Hi livecode massive,
I was getting fed up that no-one had found a livecode
precedent amongst the 60s/70s textmusik scene, so I have 'discovered' one
by underground Swedlish composer Click Nilson, enclosed below, originally
written in 1975 I understand.
I encourage your own discoveries- perhaps there are some that precede this?
If we can find a few more, I'll set up a wiki page to hold them.
best,
N
An Instructional Game for 1 to many musicians
Each performer maintains one or more lists of instructions: they begin with
just the one below. Each minute, as reckoned by their poor sense of human
long-term timing, they must follow one instruction per list in their
possession.
1. (CHANGE) You may add a new instruction to your list or modify an
existing one.
2. (DELETE) You may delete one instruction from your list.
3. (EXCHANGE) Exchange one instruction list with another player of your
choice; they must defer but may choose which set to exchange with you if
they have more than one.
4. (PROLIFERATE DUTIES) You may make a copy of an existing instruction set
and henceforth proceed with this set too at the next calculation stage.
5. (SONIFICATION). During the next minute using your instrument or voice
you may play the musical phrases embodied by instructions on one list in
your possession. You will utilise timing, pitch and timbre as best you can
to convey the spoken form of the instructions.
6. (TERMINATION). If you have four instruction sets or have exchanged four
or more times you may finish playing the game.
Notes- modern versions of this game may find a photocopier or computer
assistance helpful for copying and exchanging. It has also been found
propitious to utilise projection of instruction sets to enable an audience
to see the state of play- alternatively, the audience may wander amongst
the performers and act as observers and arbiters of disputes.
Computer modeling of the game itself has been successfully demonstrated by
some advanced performance groups.
Performers may wish to set a practical time limit too- rumour has it that
Nilson is still playing after losing instructions 1 and 6.
Received on Mon Feb 28 2005 - 17:15:51 GMT