Hacking traditional instruments: approaches to sound-oriented instrumental composition

Abstract

Technology plays a vital role in the creation of any form of art. In music this has been dominated by a stationary condition in which contemporary ‘academic music’ (new music created in institutions and descending from traditional European models) is in its majority still generated exclusively by a technology of more than a century ago. Additionally, the totality of sound as musical material is now commonly acknowledged, posing problems about the nature and efficiency of the already existing musical instruments and the development of new ones. The current situation in the creation of contemporary music offers a myriad of possibilities in which tools, controllers and instruments have an impact on the creation and conceptualization of music, giving rise to different aesthetic positions and creating new dilemmas in which present, past and future are in constant assessment. This thesis seeks to examine some of the concepts and ideas behind a number of my works in which instrumental sound exploration is essential for the development of the compositional process. As a result, a series of questions, systems and techniques are analyzed, investigating the relation between tools, technique, notation, composition and musical result. This text is intended as an illustration of my own choices and methods, hoping to offer an insight into my own compositional practice as a product of an exercise of self-analysis and rationalization of my current musical output.