Technology-assisted composition: Constructing musical hybridity through technological reconstruction

Abstract

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.