with a soundtrack based upon electroacoustic music and late 1990s drum and bass. This work forms part of my research regarding ‘Altered states of consciousness (ASCs) as an adaptive principle for composing electroacoustic music’. According to Heinrich Klüver [2] and Timothy Leary [3], ASCs such as those induced by mescaline may commonly result in the perception of visual patterns of hallucination, cryptic symbols, perception of cellular or atomic forms, and strange journeys or narratives. Tiny Jungle uses these ASC features as a basis for the composition of sound and video. Visual material for this piece was created through a montage of animated hand-drawn artwork, 3D graphics and material created using a specially designed Max/MSP/Jitter tool that produces stroboscopic visual material in real-time. The combination of music and moving images is intended to construct a narrative that conveys psychedelic experiences. In this paper I will discuss the development of Tiny Jungle from concept to realisation, with emphasis on the development of visual material and a brief overview of the soundtrack. It is hoped to thereby stimulate thought for audio-visual practitioners on compositional techniques based upon ASCs and audio-visual montage techniques involving hand-produced artwork and real-time methods.

Visual Music

by Maura McDonnell

Visual Music is an essay that was published in the program catalog for the Visual Music Marathon held in Boston (2007) and in New York (2009). The essay was published in both program catalogs, alongside information about all the artists works screened at the event. The essay was commissioned by the artistic director of the Visual Music Marathon, Dennis H. Miller. The paper uploaded here is the text only version. For the program catalog, the essay was richly illustrated with image illustrations. A pdf version of the program catalog is available on the Visual Music Marathon website, hosted by North Eastern University, Boston, US, follow the link provided to view the full program catalog with visual music essay included.

Visual Music - A Composition Of The Things Themselves

by Maura McDonnell

This paper was presented at the Sounding Out 5, 2010 conference held in Bournemouth University, UK in September 2010.  The paper was also published for conference attendees on a flash drive.

Investigating Audience Reception of Electroacoustic Audio-visual Compositions

by Andrew Hill

Published in eContact!

This article discusses the development of a research methodology appropriate for the study of audience reception of... more This article discusses the development of a research methodology appropriate for the study of audience reception of electroacoustic audio-visual music. The definition and development of the term electroacoustic audio-visual music shall first be discussed before previous research projects are mentioned and their methodologies critiqued. Following this the development of the methodology for the current research project will be discussed including how this has been designed to solicit information from the volunteers taking part in the current study. The key goals of the current study are to investigate audience reception of electroacoustic audio-visual music works and to discover how access can be facilitated for inexperienced audiences. It is hoped that this may provide useful insight into the issues and pitfalls that can befall researchers wishing to develop their own methodologies.

Desarrollo de un lenguaje para la música audiovisual electroacústica: investigación sobre su comunicación y clasificación

by Andrew Hill

Hill, Andrew "Desarrollo de un lenguaje para la música audiovisual electroacústica: investigación sobre su comunicación y clasificación" in En el Límite - Escritos Sobre Sonido, Música, Imagen y Tecnología Editado por Universidad Nacional de Lanús, Compilador Minsburg, Raúl 2010 pp 144-165

El presente artículo constituye una introducción al estudio realizado sobre la recepción de la música audiovisual... more El presente artículo constituye una introducción al estudio realizado sobre la recepción de la música audiovisual electroacústica por parte de la audiencia. En primer lugar, se analizarán las definiciones y el contexto en los que se basa este proyecto de investigación y se discutirá brevemente una serie de estudios previos (Landy 2006, Weale 2006, Lipscomb y Kendall 1994, Glass y Stevens 2005) que exponen los últimos desarrollos en la materia. En segundo lugar, se discutirá la investigación desarrollada a partir de los mencionados estudios y se presentarán posibles hipótesis de investigación. Finalmente, se introducirá un método de categorización para los distintos tipos de composiciones audiovisuales electroacústicas.