Notating Action-Based Scores67312247

7/27/2019 Notating Action-Based Scores67312247

1/9

Action-based music entertains the idea thatactions can dene all aspects of compositional and perfor-mance processes [1]. The following hypothetical scenario ex-emplies the idea. A temporally augmented gesture of a bowbouncing on a string can inform how the composition unfoldsin time. A collection of such bouncing actions can guide the lo-cal decisions as well as the overall character of the music. Thecomposer then foregrounds the work with physical properties

of bouncing as opposed to investigation of sonic propertiesthat are products of such actions. Since bouncing is centeredon the tactile interactions between the performer and instru-ment, this relationship becomes deepened and more evidentto the audience.

Identifying the act of doing as a model for creation andperformance makes action-based music an artistic manifes-tation of enactive cognition [25]. Enactive cognitionincontrast to the cognitivist and emergence schools of thoughtforegrounds mind as inseparable from the world and the waywe experience it. It is through a history of structural cou-pling that brings forth a world that we acquire knowledge[6]. Enactive knowledge is attained and manifested throughthe act of doing, as can be observed in repetitive sport andmusic practices.

Enactive music cognition investigates the role of the body

in music-making [7,8]. For example, the ancillary gestures inthe performance of some common practice period and 20th-century concert repertoire have been studied to the end ofunderstanding the relationship between physicality and ex-

pressiveness in music [9]. Action-based music takes a different ap-proach, proposing that action it-self can be a pure manifestationof expression impregnated withinformation and aesthetic mean-ing;action-based music uses actionsas the building blocks of musical

composition.Action-based music is principallyrelated to ecological perception,which shows that ourunderstandingof our relationship with the world isbased in understanding the action-perception cycle [10]. Itfrequently engages everyday objects and actions, bringing ourgrasp of that relationship more fully to the performance space.Ecological analytical methods have enabled investigations ofmeaning in music, emphasizing the relationship betweenmusic-making and everyday listening through identicationof sound-producing sources and their affordances[1115]. Af-fordancesare opportunities, functions and values that denethe relationship between the abilities and needs of an observerand the capacities of an environment. The everyday listeningmode prioritizes a focus on non-psychoacoustic characteristics

of sound, as in the example of recognizing a siren as a retruck passing by as opposed to a frequency of 400Hz mov-ing under the Doppler effect. Perception is an active processof seeking information while orientating ones body towardinformation sources and attuning oneself to them, which isprecisely what has driven the creators to this genus of music.

Notation of action-based music reects its unique nature, il-lustrating what to perform and how to perform it and detailingthe sound-producing mechanisms and their operations. Suchnotation engages symbols capable of suggesting at once the

2011 ISAST LEONARDO MUSIC JOURNAL, Vol. 21, pp. 6572, 2011 65

Juraj Kojs (researcher, administrator), Foundation for Emerging Technologies andArts (FETA), 2294 North West 2nd Avenue, Miami, FL 33127, U.S.A. E-mail: .

See for supplemental les (such as audio and video)related to this issue of LMJ and accompanying CD.

b

The author discusses thenotation of action-based music,in which physical gestures and

their characteristics, such as

shape, direction and speed (as

opposed to psychoacoustic

properties such as pitch, timbre

and rhythm), play the dominant

role in preserving and transfer-

ring information. Grounded in

ecological perception and enac-

tive cognition, the article shows

how such an approach mediates

a direct relationship between

composition and performance,

details some action-based music

notation principles and offers

practical examples. A discussion

of tablature, graphic scores and

text scores contextualizes themethod historically.

Notating Action-Based Music

JurajKojs

Fig. 1. n excerpt from Three Movements(2004) for piano and electronics. ( Juraj Kojs)


2/9

66 Kojs, Notating Action-Based Music

means (hands, forearm, etc.) and the ap-proach (open ngers, side of hand, etc.)[16]. Action choreographies are fre-quently displayed through transparentgraphics and verbal instructions. Fromthe performers perspective, such scorespromote awareness of both the bodyand instrument. A number of perform-ers have reported to me that performingaction-based music has facilitated a bet-

ter understanding of their instrumentand informed their interpretation of thestandard repertoire.

Toward acTion-Based

noTaTion

Recent anthropological research sug-gests that the language of manual ges-tures preceded the development of vocallanguage. A manual sign language wasthe primary communication tool beforeearly bipedal hominins freed their handsfor activities such as carrying and manu-facturing and before they developed cor-

tical control over vocal expressions [17].Visual displays on cave walls around theworld indeed show actions and manualgestures of hunters and animals in sacredrituals that undoubtedly included music-making [1820]. Media such as stone,skin and ceramic facilitated elaborationof the pictographic displays and expan-sion of their reach. As a way of under-standing and communicating with theworld, such pictographs laid the foun-dations for written languages such asSumerian cuneiforms [21,22], Mayan hi-eroglyphs [23,24], Egyptian hieroglyphs[2527] and Chinese logograms [2830].

