As music develops experimentally so potentially does it’s parallel experimental notation. It is not a compulsory requirement to find a way to record our compositions to allow us and others to repeat our music. Graphic scores are less strict musical notations and more a piece of art in it’s own right inspired by the sounds it reflects.
After attending Joanna McGregor’s: Graphic Scores, I became aware that every sound had it’s own visual imagery which extended the possibilities and direction my project would take. The introduction to McGregor’s event stated that the, “created project is an enthralling journey into this re-imagined way of writing and performing music.” I now developed my ideas to reshape people’s preconceptions, questioning what they classify as music, by providing opportunities to evolve their own experimental notation, and unique visual art to accompany their compositions. Music composed within the Audio Playground does not fit the constraints of traditional music with its harmonies and discords and conventional melodies. therefore, to document this new conceptual soundscape it becomes necessary to develop an alternative classification. The composer is liberated from the confinement of traditional notation, free to create and compose without the burden of having to understand traditional music. I presented the graphic scores into contrasting publications. The hardback book, a formal, comparative documentation is primarily to inspire the reader to take the concept seriously. The informal newspaper edition, designed for easy, cheap distribution in public establishments promotes Audio Playground and concepts relative to visual sound. It includes a section allowing the reader to visualise and document sounds they are hearing at that moment, implementing their unique graphic score, which they can upload onto a website, encouraging collaborations between music and artists.
A compilation vinyl record presents compositions created by musicians I invited to interpret graphic scores from the book. This introduces an evolving cyclical process through music and visual art.