Compositions

Counterweight (2015)

Schaefferian sound-object improvisation

SIG~
Schaefferian Improvisation Group of Iowa City

Jeffery Agrell - horn, electronics
Ryan Smith - saxophones, electronics
Chris Sande - percussion, electronics
Israel Neuman - bass, electronics

Counterweight is a Schaefferian sound-object improvisation. Pierre Schaeffer’s theory of sound objects is a milestone in the historical development of electronic music. The TARTYP (Tableau Récapitulatif de la Typologie), i.e., Summary Table of the Typology of Sound Objects, plays a central role in this theory. It is a schematic representation of a taxonomy of sound objects that demonstrates the premises of the Schaefferian theory. While Schaeffer’s ideas set the path for major trends in electronic music, the TARTYP itself was not widely accepted as a practical tool for musical analysis and composition. Its impracticality is in part attributed to a large number of confusing and vague terms introduced by this theory. In contrast, Schaeffer, devoted a great deal of attention to the construction of sound examples that demonstrate his ideas. The TARTYP sound objects are exemplified Solfe`ge de l’objet sonore (P. Schaeffer and G. Reibel 1966).

SIG~ is a Schaefferian improvisation group based in Iowa City, Iowa, founded by Israel Neuman for the purpose of exploring the practical applications of Schaeffer’s TARTYP to real-time composition and computer improvisation. The premise of this exploration is the idea that the TARTYP taxonomy can be put into practical use through improvisation and the aural learning of Schaeffer’s sound examples. However, the ensemble’s focus is not on exact reproduction of Schaeffer’s sound examples. Instead, members of the ensemble use these examples to imitate the behavior of sounds and to create their individual interpretation of the TARTYP sound objects, i.e., sounds that have the same defining characteristics. The mastery of the TARTYP musical language in SIG~ is supported by software designed specifically for this ensemble using the Pd-extended and Processing environments. A core element of the SIG~ performance system are generative grammars derived from the classification of sounds in the TARTYP.

Recording

Score

Idiosyncratic Parity (2014)

Schaefferian sound-object improvisation

SIG~
Schaefferian Improvisation Group of Iowa City
Ryan Smith - saxophones
Chris Sande - percussion
Israel Neuman - bass, electronics

Recording

Buildup (2014)

Schaefferian sound-object improvisation

SIG~
Schaefferian Improvisation Group of Iowa City
Ryan Smith - saxophones
Chris Sande - percussion
Israel Neuman - bass, electronics

Recording

Embracement (2013)

for cello and electronics

In 1957 Noam Chomsky introduced Phrase Structure (PS) grammars, a form of generation systems denoted [∑, F], where ∑ is a set of initial symbols and F is a set of rewrite rules. Pierre Schaeffer introduced the TARTYP (Tableau Récapitulatif de la Typologie) in 1966 as part of his typology of sound objects. In Embracement for cello and electronics paper, I have used a compositional method that combines the TARTYP classification with generative grammars. My goal was to develop compositional tools that generate and re-compose unified musical structures in real time.

A detailed description of the compositional method used to create the electronics of Embracement is provided in the paper:
Neuman, Israel. “Generative Tools for Interactive Composition: Real-Time Musical Structures Based on Schaeffer’s TARTYP and on Klumpenhouwer Networks,” Computer Music Journal 38 no. 2(2014)

Recording

Score
Electronics

Proof of Knowledge (2012)

for flute electronics and video

A machine 'knows something', if this something can be computed, given the machine as an input. (“Proof of Knowledge,” in Wikipedia) The performance of the computer in Proof of Knowledge for flute, electronics and video is governed by a dynamic control system. This system is based on a schema and an algorithm of structural mapping between a mass-spring network and live electronics. The mapping is based on the pitch organization of the flute part. The synchronization between the flute and the electronics in this piece is a product of the cause-and-effect relations between the flute and the physical model. This synchronization is achieved by a time-base comparison between the live signal and the model’s parameters.

Score
Electronics

Dielectric Resonance (2011)

audio-visual 2-channel stereo

The University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios were founded in 1963 by the renowned physicist James Van Allen and the Composition Area at the University of Iowa School of Music. Under the direction of Robert Shallenberg in the 1960s and Peter Tod Lewis in the 1970s the studios were equipped with sophisticated analog synthesis, processing, and recording technology of the day including a Moog III synthesizer and an Arp Synthesizer. This analog equipment was housed in Voxman Music Building until the flood of 2008 forced its relocation. In the summer of 2010, I worked on the installation of this equipment in its new location. Dielectric Resonance is an audio-visual composition based on images I collected while working with this analog equipment.

