Fifth Day
Seminar – Talk – Concert
Seminar – Seminar – Talk – Concert
11 September 2024
Composing Code: A Self-Portrait with Messiaen, Python, and LilyPond
Developing algorithmic tools for composition
A kind of cartoon: Listen and watch algorithms at work
Contemporary Music Magazine
Curated by Contemporay Music Magazine
Selected Students
Live Events
Seminar
Composing Code: A Self-Portrait with Messiaen, Python, and LilyPond
Summary
In my talk, I will provide an overview of two invaluable tools for the algorithmic music composer: LilyPond and MIDI. LilyPond is a high-quality sheet music compiler using a text-file format, allowing significant flexibility in music notation. I will also introduce two Python packages, authored by me (with contributions from colleagues), which simplify many tasks when working with LilyPond and MIDI. I have been using these packages for my compositional work since 2018. I will conclude by showcasing these packages in action, programmatically reproducing a piece by Olivier Messiaen.
Biography
Biography
Seminar
Developing algorithmic tools for composition
Summary
Developing algorithmic tools for composition
Algorithmic composition methods are applicable in many genres in which digital tools are used. They can be employed on different levels, e.g. on those of sound synthesis and score synthesis. In the talk I will present some instructive examples of methods and some results. My approach often combines two stages of development: 1. quantitative studies to analyse the properties of a set of material in order to select the appropriate input for the composition process, 2. the development of rule-based processes that can be controlled by individually designed parameters.
I try to find forms of feature integration, e.g. in music of different aspects such as rhythm and harmony, or in audiovisual compositions of image and sound.
Seminar
Developing algorithmic tools for composition
Biography
Johannes Quint studied composition and music theory with Hans Zender and Friedrich Jaecker in Frankfurt/Main and Cologne, Germany.
After an extended period of writing chamber music for traditional instruments, Johannes Quint began experimenting with computer-aided composition. Initially these experiments focused on new interactions between sound and interpretation. Since 2017, he has created a series of algorithmically generated animation videos.
Quint is a professor for music theory, composition and computer music at the Hochschule für Musik Köln, Standort Aachen and at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt/Main.
Summary
In recent years I have created a series of works that combine electronic music with a kind of cartoon. Within a framework, algorithms create different versions of a basic structure in real time with each call, both at the audio and video levels. The material used is very different: field recordings, instrumental samples, electronically generated sounds, language. On the visual level: film clips, photos, drawings or algorithmically generated graphics. The videos mostly symbolize philosophical questions – presented from the perspective of a philosophical dilettante.
In my lecture I will present some works and address both the technology and the symbolism.
Biography
Arvin Sedaghatkish
Arvin Sedaghatkish (Tehran 1974), author, musicologist, music critic, composer, lecturer, and conductor. Some of his pieces are published in various artists’ albums, including Tchārzangooleh (4 Hawk bells) in Clouds, … Va dar in pā’eiz (… and in this autumn) in Persian Night 4. Some others played in concerts, festivals, and events, among them duet for Harp and Ney, Trio for Harp, Flute, and Santoor, Jealousy in the Urban (Piano, 2 speakers, and Electronic tape), Cantata with Bach (Fixed media), Dogah (Fixed media), 8 (Flute solo), la Fabrique (Piano and Soprano). In addition, he composed a few soundtracks for short films like Vāhe (Oasis) by Mas’oud Admadi.
Erfan Dori
Contemporary Music Magazine Director Artistic and Executive Director of Contemporary Music Magazine. Erfan Dori, born in August 1998 in Tehran, holds a bachelor’s degree in Composition from the University of Art and Culture and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Art Research at the University of Science and Culture. He founded the Contemporary Music Magazine in July 2018. The magazine has hosted over 180 hours of live Instagram interviews, more than 10 hours of live performances, and collaborated with over 400 musicians. In July 2020, he established the Contemporary Music Magazine Radio, producing over 35 hours of programming. In October 2019, on the occasion of World Music Day, he founded the Kesh 1 Ensemble, an electroacoustic ensemble that collaborates improvisationally. The ensemble features guest musicians and has a permanent membership including Sohrab Motabar, Vasal Javaheri, and Yasaman Kouzegar. In July 2021, the Contemporary Music Magazine hosted a competition in three categories: electronic composition, contemporary composition, and essay writing. In July 2021, the Contemporary Music Magazine held a festival. In 2023, the Series Concert was held in Tehran.
Talk
Contemporary Music Magazine
Erfan Dori & Arvin Sedaghatkish
Live on Instagram
Wednesday September 10, 2024 | 10:30 PM Tehran Time
Introduction
Biography
Concert
Curated by Contemporay Music Magazine
Biography
Sohrab motabar
He started his carrier by playing Electric Guitar and Bass in Iranian local rock bands. In 2002 he entered Tehran conservatory to study jazz guitar, but in his third year he found his interest in composition.
Gradually he got interested in western contemporary music and electronic music, following his passion he went to the Netherlands to study once again. During this time he starts to explore the world of computer music specifically. During this time his works mostly deal with mathematical concepts and digital sound synthesis methods both is fixed-media compositions and live performances.
