UC Santa Barbara

This dissertation examines the static artifacts of electroacoustic multimedia music written after the development of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) in 1983. Static artifacts is an umbrella term I have coined for the collective types of traditional and extended musical notation, text or graphic scores, screenshots of digital audio workspaces (hereafter: DAWs), code, and so on that are non-dynamic visual manifestations of a piece of music. The digital era brought about fundamental shifts in compositional practices and notation. In this dissertation, I examine some of the varied ways that composers use technology in mixed-media electroacoustic works, considering both how they notate the electronics and how one may analyze the work taking into account the technology and unique notation.

I demonstrate methods of analysis in several case studies focusing on compositions by Philippe Hurel, Trevor Wishart, Anne Deane Berman, and Paulo Chagas, and with particular attention to their static artifacts. I draw from notation studies and semiotics to support recent theories of electroacoustic analysis by scholars such as of Simon Emmerson and Leigh Landy (2016). I also use the method of multimedia analysis from Nicholas Cook (1999) for works that incorporate visual, textual, and dramatic elements. Where applicable, I apply the composers’ written thoughts, from books or articles, to the static artifact they made for a piece of music. Wishart and Chagas, for example, have both written extensively on their own styles and on the state of electronic music and electronics in music. While I find there are more similarities than differences between the case studies, each composer manages a unique way of incorporating electronics into their music and into their static artifact. My work provides analysts with more tools for electroacoustic analysis by shedding light on the static artifact.