Nicolas Donin

Theoretical and methodological issues related to long term creative cognition: the case of musical composition

The theme of large temporal span of cognition is emerging as a key issue in cognitive anthropology and ergonomics. We will consider it through the analysis of a musical composition process, that of Voi(rex) by Philippe Leroux, in which sketches and score writing are articulated through the use of different kinds of computer software. After presenting the data collecting method, we will consider the analysis of the resulting data concerning the writing of two movements of Voi(rex). Such an analysis will allow us: (1) to draw methodological conclusions about the time and mode of inquiry; (2) to specify the notion of situated cognition in situations essentially pre-established by the actor; (3) to set out two families of theoretical results relating to large temporal span cognitive phenomena: the first concerns the notion of an idea and its role in the development of the creative process; the second deals with the notion of the appropriation of tools and the making of situated individual cognition.

Towards organised listening: some aspects of the ‘Signed Listening’ project, Ircam

‘Signed Listening’ is a project that was initiated by Ircam in the spring of 2003. Its goal is to develop computer tools that permit an expanded listening – whether it be for musical analysis, for composition or simply for its own sake with no specific goal in mind (via stereo or computer). This article will briefly present some hypotheses and objectives of the project, and how it touches issues relating, in particular, to electroacoustic music, as well as presenting examples taken from the early stages of our research.

Tracking the composer’s cognition in the course of a creative process: Stefano Gervasoni and the beginning of Gramigna

Studies of composers’ cognition are restricted by the methodological and epistemological problems with which they are associated. In order to capture the cognitive processes involved in the elaboration of an instrumental piece by Stefano Gervasoni entitled Gramigna (2009-), the authors developed different strategies for composition simulations, which were filmed in order to collect rich and structured data. These methods draw upon the precompositional documents established by the composer over the course of his creative activity, by requesting that he re-enact the operations that generated the documents and the final work. The article focuses on the first movement of Gramigna, composed in a single day, several months before this study began. During a “compositional situation simulation interview”, the composer sat before his manuscript in order to induce his recollection, simulation and verbalisation of the completed creative act. The study’s methodological and epistemological principles (including their advantages and limits) are presented first, followed by a detailed reconstruction of the composer’s action/cognition during the writing of the manuscript. This procedure highlights the sequence of Gervasoni’s significant compositional operations and allows us to categorise and formalise the most salient features of his compositional process. These include the creation of locally applicable construction rules, the placement of concurrent rules, the attention paid to irregularities in the formalistic systems employed and tactics that blur notions of referentiality.

A questionnaire-based investigation of the skills and roles of Computer Music Designers

Throughout the history of electroacoustic music, creative collaboration has been a constant feature due to the complexity of the technology. All laboratories and electronic music studios involved the presence of different individuals with diverse, intertwined competencies. In particular, the embedding of technological tools into the process of musical creation prompted the rise of a new “agent” called the Computer Music Designer (CMD), who can work in writing, creating new instruments, recording and/or performance. Audiences as well as the academia have long been unaware of this emerging profession and its crucial role in the creative process of electroacoustic, electronic and computer music. This study sheds light on the socio-professional profile and expertise of the CMD in order to better understand how computer music design contributes to shaping electronic music as we know it. We present the methodology and outcomes of a questionnaire submitted to several CMDs. The purpose was to investigate this emerging community by means of an instrument permitting anonymity. Findings help to understand how the CMDs perceive their profession; trace common paths and habits among CMDs; and study this community from the point of view of their age, training, tasks, legal status, recognition, skills, professional identity and involvement in technological migration. The questionnaire instrument is appended.

Artistic Research and the Creative Process: The Joys and Perils of Self-analysis

This essay offers an epistemological reflection on the ways composers’ discursive and self-critical skills can be embedded in artistic research. Composers’ taste for theorising through treatises and manifestos has consistently receded over the last quarter of the 20th century, but their aptitude at reflecting on their art has not: ‘self-analysis’ became a valuable alternative to the devising of compositional theories. In the 21st century, using self-analysis as a tool for (scientific or artistic) research is both needed and challenging, as recent debates in psychology and phenomenology show.