Notating Action-Based Music

Juraj Kojs

Leonardo Music Journal, Volume 21, 2011, pp. 65-72 (Article)

Published by The MIT Press

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Notating Action-Based Music

Juraj Kojs
abstract

The author discusses the

notation of action-based music,
in which physical gestures and
their characteristics, such as
shape, direction and speed (as

A
opposed to psychoacoustic
properties such as pitch, timbre
and rhythm), play the dominant
role in preserving and transfer-
ction-based music entertains the idea that pressiveness in music [9]. Action- ring information. Grounded in
actions can define all aspects of compositional and perfor- based music takes a different ap- ecological perception and enac-
mance processes [1]. The following hypothetical scenario ex- proach, proposing that action it- tive cognition, the article shows
how such an approach mediates
emplifies the idea. A temporally augmented gesture of a bow self can be a pure manifestation
a direct relationship between
bouncing on a string can inform how the composition unfolds of expression impregnated with composition and performance,
in time. A collection of such bouncing actions can guide the lo- information and aesthetic mean- details some action-based music
cal decisions as well as the overall character of the music. The ing; action-based music uses actions notation principles and offers
as the building blocks of musical practical examples. A discussion
composer then foregrounds the work with physical properties
of tablature, graphic scores and
of bouncing as opposed to investigation of sonic properties composition. text scores contextualizes the
that are products of such actions. Since bouncing is centered Action-based music is principally method historically.
on the tactile interactions between the performer and instru- related to ecological perception,
ment, this relationship becomes deepened and more evident which shows that our understanding
to the audience. of our relationship with the world is
Identifying the act of doing as a model for creation and based in understanding the action-perception cycle [10]. It
performance makes action-based music an artistic manifes- frequently engages everyday objects and actions, bringing our
tation of enactive cognition [2–5]. Enactive cognition—in grasp of that relationship more fully to the performance space.
contrast to the cognitivist and emergence schools of thought— Ecological analytical methods have enabled investigations of
foregrounds mind as inseparable from the world and the way meaning in music, emphasizing the relationship between
we experience it. It is through “a history of structural cou- music-making and everyday listening through identification
pling that brings forth a world” that we acquire knowledge of sound-producing sources and their affordances [11–15]. Af-
[6]. Enactive knowledge is attained and manifested through fordances are opportunities, functions and values that define
the act of doing, as can be observed in repetitive sport and the relationship between the abilities and needs of an observer
music practices. and the capacities of an environment. The everyday listening
Enactive music cognition investigates the role of the body mode prioritizes a focus on non-psychoacoustic characteristics
in music-making [7,8]. For example, the ancillary gestures in of sound, as in the example of recognizing a siren as a fire
the performance of some common practice period and 20th- truck passing by as opposed to a frequency of 400Hz mov-
century concert repertoire have been studied to the end of ing under the Doppler effect. Perception is an active process
understanding the relationship between physicality and ex- of seeking information while orientating one’s body toward
information sources and attuning oneself to them, which is
precisely what has driven the creators to this genus of music.
Juraj Kojs (researcher, administrator), Foundation for Emerging Technologies and Notation of action-based music reflects its unique nature, il-
Arts (FETA), 2294 North West 2nd Avenue, Miami, FL 33127, U.S.A. E-mail: <kojs@
[Link]>. lustrating what to perform and how to perform it and detailing
See <[Link]/toc/lmj/-/21> for supplemental files (such as audio and video) the sound-producing mechanisms and their operations. Such
related to this issue of LMJ and accompanying CD. notation engages “symbols capable of suggesting at once the

Fig. 1. An excerpt from Three Movements (2004) for piano and electronics. (© Juraj Kojs)

