Improvising in the Loop: Seven Improvisatory, Loop-Based Pieces for Customized Data-Driven Instruments; A Digital Portfolio Dissertation
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Date
2020-05
Authors
Asman, Nathan Morris
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Improvising in the Loop serves as both a compendium of and comprehensive guide to the
music I have written and performed as well as the instruments I have created and designed during
my tenure as a doctoral student at the University of Oregon’s School of Music and Dance. Loopbased
music has long played a fundamental and influential role in the genesis of the music that I
write and perform, as has the idea of musical improvisation. Every piece that I have included in
my Digital Portfolio Dissertation contains improvised loop-based music in some way. The first of
seven pieces that I will be discussing is called Étude No.1, for Curve. It is the piece I wrote for my
second custom-built interface, called Curve. The étude was written for Ableton Live and Max/
MSP. T(Re)es (Trees: Remixed) was written for the Monome. The software I used to write T(Re)es
was Ableton Live and Max/MSP. Trio 1-465 is next and is the first ensemble-based piece in my
repertoire. Trio was written for cello, turntables, and my own custom-designed interface utilizing
Contour Design’s RollerMouse Red Plus. Trio employs Ableton Live, Max/MSP, and the Ms.
Pinky software environments. Impromptu No. 1, for ShrutiBox+ was written for a custom-built
hybrid instrument/interface of my own design called Shrutibox+. Ableton Live and Max/MSP
served as the compositional and performative software environments for the impromptu. Multios is
a piece I wrote using only my iPad and iPhone, utilizing a variety of iOS apps for the sound design,
data mapping, composition, and ultimate performance of the piece. ArcMorph was written for my
Sensel Morph and Arc, and was realized and performed with Ableton Live and Max/MSP. The
final piece I will discuss is called Kaurios, which is also the name of the custom-built interface.
Composed and performed with Ableton Live and Max/MSP, Kaurios signifies the culmination of
my studies as a doctoral student at the University of Oregon.
Description
Digital Portfolio Dissertation files include: descriptive text document; README; zipped computer files; and 7 performance videos linked for streaming at this URL on University of Oregon Panopto service: https://uoregon.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Sessions/List.aspx?folderID=6c4ea9b1-2f63-433e-8187-abc101739430. Archival copies of videos have been preserved by the UO Libraries.
Keywords
Music composition, Data-driven music, Interactive composition, Loop-based music, musical improvisation