from notation to music

The internet is a wonderful thing:

Too often we talk about the score when we mean the music. 

'Folk' Tune 'Arrangements'

Standing on the shoulders of giants such as Bartok or Berio, I recently finished writing an ensemble piece titled Bastard Tunes. The piece was composed with the help of a machine learning system trained on transcriptions of Celtic music. The system produces short melodies that share many characteristics with the style it learned. But, with the possible exception of the fourth Bastard Tune, my piece applies more freedom in the way the system's output is used as compositional material. The piece will be premiered in a concert with other examples of music composed by and with computers.

Bartok - Bagatelles Op. 6

These short piano pieces are wonderful sources for examining innovative harmony (and rhythm, and composition technique, and ...)

Graphic Score

This set displays a variety of approaches to graphic representation of sound. This group effort results in a full 'score' for a fairly extensive composition:

Michael Finnissy

Find the English Country Tunes:

Threnody - Penderecki

An animated score of a seminal work of the 20th century:

Schoenberg's 'timbre' piece

In his book on harmony Schoenberg remarks that " it must also be possible to make progressions out of tone colours....progressions whose relations with one another work with a kind of logic entirely equivalent to that logic which satisfies us in the melody of pitches."
This is often linked to the 3rd of his orchestral pieces:

Henry Cowell

A pioneering and influential American composer. Described as "an inventor of sounds". Some of his short piano pieces are particularly striking:

Quartal harmony

•  Debussy's 3rd etude 'pour les quartes' 
• Ives The Cage. 
• Also listen to composers such as Bartok, Schoenberg, Hindemith.
• These, in turn, found their way into jazz - such as Bill Evans (with Miles Davies) and others

Grieg - Lyric Pieces

Construction of melody - elaboration, variation; phrase structure; use of simple harmony;

And the same melody in a different dress (+ unexpected modulation):

Melody - flute solo

Two interesting pieces for flute: Debussy Syrinx and Varese Density 21.5 (various recordings available) the scores can be accessed: Syrinx and Density.  Here is a good article examining both pieces with reference to melodic construction and the influence of the earlier piece on Varese's composition. And an interesting discussion of performance interpretation in Density.

Non-standard notation

When using live electronic manipulation of sound composer's often resort to non-standard forms of notation.

• Pedro Rebelo uses various notation idea including graphic scores and partially notated instructions in many of his pieces. Exposure is one example (video of performance and downloadable score) but you can also look at other examples on his site.

• Another score which combines conventional notation with graphics is Echoic by Edgar Barroso (scroll down to hear a recording of the piece).

• Other interesting examples include Harvey's Advaya and Pres by Saariaho (both for cello).

Keith Jarrett

A pianist worth knowing: the opening of Paris concert with notated transcription (minor errors included):

 Vienna concert, his version of Summertime, and many more examples. An interesting film about his work across genres on stage and in the studio. And you can hear him playing the organ as well. And in collaboration with Saxophone player Jan Garbarek (another musician worth knowing)

Phenomenology of Sound

An introduction to Schaeffer's idea of the sound object, and a more detailed article explaining the idea of phenomenology in general and Schaeffer's development of it to sound.  

Denis Smalley built on scheffer's idea to talk about the spectromorphology of sound. Here is an overview with list of additional sources.

Francis Dhomont's Acousmatic update gives his view as a composer influenced by Schaeffer and spectromorphology.

Ablinger - voices and piano

creative transcription of recorded speech Peter Ablinger's ongoing series of pieces for piano and CD.

Some information on these from his website including a small extract from the score.

Visualising Music

http://www.musanim.com/ is a wonderful way of illustrating music without the use of traditional notation. For example looking at a Bach violin concerto:

Or showing how small units of material combine over the opening of the Rite of Spring

Music Theory

Aptly titles 'Music theory for musicians and normal people' This collection from Toby W. Rush is a wonderful resource about music theory from basic notation to chromatic harmony

Drum notation

A guide to drum notation from MIT.