©2011 ISAST LEONARDO MUSIC JOURNAL, Vol. 21, pp. 65–72, 2011       65
means (hands, forearm, etc.) and the ap- The graphemes of these languages, 16th- and 17th-century lutenists drew
proach (open fingers, side of hand, etc.)” such as alphabetic letters, numerical six lines to represent their six principal
[16]. Action choreographies are fre- digits and Chinese characters, would strings as in Mace Lute Tablature, most
quently displayed through transparent become the base for the phonetic music frequently with the lower strings posi-
graphics and verbal instructions. From notations of the Sumerians, Babylonians, tioned lowest in the notation [34]. The
the performer’s perspective, such scores Chinese, Hindus, modern Arabs and an- strings were separated by frets into 54 or
promote awareness of both the body cient Greeks [31]. Cuneiform tablature more divisions, each signifying a musical
and instrument. A number of perform- on clay from the Old Babylonia period distance of a semitone. The numbers in-
ers have reported to me that performing is considered to be the oldest notation dicating particular frets to press would
action-based music has facilitated a bet- specifically created for musical use (ca. then be placed on a particular line. The
ter understanding of their instrument 2000–1700 B.C., The Schoyen Collection, letter or sign characters signifying the du-
and informed their interpretation of the London-Oslo). Artifact MS 5105 features ration of the performed event would be
standard repertoire. two ascending consecutive heptatonic placed above the lines [35]. Tablatures
scales to be played on a four-stringed lute for the wind instruments would convey
tuned in ascending fifths. Preceding later the opening and closing of the tone holes
Toward Action-Based notation systems, this tablature was a part rather than the emitted sound [36].
Notation of the music syllabus for educational Thus, tablature notation has priori-
Recent anthropological research sug- institutions [32]. tized eye-hand coordination. It is no sur-
gests that the language of manual ges- The tendency to make the signs com- prise that this type of notation had been
tures preceded the development of vocal pact to economize the use of space and historically classified as direct or finger
language. A manual sign language was to standardize them to facilitate common [37] or practical [38]. Willi Apel believed
the primary communication tool before usage accelerated after the invention of that tablatures relieved the player from
early bipedal hominins freed their hands the printing press. This development investigating the theoretical aspect of
for activities such as carrying and manu- sealed the break with an earlier focus on music and enabled the shortest way to
facturing and before they developed cor- tablature. Most of the efforts in this area music-making, which was most effective
tical control over vocal expressions [17]. focused on representing the sounds as with simpler instruments such as lutes,
Visual displays on cave walls around the they were heard, leading to the develop- zithers, ukuleles and contemporary gui-
world indeed show actions and manual ment of the sophisticated abstract sym- tars [39]. However, some wind instru-
gestures of hunters and animals in sacred bol lexicon and grammar of what we now ment graphic tablatures have continued
rituals that undoubtedly included music- consider conventional notation [33]. in use in the early instructional stages
making [18–20]. Media such as stone, Tablature systems, however, preserved and in the notation of complex multi-
skin and ceramic facilitated elaboration the focus on the physicality of the music- phonics.
of the pictographic displays and expan- making. Keyboard and string tablatures, Tablature graphics are not the only
sion of their reach. As a way of under- for example, presented the musician graphics present in the history of musi-
standing and communicating with the with information about the placement cal notation. The 14th-century French
world, such pictographs laid the foun- of the fingers on particular strings or composer Baude Cordier’s ornamen-
dations for written languages such as keys, rather than conveying the desired tally deformed chansons and canons are
Sumerian cuneiforms [21,22], Mayan hi- pitch or interval. Combination of signs iconic examples of visually enriched no-
eroglyphs [23,24], Egyptian hieroglyphs and letters frequently identified the fin- tation—a style that became later known
[25–27] and Chinese logograms [28–30]. ger selection and position. For instance, as Augenmusik (eye music) [40,41]. Later
in the 19th century, novel notation sys-
tems suggested alterations in the line
Fig. 2. An excerpt from Luciano Berio, Sequenza V für Posaune, 1968. (© 1968 by Universal numbers, symbols and clefs, as in Pierre
Edition [London] Ltd., London/UE 13725) Galin’s system [42]. However, it was not
until the mid-20th century that the pres-
ently known myriad of novel notational
systems were developed, regularly en-
gaging expanded graphics and text to
denote some action principles [43–48].
Contemporaneous trends in the visual
arts influenced such experimentations
[49]. For some, the notation reflected
blurring of the boundaries between the
sonic, visual and dramatic expressions in

