Multiple Beginnings is a solo, semi-improvised live coding performance at the 1st International Live Code Festival in Karlsruhe, Germany in 2013. In this work the computer code serves as the primary medium of musical expression, controlling a range of synthesized sound sources. This performance is part of my ongoing investigation into the concise description of music as generative processes. Code is written from scratch, starting with a blank screen, and musical processes are developed and evolved during the performance.
The title reflects the efficient re-use of succinct algorithmic processes to create a polyphonic texture. Further enhancement occurs through improvised code modification, allowing musical features to evolve organically over the course of the performance. As new structures are developed, older ones are modified. This performance marks the debut of my psychologically-inspired algorithms for melodic processes (Brown, Gifford, and Davidson 2015). The concert serves as part of an artistic research program, demonstrating and evaluating the aesthetic value and practical applicability of these developing algorithmic processes.
The performance was selected through international academic peer review as part of the opening concert of the first-ever international festival of live coding. Additionally, an associated paper, “The Search for the Succinct: Live Coding Practice as Research,” which explored related issues, was also selected for presentation at the festival’s academic symposium.
Brown, Andrew R. 2013. “The Search for the Succinct: Live Coding Practice as Research.” In Proceedings of the 1st Live Code Festival. Karlsruhe, Germany: Hochschule für Musik.
Brown, Andrew R., Toby Gifford, and Robert Davidson. 2015. “Techniques for Generative Melodies Inspired by Music Cognition.” Computer Music Journal 39 (1): 11–26.