1. Screening the score: Decibel's computer controlled
performance environment using the Laptop and iPad
lindsay vickery and stuart james
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts
Edith Cowan University, Australia
representation of an example performance of "Transit of Venus", showing the order of material presented to players and
s of free sections upon the players' performance.

2. Beginning in the 1950s, a range of new paradigms emerged for the presentation of musical notation to live
performers. A concerted effort was made by some composers to liberate the score from the manacles of
left-right/up-down orientation.
These investigations with traditional paper scores, included:
Iannis Xenakis Duel (1959) for two orchestras, that delegated
the ordering of musical materials to the conductors and
calculated their strategic success according to game theory.
Griffiths, P. (1975). Logic and Disorder.
The Musical Times, 116(1586), 329-331 p 330
Morton Feldman s Intermission 6 (1953), a score permitting the
performer(s) “mobile” choice in ordering of the musical materials;
Hirata, C. C. (1996). The Sounds of the Sounds Themselves: Analyzing the Early Music of
Morton Feldman. Perspectives of New Music, 34 (1), 6-27. p 9
Earle Brown s December 1952, a
graphical score capable of
performance in any orientation;
Brown, E. (1986). The Notation and Performance of
New Music. The Musical Quarterly, 72(2), 180-201. p
193

3. Significant obstacles to the development of “real mobility” in notated music remained
insoluble in the paper medium.
• the space-inefficient nature of the paper-score imposes an inverse relationship
between the ease of mobility and the amount of information that could be provided for
performer(s).
• coordination of multiple performers in mobile works required either the
predetermination of a pathway through the work s materials or unwieldy mechanical
methods.
• coordination with other media especially fixed media – tape, film, video – was
potentially imprecise.
• coordination of temporal proportions
• the performer could “cheat” by predetermining an ordering form the work.
• continuous transformation could not be represented

4. Technology and ideology are inextricably intertwined… old artistic forms
pushing against their own boundaries and using procedures which seem to
point towards a new technology that will be able to serve as a more
“natural” and appropriate “objective correlative” (that) the old forms
endeavoured to render by means of their “excessive” experiments.
Zizek, S., 2000. The Art of the Ridiculous Sublime. Seattle Washington, Walter Chapin Centre for
the Humanities: Occasional Papers 1, University of Washington Press. p.39
One general effect of the digital revolution is that
avant-garde aesthetic strategies became embedded
in the commands and interface metaphors of
computer software. In short, the avant-garde
became materialized in a computer.
Manovich, L. (2001). The Language of New Media.
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. p 258

5. The computer provided a more natural medium and allowed a new-found actual mobility for
the musical notation, as a result of improvements in:
• graphics processing capacity
• larger, lighter and cheaper screens
• data projection (and quieter)
• networking capabilities
(Computers) provide the most plastic representational medium we have ever
known, and they enable novel forms of communication. (…) This plasticity in
combination with the dynamic character of computation makes possible new
interactive representations and forms of communication that are impossible in
other media.
Hollan, J. D., (1999). Human-computer interaction. In R. A. Wilson and F. C. Keil, editors,
Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. 379-381, MIT Press, 1999. p. 379
COMPUTERS AS A NOTATION INTERFACE
The computer afforded a practical, pragmatic medium for presenting information to the
performer, and the possibility of coordinated algorithmic and interactive control of multiple
performers and multiple media.

6. Paradigms for the presentation of notation to live performers
MEDIUM
COMPOSITION
PERFORMER
SCORE
screen-­‐score
generative
immanent/
real-­‐time
score
transformative
interactive
permutative
sequential
interpretative
segmented/
scrolling
score
paper-­‐score
permutative
explorative
mobile
score
sequential
interpretative
traditional
score

7. a. scrolling score and fixed playhead a. generative score traditional notation
> > > >
p mp f
b. fixed score and swiping playhead c. generative score separated parameters
pitch dynamic duration ornament
c. permuative score c.transformative score
1. 3. 4. 5. 2. layer 1.
p qex > .<
layer 2.
a. scrolling score and fixed playhead a. generative score traditional notation
> > > >
p mp f
b. fixed score and swiping playhead c. generative score separated parameters
pitch dynamic duration ornament
c. permuative score c.transformative score
1. 3. 4. 5. 2. layer 1.
p qex > .<
layer 2.
The
Scrolling
Score
The scrolling score moves a continuous
notational graphic from left to right, allowing
performers to execute events as they strike a
fixed playhead .
It is also possible to swipe the playhead
across the score. Such an arrangement limits
the amount of graphical material that is
visible to a single page or “screen”.

8. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Traditionally
Spaced Notation
c
C3
B2
A2
G2
F2
E2
C2
D2
Proportionally
Spaced Notation
Proportional
Notation
The Scrolling Score is best suited to works that are notated proportionally, that is
the time durations of the musical events are proportional to the spacial lengths of
their graphical representations.

9. The performative, and potentially structural, implications of computer control derive
from the nonlinear, hypertextual nature of computational capacities and are
musically manifested in three principal organisational procedures:
• permutative: allows the presentation
of materials to the performer in an
indeterminate order
• transformative: allows a fixed
score to be altered in real-time
• generative: constructs components
of the score in real-time.
p
c. permuative score c.tra
1. 3. 4. 5. 2. l
p mp f
b. fixed score and swiping playhead c. generative score separated parameters
pitch dynamic duration ornament
c. permuative score c.transformative score
1. 3. 4. 5. 2. layer 1.
p qex > .<
layer 2.
a. scrolling score and fixed playhead a. generative score traditional notation
> > > >
p mp f

10. COMPOSER TITLE YEAR PROGRAMMER YEAR COMPOSER TITLE YEAR PROGRAMMER YEAR
Cage, John Radio Music (1964) 1964 Lindsay Vickery 2011 Julian Day Beginning to Collapse 2011 Lindsay Vickery 2011
David Kim-Boyle Point Studies #1 2012 David Kim-Boyle 2012 Lindsay Vickery Hunting Pack 2011 Lindsay Vickery 2011
Cage, John Variations IV (1963) 1963 Stuart James, Aaron Wyatt 2012 Lindsay Vickery Night Fragments 2011 Lindsay Vickery 2011
Cage, John Variations VI (1966) 1966 Stuart James, Aaron Wyatt 2012 Lindsay Vickery Hunting Pack 2011 Lindsay Vickery 2011
Cage, John Variations VII (1967) 1967 Stuart James, Aaron Wyatt 2012 Buckett, Austin Mothlight 2011 Lindsay Vickery 2011
Cage, John Variations III (1962) 1962
Stuart James, Aaron
Wyatt, Lindsay Vickery
2012 Earle Brown December 1952 1954 Lindsay Vickery 2009
Cat Hope
Possible Stories of
Harry Power
2010 Kynan Tan 2010
Cat Hope and Lindsay
Vickery
The Talking Board 2011 Lindsay Vickery 2011
Cage, John Variations I (1958) 1958
Stuart James, Aaron
Wyatt, Lindsay Vickery
2012 Cat Hope
Juanita Neilsen [world
premiere]
2012 Aaron Wyatt 2012
Cage, John Variations II (1961) 1961
Stuart James, Aaron
Wyatt, Lindsay Vickery
2012 Cat Hope Liminum 2012 Lindsay Vickery 2012
Lindsay Vickery EVP (2012) 2012 Lindsay Vickery 2012 Lindsay Vickery ghosts of departed quantities 2010 Lindsay Vickery 2010
Karlheinz Stockhausen Adieu 1966 Lindsay Vickery 2010 Mauricio Kagel Prima Vista 1962-3 Lindsay Vickery 2009
Karlheinz Stockhausen Pole 1969 Lindsay Vickery 2010 Karlheinz Stockhausen Klavierstück XI 1956 Lindsay Vickery 2010
Percy Grainger
Free Music No. 1
scoreplayer
1936 Lindsay Vickery 2010 Lindsay Vickery antibody 2009 Lindsay Vickery 2009
Cat Hope Kingdom Come 2009 Lindsay Vickery 2010 Lindsay Vickery improbable games 2010 Lindsay Vickery 2010
Cat Hope Wolf at Harp 2010 Lindsay Vickery 2010 Samuel Dunscombe West Park 2011 Samuel Dunscombe 2011
Cat Hope Kuklinski s Dream 2010 Lindsay Vickery 2010 Lindsay Vickery transit of venus 2009 Lindsay Vickery 2009
Cat Hope In the Cut 2010 Lindsay Vickery 2010 Lindsay Vickery
corridors, stairways night and
day
2009 Lindsay Vickery 2009
Cat Hope Cruel and Usual 2011
Lindsay Vickery/Sam
Gillies
2011 Lindsay Vickery Transit of Venus 2009 Lindsay Vickery 2009
Christopher de Groot Agerasia 2011 Lindsay Vickery 2011 Lindsay Vickery delineate 1 2010 Lindsay Vickery 2010
Cat Hope Longing 2011 Lindsay Vickery 2011 Lindsay Vickery echo-transform 1 2010 Lindsay Vickery 2010
James Rushford Espalier 2012 Stuart James 2012 Lindsay Vickery Ubahn c. 1985 2012 Aaron Wyatt 2012
Lyndon Blue
DecaBel – [world
premiere]
2012 Stuart James 2012 Lindsay Vickery detritus 2012 Lindsay Vickery 2012
Joe Stawarz Cells (2012) 2012 Stuart James 2012 Agostino di Scipio Texture/Residue Lindsay Vickery 2012
Denis Smalley Threads 1985 Lindsay Vickery 2009 Alvin Lucier
Still and Moving Lines in
Families of Parabolas No. 1
1972 Lindsay Vickery 2010
Alvin Lucier Ever Present 2002 Lindsay Vickery 2010 Alvin Lucier in memorial stuart marshall 1993 Lindsay Vickery 2010
Thomas Meadowcroft Pretty Lightweight 2001 Lindsay Vickery 2011 Anthony Pateras Trio 2012 Stuart James 2012