Fig. 3. An excerpt from E-clip-sing for clarinet, guitar, cello, double bass and electronics, 2008. (© Juraj Kojs)

66       Kojs, Notating Action-Based Music

Fig. 4. An excerpt from Helmut Lachenmann’s Pression for cello solo, 1972. (© 1972 by Musikverlage Hans Gerig, Köln 1980, assigned to
Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden)

a performance. Introduction of every-

day objects and actions onstage as musi-
cal means grew to be contemporary and
genre-transcending [50].
While action-based music often makes
use of graphic notation, not all graphic
notations are action based. For example,
the “neo-neumatic” score of John Cage’s
Aria (1958) for female voice uses color-
ful line contours to indicate the resulting Fig. 5. An excerpt from Cornelius Cardew, The Great Learning, Paragraph 5, Action Score,
sonic parameters in the time and pitch 1971. (© Horace Cardew. Courtesy of Experimental Music Catalogue.)
spectrum. Similarly, many other pieces,
including Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Plus
Minus (1963) and Spiral (1968) and a City, 1913) for intonarumori (mechani- the boundary points defines the gesture
Roman Haubenstock-Ramati’s Mobile cal noise-makers), Luigi Russolo used a speed. The electronic part of the com-
for Shakespeare (1960), as well as Anestis five-line stave (with keys, time signatures position displays some psychoacoustic
Logothetis’s Maendros (1963), utilize and measures) onto which he graphed properties of the signal and is therefore
extensive graphics to express music pa- the speed and pressure of the cranks not action based. (As noted earlier, tab-
rameters such as event duration, tempo, and levers as corresponding to the as- latures facilitate a direct translation of
dynamics, pitch, articulation and tim- cending and descending pitches. Franco performance actions, yielding complete
bre. Distorted staves and spatialization Donatoni’s Black and White II (1968) for transparency. Action-based notation
in compositions such as Stockhausen’s two pianos shows the common notation also shows such features, and the fol-
Refrain (1959) for piano, cello and per- grand staves and note heads. However, lowing sections detail some of its display
cussion, Bruno Maderna’s Serenata Per Un the stave lines suggest fingers of both the parameters.)
Satellite (1969) and David Rosenboom’s left and right hands, and the note heads Section 1.1 describes the capacity of
And Come Up Dripping (1968) for oboe (white or black) indicate the color of the this form of notation to ease access to
and computer visually detail some of the key on which a particular finger should music. Pure action-based scores in fact
resulting music parameters. In the 1960s, be positioned. No other musical instruc- utilize images that suggest clear instruc-
novel notational systems often presented tions are included. tions at first sight and need no further
combinations of conventional notation, At the opposite end of the spectrum, explanation. Such scores could literally
tablatures, text and graphics for the pur- Boguslaw Schaeffer’s Reading (1979) for be sight-read! (Scores in need of addi-
pose of establishing an enhanced com- six performers is a pure action piece no- tional clarification include a preface,
munication with the performer [51,52]. tated with non-action graphics. The per- legend or glossary.) The second section
formers (actors, dancers, musicians or (1.2) turns to the temporal issues, such
singers) define and perform 88 complex as duration units and framing time on
Action-Based Music and actions, the durations of which span from the page. While a beat usually marks
Notation Systems 7 to 25 seconds. However, the graphics time in conventional notation, it is the
Action-based music mediates the intrin- do not suggest actions at all; they are second that frequently serves as a time
sic relationship between composition, expansions of simple geometries, music unit in action-based notation. In some
performance and listening, as shown in articulation signs and tape-cutting tech- instances, the durations of actions them-
the variety of its notation methods. Com- niques. selves are defined as the counting unit, as
posers such as Luigi Russolo, Luciano The example in Fig. 1 comes from my discussed in the third section (1.3). The
Berio, Helmut Lachenmann and Franco Three Movements (2004) for piano and fourth section (1.4) addresses framing
Donatoni (to name only a few) notated electronics. The player quietly slides his systems and grids that display grouped
their actions using expansions to the or her fingers on black or white keys. The units on the page. These can be fixed
conventional notation, such as invented signals are tracked by two microphones or flexible in duration. The final section
symbols, graphics and text. In his infa- and used to excite a choir of cyber- (1.5) discusses the image of the human
mous Risveglio di Una Citta (Awakening of strings. Note that the distance between body in this notation, discussing how

