Graphical Notation

After the sound walk, I created a basic visual representation of the experience. Notations are something I find quite interesting after seeing John Cages ‘Notations’

I thought of the purpose of notation, whenever we create work MIDI in modern DAWs it almost creates its own notation in the form of the piano roll. Can I make a DAW with a more expressive or indeterminate interface, one that is new and does not limit itself to equal temperament? The notation creates the music itself.

Morton Feldman’s Projection II
Brian Eno’s Music For Airports

I found that 2D, on paper, stationary notations are limited. While I was drawing my notation of the sound walk I felt limited in its dimension and lack of fluidity. I felt I could express time and duration on the paper but it felt cumbersome. Maybe animated notation is more useful and practical when we spend more time looking at screens, which allow for such fluidity, than paper.

My initial drawings were done between breaks of the sound walk. I was thinking of the sounds in regards of spaciality rather than on a linear time frame. I thought as my self as a microphone and what directions the sounds where coming from. As you can see in the images, I used a birds-eye/top-down view. This limited the concept of sound from above and below. The other rings surrounding the LR circle show the distance of sound from the microphone. In the middle ground sounds are much more tangible in their spacial placement. Basic colour theory as well as shape could be used to differentiate sounds or even convey mood. Angular shapes have more aggressive attacks, rounder shapes fade in and out. Size determines volume. Lines and gaps rhythm.

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