The Imaginary Friend:

The purpose of this paper is to provide theoretical knowledge on how the interactive music techniques usually associated with computer game music could benefit the classical music composers and performers (and vice versa). We will focuse on techniques used in procedural music. Certain interactive computer game scores and sound installations represent this genre, as well as electronic real-time-based compositions that may or may not require a human performer. In the context of interactive computer games, dynamic music systems directly react to the gamers’ actions. The authors’ aim was to find out how such systems could be used as part the electroacoustic composer’s technical and expressive vocabulary. Automatisation challenges the concept of form, rhythm, and harmony in a musical work. Instead of a closed entity, a dynamic music composition is a never-ending story with infinite number of alternatives, which is why such works get created again in every performance.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Maria Kallionpää

Hans-Peter Gasselseder

Conference

Publication date: July 2016

Publication date (Print): July 2016

Pages: 42-48

Affiliations

[0001]Aalborg University

Department of Communication and

Psychology, Musikkens Plads 1, 9000

Aalborg, Denmark

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/EVA2016.9

SO-VID: 0bb7dd5d-7d36-4b4f-baaf-be6960b3fbef

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

Conference acronym: EVA

Conference number:

Conference location: London, UK

Conference date: 12 - 14 July 2016

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/EVA2016.9

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

N. Awde 2008 Mellotron: The Machines and the Musicians that Revolutionised Rock Bennett & Bloom, UK
J. Banowetz 1985 The Pianist’s Guide to Pedaling Indiana University Press Bloomington, IN, USA
A. Hartmann BerndtK. RöberN. MasuchM 2006 Composition and Arrangement Techniques for Music in Interactive Immersive Environments Proceedings of the Audio Mostly Conference - a Conference on Sound in Games Piteå, Sweden 24 35
D. Bernstein 2002 Music I: to the 1940’s D. Nicholls Cambridge Companion to John Cage Cambridge University Press Cambridge, UK
S. Berweck 2012 It worked yesterday: On (re)performing electroacoustic music Doctoral Thesis. University of Huddersfield
B. Bloland 2011 The Electromagnetically-Prepared Piano and its Compositional Implications Proceedings of the Electroacoustic Music Studies Conference Sforzando!, New York, NY, USA
H. Borgdorff 2009 The debate on research in the arts diss., Amsterdam School of the Arts
T. Buttram 2003 DirectX 9 Audio Exposed: Interactive Audio Development, chap Beyond Games: Bringing DirectMusic into the Living Room Wordware Publishing Inc
M. Koutsomichalis CasuM. ValleA. 2014 Imaginary Soundscapes: The SoDA Project Proceedings of the 9th Audio Mostly: A Conference on Interaction with Sound 5 Aalborg
J. Chadabe 1996 The History of Electronic Music as a Reflection of Structural Paradigms The Leonardo Music Journal 6 The MIT Press 41 44
J. Chadabe 1997 Electric Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music Prentice Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA
K. Collins 2008 Game Sound. An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design The MIT Press Cambridge, MA, USA
N. Cook 1990 Music, Imagination, and Culture Oxford University Press Oxford, UK
H. Davies 2014 Towards a More Versatile Dynamic-Music for Video games: Approaches to Compositional Considerations and Techniques for Continuous Music Dissertation, University of Oxford Oxford, UK
J. Demers 2010 Listening Through the Noise: The Aesthetics of Experimental Electronic Music Oxford University Press Oxford, UK
A. Dolge 1911 Pianos and Their Makers: A Comprehensive History of Development of the Piano Dover Publications New York, NY, USA
M. Edwards 2011 Algorithmic Composition: Computational Thinking in Music Communications of the ACM 54 No. 7
S. Emmerson 2012 Location - Dislocation -Relocation (“Where is Electronic Music?”) IV Seminário Música Ciência Tecnología: Fronteiras e Rupturas Sao Paulo, Brazil 2-4 July 2012 7 16
M. Endsley 2013 Situation Awareness J. D. LeeA. Kirlik The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Engineering Oxford University Press Oxford, UK
K. Essl 2006 Algorithmic Composition N. CollinsJ. d’Escriván The Cambridge Companion to Electronic Music Cambridge University Press Cambridge, UK
A. Farnell 2007 Procedural game audio using Pure Data Proceedings of the Audio Mostly Conference - a Conference on Sound in Games Ilmenau
H. P. Gasselseder 2012 Re-Orchestrating Game Drama The Immersive Experience of Dynamic Music in Video Games Dissertation, Universität Salzburg Austria
H. P. Gasselseder 2015 Advances in Ludomusical Experience Profiling C. Busch,J. Sieck, Kultur und Informatik Cross Media Glückstadt
M. GrimshawT. Garner 2015 Sonic Virtuality Sound as Emergent Perception Oxford University Press New York, NY
Harmonix Music Systems 2005 Guitar Hero Sony Playstation 2 RedOctane Mountain View, CA, USA
D. L. Harrel 1976 New Techniques in Twentieth Century Solo Piano Music: an Expansion of Pianistic Resources from Cowell to the Present DMA thesis. University of Texas Austin, TX, USA
L. Hayes 2013 Audio-Haptic Relationships as Compositional and Performance Strategies Dissertation, The University of Edinburgh UK
R. Ishii 2005 The Development of Extended Techniques in Twentieth-Century American Music Doctoral Thesis. Florida State University, College of Music FL, USA
M. Kallionpää 2014 Beyond the Piano: the Super Instrument. Widening the Instrumental Capacities in the Context of the Piano Music of the 21st Century Doctoral Thesis. University of Oxford UK
M. Kimura 1995 Performance Practice in Computer Music Computer Music Journal 19 1 64 75
M. LiljedahlN. PapworthS. Lindberg 2007 Beowulf: A Game Experience Built on Sound Effects Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Auditory Display Montréal, Canada
E. McNutt 2003 Performing electroacoustic music: a wider view of interactivity Organised Sound 8 3 297 304
A. McPherson 2010 The magnetic resonator piano: electronic augmentation of an acoustic grand piano Journal of New Music Research 39 3 189 202
A. McPhersonY. Kim 2010 Augmenting the acoustic piano with electromagnetic string actuation and continuous key position sensing Proc. NIME Sydney, Australia
A. McPherson 2012 Techniques and circuits for electromagnetic instrument actuation Proc. New Interfaces for Musical Expression Ann Arbor, MI, USA
L. D. Stafford 1978 A Study of Innovative Piano Technique in Published Works of Selected Composers from 1950-1975 D.A. thesis. Ball State University IN, USA
E. Schwartz 1989 Electronic Music: A Listeners Guide Da Capo Press New York, NY, USA