11. The Segmented Score Player:
The score-player for Denis Smalley s work Threads (1985) centralizes the control of playback
of the audio component, synchronised with an on-screen timer and mobile realisation of
Smalley's score, providing the means of precise synchronization.

12. The Scrolling Score-Player:
Earle Brown: December 1952 score-player

13. The score-player for Mauricio Kagel s Prima Vista (1962-3) chooses the 25 slides without
repetitions and provides the performers with a countdown indicating a varying duration for
each page. The available range of durations of the pages is adjustable, allowing the total
length of the work to be controlled.

14. The Scrolling Score: Cat Hope s In the Cut (2009)

15. the score
the sonogram
135cm
7m 11s

16. player 1
player 2
player 3
player 1
player 2
player 3
pitch
duration
dynamics
The Permutative Score:
Vertical and Horizontal Implications
Permutation of all parts simultaneously results
“vertical” changes in the performed materials,
Asynchronous permutation of the parts, given that
they are sufficiently distinct independently, results
in “horizontal” or layered changes.

17. Score-player for Karlheinz Stockhausen: Klavierstück XI (1956)

18. PERC.
I
CONDUCTOR
PERC.
II
PERC.
IIII
Woodwind
Brass
Strings
Pizz.
Str
Screen
1
Screen
2
Screen
3
Screen
4
Screen
7
Screen
6
Screen
5
The Networked Screen Score:
Performance set-up for Stockhausen s MIXTUR (1964) using networked computers to project
the scores synchronously on 6 screens. Such a method could also automate the electronic
component (Ring-modulation of the acoustic instruments) and perhaps also the conductor via
click-tracks.

19. In my works Antibody (2009) (above) and Improbable Games (2010) (below) sub-structural units
are permutated to create novel passages of music in real-time.

