Electroacoustic improvisation
Encyclopedia
Electroacoustic improvisation (EAI) is a style of music that incorporates aspects of both electroacoustic music
and free improvisation
.
Live electronics has been part of the sound art world since the 1930s with the early works of John Cage. Source magazine documents the activities of a number of American groups in the 1960s, and in Montreal, Canada, there were two live electronic ensembles in the 1970s, MetaMusic and Sonde. This field has expanded rapidly with the use of powerful, inexpensive laptop computers.
EAI is rather loosely defined, but is sometimes characterized by quiet, slow moving, minimalistic textures, often based on extended droning sounds. EAI drew influence, in part, from the tradition of free improvisation
but should not be considered a branch of avant-garde
or free jazz
. Combined with this was the influence of electronic
and electroacoustic music
, the music of American experimental
composers such as John Cage
, Morton Feldman
and David Tudor
, Pierre Schaeffer
’s musique concrète
, and the so-called instrumental musique concrète of Helmut Lachenmann
. British free improvisation group AMM
, particularly their guitarist Keith Rowe
, contributed to the development of contemporary EAI.
Cities like New York City, Tokyo, Vienna and Berlin have all been centers of EAI. A variety of terms have been used to describe their music: “lowercase
” (a term coined by artist and musician Steve Roden
for his own work), “onkyokei
” (or Onkyo) (used to describe the Japanese strains of the music), “taomud” (meaning “the area of music under discussion”, an ironic acronym in lack of a better term), “New London Silence” and “Berlin reductionism”. The term EAI is being used more frequently in describing this music, but only in small, confined internet circles. the term is used only very rarely by the musicians themselves, who on the whole dislike the term as it suggests a division away from the tradition of non-idiomatic free improvisation, from where it evolved, and to which it remains distinctly linked, to the point that clear separation is impossible.
The record labels Erstwhile Records
, For 4 Ears, Cut, Durian, Charhizma, Improvised Music from Japan
, Fringes Recordings, Mikroton Recordings and Mego
have released a number of EAI albums.
” æsthetic, arguing that conventional instrumental techniques are rarely emphasized in EAI, and thus there are few occasions when traditional technical virtuosity is considered appropriate. Critics also note that many musicians in EAI studiously avoid traditional sounds and timbre
s, and that “extended technique
s” (unorthodox playing practices) appear to be standard in performance. Some EAI music also includes field recording
s.
EAI sometimes differs significantly from music associated with the established free improvisation scene. One critic has suggested that a new vocabulary may be required to describe certain aspects of EAI. John Eyles writes,
Similarly, critic Jeff Siegel writes,
s can be heard in EAI, but two are prominent: the laptop computer and the prepared guitar
.
Traditional acoustic musical instrument
s are also used, but they are often played very unconventionally, with heavy use of various extended technique
s.
A prepared guitar
is a guitar
which has had its timbre
altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings, including other extended technique
s. This practice is sometimes called tabletop guitar, as players often place the guitar flat on a table in order to manipulate it.
Pioneered by Keith Rowe in the late 1960s, adopted by Fred Frith
and others in the 1970s, prepared guitar has become very prominent in electroacoustic improvisation.
have been used in music since the 1950s, the 1990s saw two major innovations: increases in processor speeds and software sophistication, and relatively affordable laptop computers becoming commonplace.
With the development of increasingly sophisticated software applications, designed specifically for music and sound creation, laptops can now be used as real-time
, interactive musical instruments. Open source software such as SuperCollider
and Pure Data
are increasingly used for live improvisation, as they afford sophisticated means for enabling real-time interaction. Musical instruments that include artificial intelligence can therefore be built. An example of such improvisation software are the ixiQuarks
made by ixi software
.
Computer-using musicians like Fennesz, Pimmon
, Peter Rehberg
and Ikue Mori
have also made notable contributions to improvised music.
focuses on electroacoustic improvisation. 2004, 2007 and 2010 are the years in which the festival is organized. http://www.outputfestival.com
Electroacoustic music
Electroacoustic music originated in Western art music during its modern era following the incorporation of electric sound production into compositional practice. The initial developments in electroacoustic music composition during the mid-20th century are associated with the activities of composers...
and free improvisation
Free improvisation
Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....
