- Alexandria Smith: Towards a Protocol of Feminist Methods for Musical Instrument Design
- Kate Olson: A New Improvisation Aesthetic
- Tommy McPhee: Inclusive Composition Environments for Nonstandard Sound Synthesis
Alexandria Smith – Towards a Protocol of Feminist Methods for Musical Instrument Design
Designing and performing with wearable electronics that translate biological data comes with various challenges. These include the collection of health data, the mapping of that data into sound, as well as the history of violence that medical devices and sensors have imposed on marginalized people. To address these challenges, I have drawn upon the feminist science and technology studies discourse to illustrate a method for designing new musical instruments. In this essay, I will build off of Dr. Deboleena Roy’s work, “Asking Different Questions: Feminist Practices for the Natural Sciences,” to propose a set of feminist protocols for musical instrument design and educating future instrument designers.
Designing and performing with wearable electronics that translate biological data comes with various challenges. These include the collection of health data, the mapping of that data into sound, as well as the history of violence that medical devices and sensors have imposed on marginalized people. To address these challenges, I have drawn upon the feminist science and technology studies discourse to illustrate a method for designing new musical instruments. In this essay, I will build off of Dr. Deboleena Roy’s work, “Asking Different Questions: Feminist Practices for the Natural Sciences,” to propose a set of feminist protocols for musical instrument design and educating future instrument designers.
Kate Olson – A New Improvisation Aesthetic
I am interested in a new aesthetics of improvisation that is not entirely music theory based. As AI becomes more and more a part of our everyday lives, and indeed, the music we consume and enjoy, I started to ask myself, “Is improvisation, a compassionate act?” Is the communication that happens between musicians on stage feeding off the energy of the environment something more than just electrical impulses? With regards to aesthetic, is there a way that we can create a new rubric for listening and understanding improvised music in the context of improvisation with computers? I also believe that this new aesthetic may be useful for musicians that are exploring new genres of music, outside of the Academy. Rather than focusing on what pitches we’re playing, or where, in the historical timeline those notes come from, I’m hoping we can address broader issues of balance, intention, variety, interest, and lexicon in electroacoustic music. I’m especially interested in whether it makes sense for us to approach teaching improvisation from a jazz based perspective, as some of the most relevant music that is being made today has very little in common with that art form.
Kate Olson is an improvising saxophonist and music educator based in Seattle, WA. Since moving to Seattle in 2010, she has done her best to infiltrate the local, regional and international improvised music scenes. She can be heard performing with her own projects KO SOLO and KO ELECTRIC, and as a collaborator with the Royal Room Collective Music Ensemble and Electric Circus (led by Wayne Horvitz), Birch Pereira and the Gin Joints, Battlestar Kalakala (formerly West Seattle Soul/the Pulsations) and with such Seattle staples as the Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses and cabaret producers Can Can Presents and Verlaine & McCann. Kate has a BA in Music (Jazz Emphasis) from the University of Wyoming and an MM in Improvisation from the University of Michigan, and is currently on the jazz faculty at Pacific Lutheran University.
Kate’s international resume continues to grow, including performances in Russia, Latvia, Turkey, Switzerland, South Korea, Cuba, and Slovakia. She has appeared on stage with Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros, Bobby Previte, Skerik, Patricia Barber, Elvis Costello, Brandi Carlile, Sir Mix-a-lot, Seattle Repertory Theater, Cafe Nordo, the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra and Seattle Symphony Pops, among others. Kate was nominated in 2011 and 2013 for the Earshot Golden Ear Award in the Emerging Artist category, and in 2014 and 2016, she was nominated for the Best NW Instrumentalist Category, and in 2016 her band KO Ensemble was also nominated as best NW Alternative Group. In 2020 the KO Ensemble won the Golden Ear Award for best NW Instrumental Group and in 2022, KO Electric was nominated for Best Alternative Group.
Tommy McPhee – Inclusive Composition Environments for Nonstandard Sound Synthesis
“Nonstandard” sound synthesis is a compositional approach to the generation of sound itself. In contrast, “standard” synthesis sculpts sound exclusively in relation to existing or theorized acoustic phenomena. Since the earliest experiments in electronic and computer music, composers have utilized nonstandard sound generation processes to unify compositional, aesthetic, and philosophical ideas between different timescales of aural perception. Modern environments for computer music composition have been vastly successful in making audio programming more accessible to musicians utilizing standard synthesis techniques. In contrast, nonstandard synthesis processes are often inefficient, difficult, or impossible to create without leaving these environments. Issues surrounding the implementation of nonstandard synthesis techniques are analyzed in detail within several prominent computer music languages. Based on this analysis, possible solutions are offered to integrate standard and nonstandard methods of sound generation at sample and subsample timescales. The structural dynamics responsible for hindering nonstandard sound synthesis within creative audio programming environments are also critiqued. Principles for the creation of more inclusive paradigms are offered as a solution.
Tommy McPhee is a media artist and researcher focused on real-time sound synthesis. Though his current practice involves extensive interaction with computers, most of McPhee’s training and experience lies within more traditional styles of music. McPhee has scored many works for exclusively acoustic instrumentation and has an extensive background within vernacular genres such as hip-hop.
With the support of a full academic scholarship, McPhee studied Music Composition at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas under the guidance of Dr. Nick Rissman. He obtained his BM in May of 2021. Entering university as a predominantly commercial musician, McPhee’s studies at Lamar introduced him to a plethora of musical styles beyond his experiences in school ensembles and the local hip-hop scene. Since then, he has produced a prolific output of music that challenges conventional notions of genre, instrumentation, and form.
McPhee’s current interests lie at the intersection of media arts, technology, and performance. He creates generative musical systems that obfuscate the distinction between composition and instrument. McPhee has also expanded this artistic practice to include other forms of media including visual display.
McPhee obtained his Master’s degree in Music Technology at Georgia Southern University in May of 2023, where he taught Digital Audio Workstations and Recording Studio Techniques. McPhee is currently pursuing a DMA in Interdisciplinary Digital Media this August at Arizona State University, where he will work as a teaching assistant in Music Theory. McPhee will pursue a career in academia where he can continue his work as an algorithmic artist.