20. Measure 11 2 12 20 27 21 24 20 - 27 29 1 14 8 10 - 19 9 10 4 15 6 22 27 13 7 3 1 - 9 5 23 18 frag5
Duration 6 17 19 5 24 4 27 8 26 1 10 4 10 16 3 2 15 11 22 23 25 21 7 9 18 20 9 13
Continuity 3 Continuity 2 Continuity 1
Schematic representation of a performance of Antibody
Schematic representation of a performance of Improbable Games

21. The independent manipulation of even
smaller units, the parameters that are
combined to form musical events is also
possible in digital media. This approach
is exploited in Gerhard Winkler s Hybrid
series (1991-) in which the glissando,
string position, bow pressure and
dynamics are graphically conveyed to
the performer in real-time.
Winkler, G., (2010) The Real-Time-Score: Nucleus and Fluid
Opus , Contemporary Music Review, 29: 1, pp 89-100
convention of reading a score from left to right, but the continuous
representations of playing symbols (e.g. scrolling graphics, sliders, flashing lights
Figure 3 Example of glissando notation; ‘Hybrid II (NetWorks)’ for viola and interactive
live electronics (1996/2001).
Gerhard Winkler: Hybrid II (1996/2001)

22. Transformation
Transformation differs from permutation in that it acts upon an “original”
object to which alterations occur over time.
In this sense transformation is related to the musical concept of
development, as permutation is related to “concatenation” or “block” forms.
The notion of development is expanded by digital transformation in that the
alterations need not be predetermined: they may act uniquely on the
materials in each performance.

23. Stockhausen s Adieu (1966) ScorePlayer

24. Transforma)on
In David Kim-Boyle s tunings (2006) for cello
and computer, “real-time blurring and other
distortion techniques” are employed to reveal
only portions of an underlying score.
Kim-Boyle, D., (2006). “Real-time generation of Open-
Form Scores”, Proceedings of Digital Art Week Symposium,
Zürich: Die Eidenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH)
Lindsay Vickery s Transit of Venus (2009),
utilises a nonlinear score, live sound
processing and independent click tracks to
control a guided-improvisation by the
players. In the score-player, functions of the
traditional score, where performance
indications are normally vertically unified.

25. player 1
player 2
player 3
Example Performance
Below is a representation of an example performance of "Transit of Venus", showing the order of material presented to players and
interuptions of free sections upon the players' performance.
Schematic representation of a performance of Transit of Venus
Sonograms of two performances of Transit of Venus

26. What then renders these forces visible is a strange smile (or, First Study for Figures at
the Base of a Crucifixion) (2007-08)
for solo trumpet
Generation
In a Generative work, algorithmic or interactive generative processes are
employed to construct components of a digital score in real-time. This
approach opens broad range of structural possibilities often linked to a
narrative or dramatic concept.
Although algorithmic processes may be predetermined in a generative work,
the outcome, in the form of a score or sonic product is completely undefined
prior to the performance. For this reason, this form of “dynamic scoring” is
sometimes euphemistically referred to as “extreme sight reading”.
Freeman, J., (2008). Extreme sight-reading, mediated expression, and audience participation:
Real-time music notation in live performance. Computer Music Journal, 32(3), 25–41.

27. In Polish composer Marek Chołoniewski s Passage (2001),
a conductor directs a silent performance of hand gestures
by the performers, which are measured by changes in
luminosity measured by light sensitive resistors mounted
on their music stands.
The recorded gestural data in
turn generates a scrolling
score that is subsequently
performed by the ensemble.
Chołoniewski, M., (2001). “Passage”,
Interactive Octet for Instruments and
Computer, http://www.studiomch.art.pl/.

28. Cat Hope s Possible Stories of Harry Power (2010)
Section 1: the graphical notation score initially presented to the musicians.
Rendering 1: Computer rendering
of the performer s realization
of Section 1
Rendering 2: Computer rendering
of the performer s realization of
Rendering 1
Section 2: final graphically
notated section
Ned Kelly Ellen Kelly Harry Power

