Sound Work: Composition as Critical Technical Practice

The potential for critical technical practice in thecreation of music
The practices andperception of music creation have evolved with the cultural, social andtechnological contexts of music and musicians. But musical authorship, in itsmany technical and aesthetic modes, remains an important component of musicculture. Musicians are increasingly called on to share their experience inwriting. However, cultural imperatives to account for composition as knowledgeproduction and to make claims for its uniqueness inhibit the development ofdiscourse in both expert and public spheres. Internet pioneer Philip Agreobserved a discourse deficit in artificial intelligence research and proposed acritical technical practice, a single disciplinary field with "one foot plantedin the craft work of design and the other foot planted in the reflexive work ofcritique. … A critical technical practice rethinks its own premises,re-evaluates its own methods, and reconsiders its own concepts as a routinepart of its daily work."

This volume considers the potential for critical technical practice in theevolving situation of composition across a wide range of current practices. Inseeking to tell more honest, useful stories of composition, it hopes tocontribute to a new discourse around the creation of music.

Contributors: Patricia Alessandrini (Stanford University), Alan Blackwell (University of Cambridge), Nicholas Brown (Trinity College Dublin), Marko Ciciliani (University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Austria), Nicolas Collins (The School of the Art Institute of Chicago), Agostino Di Scipio (Music Conservatory of L'Aquila / "Arts, écologies, transitions" Research Team, Paris), Daniela Fantechi (Orpheus Institute / University of Antwerp), Ambrose Field (University of York), Karim Haddad (IRCAM - Centre Georges Pompidou), Jonathan Impett (Orpheus Institute), Thor Magnusson (University of Sussex / Iceland University of the Arts), Scott McLaughlin (University of Leeds), Lula Romero (composer), David Rosenboom (composer), Ann Warde (independent scholar), Laura Zattra (IRCAM / Rovigo Conservatories of Music), Julie Zhu (Stanford University)