Kojs, Notating Action-Based Music     67

 keys, and hammers strike the strings only
occasionally. Graphic gestures such as
lines, rectangles and circles indicate the
kind and number of depressed keys, with
a keyboard image used as a clef.
The example shown in Fig. 3 is from
my E-clip-sing (2008) for clarinet, guitar,
cello, double bass and electronics. Ob-
serve that the performer is quickly given
access to the music through the text,
which details the type and location of ac-
tions along with explicit action graphics.
Their quality, articulation, direction and
duration are embedded in the images.

1.2 Temporal Units

In contrast with the musical convention
of measuring time in beats and measures,
action-based music often exists in abso-
Fig. 6. An excerpt from SOL for string quartet, 2009. (© Juraj Kojs) lute time, with a second as its temporal
counting unit. Clocks and stopwatches
have served as timekeepers. Some “tran-
sitional” scores indicate a tempo mark
body action graphics have the capacity to Pure action-based notations are rare, of a quarter note equaling 60, which in
further tighten the relationship between however, due to use of novel instruments actuality translates to the duration of one
score reading and music-making. and corresponding graphics. In particu- second.
lar, if the pictographs are not readily Helmut Lachenmann’s Guero (1969)
1.1. Direct Access, Legends translatable to actions, a legend prefac- for piano and Pression (1969) for cello
and Glossaries ing the score often serves as a glossary are such transitional scores. In these
Nelson Howe’s Fur Music (1970) is an ex- of terms. In some cases, the legend will works, the composer refined his concept
ceptional example of action-based music take up a large portion of the score, as in of musique concrète instrumentale, which
notation. The score includes both the Mauricio Kagel’s Acustica (1968–1970), is based on the alienation of traditional
instrument—strips of fur—and instruc- or even function as the score itself, as in instrumental sounds through unconven-
tions consisting of simple geometries, Alvin Lucier’s Gentle Fire (1971). tional performance modes. Except for a
lines and arrows (with minimal verbal In an extended preface to the score of few sections in which pitches are notated
explanations) for its use. The score clari- his Accidents (1967) for electronically pre- on a staff with a clef, the score of Pression
fies the direction, pressure and motion pared piano, ring modulator, mirrors, ac- shows what actions to perform and where
speed of the performer’s tactile interac- tions, black lights and projections, Larry to perform them on the instrument (Fig.
tions with the instrument. Austin described the piece as an explora- 4). Expanding the idea of a conventional
Luciano Berio’s Sequenza V (1966) for tion of accidental rather than deliberate pitch clef, Lachenmann designed clefs to
trombone solo is a well-known example actions. The pianist quietly depresses the indicate various parts of the instrument’s
of proportional notation, detailing the
musical parameters. However, the mute
Fig. 7. Page 24, Mauricio Kagel, Acustica für experimentelle Klangerzeuger und Lautsprecher,
part and its notation are also striking 1968. (© 1968 by Universal Edition [London] Ltd., London/UE 18429)
from the action-based perspective. Berio
created a separate stave (below the main
stave), showing the lower (open) and
upper (close) limits of the physical mute
positions (as seen in Fig. 2). The actions
are then notated as full lines oscillating
between the two limits (+ and o). Occa-
sional rattling gestures of the mute inside
the bell are notated with a dense pack of
circles placed on the line.
Eleanor Hovda similarly notated music
parameters such as pitch and time with
expanded conventional notation while
including some physical parameters such
as bowing with graphic gestures and ver-
bal instructions in her Lemniscates (1988)
for string quartet. The graphic gestures
mirror the movement of the bow on the
string, enabling a direct mapping of the
score onto the apparatus of the perform-
er’s arm.

