Composing for a latency-rich environment

As telematic music emerges as a medium distinct from that of live performance, broadcast or recorded music, we are in a privileged position to experience it in its naïve form. This article investigates where these distinctions reside and starts by considering the ways in which telematic music systems mediate the music made with them. It then turns to Anthony Chemero's rendering of William Gibson's theory of affordances, imagining Online Orchestra as an 'environment', or musical habitat. Rather than focusing on spurious notions of the fixed properties of the media that comprise this environment, attention is given to the relations between the various mediating forms within the system, whether they be performers, audiences or technical media.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The network as niche

Prior

2017

“…Similarly, in online rehearsal, the purpose is to facilitate ensemble playing and to exploit the relationships inherent in the score in such a way that the players in the sections (nodes) perceive musical interaction with and across the whole ensemble (network). Rehearsals and performances that we have carried out so far using Online Orchestra technology suggest that with the present system, appropriate repertoire (see Rofe and Geelhoed 2017), and players of an appropriate level and experience (discussed below), there is scope for improving ensemble playing, including working on the nuance of the composite sound: there is a role for the conductor. As more composers and performers use this technology, the issues and obstacles to musical interaction that arise may well lead to new solutions; certainly any notional 'online conducting technique' is in an early developmental stage and may evolve into something very different.…”

Section: Conducting Online Orchestra: Outward Visual Appearancementioning

confidence: 92%

Notes from the podium of an Online Orchestra

Hargreaves

2017

Online Orchestra placed significant demands on its conductor, with a role that included rehearsing and directing remote musicians over the Internet. This article presents a firsthand reflective account from the conductor of Online Orchestra, including details of trials, rehearsals and the final performance. Practical considerations such as conducting technique, visual framing and ensemble seating are considered, as are reflections on conducting in a latency-rich environment. This leads to the conclusion that many traditional approaches to conducting apply in telematic performance, and the suggestion that there is significant scope for musicians to learn and grow in ability when making music online.Telematic performance has vast potential to enable music that has previously been impossible. On the Internet, musicians can simply disappear or pop up out of nowhere, 1 in a way that they cannot in traditional, offline performance; or sounds might be re-routed so as to appear in one node but not in others, for example. This offers whole new territories in which and with which composers can work. However, the history of telematic performance is somewhat dominated by improvisation (see Rofe et al. 2017a), and this implies a more egalitarian ensemble than the traditionally hierarchical 'orchestra'. In essence, improvised music is an ongoing re-negotiation of the roles played by the musicians, and this is far more akin to the quintessentially distributed quality of networks than orchestral music, in which instrumental sections, under their leaders, play prescribed roles in relation to one another, all under the direction of a conductor, who interprets a composer's score. At the outset of the project, these background issues posed questions to the technologists, composers and performers of Online Orchestra, and the collaboration between these groups has been crucial in achieving online orchestral performance. Early trialsIn the early stages, as we explored various network structures and their implications for composition and performance, we varied approaches to conducting, exploring a range of hand signals that might work well in an online environment. As shown in Figure 1, trials were undertaken with four musicians, located in different rooms that were connected over the network. Improvisatory 'conduction' proved to be particularly effective from the

“…So the challenge is less one of performance Ð each group of musicians simply plays their parts in time to the conductor Ð and more one of composition: the composer must write music that makes musical sense simultaneously in each different version. It is for this reason that Online Orchestra commissioned composers to write music specifically for this environment, with that rule system in mind (see Rofe and Geelhoed 2017);…”

Section: Latency In Musical Termsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Telematic performance and the challenge of latency

Rofe

Reuben

2017

Self Cite

Any attempt to perform music over a network requires engagement with the issue of latency. Either latency needs to be reduced to the point where it is no longer noticeable or creative alternatives to working with latency need to be developed. Given that Online Orchestra aimed to enable performance in community contexts, where significant bandwidth and specialist equipment were not available, it would not be possible to reduce latency below the 20Ð30ms cut-off at which it becomes noticeable. Instead, OnlineOrchestra developed new software that controls network latency, locking it to musical tempo. This in turn enabled musicians to perform precise rhythmic music in a latencyrich environment.