Little Animals: Compositional Structuring Processes

Author(s): Natasha Barrett

Source: Computer Music Journal, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Summer, 1999), pp. 11-18
Published by: The MIT Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3680732
Accessed: 11-01-2019 20:11 UTC

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Natasha Barrett
Norsk nettverk for Teknologi, Akustikk og Musikk
Little Animals:
(NoTAM)
Postboks 1137-Blindern Compositional
N-0317 Oslo, Norway
Structuring Processes

During the composition of Little Animals, a workAuditory

I and visual sources provide insight into
created in 1997 for tape, it was of underlying im-the composed relationships within the work. For
example, in a coniferous forest environment, the
portance to discover and organize the relationships
between musical materials within and outside the combined acoustical and visual relationships have
real duration of the work. Of most significance wasa particular characteristic. The trees and foliage are
the three-part relationship between the music, its dense, and the acoustics feel "close," but lack the
reflective
real-world source inspiration, and the listener's un- characteristics of an enclosed space. The
derstanding. This is manifest not only in the soundvisual information conflicts with the acoustic, be-
materials, but also in the way the relationshipscause
be- the sightline leads into the distance through
tween materials are structured, and how these rela-the network of tree trunks. The content of the
tionships unfold during the course of the music. acoustic environment consists of close, delicate
The listening process takes place over two time sounds such as branches moving in the breeze, pine
scales: (1) throughout the course of the 13-minneedles dropping to the ground, and moisture seep-
piece, during which time a continual flow of ing through the foliage, while in the distance one
sound information interacts with memory, andmay (2) hear the sounds of birds and wind. In a clear-
in the shorter or longer timespan after the pieceing, one will see distant roads, firebreaks, or tele-
has finished, where the music is remembered ei- graph-pole cuttings. Combined in the whole
ther in relation to itself, to private memories, orexperience
to is a distinctive pine-forest smell.
the present environment. During this time I hope The deciduous forest environment, in contrast,
the listener can explore a crossover between musi- consists of oak and beech trees, which grow less
cal and extramusical or allusive aspects of bothdensely and allow sunlight through the canopy.
sound material and structural totality. The acoustic ambience feels more spacious and as-
similates the visual scene. The sound world is rich
with a lively animal habitat, and it is likely one
Visual and Acoustic Juxtaposition in the Real will hear the sound of other people walking past, a
World and in the Music dog barking, horses' hooves, or a distant tree-cutter.
Both descriptions present unusual auditory and
The way in which real environments are experi- visual juxtapositions, where acoustical and visual
enced every day (a combination of sound and vi- spatial perceptions conflict or cross-reference each
other. The acoustic dimension conflicts with the
sual information) was important to the musical
organization of Little Animals. Memories of my visual sightline, because the trees mask the visual
early home (the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire) sound source, while the acoustic "tree filter" only
consist of a detailed juxtaposition of natural and partially masks the sound. Acousmatically, close,
human-made, auditory and visual environments. mid, and distant sound sources are clearly defined.
Ten years later, the real juxtaposition itself is less At the same time, natural and human-made sounds
significant, and instead, it is the memory and its and sights may juxtapose. For example, a human-
associated feelings that are most important. made visual scene, such as the telegraph-pole cut-
ting, implies the existence of a human-made sound
world, even if it is not heard at that moment.
Computer Music Journal, 23:2, pp. 11-18, Summer 1999 In the music, mixing sound materials of clear al-
? 1999 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. lusive implication with nonattributable sound ma-

