Subtractive Arrangement

Rachel Devorah Wood Rome, Ph.D.

José De Creeft abstract sculpture
José De Creeft, Untitled (Abstract Head)(20th c).

outline

assumptions/caveats

mehetabel.codeberg.page

QR code

subtractive arrangement

  1. construct a maximally dense sonic field
  2. loop or sustain
  3. craft a form through removal

“Sculpture is done by a process of removal”

- José De Creeft 1959

Michelangelo David
Michelangelo, David (16th c).

subtractive arrangement

  1. construct a maximally dense sonic field
  2. loop or sustain
  3. craft a form through removal

=== algorithm

algorithm

what does it do?

drum machines

grid demonstration

subtractive arrangement in real-time

“One method I have often used is to make generative algorithms interactive, in effect delegating to logic only those subsets of my decision-making processes I am able to understand sufficiently to encode.”
— Laurie Spiegel (2018, 107)

rain game

  1. choose one pitch to sing on the vowel "ah"
  2. listen closely to the people around you
  3. try and sing your pitch as often as possible, but try and never sing it at the same time another person is singing
1:00

spatial audio

subtraction operates across time and space

removing sound reveals position and motion

creates perceptual space (van Eck 2017)

references

  1. De Creeft, José. 1959. “Art: Addition v. Subtraction.” Time, May 18.
  2. McLean, Alex, and Roger T. Dean, eds. 2018. The Oxford Handbook of Algorithmic Music. New York: Oxford University Press.
  3. Spiegel, Laurie. 2018. “NAME OF ARTICLE.” In The Oxford Handbook of Algorithmic Music, 105–110. New York: Oxford University Press.
  4. van Eck, Cathy. 2017. Between Air and Electricity: Microphones and Loudspeakers as Musical Instruments. New York: Bloomsbury.
  5. Davis, Miles. n.d. Quoted statement widely attributed in jazz discourse.