The graphemes of these languages,such as alphabetic letters, numericaldigits and Chinese characters, wouldbecome the base for the phonetic musicnotations of the Sumerians, Babylonians,Chinese, Hindus, modern Arabs and an-cient Greeks [31]. Cuneiform tablatureon clay from the Old Babylonia periodis considered to be the oldest notationspecically created for musical use (ca.

20001700 B.C., The Schoyen Collection,London-Oslo). Artifact MS 5105 featurestwo ascending consecutive heptatonicscales to be played on a four-stringed lutetuned in ascending fths. Preceding laternotation systems, this tablature was a partof the music syllabus for educationalinstitutions [32].

The tendency to make the signs com-pact to economize the use of space andto standardize them to facilitate commonusage accelerated after the invention ofthe printing press. This developmentsealed the break with an earlier focus ontablature. Most of the efforts in this areafocused on representing the sounds asthey were heard, leading to the develop-ment of thesophisticated abstract sym-bol lexicon and grammar of what we nowconsider conventional notation [33].

Tablature systems, however, preservedthe focus on the physicality of the music-making. Keyboard and string tablatures,for example, presented the musicianwith information about the placementof the ngers on particular strings orkeys, rather than conveying the desiredpitch or interval. Combination of signsand letters frequently identied the n-ger selection and position. For instance,

16th- and 17th-century lutenists drewsix lines to represent their six principalstrings as in Mace Lute Tablature, mostfrequently with the lower strings posi-tioned lowest in the notation [34]. Thestrings were separated by frets into 54 ormore divisions, each signifying a musicaldistance of a semitone. The numbers in-dicating particular frets to press wouldthen be placed on a particular line. The

letter or sign characters signifying the du-ration of the performed event would beplaced above the lines [35]. Tablaturesfor the wind instruments would conveythe opening and closing of the tone holesrather than the emitted sound [36].

Thus, tablature notation has priori-tized eye-hand coordination. It is no sur-prise that this type of notation had beenhistorically classied as direct or nger[37] or practical [38]. WilliApel believedthat tablatures relieved the player frominvestigating the theoretical aspect ofmusic and enabled the shortest way tomusic-making, which was most effectivewith simpler instruments such as lutes,zithers, ukuleles and contemporary gui-tars [39]. However, some wind instru-ment graphic tablatures have continuedin use in the early instructional stagesand in the notation of complex multi-phonics.

Tablature graphics are not the onlygraphics present in the history of musi-cal notation. The 14th-century Frenchcomposer Baude Cordiers ornamen-tally deformed chansons and canons areiconic examples of visually enriched no-tationa style that became later knownas Augenmusik(eye music) [40,41]. Laterin the 19th century, novel notation sys-

tems suggested alterations in the linenumbers, symbols and clefs, as in PierreGalins system [42]. However, it was notuntil the mid-20th century that the pres-ently known myriad of novel notationalsystems were developed, regularly en-gaging expanded graphics and text todenote some action principles [4348].Contemporaneous trends in the visualarts inuenced such experimentations[49]. For some, the notation reectedblurring of the boundaries between thesonic, visual and dramatic expressions in

Fig. 2. n excerpt from Luciano berio, Sequenza V fr Posaune,1968. ( 1968 y UniversalEdition [London] Ltd., London/UE 13725)

Fig. 3. n excerpt from E-clip-singfor clarinet, guitar, cello, doule ass and electronics, 2008. ( Juraj Kojs)


3/9

Kojs,Notating Action-Based Music 67

a performance. Introduction of every-day objects and actions onstage as musi-cal means grew to be contemporary andgenre-transcending [50].