68       Kojs, Notating Action-Based Music

body (which he also used in his string
quartets). While the sustained events are
notated with curves and lines, individual
events use various note head types with
flags, suggesting the brief or elongated
nature of each event. All the events are
organized to fit into a grid system. The
rest signs indicate a lack of apparent
action.
Lachenmann’s Guero, on the other
hand, uses proportional notation. Sepa-
rated into three pitch registers, note
heads of various shapes and fillings indi-
cate the nature, direction and duration
of the physical gestures. Gliding fingers
quietly on the piano keyboard, tuning
pegs and strings between the tuning pegs
creates the base action vocabulary of the
composition. The music is notated into
a grid with a quarter-note time marker.
The tempo is q = 60 (i.e. 1 second). Sim-
ilarly to Pression, most of the dynamics, Fig. 8. Page 2, Mark Applebaum, excerpt from Tlön, for three conductors, 1995.
articulation (both graphical accents and (© Mark Applebaum)
verbal instructions in Italian) and rests
are indicated in conventional notation.
Lachenmann also utilized caesura signs,
with the length of silence measured in text detailing choreographic trajectories can only be deduced from sequential
seconds, in various places. and vocalizations. The section Composi- instructions. The only temporal indica-
tions consists of eight Fluxus-type word tion for Paragraph 5 is a 2-hour duration
1.3 Action as a Time Marker scores. In Action Score, the composer first reference in the Great Learning’s preface.
In some action-based music, the dura- defines the objects, such as coins, cards Fluxus artists in particular have ex-
tion of a performance action or gesture and whistles, in terms of their use for po- plored music performance actions as
becomes the time marker, existing in- tential games in his Action Score Interpreta- time units in their text pieces [53]. Dick
dependently from any strict temporal tion section. The Action Score itself consists Higgins prescribes a script of actions op-
framework. The duration of the grid of columns of actions, some in capital erating musical sources such as radios
units is not precisely defined. Rather, ac- and some in lowercase letters (Fig. 5). and pianos in the first of his Constellations
tions are precisely notated or suggested The performer is asked to begin per- for the Theater (Number X) (1965). The
more freely, frequently using verbal forming the action in capital letters and third Constellation details 10 physical in-
indications. then keep adding neighboring actions structions for constructing, superimpos-
Steve Reich’s Pendulum Music (1968) positioned below and above. The initial ing and manipulating four tape layers,
for microphones, amplifiers, speakers action is dropped upon reaching another with particular speed relationships ex-
and performers exemplifies the idea of action marked in capital letters. When all pressed in the final “theoretical scheme
a text composition for suspended and the actions of a particular column have equation” [54]. Interestingly, the speed
swung microphones. The piece opens been executed or when the performer of the tape manipulation is the only time
with the performers unleashing the breaks with overload, they move to the expressed and captured.
microphones and ends when all of the next column. (There is a short song no- Alvin Lucier’s Gentle Fire (1971) also
microphones come to rest. The piece’s tated in conventional notation included completely avoids temporal instruc-
duration is fully dependent on the in the score. Interestingly, the performer tions, instead having the performer re-
pace of the decelerating microphone can opt out from the action score by sing- cord a myriad of everyday actions and
trajectories. ing the song.) then modulate them with technologies
Paragraph 5 from Cornelius Cardew’s The score continues with the Number of his or her choice so that they sound
Great Learning (1969–1970), for a large Score section, consisting of a matrix of like other actions. A possible instruction
number of untrained musicians making categories such as “social,” “scale,” “ac- could read as follows: “record squeaking
gestures, performing actions, speaking, tions,” “parts of body,” “states,” “ideas,” shoes and make them sound like purring
chanting and playing a wide variety of “positions,” “object,” “material” and cats.” The act of recording and model-
instruments, joins text lists and graphics “composition.” Each category presents ing becomes a performance within an
to expressed actions to be performed. a series of descriptors that define the unspecified period of time. Pauline Oli-
Framed around seven sentences, the action selection in combination with a veros’s Sonic Meditations (1971) are text
chapter consists of sections featuring random 4-digit number sequence. The pieces that prescribe particular actions
movement instructions, verbal action selection is then read through the Num- (or the lack of them) to enhance aware-
compositions, text chanting, an action ber Score as a filter. ness of one’s body, mind and sonic envi-
score, a number score and 10 “ode ma- Cardew does not reference duration or ronment, often calling for actions to be
chines.” (The ode machines are the only timing anywhere in the score. A particu- extended for as long as possible.
ones to feature conventional notation.) lar section is done when all of the actions At the opposite end of the spec-
The opening Introductory Dumb Show is a inside it are completed. Temporal cues trum, Annea Lockwood’s Glass Concert