.
Origins
EAI is rather loosely defined, but is sometimes characterized by quiet, slow moving, minimalistic textures, often based on extended droning sounds. EAI drew influence, in part, from the tradition of free improvisation
Free improvisation
Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....
but should not be considered a branch of avant-garde
Avant-garde jazz
Avant-garde jazz is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. Avant-jazz often sounds very similar to free jazz, but differs in that, despite its distinct departure from traditional harmony, it has a predetermined structure over which ...
or free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
. Combined with this was the influence of electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
and electroacoustic music
Electroacoustic music
Electroacoustic music originated in Western art music during its modern era following the incorporation of electric sound production into compositional practice. The initial developments in electroacoustic music composition during the mid-20th century are associated with the activities of composers...
, the music of American experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
composers such as John Cage
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
, Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman
Morton Feldman was an American composer, born in New York City.A major figure in 20th century music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown...
and David Tudor
David Tudor
David Eugene Tudor was an American pianist and composer of experimental music.- Biography :Tudor was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied piano with Irma Wolpe and composition with Stefan Wolpe and became known as one of the leading performers of avant garde piano music. He gave the...
, Pierre Schaeffer
Pierre Schaeffer
Pierre Henri Marie Schaeffer was a French composer, writer, broadcaster, engineer, musicologist and acoustician of the 20th century. His innovative work in both the sciences —particularly communications and acoustics— and the various arts of music, literature and radio presentation after the end...
’s musique concrète
Musique concrète
Musique concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"...
, and the so-called instrumental musique concrète of Helmut Lachenmann
Helmut Lachenmann
Helmut Lachenmann is a German composer associated with musique concrète instrumentale.-Life and works:...
. British free improvisation group AMM
AMM (group)
AMM are an important British free improvisation group, founded in London, England in 1965.AMM have never been well known to the general public, but have been incredibly influential on the field of improvised music...
, particularly their guitarist Keith Rowe
Keith Rowe
Keith Rowe is an English free improvisation tabletop guitarist and painter. Rowe is a founding member of both the hugely influential AMM in the mid-1960s and M.I.M.E.O. Having trained as a visual artist, Rowe's paintings have been featured on most of his own albums...
, contributed to the development of contemporary EAI.
Cities like New York City, Tokyo, Vienna and Berlin have all been centers of EAI. A variety of terms have been used to describe their music: “lowercase
Lowercase (music)
Originally coined by minimal artist Steve Roden, lowercase is an extreme form of ambient minimalism in which very quiet sounds bookend long stretches of silence. Roden started the movement with an album entitled Forms of Paper, in which he made recordings of himself handling paper in various ways...
” (a term coined by artist and musician Steve Roden
Steve Roden
Steve Roden is an American sound and visual artist. Best known for pioneering the lowercase style of music, where quiet sounds are amplified amid long stretches of silence, his huge discography includes Forms of Paper, which was commissioned by the Los Angeles public library.-External links:* * at...
for his own work), “onkyokei
Onkyokei
The Onkyo music movement or is a form of free improvisation, emerging from Japan in the late 1990s. Onkyō places much more emphasis on sound texture than on musical structure, distilling elements of techno, noise, and electronic music into a unique hybrid.The Off Site, a venue in Tokyo, is home...
” (or Onkyo) (used to describe the Japanese strains of the music), “taomud” (meaning “the area of music under discussion”, an ironic acronym in lack of a better term), “New London Silence” and “Berlin reductionism”. The term EAI is being used more frequently in describing this music, but only in small, confined internet circles. the term is used only very rarely by the musicians themselves, who on the whole dislike the term as it suggests a division away from the tradition of non-idiomatic free improvisation, from where it evolved, and to which it remains distinctly linked, to the point that clear separation is impossible.
The record labels Erstwhile Records
Erstwhile Records
Erstwhile Records is an independent record label devoted to free improvisation, particularly the electroacoustic variety. Erstwhile was founded by Jon Abbey in 1999, and his knowledgeable personality and tastes are closely identified with the label.Characteristic label artists include guitarist...
