Open Music course - Rozalie Hirs and Nieuw Ensemble at the Amsterdam Conservatorium

Open Music and contemporary compositional techniques
Amsterdam Conservatory, Nieuw Ensemble and Rozalie Hirs 2005/2006

During the academic year 2005/2006, Rozalie Hirs was curator and teacher of the course Open Music and contemporary compositional techniques at the Amsterdam Conservatoire. The main body of the course was comprised of four lectures and ten workshops by Rozalie Hirs and seven sessions with the Nieuw Ensemble curated by its artistic director Joël Bons. Additional guest lectures and workshops were given by Tristan Murail (Columbia University), Mikhail Malt (IRCAM), Marco Stroppa (Hochschule für Musik, Stuttgart), Niels Bogaards (IRCAM) and Benjamin Thigpen. Rozalie Hirs thanks the composition teachers Richard Ayres, Wim Henderickx and Jorrit Tamminga of the Amsterdam Conservatoire for their indispensable support during the course.
The approach during the first semester (Part A) was directed towards acquiring insight into compositional techniques and programming methods. During the second semester (Part B), the course was directed towards the application of the obtained knowledge. Essential to this part of the course was the development of original works by the participating composition students of the Amsterdam Conservatoire and the Royal Conservatoire, The Hague. The final concert on June 9, 2006 by the Nieuw Ensemble concluded the course, presenting the new compositions to the public. A publication will document the creative process of seven of the participating composers Justin Christensen, Miguelángel Clerc, Ignacio Fernández Bollo, Daniel Gutierrez Berumen, Ernesto Illescas-Peláez, Chikage Imai, Andrzej Kwiecinski and Rodrigo Tascón.

Locations:

Amsterdam Conservatory
Van Baerlestraat 27
Amsterdam

Department of Media, Art and Technology
Oude Amersfoortseweg 131
Hilversum Sportpark

Nieuw Ensemble rehearsal space
Grasweg 41R
Amsterdam Noord

Paradiso Concert hall
Weteringschans 6-8
Amsterdam

Royal Conservatory
Juliana van Stolberglaan 1
Den Haag

Part A

3 November 2005, 17:00-18:30, room 336, Amsterdam Conservatory
Lecture by Rozalie Hirs: Introduction to the course. Contemporary compositional techniques and possible uses of Open Music. The creative process. Algorithmic compositional techniques, stochastic methods, frequency calculations, addition tones, frequency modulation, distortion, timbral melody. The frequency spectrum as a model. The acoustic model. Global processes. Examples from contemporary music practice. Tristan Murail: Désintégrations (1983), L'Esprit des Dunes (1994).

10 November 2005, 17:00-18:30, room 336, Amsterdam Conservatory
Lecture by Rozalie Hirs: Introduction to OpenMusic, an object oriented computer language, programmed in CommonLisp. Basic vocabulary, lists, musical objects. The Patch. First programming exercises. Frequency calculations applied.

11 November 2005, 10:00-14:00, room 1228, Art, Media and Technology, Hilversum
Workshop by Rozalie Hirs: Introduction to OpenMusic, an object oriented computer language, programmed in CommonLisp. Basic vocabulary, lists, musical objects. The Patch. First programming exercises. Frequency calculations applied.

24 November 2005, 12:00-14:00, room 071, Amsterdam Conservatory
Recording by Jorrit Tamminga and Rozalie Hirs of the flute, oboe, guitar, cello with Harrie Starreveld, Ernest Rombout, Helenus de Rijke, Robert Putowski, musicians of the Nieuw Ensemble

24 November 2005, 17:00-18:30, room 336, Amsterdam Conservatory
Lecture by Niels Bogaards and Rozalie Hirs: AudioSculpt and OpenMusic. What is sound? Discussion of the concepts of the frequency spectrum, frequency components, and sonogram. Timbre and harmony. The subjective notion of timbre. Objectifying the notion of timbre through recording and subsequent frequency analysis of sound (with aid of the computer software AudioSculpt). Exporting the analysis data to OpenMusic. Timbre, orchestration, dissonance. What does timbre analysis teach us about sound?

25 November 2005, 10:00-14:00, room 1228, Art, Media and Technology, Hilversum
Workshop by Rozalie Hirs: AudioSculpt and OpenMusic. What is sound? Frequency spectrum, frequency components, and sonogram. Objectifying the notion of timbre through recording and subsequent frequency analysis of sound (with aid of the computer software AudioSculpt). Exporting the analysis data to OpenMusic.

8 December 2005, 10:00-15:00, Nieuw Ensemble rehearsal space
Session with the Nieuw Ensemble: Introduction to the ensemble. Instrumentation. Orchestration.

9 December 2005, 10:00-14:00, room 1228, Art, Media and Technology, Hilversum
Workshop by Rozalie Hirs: OpenMusic. Iterative and recursive processes. Advanced programming techniques of processes and repeated feedback. Processes applied recursively.

15 December 2005, 10:00-15:00, room 1228, Art, Media and Technology, Hilversum
Workshop by Mikhail Malt: Computer assisted composition: Concepts, models and interfaces; rhythm

15 December 2005, 17:00-18:30, room 336, Amsterdam Conservatory
Guest lecture by Mikhail Malt: Computer assisted composition: Concepts, models and interfaces

22 December 2005, 10:00-14:00, room 1228, Art, Media and Technology, Hilversum
Workshop by Rozalie Hirs: OpenMusic. Discussion of several Libraries. Advanced techniques in OpenMusic. Rhythm.

