Eleven Melbourne composers discussed their work in public forum during August - October 2004. Follow the links below to read John Jenkins' summary of the talks.

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

August 7 - Chris Dench
Status geometry and beyond
Beyond Status Geometry is a twenty-minute percussion piece that evolves from the rigid 'status geometry' of regular pulse, to extreme temporal fluidity. The composer describes both why and how this is achieved - and the trouble it has caused performers.

August 14 - Andrew Garton
A story of art on-air, on-site, on-line
An anecdotal diary of the composer's life with computers, observations on their inevitable coupling via telephony, the theatre of activism that this relationship spawned and the gradual degradation of his physical self as the rate of development in the field of information communication technologies increased.

August 21 - Catherine Schieve
Moving between the eye and the ear
A discussion of the composer's experimental systems of visual notation and the transmuting of gestures and ideas between painting, soundmaking, movement, and digital graphics. Images, sounds, and videos will be presented.

August 28 - Felix Werder
The illusion of postmodernism
Using musical examples the composer discusses the illusion of "Evolution" in the arts, and questions common notions of musical progress.

September 4 - Rainer Linz
A theatre of interaction
A discussion of the role of the audience in his early music theatre pieces provides a background to the composer's more recent work with public installation and internet-based, interactive sound.

September 11 - Ros Bandt
Designing site-specific compositions
This seminar investigates specific sites as locations for compositions. A variety of recent work will be discussed including The Listening Place, Alma Park (a permanent public sound installation), Kim's Song (a radiophonic internet work), Silo Stories (a gallery installation) and Wet/Dry (an electroacoustic work for cello and clarinet).

(September 18 - intermission)

September 25 - Brigid Burke
Visual expression through the movement of sound
A discussion of the processes of translating abstract ideas into compositions that result in both audio and visual output. A synthesis of image and sound is achieved through experimentation in musical performance, abandoning structured rhythm and melody while conveying musical ideas visually.

October 2 - Ernie Althoff
The Postcards series
A lecture about thirteen illustrated sonic ideas published in the Experimental Musical Instruments journal from September 1995 through to June1999.

October 9 -Tim Kreger
Formal systems as a means of musical exploration
A discussion of several formal and mathematical systems that have provided a basis for musical exploration and development in computer-based music.

October 16 - Sonia Leber
Sonic Event Spaces
The unique 'sonic event spaces' created by Sonia Leber and David Chesworth are designed to be encountered unexpectedly in the public domain. Rather than composing autonomous 'audio productions', they see their work as intervening in city spaces already laden with all sorts of existing elements, including a ready-made audience of passers by.

October 23 - Warren Burt
The Wilson Installations (2002-2004)
The Wilson Installations are a series of very long electronic music performance installations based on the music theories of Ervin M. Wilson. The composer discusses aspects of these works including the application of chaos and other non-linear arithmetic ideas, and ideas of the physical architecture and spatiality of sound controlled by tuning.

5.30pm 66 Cecil St Fitzroy
admission: $5.00

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