A Hole in the World, for Electric Guitar and MAX

• Author / Creator

  Wall, David G

• A Hole in the World is an open composition for prepared electric guitar, archival
  recording, and audio programming. Text-fragments culled from my father’s recorded
  autobiography serve as the focal point of the piece. Transformations of these text-fragments
  within the audio programming language Max are created using the Kinect motion sensor
  camera, and through use of the computer keyboard. Invoking my father with the use of
  computer technology highlights the relationships between myself and my father, between
  human and machine, between composer and performer, and between the real and the virtual.
  These relationships are played out over the course of three movements. Each of the three
  movements is conceived of as a unique “memory-space.” Each contains related texts, and each
  constructs sonic relationships between electric guitar textures and Max patches. The goal of the
  project is to begin to define a method of composition that allows for the acceptance of nonhuman
  others as part of a collaborative process. In order to do this, I use a process of
  decentering to explore ideas of multiplicity, boundary dissolution, non-human centric
  composition, and connection with nonhuman others.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Computers
  • Memory
  • Programming
  • Cyborg
  • Posthumanism
  • Guitar
  • Improvisation

• Graduation date

  Fall 2015

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Music

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3MW28S2R

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.