, For 4 Ears, Cut, Durian, Charhizma, Improvised Music from Japan
Improvised Music from Japan
Improvised Music from Japan is a website and record label.The website was originally known as Japanese Free Improvisers. As its name suggests, it concentrates on Japanese and Japan-based improvisers, particularly free improvisers....
, Fringes Recordings, Mikroton Recordings and Mego
Mego (label)
Mego was an experimental electronic music independent record label based in Vienna, Austria. The word 'Mego' is an acronym referring to "My Eyes Glaze Over", an expression attributed to futurologist Herman Kahn .-History:Founded in 1994 by Ramon Bauer, Andreas Pieper and Peter Meininger, before...
have released a number of EAI albums.
Characteristics
Critic Arie Altena suggests that a defining characteristic of EAI is its “anti-virtuosoVirtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
” æsthetic, arguing that conventional instrumental techniques are rarely emphasized in EAI, and thus there are few occasions when traditional technical virtuosity is considered appropriate. Critics also note that many musicians in EAI studiously avoid traditional sounds and timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
s, and that “extended technique
Extended technique
Extended techniques are performance techniques used in music to describe unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional techniques of singing, or of playing musical instruments to obtain unusual sounds or instrumental timbres....
s” (unorthodox playing practices) appear to be standard in performance. Some EAI music also includes field recording
Field recording
Field recording is the term used for an audio recording produced outside of a recording studio. The recording is typically recorded in the same channel format as the desired result, for instance, stereo recording equipment will yield a stereo product...
s.
EAI sometimes differs significantly from music associated with the established free improvisation scene. One critic has suggested that a new vocabulary may be required to describe certain aspects of EAI. John Eyles writes,
- One of the problems of describing this music is that it requires a new vocabulary and ways of conveying its sound and impact; such vocabulary does not yet exist — how do you describe the subtle differences between different types of controlled feedbackAudio feedbackAudio feedback is a special kind of positive feedback which occurs when a sound loop exists between an audio input and an audio output...
? I’ve yet to see anyone do it convincingly - hence the use of words like ‘shape’ and ‘texture’!
Similarly, critic Jeff Siegel writes,
- In case you are as yet not indoctrinated into this music, there’s no easy road. The closest I know of to a simple explanation comes from the estimable Dominique Leone: “sort of an inverse of noise musicNoise musicNoise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...
.” That sounds about right. If you think of noise as a brick wall, then EAI is like a plaster mold of the cement in-between, an impression, a photo-negative, more silence than sound; it’s a constant hum, the first step up from complete silence; noise stripped down to a single sliver and stretched out, presumably forever.
Instrumentation
A variety of musical instrumentMusical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
s can be heard in EAI, but two are prominent: the laptop computer and the prepared guitar
Prepared guitar
A prepared guitar is a guitar that has had its timbre altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings, including other extended techniques...
.
Traditional acoustic musical instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
s are also used, but they are often played very unconventionally, with heavy use of various extended technique
Extended technique
Extended techniques are performance techniques used in music to describe unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional techniques of singing, or of playing musical instruments to obtain unusual sounds or instrumental timbres....
s.
Prepared guitar
Prepared guitar
A prepared guitar is a guitar that has had its timbre altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings, including other extended techniques...
is a guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
which has had its timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings, including other extended technique
Extended technique
Extended techniques are performance techniques used in music to describe unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional techniques of singing, or of playing musical instruments to obtain unusual sounds or instrumental timbres....
s. This practice is sometimes called tabletop guitar, as players often place the guitar flat on a table in order to manipulate it.
Pioneered by Keith Rowe in the late 1960s, adopted by Fred Frith
Fred Frith
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
and others in the 1970s, prepared guitar has become very prominent in electroacoustic improvisation.
Laptop computer
While computersComputer music
Computer music is a term that was originally used within academia to describe a field of study relating to the applications of computing technology in music composition; particularly that stemming from the Western art music tradition...
have been used in music since the 1950s, the 1990s saw two major innovations: increases in processor speeds and software sophistication, and relatively affordable laptop computers becoming commonplace.
