Preserving Digitally Inscribed Music

On October 25, 2018, the National Library of Norway puts on the seminar “https://www.nb.no/hva-skjer/notated-music-in-the-digital-sphere/”, And mys contribution is “Preserving digitally inscribed music.”

Here is the abstract:
Musical notation is a prescriptive tool that is at least 4000 years old, aiming for preservation of both musical ideas and performance practices. The notation system for instruments and voice that we use today is hundreds of years old, and has over time been developed into the complex instruction sets that one can find in contemporary score, where new musical expressions are pursued by unusual excitation methods and increasingly detailed performance control.

This notation system has also found its way into the digital domain, and much research effort has been made in developing methods for migrating paper-based scores into machine-readable documents. However, digitally inscribed music often relies on more than pitch, duration, pulse and rhythm, and much of the modern electronic expressions cannot be captured or reproduced using conventional notation.

This presentation will discuss the urgency of preserving the heritage of digital music, present early projects and practices in this area, and provide recommendations for future efforts in securing an updated and more complete record of musical history in formats that also facilitate performability.

Mer informasjon her: https://www.nb.no/hva-skjer/notated-music-in-the-digital-sphere/

New article in Organised Sound


I have written a new article for Organised Sound: Unpacking the Musical and Technical Innovation of Knut Wiggen. The text sums up what I have managed to uncover about this Nordic computer music pioneer, through his texts, his technical development of what in the early 1970s was the most advanced composition studio on the planet, and through his five short musical works, created with his ground-breaking software MusicBox. More than fifteen years should pass before a similar software was created.

ICMC 2018

International Computer Music Conference 2018 was this year organized in Daegu, South Korea, from Aug. 5 to Aug. 10. My contribution to this community was a presentation of my work on Norwegian computer music pioneer Knut Wiggen, and this rounds off my academic work on this key figure in the development of our field.

See the article here: The Contributions of Computer Music Pioneer Knut Wiggen.

Reconstruction of “Blikk”


During the first part of 2018, I am involved in a reconstruction of Blikk (1970), an installation originally created by Irma Salo Jæger (sculptures and light), Sigurd Berge (sound and music) and Jan Erik Vold (text). The work was constructed in collaboration with researchers and engineers from Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI) and was performed at the Henie Onstad Arts Center, who also had commissioned the work. The work will be installed in the new National Museum in Oslo, and is being reconstructed as a commission from them.

Lighted rotating paddles mirror colors and cast shadows around the space, and are combined with sound from 10 speakers, so that Jan Erik Vold seems to move carefully around the room while reading. This alternates with Sigurd Berge’s electronic music, which was largely composed at The Gaudeamus-foundation in the Netherlands.

The Forest in the House


NOTAM is collaborating with the University of Oslo, The National Museum and the architect company Atelier Oslo on a research project about combining physical and virtual realities i an architectural exhibition. NOTAM’s task is to construct acoustically correct soundscapes to two virtual environments, and we are using this opportunity to investigate the effect of different delivery methods and principles to further the knowledge on where the intersection between complexity and necessary quality might be. NOTAM’s team consists of Thom Johansen, Balint Laczko and Jøran Rudi.

The museum of architecture writes this about the exhibition.