Barrett 11

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terials correlates with the visual and acoustic juxta- other than an acoustically dead recording studio.
position described above. This is owing to the The application of filtering and spectral stretching
former being recognizable, and influences how we techniques result in "timbral" or "spectral" space:
hear the latter, in that we attempt to form a real- namely, the implication of width and depth
world link which may be in the form of a visual through the relationship of frequency components.
analogy. For example, during the opening minute of Resonant filtering techniques can further emulate
the piece, a sound texture recognizable as a strong the sustain characteristic of reverberation at the
gale is mixed with textured iterative material. It expense of detail in the amplitude envelope. Con-
would be difficult to imagine a real sound-source volution produces a similar effect, which can re-
link to the iterative material that is also coherent sult in reverberation characteristics with high
with the strong-gale allusion. Therefore, the link ispitch coloration. There therefore exists a smooth
more likely to take the form of a visual analogy: transition between real space and the implication
possibly the detailed internal life of the forest. of spatial attributes. The implication of space en-
counters further abstraction in the concept of
"time space." In this instance, expectations con-
Crossover of Music and Extramusical
cerning the behavior of physical objects in the real
Sound Attributes world, such as the time delay between action and
response connections in a sound allusion, result in
On the macro level, Little Animals presents a the experience of stimulation and response rela-
clear progression in material from musical to tionships in the composition.
extramusical. Sonic material that is rich in conno- The final feature of the spatial sound palette in-
tation opens the work, and then throughout the volves a sense of "total realism," where the percep-
last 6 min progressively fragments into pitch tex- tion of realism is a combination of sound and
tures. The material in the second half of the work spatial qualities. Describing sound as real or syn-
takes on the allusive connotations implied by thetic may appear contradictory, as all sound is
similar intrinsic characteristics in the opening, "real," and any computer manipulation may dis-
and the recurrence of certain distinctive sound rupt both the natural acoustic resonance and any
gestures signpost areas of structural coordination. association with real-world physical behavior. I use
In other words, a similarity, on the intrinsic acous-these terms to separate sound qualities that sug-
tic level, between materials at different locations gest a "real" acoustic source from those qualities
in the work provides a link through which that lack acoustic reality. A real acoustic source is
extramusical inferences can travel. On the micro one that appears to be produced by a resonating
level, this crossover between musical and body or volume of air. Such sound is characterized
extramusical attributes exists in three guises: by attention to small details, irregularities, insta-
space, pitch distraction tactics, and natural time bility, and change in spectral evolution. To our per-
flows, each of which is explained below. ception, a synthetic sound (often sounding as if it
were created by computer synthesis) appears to
lack these characteristics. The transition from real
Space to synthetic qualities is a continuous and relative
scale where the perceived strength of each is often
Five aspects of the spatial sound palette used in dependent on the musical context.
Little Animals form a continuum between musi- A sound as described above exists in both "vir-
cal and extramusical implication. At one extreme tual space" (space composed through the use of re-
exists "real" space; in other words, the illusionverberation
of effects or delays, stereo imagery,
space achieved through the application of rever- equalization, and location), and in the "listening
beration and filtering effects, stereo positioning,space"
or (the space in which the loudspeakers project
through the recording of a source sound in a space the sound). Throughout a composition, there may

12 Computer Music Journal

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Figure 1. Relationships
between sound and space
in terms of perceptual re-
alism.

Degree of
Perceptual Maximum Realism '( . Minimum Realism
Realism

Sound-space 'Real' solo sound

combination 'Familiar' space.

4. 'Real' sound
Z|hamlir space.
If'space' becomes tUnfamiliar' space.
familiar through musical
context, sound-space
combinations increase 'Synthetic' sound
in perceived realism. 'Unfamiliar' space. If'space' becomes
If 'space' becomes
familiar through musical
context, sound-space
combinations decrease
in perceived realism.

'Synthetic' sound
'Familiar' space.

'Surreal' mixed sounds

'Familiar' space.

exist varying spatial implications which appear as outlines the state of minimum realism, achieved
familiar or unfamiliar to each listener. The simula-through the surreal juxtaposition of sounds in a
recognizable space, creating a maximum conflict.
tion of a real-world space may result in its being fa-
miliar, due to a connection that is external to the Real and synthetic sounds set in unfamiliar spaces
music. A "non-real-world" space may also be fa- are located in the center of the model. When a syn-
miliar through its association with an earlier musi-thetic sound is set in an unrecognizable space, the
cal occurrence-in other words, through a ear recognizes neither aspect, and with little con-
connection internal to the music. When the lis- flict of information, the set of relationships is plau-
sible, if not necessarily allusive of the real world. If
tener fails to identify any external or internal asso-
ciation, the space is considered "unfamiliar." the musical context results in the space gaining fa-
miliarity, the sound-space combination decreases
The relationships between sound reality and spa-
tial familiarity are interesting because they con- in perceived realism as the ear attempts to place
tribute to a formula defining the perception of the synthetic sound in the familiar space. Simi-
realism throughout the composition. Figure 1 illus-larly, conscious perception comes into play when
trates this concept. Maximum realism is achieved an everyday object is placed out of context. For ex-
when a "real" sound is set in a recognizable space,ample, if a cup slips from one's hand while drink-
while minimum realism is achieved by maximiz- ing, one's attention shifts to the fact that it is a
cup, rather than being occupied with the act of
ing conflicting information. The addition of "surre-
alism" (Wishart 1985, pp. 70-79) to the model drinking from the cup.

