Two good reasons for converting non-pitch-based pieces into some form of
abstract 'high level' notation (e.g. gestural notation of their perceived
'shape'), are i) as a performance cue in pieces for tape and live instrument
and ii) as an analytical score. In the latter case, *seeing* that a sonic
event is happening at a certain time can draw our attention to it, revealing
perhaps un-noticed details.

There have been *many* uses of graphical and other un-conventional notations
for instrumental music (too many to start talking about the subject on this
list) and most of them work on the level of suggestion (many of Cage's
graphic notations) or instruction (conventional Western notation,
Stockhausen's +- notation). Precise notation of the sound is only usually
used when the composer *knows* that it can be reproduced (e.g. some of
Wishart's work, where the voice can actually mimic elecroacoustic sounds
reasonably well by reading the score). See 'On Sonic Art' by Trevor Wishart
for a 'critical evaluation' of conventional notation ;-)

Regards,

JamieB

-----Original Message-----
From: Ben Jefferys 
To: csound@maths.ex.ac.uk 
Date: 04 July 1998 12:22
Subject: Re: Subject of research ??


>In message <19980703.185211.3454.0.jhclouse@juno.com>
>          jhclouse@juno.com (Jason H Clouse) wrote:

>> Now, composers can have
>> absolute control over the finished product if they so
>> choose (of course, this limits the ability to put
>> compositions into sheet-music--has anyone been working
>> with alternate forms of notation recently?)
>
>Would there be any real use to this? Shifting, say, a Csound composition to
a
>human-readable form (as I guess is the point of sheet music) would be
>reasonably pointless since no human could ever hope to reproduce the exact
>sound with any accuracy. An analogy might be the idea that the most
complete
>specification of what a program does is the progam itself. (That's not to
>say the most "best" specification of a piece of music is its waveform...)
>

> Maryanne Amacher very well suited to listen to.
        i thought she hated recordings..  how much of her
work is available on CD?
>
> > I have been noticing that there is a difference between
> > music that I like because of the "notes" and music that I
> > like because of the "sounds".

        i have been noticing that i *dont* like any music meant
to be liked because of the "notes"
        i have been noticing that i *dont* like any music meant
to be liked because of the "sounds"

> abstract 'high level' notation (e.g. gestural notation of their perceived
> There have been *many* uses of graphical and other un-conventional notations

	is "sono" still around/supported/werking?  its an (X-Windows??)
app that converts a soundfile into a postscript sonigram score. has it
been ported to any other platforms? (or anyone know of similiar apps?)


-matt