their intentions, and this allowed us to investigate
through work analysis how their aesthetic program
was realized in the actual music. This was
especially the case with Barry Truax, where the
analysis showed how the movements of The Wings
of Nike reflect his program of "composing through
sound" (Truax 1990). Although the three
movements share the same two sampled phonemes
as their material, they are shaped into very
different musical forms. The piece is realized by
means of Truax' self-developed GSAMX
composition program, and the development and
use of this system is an integral part of his
composition process. In this piece, Truax used the
computer technology to articulate aspects of the
micro-timbral qualities of the human voice in an
artistic form.
Kaija Saariaho's piece is conceived for radio and
draws on various sound sources and - being close in
genre to radio theatre - narrative strategies. Clips
from the recording of an earlier work are mixed
with soprano, flute, choir, concrete sounds and
readings of poems by Kafka, Kandinsky, and
Eluard in three languages to form a story about
separation and the difficulties of communication.
Another main theme is the exploration of how we
move between different levels of consciousness, an
exploration which is paralleled on the
technological level by the morphing of one sound
into another, using spectro-morphological
techniques. In making the piece, Saariaho used
specialized software for spectral analysis and
morphing.
Pizzicato Five is a Japanese pop-duo with a DJ
rather than a musician background. Their music is
made entirely by computers and comes close to
techno and easy listening in style. In Trailer music
they use sampling and editing methods, closely
related to the DJ's practice, to make a short piece,
containing references to at least five popular
music styles from the last 50 years. Without
revealing the exact identity of the originals -
maybe they don't exist? - the eclecticism of this
music comes close to the post-modern
simulacrum. The piece was made using standard
MIDI and sampling technology.
John Oswald uses recorded material as basis for his
plunderphonics style in which he edits and
manipulates a large number of samples into new
music (Oswald 1986). In Seventh, the source is a
symphony movement from Beethoven, and
although he leaves almost all thematic material
out, the music remains 'Beethovenish' in character.
Music analysts have shown that the essential
quality in the Beethoven piece is created by small
rhythmic cells (Riethmtiller 1994), and these are
reflected in Oswald's loops of accompanying
figures. Oswald's pieces are made by computer
editing of a large number of samples, combined
with certain - supposedly partially self-developed -
DSP techniques.
BRICOLEUR AND ENGINEER
Tools, materials and methods
The term bricoleur is used by L6vi-Strauss to
exemplify the "mythical thinking" that he found
among "native" people such as the West-coast
Indians in North America. This kind of thinking
interprets new phenomena as transformations of
existing social and cultural structures. The
bricoleur is described as a dabbler; he will use
whatever materials and tools are at hand for his
projects. He starts by looking back at the already
existing set of tools and materials, and involves in
a dialogue with his "treasure" to discover what
each element could possibly signify in the context
of the new project.
The engineer is seen by L6vi-Strauss as an example
of the Western scientific thinking. His projects are
not limited by a closed collection of cultural
artifacts, but are open to extensions of existing
knowledge, tools, materials, and methods. He
starts by looking forward rather than backward: he
is projecting his idea beyond the existing
knowledge and he is able to construct new
materials and new tools to realize his project.
Signs and concepts
The tools and materials used by the bricoleur are
already part of culture. They are not abstract
materials, but already signify something
before being used in the new project. Although the
bricoleur will re-arrange everything into something
new, the parts will retain a reference to their old
meaning, even as they appear in the context of
the new project. Meaning, in terms of bricolage, is
created by restructuring of existing events.
Opposed to this, the engineer is able to use
abstract concepts which are, in L6vi-Strauss' terms,
transparent to reality. He can create tools and
materials specifically for his new project, with no
reference to past events. His process is not so
much constrained by culture as by nature itself, and
only the final result takes its place as a cultural
event. Meaning is created by the engineer as a
result of the occupation with abstract structures.
Musical bricolage
Musical bricolage could be seen as an extension of
a reception aesthetics, which claims that musical
meaning is created in the mind of the listener as
much as by the composer/interpreter: the work of
art is happening in the moment of listening.
Translated to a compositional method, the