Barrett 13

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Pitch and Distraction Tactics sound environments and in the recording studio.
The prediction of behavioral properties among
Distraction tactics refocus attention between dif- sounds in outdoor environments is formed through
ferent attributes. They can be applied to all aspects
identifying one sound in relation to other events,
of a sound. In the discussion of acousmatic music, and through knowledge of natural physical laws. For
it may seem unusual to discuss pitch. However,example,
be- we know that the sound of the sea will
cause our sensitivity to change and our ability to continue indefinitely. We also know that the speed
recognize, remember, and deduce difference are or intensity of the waves will depend on the
stronger with pitch than with many other at- weather conditions, the coastline, and the listener's
distance from the source. Sound recorded in the stu-
tributes (McAdams 1989, p. 182), distraction tactics
involving the shift of focus away from pitch may dio usually lacks an interaction with other events.
have a profound effect on our musical perception.Its time frame depends solely on the physical prop-
Little Animals employs two pitch distractionerty of the object and the manner in which it is
tactics. First, pitch context involves the compari-
stimulated, such as resonating for a specific dura-
son of sound-masses or sound-objects. The pitchtionof in response to an attack. We therefore build ex-
one sound will become more prominent when em- pectations from identifying the object and drawing
bedded in a sound-mass containing less pitch. Theon our knowledge of its sound environment.
opening of Little Animals (0:00-1:00) presents a These natural time flows can be disrupted dur-
clear example of this method, where noise-based ing the compositional process. For example, the
"tearing surges" give way to new sound textures. resonating metal attack may sustain indefinitely,
When heard separately, the pitch content in theseor the sea may slow down to a halt. The listener's
subsequent textures is of low importance com- expected sound time flow could therefore conflict
pared to other aspects of timbre. When heard in with the real sounding development, and result in
the noise-based setting, pitch attributes distin-a conflicting perception of time. Disrupting an ex-
pected time flow can lead the ear to musical
guish the material, while masking effects disguise
other timbral features. change, while avoiding any disruption will main-
Second, spectral manipulation can be used to tain a feeling of flow and consistency in the mate-
strengthen or eliminate selected frequency rangesrial direction. For example, at the beginning of
in a sound and change the pitch-noise relationship.
Little Animals, the aggressive noise sounds (heard
Extracting and enhancing certain frequency rangesas a gale) die down to a gentle, distant stirring,
at the expense of nonpitched detail reduces the over approximately 30 sec. The effect gives way
acoustic information available for extramusical in- naturally to the underlying material, which con-
tinues the duration characteristics of the wind.
terpretation (or sound allusion). This may subse-
quently eliminate the pitch distraction if the effect
This material consists of tiny fragments of sound
relies on nonpitched information: the process be- forming a continuous texture, lasting also for ap-
gins with the complex sound and then reduces proximately
its 30 sec. If the sound material had
detail, effecting a reduction in source bonding, orstopped abruptly, the natural time flow would
extramusical potential, and an increase in the sig-have been disturbed, and the subsequent sound
nificance of the pitch content. material would have appeared out of place.

Natural Time Flows Internal and External Flow Characteristics

A sound source in its normal context has a specific The "rate of flow" in music is determined by a
time frame, which is formed by the interaction of combination of pulse, phrase, and meter. When
all the events in that sound world. Sound sources in composing, I often observe rates of flow in the ma-
acousmatic music are mainly recorded in outdoor terial common to previous work. This may be due

