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the field music pieces are concerned with the question of what my place as a composer/performer within the sonic environment can be. the works exist in 3 forms: fixed media compositions for• cd, on-site real-time performance and concert hall performance. this work was made as part of my msc in digital composition & performance at the reid school of music, edinburgh college of art.

in the compositions, sine tones and computer processor noise are matched to field recordings, overlaying a musical form on the chance structures captured in the recording.

r e a d • f i e l d • m u s i c • m s c • d i s s e r t a t i o n

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o n - s i t e • p e r f o r m a n c e s •(click images to view performance videos)

in the on-site performances, the compositions were performed in the environment, at the site of the original recording, within the framework of a• s c o r e .

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in this concert performance, the field music 11 fixed media composition is presented in real-time, within the framework of performance instructions.

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audio cd-r edition of 100 now deleted

the field music pieces are concerned with the question of what my place as a composer/performer within the sonic environment can be. what does it mean to be a composer in an already sounding environment?

in each piece of the field music series, a composed structure of presences and absences of electronic tones, is superimposed on (or integrated into) a field recording. the pitches and textures of the electronic tones are chosen, based on the tonal content identified in the field recording. each presence and absence (entrance, sustain, cessation) of the superimposed tones, creates a change to the sonic situation.

this effectuation of change is what constitutes the compositional act, signalling the presence of musical thought under the auditory conditions of the site (cf. michael pisaro).

dw, october 2012