While action-based music often makesuse of graphic notation, not all graphicnotations are action based. For example,the neo-neumatic score of John CagesAria(1958) for female voice uses color-ful line contours to indicate the resultingsonic parameters in the time and pitchspectrum. Similarly, many other pieces,including Karlheinz Stockhausens PlusMinus (1963) and Spiral (1968) andRoman Haubenstock-Ramatis MobileforShakespeare(1960), as well as AnestisLogothetiss Maendros (1963), utilizeextensive graphics to express music pa-rameters such as event duration, tempo,dynamics, pitch, articulation and tim-bre. Distorted staves and spatializationin compositions such as StockhausensRefrain(1959) for piano, cello and per-cussion, Bruno Madernas SerenataPerUn

Satellite(1969) and David RosenboomsAndComeUpDripping (1968) for oboeand computer visually detail some of theresulting music parameters. In the 1960s,novel notational systems often presentedcombinations of conventional notation,tablatures, text and graphics for the pur-pose of establishing an enhanced com-munication with the performer [51,52].

acTion-BasedMusicand

noTaTion sysTeMs

Action-based music mediates the intrin-sic relationship between composition,performance and listening, as shown inthe variety of its notation methods. Com-posers such as Luigi Russolo, LucianoBerio, Helmut Lachenmann and FrancoDonatoni (to name only a few) notatedtheir actions using expansions to theconventional notation, such as inventedsymbols, graphics and text. In his infa-mous RisvegliodiUnaCitta(Awakeningof

aCity, 1913) for intonarumori(mechani-cal noise-makers), Luigi Russolo used ave-line stave (with keys, time signaturesand measures) onto which he graphedthe speed and pressure of the cranksand levers as corresponding to the as-cending and descending pitches. FrancoDonatonis BlackandWhiteII(1968) fortwo pianos shows the common notationgrand staves and note heads. However,the stave lines suggest ngers of both the

left and right hands, and the note heads(white or black) indicate thecolor of thekey on which a particular nger shouldbe positioned. No other musical instruc-tions are included.

At the opposite end of thespectrum,Boguslaw Schaeffers Reading(1979) forsix performers is a pure action piece no-tated with non-action graphics. The per-formers (actors, dancers, musicians orsingers) dene and perform 88 complexactions, thedurations of which span from7 to 25 seconds. However,the graphicsdo not suggest actions at all; they areexpansions of simple geometries, musicarticulation signs and tape-cutting tech-niques.

The example in Fig. 1 comes from myThreeMovements (2004) for piano andelectronics. The player quietly slides hisor herngers on black or white keys. Thesignals are tracked by two microphonesand used to excite a choir of cyber-strings. Note that the distance between

the boundary points denes the gesturespeed. The electronic part of the com-position displays some psychoacousticproperties of the signal and is thereforenot action based. (As noted earlier, tab-latures facilitate a direct translation ofperformance actions, yielding completetransparency. Action-based notationalso shows such features, and the fol-lowing sections detail some of its displayparameters.)

Section 1.1 describes the capacity ofthis form of notation to ease access tomusic. Pure action-based scores in factutilize images that suggest clear instruc-tions at rst sight and need no furtherexplanation. Such scores could literallybe sight-read! (Scores in need of addi-tional clarication include a preface,legend or glossary.) The second section(1.2) turns to the temporal issues, suchas duration units and framing time onthe page. While a beat usually markstime in conventional notation, it is thesecond that frequently serves as a timeunit in action-based notation. In someinstances, the durations of actions them-selves are dened as the counting unit, asdiscussed in the third section (1.3). Thefourth section (1.4) addresses framingsystems and grids that display groupedunits on the page. These can be xedor exible in duration. The nal section(1.5) discusses the image of the humanbody in this notation, discussing how

Fig. 4. n excerpt from Helmut Lachenmanns Pressionfor cello solo, 1972. ( 1972 y Musikverlage Hans Gerig, Kln 1980, assigned tobreitkopf & Hrtel, Wiesaden)

Fig. 5. n excerpt from ornelius ardew, The Great Learning, Paragraph 5, Action Score,1971. ( Horace ardew. ourtesy of Experimental Music atalogue.)


4/9


body action graphics have the capacity tofurther tighten the relationship betweenscore reading and music-making.

1.1. Direct ccess, Legendsand GlossariesNelson HowesFurMusic(1970) is an ex-ceptional example of action-based musicnotation. The score includes both theinstrumentstrips of furand instruc-tions consisting of simple geometries,lines and arrows (with minimal verbalexplanations) for its use. The score clari-es the direction, pressure and motionspeed of the performers tactile interac-tions with the instrument.

Luciano Berios SequenzaV(1966) fortrombone solo is a well-known example

of proportional notation, detailing themusical parameters. However, the mutepart and its notation are also strikingfrom the action-based perspective. Beriocreated a separate stave (below the mainstave), showing the lower (open) andupper (close) limits of the physical mutepositions (as seen in Fig. 2). The actionsare then notated as full lines oscillatingbetween the two limits (+ and o). Occa-sional rattling gestures of the mute insidethe bell are notated with a dense pack ofcircles placed on the line.

