Live Electronics as a Tool for Enhanced Listening

PhD-Project by Omri Abram in collaboration with the Institute for Music Informatics and Musicology of the Karlsruhe University of Music

The project Live Electronics as a Tool for Enhanced Listening is a composition-centered research project, which involves utilizing a practice-led (i.e., artistic research) approach to inquiries regarding guided perception and listener/performer engagement. Drawing upon ideas from aesthetics philosophy and ecological psychology pertaining to the active nature of sound and music perception, as well as fields such as psychoacoustics and Pierre Schaeffer's and others' listening taxonomies, it is posited that acousmatic (and semi-acousmatic) composition offers a unique and fertile field of ambiguity by which inquisitive and explorative listening can be induced. Specifically, the project sets out, via a series of compositions and related inquiries, to determine ways by which electroacoustic compositional practice can be used to guide the audience's and performers' modes of listening. Within this research framework, the project also examines ways in which electroacoustic compositional practice may be used to engage performers in a new, un-fixed exploration-based performance practice. This consists in developing the use of live electronics to construct semi-improvised settings where performers must listen, react to and interact with the resulting sounds in real time. This research thus aims to contribute to the development of a new creative ecosystem involving performers and listeners as substantial collaborators in the creative process, providing templates for non-hierarchical artistic creation.

Supervision: Dr. Michael Kunkel, Dr. des. Anne-May Krüger, Prof. Michel Roth and Prof. Dr. Christoph Seibert (Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe)

Omri Abram is an Israeli composer and researcher currently based in Basel, Switzerland. His compositions include acoustic and electroacoustic works, a frequent focus of which is the examination of perceptual ambiguity. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the Karlsruhe Institute for Music Informatics and Musicology and Basel Music Academy, and holds degrees in composition, piano and musicology from institutions in Israel and in Switzerland. His music is performed by ensembles including Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Ensemble Phoenix Basel, Riot Ensemble, and Meitar Ensemble.
www.omriabram.com