Composition for classical guitar and live electronics

: exploring note, nodal and noise qualities in extended instrumental techniques

Abstract

Contents of portfolio: 1. Printed Score and Audio CD for Extensions: for Classical Guitar and Digital Delays; 2. Supporting Written Documentation with Critical Commentary This portfolio explores the note, nodal and noise qualities of instrumental techniques on the classical guitar and their possible integration into electroacoustic music. It proposes that Smalley’s Spectral Typology, from his Spectromorphology and Structuring Processes (1986), can be used to quantify instrumental techniques and interpret their musical properties through the evocative descriptions are attributed to them. This supporting documentation contains an overview of Smalley’s article and discusses the biases, amongst members of the electroacoustic community, towards acoustic instruments. It also presents two case studies on Panayiotis Kokoras’ Slide for Guitar and Electronics (2002), and Jerome Combier’s Kogarashi for Guitars & Live Electronics (2002) which interrogate note, nodal and noise qualities through different mediums of electroacoustic composition. My own work, Extensions for Classical Guitar and Digital Delays (2014) explores the evocative definition of nodal qualities as a compositional catalyst for texture and gesture forming.

Date of Award	2015
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Coventry University
Supervisor	Tom Williams (Supervisor) & Christopher Hobbs (Supervisor)