Eleanor Hovda similarlynotated musicparameters such as pitch and time withexpanded conventional notation whileincludingsome physical parameters suchas bowing with graphic gestures and ver-bal instructions in her Lemniscates(1988)for string quartet. The graphic gesturesmirror the movement of the bow on thestring, enabling a direct mapping of thescore onto the apparatus of the perform-ers arm.

Pureaction-based notations are rare,however, due to use of novel instrumentsand corresponding graphics. In particu-lar, if the pictographs are not readilytranslatable to actions, a legend prefac-ing the score often serves as a glossaryof terms. In some cases, the legend willtake up a large portion of the score, as inMauricio Kagels Acustica(19681970),or even function as the score itself, as inAlvin LuciersGentleFire(1971).

In an extended preface to the score ofhisAccidents(1967) for electronically pre-pared piano, ring modulator, mirrors, ac-tions, black lights and projections, LarryAustin described the piece as an explora-tion of accidental rather than deliberateactions. The pianist quietly depresses the

keys, and hammers strike the strings onlyoccasionally. Graphic gestures such aslines, rectangles and circles indicate thekind and number of depressed keys, witha keyboard image used as a clef.

The example shown in Fig. 3 is frommyE-clip-sing(2008) for clarinet, guitar,cello, double bass and electronics. Ob-serve that theperformer is quickly givenaccess to the music through the text,

which details the type and location of ac-tions along with explicit action graphics.Their quality, articulation, direction andduration are embedded in the images.

1.2 emporal UnitsIn contrast with the musical conventionof measuring time in beats and measures,action-based music often exists in abso-lute time, with a second as its temporalcounting unit. Clocks and stopwatcheshave served as timekeepers. Some tran-sitional scores indicate a tempo markof a quarter note equaling 60, which inactuality translates to the duration of onesecond.

Helmut Lachenmanns Guero(1969)for piano and Pression(1969) for celloare such transitional scores. In theseworks, the composer rened his conceptofmusiqueconcrteinstrumentale,whichis based on the alienation of traditionalinstrumental sounds through unconven-tional performance modes. Except for afew sections in which pitches are notatedon a staff with a clef, the score ofPressionshows whatactions to perform and whereto perform them on the instrument (Fig.4). Expanding the idea of a conventionalpitch clef, Lachenmann designed clefs toindicate various parts of the instruments

Fig. 6. n excerpt from SOLfor string quartet, 2009. ( Juraj Kojs)

Fig. 7. Page 24, Mauricio Kagel,Acustica fr experimentelle Klangerzeuger und Lautsprecher,1968. ( 1968 by Universal Edition [London] Ltd., London/UE 18429)


5/9


can only be deduced from sequentialinstructions. The only temporal indica-tion for Paragraph5is a 2-hour durationreference in the GreatLearningspreface.

Fluxus artists in particular have ex-plored music performance actions astime units in their text pieces [53]. DickHiggins prescribes a script of actions op-erating musical sources such as radiosand pianos in the rst of his Constellationsfor the Theater (Number X) (1965). Thethird Constellationdetails 10 physical in-structions for constructing, superimpos-ing and manipulating four tape layers,with particular speed relationships ex-

pressed in the nal theoretical schemeequation [54]. Interestingly, the speedof the tape manipulation is the only timeexpressed and captured.

Alvin Luciers GentleFire (1971) alsocompletely avoids temporal instruc-tions, instead having the performer re-cord a myriad of everyday actions andthen modulate them with technologiesof his or her choice so that they soundlike other actions. A possible instructioncould read as follows: record squeakingshoes and make them sound like purringcats. The act of recording and model-ing becomes a performance within anunspecied period of time. Pauline Oli-veross SonicMeditations (1971) are textpieces that prescribe particular actions(or the lack of them) to enhance aware-ness of ones body, mind and sonic envi-ronment, often calling for actions to beextended for as long as possible.

At the opposite end of the spec-trum, Annea Lockwoods GlassConcert

body (which he also used in his stringquartets). While the sustained events arenotated with curves and lines, individualevents use various note head types withags, suggesting the brief or elongatednature of each event. All the events areorganized to t into a grid system. Therest signs indicate a lack of apparentaction.

Lachenmanns Guero, on the other

hand, uses proportional notation. Sepa-rated into three pitch registers, noteheads of various shapes and llings indi-cate the nature, direction and durationof the physical gestures. Gliding ngersquietly on the piano keyboard, tuningpegs and strings between the tuning pegscreates the base action vocabulary of thecomposition. The music is notated intoa grid with a quarter-note time marker.The tempo is q = 60 (i.e. 1 second). Sim-ilarly to Pression, most of the dynamics,articulation (both graphical accents andverbal instructions in Italian) and restsare indicated in conventional notation.Lachenmann also utilized caesura signs,with the length of silence measured inseconds, in various places.

