<<<  <<  -- 5 --  Eric Pettine    LIMITLESS COMBINATORICS

Although Boulez, Stockhausen, Cage, et al, were Zappa's contemporaries, they usually wrote music in one particular genre, and none were truly successful at composing music combining many different musical genres and different timbres. Zappa's music was far more accessible as well (perhaps due to the comedic bent and rhythmic verve of the compositions), and as a result has been more universally accepted. (Compare the sales of his CDs to that of other modernistic composers.)

Even from the end of last century to the present day the inclusion of various digitized sound samples are found in many popular music pieces creating new timbres with great frequency. Manipulating different sampled sounds has created new and unique timbres. Author/engineer Mingfei Mike Gao has stated in his article Samplers, 'Sampling has opened the door to the creation of timbres inexpressible by normal instruments or voices'. For example, Grammy award winning hip-hop producer Kanye West made famous a style of sampling vocals from soul songs that are sped up, creating timbres unrepeatable by real vocalists. How future composers may combine melody and harmony with the existing timbres as well as the unknown/unforeseen timbres emanating from electronic digital (or analog) devices is relatively unknown.

In 2006, Satoshi Shiraishi stated in his thesis A Real-Time Timbre Tracking Model Based On Similarity, that 'with the introduction of the computer as a musical tool of an apparently limitless flexibility, composers have been relieved from the rigid boundaries of acoustically produced sounds and sent on a quest for timbre synthesis, representation and manipulation'. Although the computer naturally lends itself to performerless compositions/'performances', perhaps the most interesting incarnations have been the melding of live musicians with the computer. In fact, the legendary Pierre Boulez' Repons features the composer's Ensemble InterContemporain sounds processed through the computer and then the computer responding to those sounds by contriving its own original sonic metamorphoses.

An individual musician/composer/performer, professional or not, can discover his/her own musical timbres by combining (or not) their own acoustic instrument(s) and/or voice(s) with the utilization of a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Pro Tools, a popular DAW, allows the user to manipulate the audio data information by altering especially the timbre and various rhythms, tempi and keys to create novel soundscapes. The 'sonic collage' effects that are attainable with a DAW affords the composer/performer myriad avenues to express him/herself.

Given this reality there should be real hope for us cynical musicians who think we've heard it all. There seems to be no shortage of possibilities any time soon -- the combinatorics seem limitless.