| This dissertation comprises an essay discussing three of my compositions: Mudai, Untitled, and Iridescent Uncertainty. These three works are computer assisted electro-acoustic "tape pieces" composed using thousands of pre-recorded samples of Japanese koto (with traditional and non-traditional strings), shamisen, and, in the latter two pieces, Hardang fele (Norwegian Hardanger fiddle) and cello. Although very little sound processing is used, many of the unusual sounds are derived from extensive experimentation with playing techniques, plectra, bowing, and string materials. The samples were either organized through obsessive revision of a base algorithm realized portion by portion in Csound or Cmusic, or "hand-placed" using the computer's sound editing applications.;The essay also speculates on possible directions of future work for which these three pieces create the foundation. In the appendix following the essay proper is an example of the code for a future algorithm with explanatory notes. In Volume I of the score of Iridescent Uncertainty, I provide much information for navigation through an analysis of the work. This includes the program note, some remarks on the compositional process, an explanation of the cataloguing of instrumental techniques and the computer's sample database, as well as some notes on the construction of sections, the Csound orchestra and score files, and an example of a somewhat primitive algorithm used early in the piece. Moreover, excerpts of the score in musical notation offer a more conventional score reading with its graphical advantages. Nonetheless, a serious analysis of the work will prove easier using the Csound notelist score, and so in Volume II of the score, I furnish it in full. A sound recording of all three pieces will be made available at UCSD's Geisel Library. |