He graduated from the Royal Conservatory of the Hague in 2018 from the master’s program. He recently had many performances in Tehran, Berlin, and The Hague. Since then, he is working on the ACToolkit project (developed by Jeyong Jung), where Sohrab is developing methods on probabilities and MAX in the non-standard sound synthesis domain. Besides collaborating with other musicians and artists, he is teaching on giving workshops.
Vesal Javaheri
Vesal Javaheri (b. 1998) began his musical career at the age of ten, playing classical guitar with Karina Kimiaei, and later with Pedram Falsafi, Babak Valipour, and Eileen Arjmand. He pursued his artistic interests in Electronic Composition and Music Programming with Kiawasch Saheb-Nassagh and Sohrab Motabar.
Some of his compositions have appeared on compilation albums in Iran, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Italy. And have been broadcast in countries such as the United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Iran. “Chaos,” his first personal album, was released in June 2022.
One of his compositions, suffering, was selected for the Sixth Reza Korourian Electro-Acoustic Composition Competition. The other piece, Requiem, was chosen for the first Golden LALA Electronic Composition Competition.
His musical activities include more than just composing and performing. He’s also worked as a sound designer and composer for plays like DreamLand, Nasakh, Process, and There Will Be Blood.
Yasaman Koozehgar
Personal Information
Nationality: Iranian
Residence Country: Iran
Date of Birth: 02.09.1997
Place of Birth: Tehran, Iran
Email address: Yasaman.koozehgar@gmail.com
Summary
with members like Arpineh Israeilian and Alireza Amirhajebi, Action Ensemble was established by it’s artistic director Erfan Dorri in 2020 with the goal of improvisational performance alongside various musicians.
In 2022, Sohrab Motabar, Vesal Javaheri and Yasaman Koozehgar joined the ensemble as the main members of the group and continued their work with guest musicians.
The very first series of Action Ensemble’s works are in the process of production and it’s details will be published soon.
The main focus of the ensemble is on free improvisation.
The following piece is a part of Action Ensemble’s first live performance in July, 2024 with the performance of it’s main members and the live mixing of Arshan Najafi.
Biography
Summary
“The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival.” – Aristotle
This performance explores the profound significance of the human act of breathing. By showcasing processed field recordings of breathing captured in diverse emotional contexts, alongside live synthesis using modular synthesizer and other electronic instruments, the performance seeks to immerse the audience in an intimate sonic exploration of this fundamental life process.
The interplay of these elements aspires to evoke contemplative, introspective responses and underscore the vital importance of breathing to the human experience. As philosopher Nietzsche observed, “without music, life would be a mistake” – in a similar vein, the performance suggests that without breath, life itself would not exist.
Through this sonic experience, the work hopes to inspire a renewed appreciation for the gift of life that nature provides us through the simple act of drawing breath. By drawing attention to this most elemental of human functions, the performance invites the audience to reflect on the deeper meaning and value of existence.
Biography
Concert
Selected Students
Biography
Summary
This piece is composed using a Sudoku structure. Four flute sound materials and four electronic sounds are assigned numbers 1 to 4 and are juxtaposed with each other in a Sudoku-like square structure. Other sounds were also recorded and processed, and these are used in contrast and unity with the main sound objects (numbers 1 to 4) throughout the piece. The aim of this composition is to explore the commonalities and differences among various sound objects.
Summary
I composed this piece based on a poem, and I incorporated the poetic atmosphere into the composition.
When the tornado came,
It took everything with itself,
Except for the tree of your memory,
Which had its roots in the ground.
(Balighi, 2015)
Form:
In this piece, the form is theme and variations. This piece has a duration of 231 seconds, which is three minutes and fifty-one seconds. I used the abjad system for a Persian word from the poem “Gerdbad”, which means tornado, for this duration. An abjad is a system of notation in which each letter of the Arabic alphabet is assigned a numerical value.
Biography
Biography
Summary
The piece began with a single, evocative word: “Scale”. For several days, I intensified the ambient sounds around me through headphones,
creating a sonic microscope that magnified even the most mundane of noises. The simple act of a bird flapping its wings became a source of
intense anxiety, and the chirping of sparrows outside my window became gratingly unpleasant. The foundational material for this
composition was exclusively derived from field recordings of my immediate environment, subjected to numerous layers of synthetic
processing. While I initially found common ground with Pierre Schaeffer and the classical musique concrète movement, my artistic
trajectory diverged from their foundational principles. My primary compositional focus was on granular synthesis. I began by working with
large-scale sound structures, gradually decomposing them into increasingly minute granular components. This process of sonic reduction
allowed me to explore the microscopic textures and temporal nuances inherent within the original recordings.
Summary
The piece “Nightmare” was composed for electronic sounds in the form of fixed media. A major focus of the work is to convey a sense of turmoil and distress to the listener using electronic sounds. Throughout the piece, symbols resembling the sounds of certain birds are used, and it ends with a relative sense of calm. All the sounds in this piece were recorded and processed by the composer, using instruments such as the accordion, recorder, string instruments, xylophone, metallophone, and others as sound sources.