Sound in time

Dr. Robert Greenberg says (quoting another author) that the definition of music is “sound in time”. According to that definition, music would include what we normally think of as music both instrumental and vocal; also speech, bird song, aleatoric sound environments, traffic noises, heartbeat and breathing, and sounds created by software (artificial intelligence).

Does John Cage’s 4’33” fit the definition? It has time but not sound — unless you count the expectation of sound, or the environmental sounds that happen during the piano’s silence.

I think there is a gradation of purposeful creation, of intent, in these examples. A possible name for this might be “intentional music”. Artificial Intelligence algorithms generate patterned sounds. Are they intentional? Partly — the software was originally created by a human. In a sense the software is a tool or even an electronic instrument. I have a Korg Karma keyboard which has a “Karma Engine”, basically a Band-in-a-Box with some intelligent randomness built in. Someone designed this as an instrument, which (with practice and exploration) I can learn to use. As I choose the arpeggiations and sound patches more insightfully, my music becomes more intentional and meaningful.

Deadmau5 in his Masterclass talks about creating sounds with his analogue synthesizers. He changes the timbre, attack and decay of the notes. Some of his music seems random or repetitive, but the sound quality itself was created purposefully.

Aleatoric sound environments can be created intentionally and may be used to create a mood.

Traffic noises are statistical variations of sound in time. If you took the variations in amount of sound, and then sped it up so that one day’s rhythms took up a few seconds, you would wind up with something that sounded more music-like. In this way, selecting the information and speeding it up / slowing it down / amplifying it adds intention.

Breathing, heartbeat, and footsteps seem like random sounds but they are influenced by the state of the body making them. Because they are so connected to emotions they can be used purposefully to create moods.

And, my favorite example of all, bird song. My family has been keeping an aviary of birds and raising chicks by hand for many years. Is bird song purposeful? Some bird vocalizations are automatic and instinctive. If someone jumped out at you in a dark room you would probably make a sound automatically. In the same way if you startle a bird it will alarm call, and if you grab it suddenly it will “scream”. These sounds seem automatic. Bird song, however, seems intentional. Most young birds go through a stage of “babbling” during which their song is unformed and random. Then gradually over several weeks they will “decide” on what their song will be. Some birds (ex. song sparrows) develop a repertoire of several songs. Other species (such as mockingbirds, catbirds and the brown thrasher) mimic other birds and arrange the “quoted” songs in their own way. And finally, some birds (ex. starlings, budgies) take mimicked bits and warp them, transform them. I need to research this more, but I’m remembering that there is an evolutionary inclination to evolve more complex songs because the female birds give preference to the males with varied songs.

Sound in time…

So — according to Dr. Robert Greenberg, composing music is simply making sounds in time. However, the way I’m thinking of it, there is a gradation of intentionality, of purpose. Am I just making sounds with my voice or my instrument to see what sounds it can make? Noodling, improvising? Improvising in the context of a group performance? Arranging bits very carefully in hope of expressing emotion?

What I would like to do is learn more about music theory and about composition in general so that my “sounds in time” become more intentional and expressive.

But for now, as a composer, it’s good to just make lots of sounds and pay attention to them.

——————–

Here is the Korg Karma featuring its intelligent arpeggiator, the “Karma Engine”