Part B

5 January 2006, 10:00-15:00, Nieuw Ensemble rehearsal space
Session with the Nieuw Ensemble: First Sketches of the students.

12 January 2006, 15:30-21:30, computer room next to Arnold Schoenbergzaal, Royal Conservatory, The Hague
Individual lessons with Rozalie Hirs

13 January 2006, 10:00-15:00, room 141, Amsterdam Conservatory
Individual lessons with Rozalie Hirs

19 January 2006, 17:00-18:30, room 336, Amsterdam Conservatory
Lecture by Rozalie Hirs: Le lac (2001) by Tristan Murail. Musical objects. The acoustic model. The structural role of timbre and the spectrum in composition.

20 January 2006, 10:00-14:00, room 1228, Art, Media and Technology, Hilversum
Workshop by Rozalie Hirs: The music of Tristan Murail. Composition examples and discussion of the Library OMTristan. Application of compositional techniques in OpenMusic. Vocoder technique. The translation of OpenMusic data to the notation software Finale.

2 February 2006, 17:00-20:30, room 229, Amsterdam Conservatory
Individual lessons with Rozalie Hirs

9 February 2006, 10:00-15:00, Nieuw Ensemble rehearsal space
Session with the Nieuw Ensemble: First Sketches of the students. Guest professor: Richard Ayres

13 February 2006, 14:30-18:30, computer room next to Arnold Schoenbergzaal, Royal Conservatory, The Hague
Individual lessons with Rozalie Hirs

16 February 2006, 10:00-14:00, room 1228, Art, Media and Technology, Hilversum
Guest workshop by Marco Stroppa: Introduction to sound synthesis with the aid of OMChroma. Detailled synthesis of electronic sounds in Csound. Generating score files and sound with the aid of OMChroma.

16 February 2006, 17:00-18:30, room 336, Amsterdam Conservatory
Guest lecture by Marco Stroppa about his musical works and compositional techniques.

17 February 2006, 11:30-13:00, room 141, Amsterdam Conservatory
Group lesson with Wim Henderickx and Rozalie Hirs

23 February 2006, 10:00-15:00, Nieuw Ensemble rehearsal space
Session with the Nieuw Ensemble

24 February 2006, 10:00-15:00, room 332, Amsterdam Conservatory
Individual lessons with Rozalie Hirs

10 March 2006, 13:00-15:00, room 001, Amsterdam Conservatory
Individual lessons with Rozalie Hirs

13 March 2006, 11:00-13:00, room 210, Amsterdam Conservatory
Individual lessons with Rozalie Hirs

16 March 2006, 10:00-15:00, Nieuw Ensemble rehearsal space
Session with the Nieuw Ensemble

23 March 2006, 10:00-15:00, Nieuw Ensemble rehearsal space
Session with the Nieuw Ensemble. Guest professor: Clarence Barlow

23 March 2006, 17:00-18:30, room 336, Amsterdam Conservatory
Guest lecture by Benjamin Thigpen: Max/Msp. The use of synthesised and processed sounds with an instrumental ensemble during performance. Live electronics and the ensemble. The electronic versus the acoustic domain.

24 March 2006, 10:00-14:00, room 1228, Art, Media and Technology, Hilversum
Guest workshop by Benjamin Thigpen: Max/msp, SPAT, the electronic versus the acoustic domain, live electronics.

27 March 2006, 14:00-18:00, computer room next to Arnold Schoenbergzaal, Royal Conservatory, The Hague
Individual lessons with Rozalie Hirs

31 March 2006, 10:00-13:00, room k26, Amsterdam Conservatory
Individual lessons with Rozalie Hirs

11 April 2006, 11:00-13:00, room 021, Amsterdam Conservatory
Individual lessons with Rozalie Hirs

20 April 2006, 10:00-15:00, Nieuw Ensemble rehearsal space
Session with the Nieuw Ensemble. Guest professor: Fabio Nieder

2 May 2006, 14:00-18:00, stemkamer, Royal Conservatory, The Hague
Individual lessons with Rozalie Hirs

3 May 2006, 10:30-13:30, room 133, Amsterdam Conservatory
Individual lessons with Rozalie Hirs

11 May 2006, 10:00-15:00, Nieuw Ensemble rehearsal space
Session with the Nieuw Ensemble. Guest professor: Richard Rijnvos

15 May 2006, 10:00-16:00, room 052, Amsterdam Conservatory
Individual compositon lessons with Tristan Murail

15 May 2006, 17:00-19:00, room 201, Amsterdam Conservatory
Guest lecture by Tristan Murail about his musical works and compositional techniques

18 May 2006, 10:00-15:00, Nieuw Ensemble rehearsal space
Session with the Nieuw Ensemble. Guest professor: Wim Henderickx

Final Concert

June 9, 2006, 20:30, Paradiso, Amsterdam
Concert by the Nieuw Ensemble: new compositions by Justin Christensen, Miguelángel Clerc, Ignacio Fernández Bollo, Daniel Gutierrez Berumen, Ernesto Illescas-Peláez, Chikage Imai, Andrzej Kwiecinski, Rodrigo Tascón.

All photographs on this page by Thomas Lenden ©2005 - Session with the Nieuw Ensemble, December 8, 2005