Introduction

This article discusses the musical work prior to its ultimate notation and prior to its performance; we discuss the musical work in the Western art music tradition, specifically music for solo instrument and live electronics. In lack of a general terminology we use the term 'mixed media' in this article to refer to a work for instrument(s) and electronic sounds. By mixed media music we refer to music in which sounds produced on acoustical instruments are mixed with sounds from electronic sources or electronically processed versions of the acoustic sounds played back on loudspeakers. One medium of sound production (acoustic instruments) is mixed with another (loudspeakers). This project is part of our respective artistic research projects at the Malmö Academy of Music, Lund University and is an effort to combine reflection, analysis, and empiricism in the framework of artistic research.

Our purpose is to acquire a deeper understanding for the underlying processes in the communication between the composer and the performer and the social significance traditionally assigned to these roles in relation to their operative significance. By better understanding the interaction between the two parties involved in the creation of the work, we also hope to better understand the necessary conditions for a successful interaction between the performer and the electronics. Obviously one of the fundamental conditions for a study such as this is that the performer and the composer are both alive, and that the performer has a genuine interest in performing the work in question.

Music and notation

The invention of notation has not only given us the notion of the musical work but has also resulted in a split of 'the musician' into two agents, composer and performer [Wishart, 1985]. A musical work, in the cultural context of the Western art music tradition, is commonly regarded as the result of a process in two distinct phases; one constructive and one reproductive [Nattiez, 1990]. The composer produces a score, which in turn is handed over to a performer who makes an interpretation of the notation and reproduces it as specified in the score, hopefully quite faithfully to the composer's intentions. The notation constitutes the primary source of information. According to the line of thought in Paul Ricur's hermeunetic philosophy, the traditional view of the author as a one-way sender of a message is disputed - the author is disengaged from the work by the act of writing [Ricur, 1991] (See also [Barthes, 1971]). Similarly, we suggest that the construction of a score-based work consists of dialectic interplay between creation and interpretation, in which the composer, at times, has to approach his own notation by means of interpretation, even during the act of writing. On the other hand the performer does not merely reproduce the work such as notated, performing a score-based work is a co-creative act in which the performer necessarily has to make crucial artistic choices [Kivy, 1995,Davies, 2001]. In other words, notation does not divide composer and performer into one originator (producing the work) and one interpreter (reproducing the work). Interpretation is a part of both creative acts.