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] N. Awde 2008 Mellotron: The Machines and the Musicians that Revolutionised Rock Bennett & Bloom, UK

[2] J. Banowetz 1985 The Pianist’s Guide to Pedaling Indiana University Press Bloomington, IN, USA

[3] A. Hartmann BerndtK. RöberN. MasuchM 2006 Composition and Arrangement Techniques for Music in Interactive Immersive Environments Proceedings of the Audio Mostly Conference - a Conference on Sound in Games Piteå, Sweden 24 35

[4] D. Bernstein 2002 Music I: to the 1940’s D. Nicholls Cambridge Companion to John Cage Cambridge University Press Cambridge, UK

[5] S. Berweck 2012 It worked yesterday: On (re)performing electroacoustic music Doctoral Thesis. University of Huddersfield

[6] B. Bloland 2011 The Electromagnetically-Prepared Piano and its Compositional Implications Proceedings of the Electroacoustic Music Studies Conference Sforzando!, New York, NY, USA

[7] H. Borgdorff 2009 The debate on research in the arts diss., Amsterdam School of the Arts

[8] T. Buttram 2003 DirectX 9 Audio Exposed: Interactive Audio Development, chap Beyond Games: Bringing DirectMusic into the Living Room Wordware Publishing Inc

[9] M. Koutsomichalis CasuM. ValleA. 2014 Imaginary Soundscapes: The SoDA Project Proceedings of the 9th Audio Mostly: A Conference on Interaction with Sound 5 Aalborg

[10] J. Chadabe 1996 The History of Electronic Music as a Reflection of Structural Paradigms The Leonardo Music Journal 6 The MIT Press 41 44

