FINAL OUTCOME
What is Sound and How its Made
For this project, we are first required to make our musical instruments. To make an instrument I feel it's important to know how are the different ways sound can be produced so that we can experiment with different materials.
SOUND
Sound is basically a vibration that is transmitted through a medium like air, water or solids and can be heard when it reaches our ears.
The pitch is perceived as how "low" or "high" a sound is and represents the cyclic, repetitive nature of the vibrations that make up a sound.
Sound can be made in different ways such as:
-Blowing - Like in the case of a flute where when blown into sound is made when the air inside the column causes the particles to vibrate.)
-Plucking - Like in the case of a guitar where plucking the strings causes vibrations and in turn, produces a sound.
-Banging- Like in case of a drum where hitting the instruments causes the particles around it to vibrate and makes a sound.
Making A Graphic Score
Making a graphic Score and reading it is open to interpretation. It depends on the way the artist visualises it. I visualised our music piece as a circular score as bit began and ended with a faint sound. I wanted it to look like a timer and reveal the score as time passed. To do this I learned how to make a similar effect on after effects using the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfEDk48kfM0
What is a Graphic Score
Graphic score is the representation of music through the use of visual symbols outside the realm of traditional music notation. Graphic notation evolved in the 1950s, and it is often used in combination with traditional music notation. Composers often rely on graphic notation in experimental music, where standard musical notation can be ineffective.
A common aspect of graphic notation is the use of symbols to convey information to the performer about the way the piece is to be performed. These symbols first began to appear in the works of experimental composers Earle Brown, John Cage, Morton Feldman, and Christian Wolff during the 1950s and 60s.
John Cage - Aria
John Cage was a keen graphic score composer. It might look like random squiggles, but each line indicates a different style of singing, notated in wavy lines in ten different colors, and the black squares indicate non specified 'non-musical' sounds.
Crumb - Twelve Fantasy-Pieces after the Zodiac for Amplified Piano
With so many notes, this score would be difficult for any pianist to read if it was laid out simply on the page. But this piece by Crumb also contains three detailed pages of instructions, with movements including Primeval Sounds, Crucifixus and Spiral Galaxy.
Loyato - Celestial Spheres Fantasy For Improvisers
Written for 40 performers, this solar-system-inspired piece asks groups of performers including choirs, duos, trios and quartets to start playing in an orbit-style cycle.