ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the creative process of computer music composition from the perspective of collaboration. Computer music means here music produced and performed in differed time (computer generated ‘acousmatic’ music, or music that combines live musicians and fixed computer-generated sounds) or in real time, during the period ca. 1960 to 1980. Namely, this chapter addresses an infrequently studied professional figure: the musical assistant who, in those early days, more often than not translated the composer’s musical vision into data and sound. The collective nature of the creative process is investigated at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in Paris, the Centre for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University, and the Centro di Sonologia Computazionale (CSC) at the Università di Padova. Issues related to the institutionalisation and recognition of this professional figure, the presence or absence or understatement of a concern for the theme of collaboration and the traces remaining from the habitually wordless communication between composers and assistants are discussed, through a study based on primary and secondary sources and administrative documents.
