Materialisation of fixed media music

Anvaritutunchi, S. (2024)

Doctoral Thesis

This dissertation examines the public presentation of fixed media electroacoustic music and investigates the performative capacities which are involved in materialising such music, in order to shed light on the question of what performing means in the context of fixed media music, which is prefabricated and presented through loudspeakers in a concert venue. While electroacoustic music production has been the main focus of academic work in this area in recent decades, less attention has been given to its public presentation. Through the process of composing a series of fixed media works and presenting them in various circumstances, I formulate an understanding of the important elements involved in such process. This has resulted in the emergence of concepts and strategies which ground the composition within its performance context, so that the work comes to full existence only in the performance space. Such perspectives shift the focus from the (alleged) fixity of the medium towards the diversity and wealth of the listening experiences that it can engender. This dissertation also includes an audiovisual part; complementary and of equal importance to the written component, by simultaneously expressing its central ideas and demonstrating them in the form of a multichannel fixed media work.

• Electroacoustic music
• Fixed media
• Spatial music
• Composition
• Music performance

• All authors: Anvaritutunchi, S.
• Supervisor: Barrett, R.J.; Cobussen, M.A.
• Co-supervisor: Scheffer, F.
• Committee: Beckles Willson, R.; Carrasco, T.; Craenen, P.C.A.; Eck, C. van; Viskil, E.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA), Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University
• Date: 2024-06-25