Page 79 - Composing Processes and Artistic Agency

68 The processuality of composing

basis, this can lead him to focus on different aspects. His “repeated listening”,
however, does not follow any set plan with pre-fixed focal points. As Essl
explains, he uses the reference recording to “change perspective”. He likens
this to dancers who film and then watch themselves so as to be able to see the
choreography and sequences from the spectator’s perspective. While listening
to the reference recording, he pays attention to “the timing, transitions, flow
and energy”. If he has an idea for reworking a section, he makes a short note
indicating the time.
During the final days of work, valuing is employed to polish the composition.
The recordings here give Karlheinz Essl the necessary reference points – any
reworkings need to be realised in sound so that he can check the results of his
making.

[13 Feb 2014] As I play the piece several times, the progression becomes
more and more polished. […] I try to make the textual notation (the “score”
of the piece) as clear as possible using different colours, font attributes and
indents. I ban all superfluous elements and all not-immediately-necessary
representations of the system parameters from the GUI [graphical user
interface]. […] I eliminate everything that could distract.
[14 Feb 2014] I’m not sure if I should leave in the “singing” with the
flanger melody. It doesn’t seem to fit with the overall progression. The
passage sounds “great” in itself, but it’sdefinitely strikingly different. It
seriously disrupts the whole structure: the piece disintegrates into individual
segments.
[18 Feb 2014] Small cosmetic changes to the graphical user interface and
minimal corrections to the score. Then I make two reference recordings.
After listening to both recordings, I feel the piece is finally finished.

As this case study demonstrates, the meaning of exploring changes with time
from an open and exploratory activity to a focused activity, depending on the
specific situations, tasks set and challenges met. Further activities, such as
understanding and valuing, are also orientated towards the making of the
final composition. They are supposed to capture the possibilities of the sound
material so as to anticipate roughly what the software instrument has to
deliver. Understanding and valuing are often sensory and auditory, and thus
give hearing a central role. Because of Karlheinz Essl’s dual composer-performer
perspective, there is a pendulum swing between his creative making of the
composition and his operative making related to the performance. While
repeatedly listening, he develops existing ideas and structural concepts and
decides whether the overall piece is coherent. In other words, at certain
moments Essl anticipates and incorporates the audience’s perspective alongside
the composer’s and performer’s perspectives.
Let us now look at a second case study to analyse the cohesion and inter-
dependency of exploring, understanding, valuing and making: Marko Ciciliani’s
work “LipsEarsAssNoseBoobs (Gloomy Sunday)”. It was created in about