Panel Statement
Chair Persons: Arthur Clay & Jason Freeman
Presenters: Basak Dilara Ozdemir, Thor Magnusson, Georg Hajdu, Shane Mc Kenna & John Eacott
Over the last decade, a growing number of composers have begun to use what is known as real-time notation in their work and many have developed diverse systems to facilitate its use in all types of performative situations. Real-time music notation includes any notation, either traditional or graphic, which is formed or created during the actual performance. Other terms such as dynamic music notation, live scoring, virtual scoring, and reactive notation have also been used to describe the same process. This panel event seeks to convey the excitement of current real-time notation practice to the public by presenting work done in the area by prominent composers, musicians, and researchers. The presenters will explore key issues behind virtual scoring and real-time notation from technical, musical and design perspectives and provide an overview of the various approaches, their systems, and the styles of music that have emerged from them. Relevant works from the past and the present will be discussed to show how real-time notation relates to earlier experimental methods in open-form and malleable musical scores and in computer-assisted composition, in order to facilitate understanding through showcasing the exploration of the connections and boundaries among composers, performers and the audience. Participants from the planned accompanying workshop Interactive Music Basics & RealTime Scoring will join the panel and discuss their experiences while using software and hardware tools to create real-time notation systems or dealing with the challenges as interpreters of extreme sight reading. Above all, the organizers of the panel hope that the events will spark interest and discussion that will further the development of a community of practice around virtual scoring and real-time playing and raise awareness of this new area within the contemporary music circles to aid in attracting new people to this exciting field.
- Arthur Clay, a sound artist and curator, was born in New York, USA, and lives in Basel, Switzerland. He is a specialist in the performance of self created works with the use of intermedia and has appeared at international festivals, on radio and television television in Europe, Asia and North America. His recent work focuses on media based works and large performative works and spectacles using mobile devices. He has won prizes for performance, theatre, new media art and curation. He has taught media and interactive arts at various art schools and universities in Europe and North America including the University of the Arts in Zurich.
- Jason Freeman‘s works break down conventional barriers between composers, performers, and listeners, using cutting-edge technology and unconventional notation to turn audiences and musicians into compositional collaborators. His music has been performed by groups such as the American Composers Orchestra and the Rova Saxophone Quartet and featured in the New York Times and on National Public Radio. Freeman studied at Yale University and Columbia University. He is currently an assistant professor in the School of Music at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.