[11] J. Chadabe 1997 Electric Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music Prentice Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA

[12] K. Collins 2008 Game Sound. An Introduction to the History, Theory, and Practice of Video Game Music and Sound Design The MIT Press Cambridge, MA, USA

[13] N. Cook 1990 Music, Imagination, and Culture Oxford University Press Oxford, UK

[14] H. Davies 2014 Towards a More Versatile Dynamic-Music for Video games: Approaches to Compositional Considerations and Techniques for Continuous Music Dissertation, University of Oxford Oxford, UK

[15] J. Demers 2010 Listening Through the Noise: The Aesthetics of Experimental Electronic Music Oxford University Press Oxford, UK

[16] A. Dolge 1911 Pianos and Their Makers: A Comprehensive History of Development of the Piano Dover Publications New York, NY, USA

[17] M. Edwards 2011 Algorithmic Composition: Computational Thinking in Music Communications of the ACM 54 No. 7

[18] S. Emmerson 2012 Location - Dislocation -Relocation (“Where is Electronic Music?”) IV Seminário Música Ciência Tecnología: Fronteiras e Rupturas Sao Paulo, Brazil 2-4 July 2012 7 16

[19] M. Endsley 2013 Situation Awareness J. D. LeeA. Kirlik The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Engineering Oxford University Press Oxford, UK

[20] K. Essl 2006 Algorithmic Composition N. CollinsJ. d’Escriván The Cambridge Companion to Electronic Music Cambridge University Press Cambridge, UK

[21] A. Farnell 2007 Procedural game audio using Pure Data Proceedings of the Audio Mostly Conference - a Conference on Sound in Games Ilmenau

[22] H. P. Gasselseder 2012 Re-Orchestrating Game Drama The Immersive Experience of Dynamic Music in Video Games Dissertation, Universität Salzburg Austria

[23] H. P. Gasselseder 2015 Advances in Ludomusical Experience Profiling C. Busch,J. Sieck, Kultur und Informatik Cross Media Glückstadt

[24] M. GrimshawT. Garner 2015 Sonic Virtuality Sound as Emergent Perception Oxford University Press New York, NY

[25] Harmonix Music Systems 2005 Guitar Hero Sony Playstation 2 RedOctane Mountain View, CA, USA

[26] D. L. Harrel 1976 New Techniques in Twentieth Century Solo Piano Music: an Expansion of Pianistic Resources from Cowell to the Present DMA thesis. University of Texas Austin, TX, USA

[27] L. Hayes 2013 Audio-Haptic Relationships as Compositional and Performance Strategies Dissertation, The University of Edinburgh UK

[28] R. Ishii 2005 The Development of Extended Techniques in Twentieth-Century American Music Doctoral Thesis. Florida State University, College of Music FL, USA

[29] M. Kallionpää 2014 Beyond the Piano: the Super Instrument. Widening the Instrumental Capacities in the Context of the Piano Music of the 21st Century Doctoral Thesis. University of Oxford UK

[30] M. Kimura 1995 Performance Practice in Computer Music Computer Music Journal 19 1 64 75

[31] M. LiljedahlN. PapworthS. Lindberg 2007 Beowulf: A Game Experience Built on Sound Effects Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Auditory Display Montréal, Canada

[32] E. McNutt 2003 Performing electroacoustic music: a wider view of interactivity Organised Sound 8 3 297 304

[33] A. McPherson 2010 The magnetic resonator piano: electronic augmentation of an acoustic grand piano Journal of New Music Research 39 3 189 202

[34] A. McPhersonY. Kim 2010 Augmenting the acoustic piano with electromagnetic string actuation and continuous key position sensing Proc. NIME Sydney, Australia

[35] A. McPherson 2012 Techniques and circuits for electromagnetic instrument actuation Proc. New Interfaces for Musical Expression Ann Arbor, MI, USA

[36] L. D. Stafford 1978 A Study of Innovative Piano Technique in Published Works of Selected Composers from 1950-1975 D.A. thesis. Ball State University IN, USA

[37] E. Schwartz 1989 Electronic Music: A Listeners Guide Da Capo Press New York, NY, USA

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The Imaginary Friend: : Crossing Over Computer Game Scoring Techniques and Musical Expression