This research has taken a rather different direction than what was originally intended or imagined. The initial goal had been to think of interactions provided by specific software in an existing situation of musicians in multiple spaces connected with high quality video and audio internet link. Due to various factors, of which Covid was an important one, this goal quite abruptly and in an unforeseen way was adjusted. In a way, it made the research much more interesting and focussed, to my opinion.
Covid introduced a new reality in which reaching out over the internet with peers, friends, colleagues became a daily strategy. Rather than thinking of an improvisation taking place in the best possible of technical setting, including high bandwidth internet connection, this daily reality became the starting point. In many occasions I witnessed the disrupted communication thanks to a poor internet connection. Why not think of a software that would work in such a situation instead, that would survive the continuous disruptions and still create a sense of togetherness.
This led me to imagining a variety of different situations, both those under restrictions of lockdown, while others without such limitations, in which even a hint or suggestion of the other would be all and enough to create a musical performance. The overarching term for such situations would be ‘decentralised’. Effectively a wrong term, but in this context it could be understood as deconstructed, disassembled, disentangled; not one place higher in hierarchy than any other; a fluid situation in many senses; people may join, leave, taken over by another group, etc.
Originally I had intended to develop software running on mobile devices, but for practical reasons, as well because of what I described above, the first software approaches were realised for laptops instead. The aim for the development of the software was having a platform that would provide for a shared sense of togetherness by being involved in a joint activity; creating a tool that would work under the worst conditions, even when connections fail or the audio channel drops altogether; something simple to install and easy to use. To my understanding, the final version of the software realised all this.
Part of the challenge I had set myself for this project was the integration of internet protocols in my own practice of software development for musical situations. The outcome has taken me further than I would have imagined. This research has become a stepping stone to including web based technologies in my practice as improvisor and composer.
An example is the realisation of the work “Hundred Loudspeakers in Seven Minutes” that was performed in December 2021 in what became the very last concert of the department of Sonology in the Arnold Schoenbergzaal in the former Conservatory building at the Juliana van Stolberglaan. This performance included the mobile phones of all audience members, that would be guided to a specially developed website which produced sound materials through all those loudspeakers. Everyone’s contribution helped the construction of an acoustic varying fabric.
Concerning the performance with the software created for this research, only a single group improvisation could be realised. Due to errors in that version of the software, the recording of audio files in order to recreate an ‘original’ performance was not executed correctly, leaving me with defected material. An important feedback from musicians was that the software poses challenges to the extent that rehearsal becomes vary important. Someone called it a new instrument that requires practice to learn to play. This feedback suggests that a group improvisation is not easily translocated to an online platform.
In the future, I will continue working with tools such as those developed in this research to test a variety of settings in which musicians work together in a decentralised manner.