The Magnetic Score: Somatosensory Inscriptions and Relational Design in The Instrument-Score

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

With the changes occurring in the dialectics between the composer and the interpreter during the second half of the twentieth century, the traditional concept of the musical score has undergone an ontological change. As composers began exploring unconventional notational practices and offering to the interpreter a higher autonomy in relating with the musical material, the locus of the musical information has become less defined, at times merging with that of the instrument. In this paper we explore the dual nature of notation both as score and as instrument from the point of view of non-visual methods of representation. We do this by presenting the Magnetic Score, a system for the inscription and generation of sound that relies on permanent magnetic fields. In magnetic scores, the relational design of the inscriptions and the interdependence of the symbolic and somatosensory layers offer original insights on the role and situatedness of the musical score in contemporary practices, as the performative gestures emerge out of the interpreter's embodied interaction with the magnetic fields.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationTENOR'23 PROCEEDINGS
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

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