29. Score components that can be presented in a Screen-Score
!"#$%&'&()"
*"+"#'&()"
&#'+,-.#$'&()"
$.&(-
/.#0
-%,"12!'#'$"&"#,
,"!'#'&"12!'#'$"&"#,
,(+*3"2")"+&
,&"'142+.&"2!#.1%5&(.+
&"$!.6!%3,"
$.)"$"+&
!7#',"
$"3.14
&"8&%#"
)(9#'&.6&#"$"3.
,5#.33(+*2,5.#"
,"*$"+&"12,5.#"

30. FORMAL IMPLICATIONS
Computer coordination allows for:
• a radical redistribution of the relationships between the performers, the score, the digital
components and the audience.
• structural decisions may arise from any component of the performance environment and may
be the result of interaction and improvisation as well as predetermination
• greater distinction between voices and layers in a musical work through expansion of timbral,
dynamic, spatial and temporal qualities both “vertically” and “horizontally”.
• Sampling provides a pathway to unprecedented referentiality to sound objects outside the
performance model.
• Networking and telepresence expand the potential of these possibilities beyond the specific
environment of the performance model.
These potentials provide the basis for significant expansion of the structural possibilities
available to the composer.

31. • Poly-structure
Permutative, generative and
transformative strategies can be
independently employed a single
work through computer
coordination. The combination of
formal Polyphony – poly-structure
• Interleaved Polystructure
Structure
• Multiple versions

32. Additive and Subtractive Structures
Condensed Sonogram of Lindsay Vickery s Ghosts of Departed Quantities (2010) showing the
progressively increasing number and decreasing size of “holes” cut into the both the electronic and
acoustic components of the performance.

33. • Multiple versions
I believe that the experience of “open form,” of the “work in progress”,
of the “unfinished” may only contribute to recovering an ephemeral,
lucid, and transitory dimension of musical experience – setting aside all
aspiration to an idea of eternity – and educating us instead to think of
the work as an agglomeration of events, without any prearranged
center; events which nonetheless find, locally and sometimes
surprisingly, their connections, their necessities, and, occasionally, their
beauty.
Berio, L. (2006). Remembering the Future.
Harvard University Press, Cambridge. pp. 97-98

34. Traditional “Classical” acoustic performance model (left) and the Computer controlled performance
model (right). In the computer controlled model:
• the performers may interact with the computer via hardware interface(s);
• the acoustic performance itself may be used as an interface through computer analysis; and
• the audience may interact with the computer, playing a role in defining the performance.
score
audio synthesisperformer(s)
acoustic performance
audience
score
computer coordination
performer(s)
acoustic performance
audio processing
acoustic performance
audience
The screen-score as a component of a computer-controlled performance environment

35. The invention of the paper score provided composers with unprecedented control over the
coordination of large musical forces and structures. However, in the last fifty years many
composers have pushed the capabilities of the paper score to their logical limits.
Technological “upgrades” to mobile form works could be considered in the following
circumstances:
• the work can still be performed according to the composer s intentions
• the original work would operate more “naturally” within a contemporary medium
that was not available at the time of composition.
• the “upgrade” significantly improves the performing situation, for example:
facilitating more accurate performance or improving the logistical requirements for the
work.

36. Use of the computer as a source of coordination of musical forces provides a new step forward
in furthering the development of musical organization and structure. Computer coordination
allows for:
• the synchronisation and interaction of performance elements such as the score, performer
(s), audio synthesis, acoustic performance, audio processing and audience;
• the permutation, transformation and generation of these elements;
• performer can be restricted from preparing modularity in advance (cheating);
• representation of notational information ranging from individual parameters to an entire
work
• representation of continuous transformation
• the instantiation of multiple versions of works;
• coordination temporal proportions
• score and recordings for teaching purposes