1.3 ction as a ime MarkerIn some action-based music, the dura-tion of a performance action or gesturebecomes the time marker, existing in-dependently from any strict temporalframework. The duration of the gridunits is not precisely dened. Rather, ac-tions areprecisely notated or suggestedmore freely, frequently using verbalindications.

Steve Reichs PendulumMusic (1968)for microphones, ampliers, speakers

and performers exemplies the idea ofa text composition for suspended andswung microphones. The piece openswith the performers unleashing themicrophones and ends when all of themicrophones come to rest. The piecesduration is fully dependent on thepace of the decelerating microphonetrajectories.Paragraph5 from Cornelius Cardews

GreatLearning(19691970), for a largenumber of untrained musicians makinggestures, performing actions, speaking,chanting and playing a wide variety ofinstruments, joins text lists and graphicsto expressed actions to be performed.Framed around seven sentences, thechapter consists of sections featuringmovement instructions, verbal actioncompositions, text chanting, an actionscore, a number score and 10 ode ma-chines. (The ode machines are the onlyones to feature conventional notation.)The opening IntroductoryDumbShowis a

text detailing choreographic trajectoriesand vocalizations. The section Composi-tions consists of eight Fluxus-type wordscores. In ActionScore, the composer rstdenes the objects, such as coins, cardsand whistles, in terms of their use for po-tential games in his ActionScoreInterpreta-tionsection. TheActionScoreitself consistsof columns of actions, some in capitaland some in lowercase letters (Fig. 5).The performer is asked to begin per-forming the action in capital letters andthen keep adding neighboring actionspositioned below and above. The initialaction is dropped upon reaching another

action marked in capital letters. When allthe actions of a particular column havebeen executed or when the performerbreaks with overload, they move to thenext column. (There is a short song no-tated in conventional notation includedin the score. Interestingly, the performercan opt out from the action score by sing-ing the song.)

The score continues with the NumberScore section, consisting of a matrix ofcategories such as social, scale, ac-tions, parts of body, states, ideas,positions, object, material andcomposition. Each category presentsa series of descriptors that dene theaction selection in combination with arandom 4-digit number sequence. Theselection is then read through the Num-berScoreas a lter.

Cardew does not reference duration ortiming anywhere in the score. A particu-lar section is done when all of the actionsinside it are completed. Temporal cues

Fig. 8. Page 2, Mark pplebaum, excerpt from Tln, for three conductors, 1995.( Mark pplebaum)


6/9


niques for its operation, often engaginga body in action gures. For example,Kagels instructions for operating a hum-mingbird aerophone toy tied to an endof a whip (pp. 23 and 24) show a humangure holding the whip along with de-sired movement trajectories (see Fig. 7).

Jani Christous Enantiodromia (1968)for orchestra combines proportionalnotation with graphic symbols. The nal

portion of the score includes graphicgures of the performers and conductorin particular movement choreographies.Theodore Antonious Cheironomies:Con-ductorsImprovisation(1971) for variableensemble shows detailed choreographiesof the conductors gestures with bodyimages and action trajectories. In thepreviously described Paragraph5 fromCardews GreatLearning, the composerdenes a topology with six action centers,two mobility circles and a relay/rest pointusing a graphic body gure, which servesas an orientation map for the choreogra-phy of the opening movement.

The body may be implicitly present inthe notation, as in the rst movementof Mark Applebaums Tln(1995) forthree conductors and no players. Thissilent action composition instructs threeconductors to manage three imaginaryensembles. In the rst movement (Mono-lith), the graphic line trajectories for eachhand operate within a grid framingthevertical and horizontal arm stretches ofthe performers, as shown in Fig. 8. Palmrotations are notated with arrows. (Thesecond movement, Kaleidoscope, showsmusic parameters such as the rhythm,meter, tempo, dynamics and articulationof the imagined music in conventional

notation.)Graphics featuring hands engaged in

actions can be found in the score of myAtandAcross(2007) for Slovakian sheepbells and cyberbells (Fig. 9). While theconventional notation shows whichtuned bells to use, the hand graphicsprovide instructions for the operation ofthe bells.

conclusion

Tablatures never became the basis fora universal notation language but theydo reect the intimate relationships be-tween the instrument maker, composer,performer and notation, specic to aparticular instrument and locality [56].Expanding the tablature designs, novelnotations (often invented for particularpieces) showed the extreme closenessbetween the music-making and arts ofthe 1960s [57]. More than that, uniqueexpressions symbolized the zeitgeist and

2 (19671970) for two performers is atext-notated composition that treats timewith particular attention. The rst per-former is instructed to excite glass sheets,rods, fragments, panes, curtains, threads,bottles, tanks and bulbs with actions suchas scraping, rolling, swinging, crushing,grinding and blowing in 40 scenes, whilethe second performer operates colorfulspotlights to refract the light of the glossy

objects. Each scene is describedin detailverbally and carefully timed.

