Inducing and Interpreting Physical Transformation in Electroacoustic Chamber Music via Experimental Applications of Modular Synthesizers

One of the most rapidly evolving musical genres of the 21st century is interactive electroacoustic chamber music. This is primarily due to the ongoing developments in creative technology that have increased both the idiom's technical accessibility and its potential for artistic expression. In particular, modern modular synthesizers enable electroacoustic musicians to transform the physical characteristics of sound with an extremely fine level of control. This research project has three major goals. The first goal is to explore the relationship between the many disciplines involved in this genre of music through a review of the scholarship of Aleister Crowley, Edgard Varèse, and Pauline Oliveros. These disciplines include musical composition, performance, and analysis, as well as adjacent fields such as physics, computer science, and even magick (a term used to refer to the application of knowledge and skill to make an intentional change to a sound's physical characteristics, rather than anything supernatural). The second goal is to develop a system of labeling and categorizing different types of physical transformation to provide electroacoustic musicians with an analytical approach tailored to the genre of interactive electroacoustic chamber music. The third goal is to apply this analytical approach to two case study works that were composed for this research project. These interactive electroacoustic chamber works are both scored for ensembles that include both acoustic musicians and a dedicated modular synthesizer player. The first of these works is sound designer and audio engineer David S. Ifland's OCULUS: Duo for Alto Saxophone & Synthesized Media, and the second of these works is the author's Melismatic Murmuration #3 for Alto Saxophone, Violoncello, & Brainwave Performer. Particular attention will be given to transformative capabilities provided by the synthesizer interfaces used in each work: OCULUS calls for a standard MIDI controller that is controlled manually, while Melismatic Murmuration #3 calls for an electroencephalography (EEG) headset that allows the brainwave performer to transform the soundscape using only their thoughts. The overarching objective of this project is to provide electroacoustic musicians with a comprehensive guide to the science and art of inducing and interpreting physical transformation in interactive electroacoustic chamber music.