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Plenum is an algorithmic work composed by Rob Godman in 2010 as part of a collaborative art-music installation. It was performed six times between 2010 and 2013 at sound and light festivals in Poland, Estonia and the UK, at the Cambridge Music Festival, and at an Australian contemporary arts venue. Audiences totalling over 240,000 heard the work, with website visitors extending its reach to over 300,000; the Durham Lumiere alone, of which Plenum formed an integral element, created an estimated £4.3 million for the local economy. Festival and arts curators have described Plenum as `thought provoking' and `inspiring'.
Fischman's work has an on-going worldwide impact on cultural life, creating, inspiring and supporting new forms of artistic expression through public performance and broadcast of his compositions. His search for new aesthetic approaches and the resulting software tools (e.g. AL and Erwin) have offered new ways of musical thinking to composers beyond the academy around the globe, contributing to their personal and professional development through further exploration of such tools and approaches. Together with his writings, these have informed the design and delivery of curriculum and syllabi in other institutions worldwide. The nature of the subjects tackled in some of his compositions has also contributed to new interpretations of cultural heritage.
This case study outlines the impacts arising from practice-based research in composition undertaken within the UoA by Wright (Reader in Composition and Sonic Art). The examples provided below detail the impact of this research upon a) the performance practices of contemporary music ensembles and soloists; b) the programming practices of festivals and venues; c) the public understanding and appreciation of new forms of contemporary music. The key drivers to achieving impact have been the innovative use of technologies and performance practices beyond the traditional concert platform. The global reach of these impacts is demonstrated by the geographical spread and the internationally recognised quality of the participating ensembles, artists and festivals.
The reduction of spatial variation in the quality of reproduced sound within a defined space using varied loudspeaker placements is a significant challenge for sound engineers. Dr Bruce Wiggins has conducted research into encoding, decoding and processing algorithms using Ambisonics, a system based around full-sphere sound reproduction. The outcomes of the research have been made accessible to the wider community by the creation of a suite of software plug-ins (WigWare), a production workflow, and associated teaching materials which can enable commercial audio workstations to benefit from Ambisonics. There are numerous recorded instances of successful use.
The University of York's research in surround sound production, conducted over twenty years, has in recent years been implemented and further developed in The Morning Line, a huge, transportable sculpture by Matthew Ritchie, produced by Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary (T-B A21). T-B A21 have to date commissioned thirty professional composers and sound artists of international standing to create new works of sound art for the structure, all realised with software systems developed at York. The installation has been exhibited in large public outdoor spaces in European cities between 2008 and 2012. The Morning Line (TML) integrates into contemporary artistic practice the long-term, York-based research uniting sound reproduction technologies and human spatial perception. The research has, in this way, generated new forms of creative practice, transforming the work of a large number of sound artists and, through repeated, open, long-term public exhibition, contributed to public experience and understanding of sound art and audio perception.
Research (2003-12) by Osborne at the Reid School of Music (RSM) revealed a need for a new musical instrument for disabled users. Under the direction of Osborne, between 2006-8 an interdisciplinary team across Music, Psychology and Physics, including RSM-based Schögler, developed a new musical `object', the Skoog, which allowed people with a wide range of disabilities accessible expressive control of sound. A spin-off company, Skoog Music, was formed in 2010, which now employs six staff, and has sold more than 1,000 units in 16 countries, generating an income of around £600k. The Skoog is widely used by schools and education services and in clinical music therapy by institutions such as Drake Music. It featured in the Best of the Best 2010 in Able Magazine. It was one of three instruments to inspire the composition Technophonia by Oliver Searle, performed at the South Bank as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad and short-listed for a 2013 British Composer Award.
Integra was a €3.1M international research collaboration led by Birmingham Conservatoire and funded by the Culture programme of the European Union. It brought together fourteen new music ensembles and research centres across Europe and Canada between 2005 and 2012. Integra achieved impact along three axes:
Technology was transformed through Integra Live, a new application for live interactive music production and through the modernisation of electronic components for musical works from obsolete to sustainable technologies;
Culture was enriched through the commissioning of 16 new musical works with live electronics receiving over 50 international performances;
Education was enhanced through the Integra "curriculum pilot", a programme establishing a culture of live electronics pedagogy in music higher education institutions.
The impact of the research by the Echochroma New Music Research Group at Leeds Metropolitan University relates to new approaches to interactivity in music performance and composition. The group has produced internationally recognised creative works as well as outputs that discuss and establish theoretical models and approaches within contemporary composition, new media and entertainment. These works have been presented internationally to both professionals and the wider public, gaining recognition for outstanding work through international prizes, and influencing practice in the areas of education, entertainment and composition at local, national and international level.
Dr Slater researches processes of musical creativity that involve technology. Music from two distinct projects reaches a public beyond academia via radio broadcasts, DJ and club culture, the commercial mechanisms of the music industry and more localised community pedagogy. His work contributes to an international audio culture that draws upon jazz, dance, electronica and orchestral music. Such resources provide rich material for education projects that offer young musicians and sound engineers an insight into the technical, social and musical processes of music production, composition and performance. Broadcast and pedagogy represent the two main routes through which his work has a wider impact. This case study documents impact on quality of life, cultural life and on pedagogy.
Professor Phil Ellis' research is focused on developing therapies for children with special needs (including autism), and the elderly in residential homes, sheltered accommodation and day care. He has been involved in establishing iMUSE rooms in a range of institutions, such as special schools, specialist institutions for autism, day care centres, and an NHS intensive care centre. His work has also involved knowledge transfer to enable partner organizations to use the techniques he has developed, along with appropriate supporting technology.