Talking with the composers and scientists

RESONANCE  BEAUTY  STRUCTURE  VARIATION  PATTERN  EXPERIMENTATION

As part of the project the composers and scientists have been meeting together to talk about their different worlds and processes. At one of these meetings words connected to both science and music were explored.

Tansy Davies - Composer

Philip Cashian - Composer

David Horne - Composer

Prof. Michael Overduin - Scientist 

Mary Cohen - Director - String Quartets From Scratch

What does resonance mean to you?

Philip: 

The memory of something or the implications of writing something that might trigger off unrelated ideas/material.

David:         

I often use the term resonance, not just in the strictly acoustic sense, but also to mean the interaction between instruments, both in terms of sound, and also in terms of ideas. So, a musical idea can resonate with other parts of a musical work, causing other events to happen.

Tansy:        

It has to do with cause and effect: if a room is very resonant it means that sounds echo around in it. A resonant sound in music is often the result of natural harmonics sounding which make the sound richer and give it a kind of glow. In my music, creating a resonance might mean building a kind of echo chamber into the sound by sustaining certain pitches in the background while other things happen in the foreground.

Michael:      

Resonance refers to the matching of a frequency that is applied (for example a radiofrequency pulse) with the internal frequency of an object (such as an atom).

Mary:      

An ever increasing ripple resulting from an action or deed.  Observing resonance and consequence is part of my daily life. Artistic resonance holds particular fascination. When a piece of  art, literature or music takes a strong hold on me, I often spend time jumping back in my imagination across the ripples, trying to get closer to the original impetus. 

 

What does beauty mean to you?

Philip:            

The perfect balance of order and chaos.

David:         

Beauty for me refers to the effectiveness with which a musical work's ideas are expressed. So, I find music beautiful even if the effect is purposely abrasive of ugly, providing I feel the communication is clear. I can find beauty in both complex and simple musical ideas.

Tansy:        

Anything that is truly itself.

Michael:      

Beauty is evident in a physical entity that seems to be perfectly suited to its intended purpose.  

Mary:                    

For me there are two sorts; Something that causes an involuntary ‘aah’ reaction from the very soul. Something that I have grown to love, and through this love perceive as beautiful, although this might not have been my initial reaction.

 

What does structure mean to you?

Philip:            

A (partially) predetermined way of holding together an entire piece that makes sense of the different co-existing elements.

David:         

As music unfolds over time, structure for me refers mostly to the compositional decisions to order various musical events. It can also refer to certain musical parameters in a work- for example, the harmonic structure.

Tansy:        

Structure in my music has to do with order and how things are made. From the order of intervals or rhythms in a musical phrase to way in which the drama of a long piece unfolds, the structure is what holds everything in place, often because it connects the smallest ingredients of the music to the larger ones.

Michael:      

Structure refers to the spatial relationships of an object's component parts in a three dimensional world, typically observed as a snapshot in time.

Mary:                    

Again, for me there are two sorts: the internal scaffolding  supporting an action, activity or plan of action  - this can be imaginary or physical. Something that can be observed about a finished object, or activity - this can be understood at a subliminal or a conscious level.

 

What does variation mean to you?

Philip:           

Re-using the same basic musical ideas to create longer spans of music.

David:         

At its essence, variation is for me one of the most important musical devices that allows a piece of music to unfold. Variation and development, in my mind, are intrinsically linked. In variation, for me at least one musical parameter has to remain constant- but the parameter can be very loosely defined -  essentially, variation in music for me implies an acceptance that my music is defined by its context. That doesn't mean that I'm opposed to seemingly random events occurring in a piece of music - just that I think its important for me to be aware how they might be perceived in the overall structure.

Tansy:        

Variation, to me, means altering something slightly (like a musical phrase) to create a different version; so it’s the same, but different.

Michael:      

A variation refers to a change of one parameter in a complex system in order to observe its effects on the outcome.

Mary:      

Something that has grown from a ‘given’. It may be the addition of a new layers, or the beginning of the process of total separation from the ‘given’, but some aspect of the ‘given’ is still discernible.

 

What does pattern mean to you?

Philip:            

Usually, in my work, it means generating strings of numbers that can influence different parameters of the music (usually rhythmic).

David:         

Pattern means to me that there is a recognisable element in a musical idea. This can refer to many things, including melodic shapes, but abstract sounds themselves, for example particular kinds of attacks, can also help to create patterns.

Tansy:        

Pattern is closely linked to structure, if the structure of a phrase is complex enough to withstand repetition then it can make an interesting pattern which, when combined with variation, can be a rich source of musical material.

Michael:      

A pattern refers an interwoven network of relationships and effects.

Mary:      

Patterns can be observed visually, heard aurally, or felt physically. The hunt for patterns is a basic human instinct, essential for survival – the need for recognition of safe things to eat, or do.  Patterning and repetition are essential elements in the learning process. Engaging pupils in the process of recognising both pattern and the breaking of pattern is a crucial part of my teaching, from the very earliest stages.

 

What does experimentation mean to you?

Philip:           

Not a lot.

David:         

For me, the willingness to try something different in a piece of music, particularly combining ideas where I know some of them will ‘work’ but am less sure about others. I tend not to be interested in total experimentation, I’m more excited by experimentation within certain boundaries.

Tansy:        

Being inventive and trying out as many versions and combinations of things as I can think of. It can also mean the searching for new sonorities by pushing the technical limits of performers beyond what I and they already know.

Michael:      

Experimentation refers to the manipulation of the inputs of a system in order to test and understand the predicted outputs.

Mary:                    

My work is primarily the study of how string instrument technique is acquired, combined with the writing of musical and  effective teaching materials for teachers. Observation (in depth and detail) is an inherent part of my daily routine. Much of my composition takes as its impetus the need for a piece of music to teach a specific tiny technical detail, but in a hidden musical context - the finished piece should just be ‘real music’. To get  the ‘perfect piece’ that every child and teacher will like, I experiment with draft ideas in as controlled a way as possible. Using a fast music processing programme, I can produce many, many versions of something I want to try out, each with a tiny variation. To achieve a better understanding of cause and effect, it is vital to work at tiny changes and only test for one variant at a time. 

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