ABSTRACT
In studying ‘live electronic music’, one would be tempted to analyse different recorded audio tracks of performances. This is at best inadequate methodologically, at worst incorrect ontologically speaking, since this music is not fixed. Rather than studying audio tracks alone, we should analyse the creative process itself, including the collaborative contribution of the different stakeholders: the musical assistant, the sound engineers and the performers, who were engaged in the creative development of the work. To analyse the collective creative process, we need to analyse the learning process that accompanies the conception of the work, a dimension not only essential for the performers, but also crucial as the work is being conceived. For instance, we note that at the very beginning of the process, the composer and the musical assistant will often adjust or modify the score or the live electronics while observing the performer(s) rehearsing or practicing sections of the composition. The assistant then adjusts the device by rewriting elements of the patch, and the composer reconstructs the score taking into account newly revealed possibilities. To demonstrate this, two different works of live-electronic music will be analysed. First, we will examine Marco Stroppa’s …of Silence (2007) for saxophone and chamber-electronics. This work uses the Antescofo software (by Arschia Cont), which is capable of following and adapting to the behaviour of the performer. We will also study a sonic-installation XY (2007…) created by the Équipe ‘Dispositifs, expérimentations, situations en art contemporain’ (EDESAC) of the Université de Lille-Nord de France. In this work, visitors interact with the electronic device and contribute to the creative process. In fact, we must expand the meaning of the term live electronic music to include these new systems and devices that have now become musical instruments.
