Mutations

Robert Ratcliffe, and Jon Weinel

Music Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

• Year: 2010
• Location: Sydney, Australia

Abstract:

Program notes: "Mutations" is an interactive work exploring notions of the DJ set and the remix through the integration of various streams of piano based material in live performance. Incorporating human and machine-generated material, a “realization” of the piece involves the management of a pool of audio files, MIDI files, and score fragments, which are drawn upon during performance. In this way, the performer is required to control and shape the various streams of material in the same way that a DJ would select and combine records during the structuring of a live set (an alternative realization of `Mutations' may involve the playback of mixed material, in which the trajectory of the narrative has been determined in advance). The supply of audio files, MIDI files, and score fragments used in the construction of the piece takes existing works from the piano repertoire as source material, both transformed and quoted intact, resulting in a spectrum of recognizability ranging from the easily identifiable, to the ambiguous, to the non-referential. The integration of this borrowed material within the three strands of the piece highlights various connections between traditional forms of musical borrowing, transformative imitation, improvisation, electroacoustic sound transformation and quotation, EDM sampling practices, remix practices and DJ performance. This version of `Mutations' features a pre-recorded electronic part, realized using a software application created by Jon Weinel. About the performers: Robert Ratcliffe is currently completing a PhD in composition (New Forms of Hybrid Musical Discourse) at Keele University (UK). He is the first composer to develop a musical language based on the cross fertilization of contemporary art music and electronic dance music (EDM). http://www.myspace.com/visionfugitive. Zubin Kanga - Piano Robert Ratcliffe - Electronics Jon Weinel - Software Author

Citation:

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{nime2010-music-Ratcliffe2010,
 abstract = {Program notes: "Mutations" is an interactive work exploring notions of the DJ set and the remix through the integration of various streams of piano based material in live performance. Incorporating human and machine-generated material, a “realization” of the piece involves the management of a pool of audio files, MIDI files, and score fragments, which are drawn upon during performance. In this way, the performer is required to control and shape the various streams of material in the same way that a DJ would select and combine records during the structuring of a live set (an alternative realization of `Mutations' may involve the playback of mixed material, in which the trajectory of the narrative has been determined in advance). The supply of audio files, MIDI files, and score fragments used in the construction of the piece takes existing works from the piano repertoire as source material, both transformed and quoted intact, resulting in a spectrum of recognizability ranging from the easily identifiable, to the ambiguous, to the non-referential. The integration of this borrowed material within the three strands of the piece highlights various connections between traditional forms of musical borrowing, transformative imitation, improvisation, electroacoustic sound transformation and quotation, EDM sampling practices, remix practices and DJ performance. This version of `Mutations' features a pre-recorded electronic part, realized using a software application created by Jon Weinel.

About the performers: Robert Ratcliffe is currently completing a PhD in composition (New Forms of Hybrid Musical Discourse) at Keele University (UK). He is the first composer to develop a musical language based on the cross fertilization of contemporary art music and electronic dance music (EDM). http://www.myspace.com/visionfugitive.

Zubin Kanga - Piano
Robert Ratcliffe - Electronics
Jon Weinel - Software Author},
 address = {Sydney, Australia},
 author = {Robert Ratcliffe and Jon Weinel},
 booktitle = {Music Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 editor = {Andrew Johnston, Sam Ferguson, Jos Mulder, Somaya Langley, Garth Paine, Jon Drummond, Greg Schiemer, Kirsty Beilharz, Roger Mills},
 month = {June},
 publisher = {University of Technology Sydney},
 title = {Mutations},
 year = {2010}
}