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Iannis Xenakis and his influence on music technology today. Xenakis : An introduction. May 29,1922 – February 4, 2001 Greek composer, music theorist, and architect/engineer - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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IANNIS XENAKIS AND HIS INFLUENCE ON MUSIC TECHNOLOGY TODAY
XENAKIS: AN INTRODUCTION
• May 29,1922 – February 4, 2001• Greek composer, music theorist, and
architect/engineer• Born in Romania. Ethnic Greek. Forced to flee to
Greece after being denounced a Communist. Later became a naturalized citizen of France and worked both in the US and in France.• Post-war avant-garde composer
XENAKIS: OVERVIEW OF HIS METHODS
• Used mathematical models and applications of set theory, stochastic (random) processes and game theory to make his music.
• Mixing music with mathematics
• XENAKIS AS AN ARCHITECT• http://www.iannis-xenakis.org/xen/archi/real.html
AS AN ARCHITECT
• Xenakis designed the hyperbolic Phillips Pavilion with Le Corbusier for the 1958 Brussels World Fair. • Edgard Varese’s “Poeme Eletronique”• Concret PH” by Xenakis
• Idea: “Math can be applied to any art form”
• Le Corbusier’s sketches were hand over to Ixenakis• He was to translate them through mathematics. • Xenakis was working on“Metastasis”• So, he turned his graphical musical sketches of Metastasis
into architectural schemes
“METASTASIS”
AS AN ARCHITECT
“METASTASIS”• http
://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZazYFchLRI&feature=player_embedded
“CONCRET PH”
• Crackling sound of burning charcoal
• Tape recording - cut into hundreds of tiny pieces and arranged in various densities according to theories of probability.
• Controlled individual elements of sound
• “Second-order sonorities” • Spectrum of small moments in time larger formal structures• Related to the concept of fractals
“ANALOGIQUE B”
• Tape piece written in 1959
• Xenakis’s first attempt at granular synthesis• All sounds can be represented as micro-temporal pieces
of sound called “grains.”
• Xenakis used data that depicted a moment in time and contained information regarding the density, frequency and amplitude of grains at that moment • Determined by Stochastics.
“ORIENT-OCCIDENT”
“BOHOR” (1962)
“BOHOR” (1962)
CELLULAR AUTOMATA (CA)
• Colored cells on a grid of a specified shape • Cells change through discrete time steps based on a set of rules
defined by surrounding cells.• “On” and “off” states
• Discrete model – computability theory, mathematics, physics, biology, and microstructure modeling.
• Xenakis used CA calculated with his “pocket computer” to determine the succession of chords within a rational, perceptible structure
• His mapping was based on pre-determined pitches and the state of the cell chose the instrumentation.
CELLULAR AUTOMATA
• Left: Close up of Xenakis’ text/symbol pocket computer printout for his piece “Horos”
• Right: Graphic blocks and stretched to line up with printout
IN TERMS OF MAPPING
• Xenakis was the first composer to make mathematical concepts popular in composition.
• Mapping – using numbers plugged into a system that recognizes values and manipulates data by presenting it in a way that makes sense to our minds.
IN TERMS OF MAPPING
• Xenakis designed the UPIC (computerized music composition tool) and is the inspiration behind the program called (IanniX)• IanniX is a program that can be integrated with Max
IN TERMS OF MAPPING
• Dynamic stochastic synthesis• http://www.cycling74.com/forums/topic.php?id=16542
• IanniX• Graphical open source sequencer• http://vimeo.com/25041544
UPIC
• Digitalizing tablet linked to a computer with a vector display.• Draw waveforms and volume envelopes on the tablet• Compose with the waveforms by drawing
"compositions" on the tablet• X-axis = time• Y-axis = pitch.
• Compositions can be stretched in duration, transposed, reversed, inverted, and other algorithmic transformations.
• Allows for real time performance by moving the stylus across the tablet.
UPIC
UPIC
AUTUMN THEATER FESTIVAL, PARIS
• XENAKIS' POLYTOPE II DE CLUNY (2008)• http://
thesoundofeye.blogspot.com/2010/05/anton-cabalero-xenakis-polytope-ii-de.html
CONTRIBUTION
• Founded the Center for Musical Mathematics and Automation
• France and the US:• Center Iannis Xenakis (CIX)• Xenakis Project of the Americas (XPA)