Triggers (2010)

for tenor saxophone and electronics

Triggers for tenor saxophone and electronics is an interactive composition that combines pre-composed material with improvisation. In this composition, I have used the granular synthesis method to provoke an interaction between the saxophone and the computer. This method generates complex sounds from many microsounds, also known as grains. A typical granular synthesis system will receive three main modifiers: a carrier signal, a grain-triggering signal and a grain-shaping envelope. In Triggers, live saxophone sounds and computer-generated signals assume different roles in modifying the granular synthesis system. Live saxophone sounds, and likewise computer-generated signals, may serve as carrier signals or as grain-triggering signals in different sound events throughout the piece. The sounds, which are delivered to the listener, are always a consequence of an onstage reality, not an account for past occurrences. At the same time, causality transpires in this piece as the pre-composed material initiates improvisational responses by the saxophonist and the computer.

Live at the University of Iowa December 2010

Recording

Score
Electronics
Require Max/MSP 5 or a later version and the external objects: liveGranul~, SynGranul~ and rand_dist_list~.
These objects are available as free download at the website of the GMEM Centre national de création musicale: http://dvlpt.gmem.free.fr/web/static.php?page=max_externals

Normal Mode (2010)

for chamber ensemble and electronics

A mechanical system is said to oscillate in a normal mode when all of its particles move simultaneously with the same frequency. Hence, a normal mode is a coordinated motion of particles. The composition Normal Mode derives its frequencies of oscillation from two different musical worlds. The electronics of the piece were created through a process of digital sound synthesis with reference to the microtonal octave division of Turkish music. The ensemble material was conceived within a Western-influenced serial pitch organization. These two distinct forces never cancel each other. Instead they create much tension and motion and sometimes, philosophically speaking, also find a normal mode.

Recording:

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Conducting Score
Thesis
Electronics

Turnarounds (2008)

for horn and tape

The premises of Turnarounds are rooted in the perception of music as transformations of energy. Potential energy is transformed to kinetic energy with the release of the first statement and with other following events. The ratio between repetition and change determines the efficiency of energy utilization. Change creates a forward motion; repetition creates only the illusion of motion.

Systematic organization of extended techniques, which are manipulated through various matrix operations, forms the fundamental structure of the piece. Both the horn part and the tape part are products of this system. The sound source of the tape is derived from audio recordings of the horn’s extended techniques. In two sections of the piece the performer is asked to choose a path within an array of musical choices presented to him in a cyclic notation. These unpredictable repeated cycles are the inspiration for the title of the piece.

Turnarounds incorporates various levels of approximation mainly due to the choice of material for the horn. While the tape part is fixed, the horn part allows some flexibility in its performance, as long as important points of alignment are maintained. Those points of alignment are marked in the score with vertical dashed lines. The tension created by this approximation is a structural feature of the work.

Stereo Recording

Score
4-Channel Tape

Syn-K-ronous (2008)

for double bass and percussion

MX (2007)

for 4-channel computer generated sound

Written in Send (2007)

for 2-channel stereo computer generated sound

Recording

Semantic Diffusion (2006)

for quartet and tape

Semantic Diffusion is a composition influenced by musical traditions from the Middle East and Eastern Europe. In particular it incorporates melodic elements that are common in those musical cultures, along with the use of a drone and heterophony. Such Middle Eastern melodic elements, including the Hijaz tetrachord, (the set 0145), are revealed throughout the piece by the use of specific melodic direction. Yet, in the absence of this melodic direction, the same exact pitch sets are part of an atonal context. This duality in meaning is also the inspiration for the title of the piece.

Live Recording

Score
Tape (with a click track)

Aggregate of Qualities (2006)

for chamber orchestra

Sonovox: Geometry (2006)

for jazz quintet

Concentric Circles, Dimension Assumption, Geometry T, Glide Reflection, Minor Arc, Ratio of Similitude, Transitive Property

Sipour (2006)

for jazz quartet

Anderson Walks, Ganmai Cha, Roasted Brown

Tone-Mill Six Combine (2006)

for saxophone and bass

No One (2005)

for saxophones and percussion

Recording

Score

Oh I am so thirsty (2005)

for 2-channel stereo computer generated sound

Aerial (2005)

for piano

Polariscope (2005)

for jazz quartet

Ursa Minor, Discontinuity, Distance, Kotviyoot,
Co-ordination, The Fox, Equation

Cohesive-Dis-Order (2004)

or string quartet

Gnafiy (2004)

for concert jazz band

Melancholic Smile (2004)

for concert jazz band

Class 2000 (2002)

music for a documentary film by Yuval Cohen and Tammy Grosse