14 Computer Music Journal

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to my own feeling of a "natural" pulse, and it is feeling a dictated musical flow (63/31 bpm), de-
reasonable to assume that every listener feels a pending on whether they listen to the complete
rate of flow when not influenced by a regularly musical context-in other words, the section from
segmented or accented musical articulation. 1:07-2:30-or whether they are listening to shorter
I have used the term internal flow to mean a time intervals.
rate of flow that is determined by the immediate From 6:30, the fragmentation of material (as
intrinsic characteristics of the material. External
mentioned) disguises many of the previous explicit
flow occurs when the material lacks immediate extramusical implications, and subsequently the
intrinsic flow articulation, and instead, listeners
ear is drawn toward the intrinsic sound qualities.
impose flow characteristics onto the material by The music contains various tempi that are con-
combining their own sense of timing with featuresstant over a sufficient duration so that they will be
derived from a memory of the wider musical con-perceived as being unambiguously derived from
text. Often the imposition of external flow charac-
micro-level activity (in Figure 2, tempi of 61, 98,
teristics occurs subconsciously as part of the 55, and 68 bpm have been identified). A combina-
listening process, as the ear loses conscious aware-
tion of regular tempo, amplitude, and duration
ness over lengthier sections of material. among most textural components draws the ear to
In Little Animals, internal and external flow char-
search for a meter that does not exist. In addition,
acteristics unfold and influence each other through-the slow-moving macro-level activity results in an
out the work, and are designed to merge seamlessly. ambiguous phrase structure. Consequently, sur-
Figure 2 presents extracts from a graphic score of face characteristics in the music dictate tempo,
the composition, drawing attention to these areas while
of the listener "externally" imposes phrase
organization. Three sound attributes are used to es-lengths and meter through comparison with a
larger musical context.
tablish the internal rate of flow: (1) wide, regularly
spaced articulations outline phrase lengths; (2) close From 9:30, the material maintains the previous
articulations outline tempo and pulse; and (3) peri-level of detail, but contains ambiguous tempo char-
odically accented gestures suggest meter. acteristics, fluctuating between 52 and 59 bpm.
These characteristics appear to be no differentHowever, there is a strong sense that a tempo ex-
from those outlining the rate of flow in traditionalists, although fluctuating, due to the gradual expo-
music. However, their embodiment within the sure of clear and regular pitch material. In this
acousmatic sound world means they are often dis- section, a listener may perceive the flow character-
guised, owing to the ear's being drawn toward istics in a number of ways. If listened to over the
extramusical characteristics, or owing to composi- short duration, the general consistency in style re-
tion techniques that blur the start or climatic sults in an "averaging" of internal tempo. Phrase
point of the articulation. and meter, on the other hand, are imposed exter-
The opening minute of Little Animals is free nally, deduced from a memory of the wider musi-
flowing, and the listener will feel the continuous cal context and the listener's natural sense of time
propulsion of material toward the attack at 1:07. flow. If listened to over a long duration, tempo,
From 1:07-2:30, the material consists of looselymeter, and phrase will derive from the association
structured phrases, formed by a combination of of intrinsic sound content, and therefore from char-
the bass "organ/choral" pitch material and the acteristics internal to the music.
various attack articulations. For example, the at-
tack at 1:07 begins the first phrase, the bass
chordal pitch rise (D, E, F, G, A) begins the secondConclusion
phrase, the bass chordal descent (B-flat, A, F, G, F)
outlines the third, and the loud attack at 1:40 be- In this article I have attempted to outline some
gins the fourth. The regularity of events in be- important methods used in the composition of
tween these articulations may result in listenersLittle Animals. A technical description of sound-

Barrett 15

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 Figure 2. Graphic score of
Little Animals.

Time 0'30 1'00 1'30 2'00

i

i ! l 1

(Rb~u~~~~ui~f | i
'SR'T~~ - K.
i i

I~%, ,"" |-
x rau.? . ... . " ,e. .... , "

'A' Qlrwr cr=NTIC 1 FC:t1,.

Free Time-flow Suggested phraseology and imposed internal pulse -= 63

6'00 6'30 7'00 7'30 8'00

I !

-w , Y ~~~~6~~~ ?jId i
Repet
, , 'High level of micro-activity suggests

,,,~ .,.JC< ', - I-? '- -

? . C 'V O i- ,,,
110'00
1*?a8$-
1030 Y~rc I c~ 100 1130 1200

Ambiguous phrase and pulse

Pulsefluctuatesbeteenr
t LI'.
=52- :?
59 rt5 r
r 14- 100

16 Computer Music Journal

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 Figure 2. (continued)

2'30 3'00 3'30 4'00

I -,6i i

'43

Articulations too irregular to identify phrase

No suggestion of clear pulse

8'30 9'00 9'30 10'00 10'30

-'~ _ -.. - J 77x

Pulse vaguer Pulse fluctuates between = 52 - 59

suggests numerous pulses, phrase imposed externally by listener

8'30 t.)"'0 0'0f0

12'00 12'30 13'00

KEY

The graphic score consists of shapes

designed to represent visually the

most important sound material. The more

common are listed below;

Textural flow - y,4gsy )o

0 Gesture

100 '- 52 " Time. flow description

,Vague sense ofr 63
phrase

Barrett 17

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transformation techniques has been intentionally Bene Records 9801. Order from Nota Bene
avoided so as not to obscure the connections be-
Records; 30 Westerley Close, Cinderford,
tween musical structure, the listener's association
Gloucestershire GL14 3EB, England; World Wide
with time flow, and the perception of sound iden-
Web http://www.notam.uio.no/-natashab.
tity in transcontextual musical and extramusical
occurrences.

Editor's note: Little Animals appears

References on the
Computer Music Journal Sound Anthology CD,
McAdams,in
volume 22, 1998. See the order form S. 1989.
the"Psychological
back of Restraints on Form."
this issue. The piece also appears Contemporary
with three Music other
Review 4:181-198.
Wishart, T.
compositions by Natasha Barrett on the compact1985. On Sonic Art. York: Imagineering
Press.
disc entitled Chillies and Shells, which is Nota

18 Computer Music Journal

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