Browsing by Author "Psathas, John"

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Composition at the DAW: Corporeal, Performative and Therapeutic Experiences of Computer Composition
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2016) Prastiti, Briar; Psathas, John; McKinnon, Dugal
The DAW is often thought of as a virtual and non-corporeal method of composing. This paper presents the argument that in fact, the opposite is true. Through qualitative and self-reflexive research, this exegesis explores in depth the ways that the DAW invites and facilitates performance, gesture and embodiment during the process of composition at the computer. It looks at the ways such interaction with the DAW creates what I call a ‘feed-back loop’. This is a concept emerging from the effects of unique features of the DAW, such as its immediate audio and visual feedback, and recording capability, which distinguish it significantly from traditional tools and methods of composing. This core of this thesis is a portfolio of creative work titled Lady of Blue Anima. The structure follows a song-cycle with transitions, and hybridises contemporary and popular music styles. The exegesis is a critical articulation of at least two significant aspects of my creative process for Lady of Blue Anima: therapeutic experience, and a DAW-based creative process. I examine a number of vital aspects of compositional work at the DAW; the input devices that act as extensions to the body, listening and the emotional responses and/or therapeutic experiences, as well as physical sensorial experiences. These aspects also gives rise to surrounding environments, and other abstract notions of physical transcendence and fantasy. All of these aspects ultimately feed back into Lady of Blue Anima and are of especial value to me as a composer. This research aims to present the ‘missing voices’ of composers, whom are seldom heard from directly, rather than in the typically retrospective and hypothetical, philosophical, analytical, or theoretical manners of speaking about the compositional process. My self-reflexive approach places the wider academic context in relation to an empirical investigation from myself, where I am both subject and researcher of my compositional process. Throughout the paper I provide field notes about my own compositional experiences at the DAW, examples which give insight into both the creative application of the DAW as well as my experiences of and approaches to composition.
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Distilling the Essence: Vocal Provenance in the Work of Jack Body
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2011) Shortis, Carol; McKinnon, Dugal; Psathas, John
Jack Body is a prolific New Zealand composer of contemporary art music, who is best known for his engagement with the cultures of our Asian neighbours, and his transcription and transformation of their music has influenced a whole generation of composers in this country. However, in addition to this fascination with non-Western music, the use of voice as a means to express and explore the human condition has been an underlying theme in much of his work. This study uses critical analyses of three specific works by the composer to explore both text setting and his use of vocal provenance as a transformative compositional process. The string quartet Saetas is examined as a straightforward example of vocal provenance in instrumental music. An analysis of the text setting in Love Sonnets of Michelangelo informs an examination of the subsequent work for solo violin and string orchestra Meditations on Michelangelo where Body uses his own earlier vocal work as provenance for instrumental music. Body’s compositional practises in regard to the transformation from voice to instrument can therefore be separated from his response to original text, allowing an examination of the specific techniques he employs in works in which vocal provenance strongly informs instrumental compositions. This written dissertation is submitted with a portfolio of my original compositions that explore the use of voice in solo and choral works, as well as using the provenance of voice for instrumental music. These compositions were informed and influenced by my research of Jack Body’s work.
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Influence, Intuition, and Integration: An Exploration Into My Creative Process
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2011) Carter, Tristan; Psathas, John; Norris, Michael
This exegesis is an investigation into my creative process. It is an exercise in making more conscious the themes in, and relationships between, the musical materials I employ and the concepts that govern them. This is in order to obtain a clearer idea of the aesthetic I am currently exploring, to develop a stronger and more coherent viewpoint on what it is that I currently wish to hear in my music, and to contribute to the general discourse on the creative process in composition. Being primarily an intuitive composer, I consider the role improvisation plays both in the compositional stage and within the performance of my music. The accompanying portfolio of works gives fruition to a number of improvisatory approaches, and also highlights my fascination with a number of the world’s musical traditions, tackling both how to combine instruments of more than one tradition in fresh and interesting ways, and how to distill and internalize certain qualities of a particular musical tradition into my music by ways other than direct appropriation.
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Minor evolutions ; Timeline ; Waiting for the aeroplane ; Piano duet :
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 1990) Psathas, John
Musical compositions.
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Technology-Assisted Composition: Constructing Large-Scale Soundworlds Through Modern Technological Processes and Collaborative Engagements
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2016) Shankie, Kenyon; Psathas, John; McKinnon, Dugal
The creative potential offered by recent technological advances has enabled the construction of Gogo, a large-scale soundworld developed within a small-scale studio environment. Through creative exploration and practical application of these technological developments, Gogo depicts themes and concepts associated with mental illness via musical representation. As a work with social purpose, Gogo presents the interesting paradox of navigating authenticity and dramatisation; of documented reality and fabricated re-enactment. With this in mind, this thesis explores methods of creating an emotional experience of which a listener can relate. Observations made in the critical discussion of this work have seen a multifaceted approach to composition. With a focus on compositional control and specific methodologies such as collaborative engagement, the exegesis creates a framework for which Gogo can be analysed. Conclusions are made based on the practical application of these frameworks and through a case study of World War One commemorative project No Man’s Land. Through my active involvement with No Man’s Land, many of the core methodologies and approaches to composition were inspired by this project.
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Technology-assisted composition: Constructing musical hybridity through technological reconstruction
(Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2016) Hooker, Jack; Psathas, John
The focus of this thesis is how a computer-based, deliberately interdisciplinary and hybrid approach to the creative process, materials, tool selection and cultural identity of composition can generate new modes and practices of musical expression. Although centred on composition and sonic art, this multifaceted thesis also encompasses sound-design, audio production, performance and ethnomusicology. The major output of this thesis is a portfolio consisting of two bodies of recorded music. The first, Aurora, is a 25-minute, single-movement studio work comprising acoustic, electronic and sound-based elements, which explores the ways in which these parts can be reconstructed, recomposed and ultimately hybridised within a studio environment. The second, Transmigrations, is a portfolio of studio works that are centred on the fretted and fretless steel-string acoustic guitar. The works in Transmigrations feature the guitar in combination with a number of instruments and musicians from different parts of the world. These additional instruments have been recorded locally and overseas, both on location and long-distance. Like Aurora, these works feature elements that are recomposed and reconstructed within the studio, although in this instance the musical output remains largely ‘acoustic’ in sound. The secondary output of this thesis is a supporting exegesis that examines the portfolio of works within the larger discourse on computer music, interdisciplinarity and forms of musical hybridity. In the exegesis I argue that a computer-based music practice can enable a fluid, interdisciplinary approach to the creation of music, which can lead to hybrid modes of composition and unique forms of new music.