Mooney, JR (2015) Hugh Davies’s Electroacoustic Musical Instruments and their Relation to Present-Day Live-Coding Practice : Four Suggestions. In: Proceedings of the Electroacoustic Music Studies Network Conference. Electroacoustic Music Studies Network, 23-26 Jun 2015, Sheffield. Electronic Music Studies Network
Abstract
This paper presents the self-built electroacoustic musical instruments of Hugh Davies (1943-2005), and proposes points of similarity between Davies’s practice and present-day live coding practice. (Live coding, in this context, refers to the practice of using a computer programming language to program a musical performance in real time.) In the first part of the paper, the context within which Davies’s instrument-building practice developed, in the late 1960s, is outlined, and a number of specific instruments are described. Aspects of Davies’s performance style, repertoire, and the ensembles with which he performed are discussed, as are activities such as instrument-building workshops and public exhibitions of instruments, in which he regularly participated. In the second part of the paper, four areas of connection with present-day live coding practice are suggested, namely, that both are: (1) part of a long historic tradition of live electronic music performance (as opposed to electronic music constructed in the studio); (2) practices in which the performer him or herself builds the apparatus (whether physical or code-based) through which the music is mediated; (3) improvised or semi-improvised art-forms in which music is developed in real time, within a framework bounded by material or quasi-material constraints; and (4) centred upon communities of practice with a distinct agenda of promoting understanding through engagement.
Metadata
Item Type: | Proceedings Paper |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This paper was originally presented at the Electroacoustic Music Studies Network Conference 2015, and made available at http://www.ems-network.org/ems15/book/node73.html. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Music (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Arts & Humanities Research Council AHRC AH/M005216/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 18 Nov 2015 10:40 |
Last Modified: | 02 Sep 2024 13:08 |
Published Version: | http://www.ems-network.org/ems15/book/node73.html |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Electronic Music Studies Network |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:91942 |