[Study No. 50][Notational Becoming][Speculations]

• Main Author: Smith, Ryan Ross
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2016
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1289554; https://zenodo.org/record/1289554

The use of animation in contemporary notational practices has become increasingly prevalent over the last ten years, due in large part to the increased compositional activities throughout Europe, the United Kingdom, and North America, and in particular Iceland and Western Australia.1 The publication of several foundational texts,2 and the materialization of focused scholarly meetings3 and online consolidation projects4 have also contributed to the expansion of this growing field of animated notational practice. The range of compositional ideas repre- sented by these scores is vast, encompassing a wide va- riety of stylistic approaches and technological experimentation. While these ideas often demonstrate intriguing compositional directions, and the unique dynamic functionalities and visual characteristics of animated scores are clearly distinct from traditionally-fixed scores, it is the real-time generative processes of these scores that represent a shift in the very ontology of the musical score. In this paper I speculate on one possible framing for this ontological distinction by focusing on several attributes that, in combination, most explicitly demonstrate this distinction. These include the real-time, process-based qualities of generative animated notations, the openness that enables these procedural functionalities, the displacement of interpretive influence, and the timeliness of these processes in respect to the temporal relationship between generation, representation as notation, and sonic realization. A new work, Study no. 50, will be examined as a practical demonstration of these attributes, and will function as a jumping off point for a speculative discussion of the concept of Notational Becoming.