A Look At Improvisation In Interactive Electro-Acoustic Music

There is such a long history of improvisation following its diverse cultural backgrounds.In many creative and innovative domains such as music,drama,dance and so on,they have been written throughout the history.For me,improvisation is always a domain both yearning and frightening,probably for not a few other artists as well.Improvisation is an infinite path for exploring,to find out the connecting points between the inner world and outside surroundings,till reaching those hidden,unknown,or unsure things deep in heart.It would probably recall our native creativity,or it would also likely bring us some unpredictable results.On the path of exploring the unknowns,we could possibly find those things which are new to us,and through this path,there could be brand-new creations growing out from every individual.Interactive electro-acoustic music as an outcome of the combination of the electro-acoustic music and the rapid development of AI(Artificial Intelligence)and interactive technology of the new times,it allows us to dive deeper and deeper into the sound with divers experiments,and from which give birth to new sounds,new acoustics and new experiences of listening.The essence of improvisation is also"experiment",or in another word "trail"|,and so they share the same cornerstone.This paper mainly builds on the intersection of interactive electro-acoustic music and improvisation,starting with brief description of them and their correlation,and then from the angles of improvisation and listening,improvisation and association,exploring improvisation with the technologies of sound morphing and the origins of improvised thinking,by discussing preliminarily about the application of improvisation in interactive electro-acoustic music;subsequently,finding out the improvised elements in acousmatic music,interactive live electronic music and interactive sound installation-collection,modulation and playback of improvised sound materials;cooperation and mutual listening during live performance and real-time modulation;and improvisation inside interaction.Extending to the final part of the paper is one of my graduate pieces called "We are the CONTENT" which is an improvising sound installation.As the title says,the main content is indeed the improvisation of each participant,and what I do is collecting from what I have learnt about the technologies of the electro-acoustic sound modulation and arranging them through certain logic with the software Ableton Live(Max4Live).With the function of?KEY?mapping in Ableton Live,1 mapped the selected sound effects to the 24 letters of alphabet.While tapping the combination of letters,those mapped effects are turned on and superposed in a certain order.The meaning behind each combination of letters will provide one source of improvisation 0 thoughts and/or emotions.Then through the sense of hearing,the following unforeseen aural atmosphere behind the microphone will create a space for participant to explore and find their own sounds by improvisation.There is an expounding about the conception and structure of this installation with some related theories and detailed workflow,and tail-end of explaining the correlation and meaning for writing this paper.This paper is written in a kind of experimental way of writing-as there are many immature personal viewpoints.By searching,analyzing the improvised elements in recent electro-acoustic music with the first-hand knowledge of electro-acoustic music and improvisation during my study periods in Shanghai and in France,combining my own daily experiments,little by little,I feel an irreplaceable impetus from the improvisation which applied in the creation and interpretation of electro-acoustic music and even in the interdisciplinary innovation.On the path of combining the two,I believe that will generate more and more interesting ideas and new pieces.