Trochimczyk, Maja. “From circles to nets: On the signification of spatial sound imagery in new music.” Computer Music Journal 25, no. 4 (2001): 39-56.

Intro⌗

What is meant by space or spatial in music? In music theory “musical space” could refer to pitch-time space, how closely related is a key or chord, not the space of a performance. With music performance we could be talking about he actual space where the music is performed or the space that the composition is hoping to create. The space could be more metaphorical, as suggested by a composition title.

Spatial Designs⌗

Space may be experienced only in time, and time only in space.

It may make more sense to refer to music a “spatio-temporal” instead of “spatial.”

  • General classification of spatial designs
    • Acoustic environments
      • Enclosed space of the concert hall
      • Enclosed space of any other kind
      • Open air (different acoustic backgrounds)
      • Variable space (mobile performers and audiences)
      • Private, virtual space (headphones)
    • Sound-space types
      • Real sound-space (with vocal-instrumental sound sources)
      • Virtual sound-space (with electroacoustic sound sources)
      • Mixed sound-space (with sound sources of both kinds)
    • Catagories of mobility
      • Static performers and static audience
      • Mobile performers with static audience
      • Static performers with mobile audience
      • Mobile performers and mobile audience

These parameters can all drastically change how a listener perceives musical space.

  • The acoustic environment can even be specified by the composer, such as in works by John Tavener (the requirement of at least 6 sec of reverberation for Ultimos Ritos, 1972) and R. Murray Schafer.

We can go more into detail about the position of performers on a stage this list:

From point to sphere: positions of the performers forming simple geometric patterns, with representative composition:

  • Point
    • Any music for a centrally located, stationary soloist (e.g., an instrumentalist or singer)
  • Line Segment
    • Any music for a centrally located, stationary soloist (e.g., an instrumentalist or singer) Ton de Leeuw’s Car nos vignes sont en fleur (1981) for 12, voices in a linear arrangement on the stage - Listen
  • Two Line Segments
    • Two groups facing each other from a distance in Louis Andriessen’s Hoketus (1975)
  • Triangle
    • Three instrumental ensembles in Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Gruppen of (1955-1957) or in Iannis Xenakis’s Alax (1985)
  • Square
    • Four choirs in Stockhausen’s Carré (1959-1960)
  • Hexagon
    • Six percussionists in Xenakis’s Persephassa (1969)
  • Circle
    • Iannis Xenakis - “Terretektorh” (1956-57)
    • Henry Brant - Orbits (1979)
  • Cube
    • Julio Estrada’s Canto Naciente (1975-1978) for eight brass instruments
  • Sphere
    • Stockhausen’s Spiral (1970) for one performer, to be played inside the spherical pavilion in Osaka with electroacoustic sound projection in space

What about compositions where the people move? Trochimczyk calls these “nets.” Here are a few examples:

  • Sinking of the Titanic - Gavin Bryars (1969)

Examples from John Luther Adams⌗

Later Examples using electronics⌗

Kontakte is composed in four channels, with loudspeakers placed at the corners of a square surrounding the audience. With the aid of a “rotation table”, consisting of a rotatable loudspeaker surrounded by four microphones, he was able to send sounds through and around the auditorium with unprecedented variety (Maconie 2005, 208–209).

A lot of our modern conception of spatialized listening comes from Karlheinz Stockhausen:

…a spherical space which is fitted all around with loudspeakers. In the middle of this spherical space a sound-permeable, transparent platform would be suspended for the listeners. They could hear music composed for such standardized spaces coming from above, from below and from all points of the compass. (Stockhausen Texte, 1:153)

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Stimmung - 1968

In 1988, as a result of descending 14 feet into an underground cistern to make a recording, Oliveros coined the term “deep listening” … “an aesthetic based upon principles of improvisation, electronic music, ritual, teaching and meditation. This aesthetic is designed to inspire both trained and untrained performers to practice the art of listening and responding to environmental conditions in solo and ensemble situations”.

(Source)

A simple way to create interesting and engaging interaction is simply using the physical properties of sound spatialized around a room.

Dream House - La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela⌗

Dream House is simply a handful of specially-tuned sine wave generators. As you move around in the space, the waves collide with each other in different waves changing the spectral content of what you hear. It’s extremely responsive, interactive and uses entirely analog and passive electronics.

Microtonal Wall - Sarah Rara, Tristan Perich⌗

Similar to the Dream House, Microtonal Wall is an installation which the listener experiences by exploring a space.

Forty Part Motet - Janet Cardiff⌗

Janet Cardiff’s work often employs the technique of using speakers to embody people or characters. Her work is immersive and the interaction is simply moving around the space.

Zimoun⌗

Zimoun uses materials and motors to create aleatoric musical installations.

Audience as a speaker array⌗

Taylor, Benjamin. “A history of the audience as a speaker array.” In NIME, pp. 481-486. 2017.

Precursors⌗

Distributed Music⌗

  • OK GO and NPR, Needing/Getting (2012)
  • Dan Deacon, America (2012)
    • Keith Lea at Wham City Lights developed a standalone mobile app to accompany Baltimore electronic musician Dan Deacon’s America album tour. Primarily a lightshow app, the app was advertised to also create a sonic accompaniment to the music performed. The app used an ultrasonic audio impulse to synchronize phones to within 0.06 seconds. 1 The first concert occurred in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 7, 2012 and the band proceeded to perform with the app in over 50 other performances.
  • Tate Carson, A More Perfect Union (2017)