Martin Maugeais
Symbols
2018 Season
Maugeais’ sound piece, Symbols, was a completely new work of generative music. In that, Maugeais developed a new system for creating music, as opposed to composing a specific outcome. Generative music pieces differ each time they are performed. However, Maugeais’ piece was not be performed consecutively; it was of an undefined duration, constantly changing. It started existing at ‘T’ Space on July 21.
Maugeais intended to loosely attach the evolution of the piece to the natural cycles of the Earth–its rotation and revolution. In other words, this work took into consideration the season and time of day– morning or night, spring or winter. A parallel could be drawn with many forms of traditional music which are intended for a specific time (a morning Raga, or J.S. Bach’s Easter Oratorio). Like most living organisms on Earth, it transitioned between dormant and active periods. Other algorithms, based on personal experience, informed the transformations, independently of these two cycles.