Page 76 - Composing Processes and Artistic Agency

The processuality of composing 65

by the sound quality of the recording, as he himself informed us. In his diary,
he also articulates an appraisal (i.e. valuing) of the first results yielded by his
exploring. Here, we assume that this valuing occurred in actu during
the exploring and was entered into the diary later. Even in the first phase of
exploring – long before the material has been comprehensively examined and
the shape of the work has crystallised – there already exist criteria for valuing
which influence the composer’s making, even though they remain unspoken.
Exploring and valuing thus interact by generating and excluding possibilities.
Understanding is likewise inherent in Karlheinz Essl’s exploring, since an
implicit notion of which additional steps may be meaningful co-exists with
exploring and valuing. Understanding largely occurs on a sensory and auditory
level. Furthermore, reflective activities of understanding are linked to an
aesthetic competence in valuing, which Karlheinz Essl has incorporated into
his hearing after years of auditory training and experience as a composer and
performing musician. Borrowing from Theodor W. Adorno (1963: 184), we
might say that one aspect of composition work consists of “thinking with your
ears”. The ear is an intelligent organ, which accompanies the compositional
making, but also the compositional exploring, understanding and valuing.
The following diary entry illustrates the dual perspective of composer and
performer inherent in Essl’s exploring with performance in mind:

[16 Jan 2014] I continued work on the MaxMSP Patch Herbeck Stutter,
started yesterday, which is increasingly becoming a software instrument
for playing the middle movement live. I fine-tune the algorithms by closely
defining the system parameters and their mutual dependency. […] Having
added two sound processors (flanger, frequency shifter), I can now give
the primarily noise-like, spoken material harmonic colour, which
further increases the possibilities for creative expression during a live
performance. Finally I integrated a reverb with a freeze function. It can
be used to create an infinite reverb from time to time which “freezes” the
generated stream of sound.

Here, Karlheinz Essl is not focused on examining and developing the musical
material, but on developing and implementing the software instrument. In this
context, his exploring, understanding, valuing and making unfold along the
central question: what is the optimal software instrument for this performance?
The question keeps him occupied for several days.

[22 Jan 2014] The whole thing works magnificently, but I’m still looking
for a universal solution for the piece. Instead of developing software for
each movement, I’d rather develop all three movements using the same
approach, a general meta-structure. […] I also subject the MIDI controller
to critical scrutiny. I now check whether my kalimba equipped with a
contact microphone can serve as a touch controller and soon realise that
it would use up too much energy and time to program the device. I drop