Cages WaterWalk(1958) for everydayobjects such as a bathtub, toy sh, pres-sure cooker, mixer, goose whistle and veradios calls for a combination of absolutetime and action duration: Start watchand then time actions as closely as pos-sible to their appearance in the score[55]. The combination of natural timedevelopment of the actions with refer-ence to the absolute time measurementenables constant bending of the musicalow.

1.4 Framing ime on the PageThere is no predened relationship be-tween time and space in the notation ofaction-based music. The relative size ofan event can correspond to a relative sizeof action, as in the example from mySOLfor string quartet (Fig. 6). The page ofbowed material is framed as a projectionof a string body existing in space andtime (15 seconds). For clarity of reading,eachinstrument is notated with a differ-ent line type.

Further, the actions duration can ei-ther be dependent on or work indepen-dently of the graphic size. The gestureorientation on the page can expand in

a multiplicity of directions, as in Silvano

Bussottis balletLaPassionSelondeSade(1964), creating a series of separate andoverlapping zones. The concern for spa-tial economy is minimal, especially if thecomposition is not restricted by a particu-lar duration.

The time frame can vary from compo-sition to composition. If precision is in-volved, the duration can be constant (e.g.10 seconds per page) or vary from page

to page.Duration can also be assigned lo-cally, to individual gestures for instance.Cage notably used brackets to indicatevaried durations of the phrases at the be-ginning of his TheaterPiece (1960), thusloosening the time/space relationship.In addition, while most compositionscall for left-to-right reading, some maydisturb this time-space convention (aswith the columns of text in Cardew andLuciers scores).

1.5 he Human bodyThe presence of the human body and itsparts in the scores graphics is one of the

most powerful and suggestive tools fornotating actions, as seen in M. KagelsAcustica (19681970) for experimentalsound producers and loudspeakers. Thecomposition is written for two to veperformers operating a multitude of ev-eryday objects (e.g. gas blow-lamp, tissuepaper and box of nails), toys (e.g. clock-work toy animal, balloon and humming-bird), musical instruments (e.g. trumpet,trombone and violin) and other sound-producing and amplifying technolo-gies (arecord player, microphone andloudspeaker-megaphone). The score is apictorial-verbal glossary of instruments,each page detailing an object (the sound

source) and prescribing particular tech-

Fig. 9. n excerpt fromAt and Acrossfor lovak sheep ells and cyerells, 2007.( Juraj Kojs)


7/9


35. J. Wolf, HandbuchderNotationskunde(Leipzig,Germany, 1919. Reprint: Nabu Press, 2010).

36. S. Virdung, MusicaGetutscht:ATreatiseonMusicalInstruments. B. Bullard, ed. and trans. (1511, ReprintCambridge University Press, 2007).

37. W. Apel, TheNotationofPolyphonicMusic (Cam-bridge, MA: The Medieval Academy of America,1953).

38.OxfordMusicOnline. Retrieved from .

39. Apel [37].

40. P. Grifths, Sonic-Code-Image, in T. Mukher-jee,EyeMusic:TheGraphicArtofNewMusicalNotations(Arts Council, 1970).

41. S. Smith and S. Smith, Visual Music, PerspectivesofNewMusic20, No. 1/2, 7593 (1982).

42. P. Galin, RationaleforaNewWayofTeachingMusic, B. Rainbow, trans. (Kilkenny: Boethius Press: Facsim-ile of 1818 edition, 1997).

43. J. Cage, Notations (New York: Something ElsePress, 1969).

44. E. Karkoschka, NotationinNewMusic:ACriticalGuidetoInterpretationandRealisation (InternationalThomson Publishing, 1972).