37. Further Reading
Aarseth, E. J. (1997). Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Barrett, G. D. and M. Winter, H. Wulfson. 2007. "Automatic Notation Generators." In Proceedings of the International Computer Music
Conference. San Francisco: International Computer Music Association. 1: 25-30.
Brougher, K. (2005). Visual Music Culture Visual Music: Synaesthesia in Art and Music Since 1900. New York: Thames and Hudson.
Brown, E. (1986). The Notation and Performance of New Music. The Musical Quarterly, 72(2), 180-201.
Cage, J. (1970). Form is Language. In R. Kostelanetz (Ed.), John Cage. New York Praeger Publishers.
(1985 ). A Year From Monday. London: Marion Boyars Publishers.
Cardew, C. (1961). Notation—Interpretation, etc.. . Tempo (New Series) 58(3), 21-33.
Clay, A., & Freeman, J. (2010). Preface: Virtual Scores and Real-Time Playing. Contemporary Music Review, 29(1), 1.
Didkovsky, N. (2004). Recent compositions and performance instruments realized in Java Music Specification Language. Paper presented at
the International Computer Music Conference.
Didkovsky, N. and Burk, P. L. (2001). Java Music Specification Language: An introduction and overview. Paper presented at the International
Computer Music Conference.
Didkovsky, N. & Crawford, L. (2007). Java Music Specification Language and Max/MSP. Paper presented at the International Computer Music
Conference.
Didkovsky, N. & Hajdu, G. (2008). MaxScore: Music notation in Max/MSP. Paper presented at the International Computer Music Conference
Fourie, P. J. (2010). Media Studies: Policy, Management and Media Representation (Vol. 2). Cape Town: Juta Academic.
Freeman, J. (2008). Extreme sight-reading, mediated expression and audience participation: Real-time music notation in live performance.
Computer Music Journal, 32, 25–41.
Freeman, J., and Colella, A., (2010) 'Tools for Real-Time Music Notation', Contemporary Music Review, 29: 1, 101-113.
Hajdu, G. (2004). Composition and Improvisation on the Net. Paper presented at the SMC 04 Conference Proceedings, IRCAM, Paris.
Hanoch-Roe, G. (2003). Musical Space and Architectural Time. International Review of Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, 34(2), 145-160.

38. Further Reading
Haubenstock-Ramati, R. (1976). Notation - Material and Form In B. Boretz & E. T. Cone (Eds.), Perspectives on Notation and Performance
(pp. 96-101). New York: Norton.
Hirata, C.C. "The Sounds of the Sounds Themselves: Analyzing the Early Music of Morton Feldman." Perspectives of New Music 34 no. 1
(1996): 6-27.
Holzer, D. (2010). A Brief History of Optical Synthesis: a Brief History of Optical Synthesis, from http://www.umatic.nl/
tonewheels_historical.html
Kim-Boyle, D. (2005). Musical Score Generation in Valse Proceedings of the 2005 International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical
Expression (NIME05), Vancouver, BC, Canada
(2006). Real-Time Generation of Open-Form Scores. In Digital Arts Week Symposium ’06. Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zurich
(2010). Real-time Score Generation for Extensible Open Forms. Contemporary Music Review, 29(1), 3 - 15.
Lopes, F. (2010). Oral Presentation: “Õdaiko, A Real Time Score Generator Based on Rhythm”. Sound and Music Computing. Barcelona. Spain
Maloney, K. (2005). Sounding Images and Imaging Sounds - Audiovisual Interactivity in Performance. Sightlines 2-27.
Manovich, L. (2001). The Language of New Media. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
McClelland, C., Alcorn, M. (2008). Exploring New Composer/Performer Interactions Using Real-Time Notation. In International Computer
Music Conference ’08. Belfast, Northern Ireland
Poast, M. (2000). Color Music: Visual Color Notation for Musical Expression. Leonardo, 33(3), 215-221.
Rebelo, P., (2010). 'Notating the Unpredictable', Contemporary Music Review, 29: 1, 17 — 27.
Sauer, T. (2009). Notations 21. New York: Mark Batty Publisher.
Stein, S. A. (1983). Kandinsky and Abstract Stage Composition: Practice and Theory, 1909-12 Art Journal, 43(1), 61-66
Winkler, Gerhard E. (2004). The Real Time-Score. The Missing-Link in Computer-Music Performance. In Sound and Music Computing ’04.
IRCAM.
Young, L., & Mac Low, J. (1963). An Anthology of Chance Operations. New York: Jackson Mac Low.
Žižek, S. (2000). The Art of the Ridiculous Sublime. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press.