With the development of increasingly sophisticated software applications, designed specifically for music and sound creation, laptops can now be used as real-time
Real-time computing
In computer science, real-time computing , or reactive computing, is the study of hardware and software systems that are subject to a "real-time constraint"— e.g. operational deadlines from event to system response. Real-time programs must guarantee response within strict time constraints...
, interactive musical instruments. Open source software such as SuperCollider
Supercollider
A Supercollider is a high energy particle accelerator. The term may refer to:* Superconducting Super Collider, planned 80 km project in Texas, canceled in 1993...
and Pure Data
Pure Data
Pure Data is a visual programming language developed by Miller Puckette in the 1990s for creating interactive computer music and multimedia works. While Puckette is the main author of the program, Pd is an open source project with a large developer base working on new extensions to it. It is...
are increasingly used for live improvisation, as they afford sophisticated means for enabling real-time interaction. Musical instruments that include artificial intelligence can therefore be built. An example of such improvisation software are the ixiQuarks
IxiQuarks
ixiQuarks is a experimental music software released by the ixi software team.ixiQuarks is a software environment designed for live musical improvisation that allows for user interaction on hardware, GUI and code level. The environment enables innumerable setups with flexible loading of tools and...
made by ixi software
Ixi software
Experimental Music Software.ixi is a small international collective of musicians that work mainly with improvisation and live music.The aim with ixi software is to explore abstract screen based interfaces as controllers for synth...
.
Computer-using musicians like Fennesz, Pimmon
Pimmon
Pimmon is the recording name of Australian musician Paul Gough. He has released records on labels such as Fat Cat Records, Fällt, Tigerbeat6, Staalplaat and Staubgold, and collaborated with Keith Rowe and Oren Ambarchi, among others....
, Peter Rehberg
Peter Rehberg
Peter Rehberg is an author of electronic audio works.He has collaborated with: Jim O'Rourke, Christian Fennesz, Dennis Cooper, Gisèle Vienne, Stephen O'Malley , Tina Frank, Matmos, Tujiko Noriko, Kevin Drumm, Marcus Schmickler, Michaela Schwentner , Matt "Skitz" Sanders, Russell Haswell, Florian...
and Ikue Mori
Ikue Mori
, also known as Ikue Ile, is a drummer, composer, and graphic designer.-Biography:Ikue Mori was born and raised in Japan. She says she had little interest in music before hearing punk rock...
have also made notable contributions to improvised music.
EAI musicians
|
Sachiko M Sachiko Matsubara, who usually records as Sachiko M, is a Japanese musician, but she considers herself to be a "non-musician".She was a member of Otomo Yoshihide's Ground Zero from 1994 to 1997, where she used a sampler. More recently, she has concentrated on music made from sine waves... Radu Malfatti Radu Malfatti is an Austrian trombone player and composer. He was born in Innsbruck, in the province of Tyrol, on December 16, 1943. He has been described as "among the leaders in redefining the avant-garde as truly on-the-edge art." His work "since the early nineties..... Mattin Mattin is a Basque artist working mostly with noise and improvisation.Mattin also has written about improvisation, free software and against the notion of intellectual property. In 2001 Mattin formed Sakada with Eddie Prévost and Rosy Parlane. He has over 70 releases in different labels around the... Günter Müller Günter Müller is an Swiss composer, improviser and visual artist based in Lupsingen, Switzerland.Günter Müller is a German sound artist that originally performed as a percussionist and drummer active primarily in free improvisation.... Toshimaru Nakamura Toshimaru Nakamura is a Japanese musician, active in free improvisation and Japanese onkyo.He began his career playing rock and roll guitar, but gradually explored other types of music, even abandoning guitar and started working on circuit bending... |