45. B. Boretz and E.T. Cone, eds., PerspectivesonNota-tionandPerformance(New York: W.W. Norton, 1976).

46. D. Cope, New Directions in Music (ProspectHeights, IL: Waveland Press, 2000).

47. R.S. Brindle,TheNewMusic:TheAvant-Gardesince1945(Oxford, U.K.: Oxford Univ. Press, 2003).

48. M. Nyman, ExperimentalMusic: Cageand Beyond(Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2008).

49. J. Evarts, The New Musical Notation: A GraphicArt? Leonardo1, No. 4, 405412 (1968).

50. M. Parsons, The Scratch Orchestra and VisualArts, LeonardoMusicJournal11 (2001) pp. 511.

51. M. Parsons, Sounds of Discovery, TheMusicalTimes109, No. 1503, 429430 (1968).

52. E. Brown, The Notation and Performance ofNew Music, TheMusicalQuarterly72, No. 2, 180201(1986).

53. K. Friedman, O. Smith and L. Sawchyn, eds., TheFluxus Performance Workbook, E-publication (2002).Retrieved from .

54. D. Higgins, ConstellationsforTheater(X), SourceMagazine:MusicoftheAvant-Garde11, 1617 (1972)p. 17.

55.J. Cage, WaterWalk (New York: Henmar Press,1961).

56. Apel [37].

57. R. Haubenstock-Ramati, Notation-Materialand Form, PerspectivesofNewMusic4, No. 1, 3944(1965).

58. Smith and Smith [41] p. 89.

59.T. Sauer, Notations21 (Brooklyn, NY: Mark BattyPublisher, 2009).

60.C. Cardew, Notation: Interpretation, etc. Tempo,NewSeries58 (1961) 2133; p. 24.

61.F. de Saussure, CourseinGeneralLinguistics (BooksLLC, 1972, 17th printing, 2007).

62. J. Lochhead, Visualizing the Musical Object, inE.Selinger, ed., Postphenomenology(Albany, NY: StateUniversity of New York Press, 2006).

creative freedom, for to standardizenotation is to standardize patterns ofthought and creativity [58]. Some com-posers have brought that spirit to the 21stcentury, as the wealth of approaches tonovel music notations demonstrates[59].

While the imagination itself cannotbe imprinted onto a page, methods ofnotating interactions among the instru-

ments have the capacity to detail closelyan abundance of musical expressions.The action-based notations preciselyhighlight the physical manifestations ofsound and compositional work. Disclos-ing the musics inner workings througha focus on the actual mechanics of soundproduction can be both demystifying andinspiring. As Cardew wrote,

What I am looking for is a notation (wayof writing a text) where delity to thistext is possible. Perhaps a notation of the

way in which instruments actually areplayed. This leads to the question: whatactions areactually involved in playing?

And here the concept of hypothetically

imagined sound becomes dubious: on what basis does the player imagine thesound? On the basis of understanding ofnotation? But the process of imaginingcannot be included in the notation! [60]

Putting it another way, we should al-ways remember that the notation of mu-sic is preceded by the creation of music,just as thought and speech came beforewrit ten language [61]. Mapping thesonic data, whether prescriptively or de-scriptively, to visual representation, in theend requires an already-formed mentalimage about how the music works [62].In action-based music, music is treated asa physical process, engaging our bodies

and objects in actions. Experiencing mu-sic enactivelythat is creating, notatingand performing it through such lens andearenriches our musical imaginationand connects it to our everyday world.

eferences and Notes

1. J. Kojs, The Language of Action and Cyberaction-based Music: Theory and Practice, Journal ofNewMusicResearch38, No. 3, 285294 (2009).

2. J. Bruner, Towarda Theoryof Instruction (Cam-bridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard UniversityPress, 1966).

3. F. Varela, E. Thompson and E. Rosch, TheEmbodiedMind:CognitiveScienceandHumanExperience (Cam-bridge, MA: MIT Press, 1991) p. 206.

4.E. Hutchins,Material Anchors for ConceptualBlends, Journal ofPragmatics37 (2005) pp. 1555

1577.

5. M. Mossio and D. Taraborelli, Action-DependentPerceptual Invariants: From Ecological to Sensori-motor Approaches,ConsciousnessandCognition17,No. 4, 13241340 (2008).

6. Varela et al. [3] p. 206.

7. M. Leman,EmbodiedMusicCognitionandMediationTechnology(Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2007).

8. R.I. Godoy and M. Leman, MusicalGestures:Sound,Movement,andMeaning (New York: Routledge, 2009).

9. M.M. Wanderly and B.W. Vines, Origins andFunction of Clarinettists Ancillary Gestures, in A.Gritten and E. King, eds., MusicandGesture(Surrey,U.K.: Ashgate Publishing, 2006).

10. J.J. Gibson, TheSensesConsideredasPerceptualSys-tems(Boston: Houghton Mifin, 1966).

11. W.W. Gaver, How Do We Hear in the World?Explorations in Ecological Acoustics, EcologicalPsy-chology5, No. 4, 285313 (1993).

