Animation notation, score distribution and AR-VR environments for spectral mimetic transfer in music composition

Abstract

This paper seeks to make a case for a compositional ideal (the mimetic transfer of a recorded or synthesized sound to the instrumental/vocal domain) which today’s technologies for animated/distributed musical notation have made more realistic than when it first appeared as a general aesthetic (with composers such as Tristan Murail and Gérard Grisey, or, in the realm of computer music, Jean-Claude Risset), simultaneously with the birth of the digital era in the 1970s. The concept of mimesis is here examined both as a (post) spectral compositional technique and as a common feature of any form for musical score/representation. These theoretical considerations are then exemplified by musical examples and software demonstrations extract from the “In memoriam Jean-Claude Risset” cycle of compositions, all performed with the help of the SmartVox Score distribution system.

Music in Extended Realities

“…The aims underlying this study are to create a VE where users can immerse themselves in the visual elements of a score while listening to the corresponding music, and to help users develop a personal relationship with both the system and the score. Along a similar line, the study reported in [9] describes a system where musical notation is presented in AR to musicians wearing an HMD. In another project, Santini describes a system for creating AR gesture-based scores in the context of experimental instrumental composition [126].…”