Pimmon Pimmon is the recording name of Australian musician Paul Gough. He has released records on labels such as Fat Cat Records, Fällt, Tigerbeat6, Staalplaat and Staubgold, and collaborated with Keith Rowe and Oren Ambarchi, among others.... Eddie Prévost Edwin Prévost is an English drummer and percussionist.Prévost began as a jazz drummer before branching out into entirely improvised music. He was a co-founder of the group AMM, and remains its only constant member... Keith Rowe Keith Rowe is an English free improvisation tabletop guitarist and painter. Rowe is a founding member of both the hugely influential AMM in the mid-1960s and M.I.M.E.O. Having trained as a visual artist, Rowe's paintings have been featured on most of his own albums... Taku Sugimoto Taku Sugimoto is a Japanese guitarist.He initially gained attention in the late 1990s for his restrained, melodic playing, unusual in the world of free improvisation. Critic Bruce Russell describes this era of Sugimoto's music by writing: "Sugimoto is perhaps the pre-eminent stylist on the guitar ..... John Tilbury John Tilbury is a British pianist. He is considered one of the foremost interpreters of Morton Feldman's music, and since 1980 has been a member of the free improvisation group AMM.- Early life and education :... |
Ami Yoshida Ami Yoshida is a Japanese musician.Yoshida does not play instruments, instead making her music with her own voice. Rather than conventional singing she makes a variety of vocalisations of such a nature that it is often hard to tell that the sounds are being produced by a voice at all. These sounds... Mitsuhiro Yoshimura Mitsuhiro Yoshimura is, primarily, a Japanese musician who is, as of 2008, active in the field of electroacoustic improvisation and, in particular, the Onkyokei style... |
Festivals
In Holland a tri-annual organized Output festivalOutput Festival
The Output Festival is Dutch tri-annual music festival which focuses on experimental, contemporary electroacoustic music related to the electric guitar.-Editions:-First edition:...
focuses on electroacoustic improvisation. 2004, 2007 and 2010 are the years in which the festival is organized. http://www.outputfestival.com
Articles
- Bernal, Alberto and João Miguel Pais. “Endphase: Origin and Analysis of an Ongoing Project.” eContact! 10.4 — Temps réel, improvisation et interactivité en électroacoustique / Live-electronics — Improvisation — Interactivity in Electroacoustics (October 2008). Montréal: CECCanadian Electroacoustic CommunityFounded in 1986, La Communauté électroacoustique canadienne / The Canadian Electroacoustic Community is Canada’s national electroacoustic / computer music / sonic arts organization and as such is dedicated to promoting this progressive art form in its broadest definition: from “pure” acousmatic...
. - Lindborg, PerMagnus. “Reflections on Aspects of Music Interactivity in Performance Situations.” eContact! 10.4 — Temps réel, improvisation et interactivité en électroacoustique / Live-electronics — Improvisation — Interactivity in Electroacoustics (October 2008). Montréal: CECCanadian Electroacoustic CommunityFounded in 1986, La Communauté électroacoustique canadienne / The Canadian Electroacoustic Community is Canada’s national electroacoustic / computer music / sonic arts organization and as such is dedicated to promoting this progressive art form in its broadest definition: from “pure” acousmatic...
. - Neal, Adam Scott. “A Continuum of Indeterminacy in Laptop Music.” eContact! 11.4 — Toronto Electroacoustic Symposium 2009 (TES) / Symposium Électroacoustique 2009 de Toronto (December 2009). Montréal: CECCanadian Electroacoustic CommunityFounded in 1986, La Communauté électroacoustique canadienne / The Canadian Electroacoustic Community is Canada’s national electroacoustic / computer music / sonic arts organization and as such is dedicated to promoting this progressive art form in its broadest definition: from “pure” acousmatic...
. - Nowitz, Alex. “Voice and Live-Electronics using Remotes as Gestural Controllers.” eContact! 10.4 — Temps réel, improvisation et interactivité en électroacoustique / Live-electronics — Improvisation — Interactivity in Electroacoustics (October 2008). Montréal: CECCanadian Electroacoustic CommunityFounded in 1986, La Communauté électroacoustique canadienne / The Canadian Electroacoustic Community is Canada’s national electroacoustic / computer music / sonic arts organization and as such is dedicated to promoting this progressive art form in its broadest definition: from “pure” acousmatic...
.