12. W.W. Gaver, What in the World Do We Hear?An Ecological Approach to Auditory Source Percep-tion,EcologicalPsychology5, No. 1, 129 (1993).

13.E. Clarke,WaysofListening(Oxford: Oxford Univ.Press, 2005).

14. A. Cox, Hearing, Feeling, Grasping Gestures,in Gritten and King [9].

15. R. Reynolds, MindModels(New York: Routledge,2005) p. 142.

16. Reynolds [15] p. 142.

17. M.C. Corballis, Did Language Evolve fromManual Gestures? in A.Wry, ed., TheTransitiontoLanguage(Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2002).

18. N. Aujoulat, Lascaux:Movement,SpaceandTime (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2005).

19.J. Clottes, ChauvetCave:TheArtofEarliestTimes, Paul G. Bahn, trans. (Salt Lake City, UT: University

of Utah Press, 2003).

20. D.S. Whitley, CavePaintingsandtheHumanSpirit:TheOriginofCreativityandBelief(Prometheus, 2009).

21. J.A. Halloran, SumerianLexicon: A DictionaryGuidetotheAncientSumerianLanguage(LogogramPub, 2006).

22. C.B.F. Walker, Cuneiform(ReadingthePast)(Uni-versity of California Press, 1987).

23. J. Montgomery, Dictionar y ofMaya Hieroglyphs(New York: Hippocrene Books, 2002).

24. M.D. Coe and M. Van Stone, ReadingtheMayaGlyphs(London: Thames & Hudson, 2005).

25. A.H. Gardiner, Egypt ian Grammar (Oxford:Grifth Institute, 1957).

26.R. Faulkner, ConciseDictionaryofMiddleEgyptian(Oxford: Grifth Institute, 1970).

27. J.P. Allen, MiddleEgyptian:AnIntroductiontotheLanguageandCultureofHieroglyphs (Cambridge, U.K.:Cambridge Univ. Press, 2010).

28. Y.R. Chao, LanguageandSymbolicSystems(Lon-don: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1968).

29. J. DeFrancis, ChineseLanguage:FactandFantasy (Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 1984).

30. R. Harbaugh, ChineseCharacters:AGenealogyandDictionary(New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press, 1998).

31. The pictorial (or diastematic) notations of an-cient Hebrews, Abyssinians, Byzantines, Armeniansand ancient church (neumes) featured signs whichposition indicated the pitch movement and approxi-mate interval size; see F.A. Gevaert, LaMusiquedelAntiquite,Vol. I (1875, Charleston, SC: Nabu Press,Reprint 2010). The common practice period nota-

tion system developed as a combination of the two;C.F.A. Williams, TheStoryof Notation(New York:Haskell House Publishers Ltd., 1969).

32. Schoyen Collection. Retrieved from .

33. N. Goodman, LanguagesofArt:AnApproachtotheTheoryofSymbols(Cambridge, MA: Hackett Publish-ing Company, 1976).

34. Williams [31].


8/9


andComputerTechnologiesfromtheUniver-sityofVirginia.BetweenSeptember2008andMay2010,KojswasaPostdoctoralAssociateinMusicTechnology andMultimediaArtatYalesDepartmentofMusic.Inthefallof2010,KojswasavisitinglectureratUniver-sityofVirginia,teachinganundergraduateclassinsongwritingandgraduatecoursesinenactionand composition.See formoreinformation.

chaelStraus,SusanFancher,EugenProchac,CanticumOstrava,AtticusBrass Quintet,IKTUSPercussionQuartet,TheQuietMusicEnsemble,Ensembles21,CassattStringQuar-tet,TheNowEnsembleandYaleGamelanSuprabanggo.KojsisthedirectoroftheFoun-dation forMusic Technologies (FETA) inMiami,wherehehasmanagedthemonthly12NightsofElectronicMusicandArtcon-certseries.KojsholdsaPh.D.inComposition

Manuscript received 1 January 2011.

JurajKojsisaSlovakiancomposer,performer,multimediaartist,producerandeducatorre-sidingintheU.S.KojsscompositionswererecentlyfeaturedatfestivalsandconferencesinEurope,AsiaandtheAmericas.PlayerswhoperformedKojssmusicincludeTomokoMukaiyama,BlairMcMillen,MargaretLan-caster,MadeleineShapiro,LauraWilcox,Mi-


9/9

Copyright of Leonardo Music Journal is the property of MIT Press and its content may not be copied or emailed

to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However,

users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

Documents

Notating Action-Based Scores67312247