Kojs, Notating Action-Based Music     69

2 (1967–1970) for two performers is a Bussotti’s ballet La Passion Selon de Sade niques for its operation, often engaging
text-notated composition that treats time (1964), creating a series of separate and a body in action figures. For example,
with particular attention. The first per- overlapping zones. The concern for spa- Kagel’s instructions for operating a hum-
former is instructed to excite glass sheets, tial economy is minimal, especially if the mingbird aerophone toy tied to an end
rods, fragments, panes, curtains, threads, composition is not restricted by a particu- of a whip (pp. 23 and 24) show a human
bottles, tanks and bulbs with actions such lar duration. figure holding the whip along with de-
as scraping, rolling, swinging, crushing, The time frame can vary from compo- sired movement trajectories (see Fig. 7).
grinding and blowing in 40 scenes, while sition to composition. If precision is in- Jani Christou’s Enantiodromia (1968)
the second performer operates colorful volved, the duration can be constant (e.g. for orchestra combines proportional
spotlights to refract the light of the glossy 10 seconds per page) or vary from page notation with graphic symbols. The final
objects. Each scene is described in detail to page. Duration can also be assigned lo- portion of the score includes graphic
verbally and carefully timed. cally, to individual gestures for instance. figures of the performers and conductor
Cage’s Water Walk (1958) for everyday Cage notably used brackets to indicate in particular movement choreographies.
objects such as a bathtub, toy fish, pres- varied durations of the phrases at the be- Theodore Antoniou’s Cheironomies: Con-
sure cooker, mixer, goose whistle and five ginning of his Theater Piece (1960), thus ductor’s Improvisation (1971) for variable
radios calls for a combination of absolute loosening the time/space relationship. ensemble shows detailed choreographies
time and action duration: “Start watch In addition, while most compositions of the conductor’s gestures with body
and then time actions as closely as pos- call for left-to-right reading, some may images and action trajectories. In the
sible to their appearance in the score” disturb this time-space convention (as previously described Paragraph 5 from
[55]. The combination of natural time with the columns of text in Cardew and Cardew’s Great Learning, the composer
development of the actions with refer- Lucier’s scores). defines a topology with six action centers,
ence to the absolute time measurement two mobility circles and a relay/rest point
enables constant bending of the musical 1.5 The Human Body using a graphic body figure, which serves
flow. The presence of the human body and its as an orientation map for the choreogra-
parts in the score’s graphics is one of the phy of the opening movement.
1.4 Framing Time on the Page most powerful and suggestive tools for The body may be implicitly present in
There is no predefined relationship be- notating actions, as seen in M. Kagel’s the notation, as in the first movement
tween time and space in the notation of Acustica (1968–1970) for experimental of Mark Applebaum’s Tlön (1995) for
action-based music. The relative size of sound producers and loudspeakers. The three conductors and no players. This
an event can correspond to a relative size composition is written for two to five silent action composition instructs three
of action, as in the example from my SOL performers operating a multitude of ev- conductors to manage three imaginary
for string quartet (Fig. 6). The page of eryday objects (e.g. gas blow-lamp, tissue ensembles. In the first movement (Mono-
bowed material is framed as a projection paper and box of nails), toys (e.g. clock- lith), the graphic line trajectories for each
of a string body existing in space and work toy animal, balloon and humming- hand operate within a grid framing the
time (15 seconds). For clarity of reading, bird), musical instruments (e.g. trumpet, vertical and horizontal arm stretches of
each instrument is notated with a differ- trombone and violin) and other sound- the performers, as shown in Fig. 8. Palm
ent line type. producing and amplifying technolo- rotations are notated with arrows. (The
Further, the action’s duration can ei- gies (a record player, microphone and second movement, Kaleidoscope, shows
ther be dependent on or work indepen- loudspeaker-megaphone). The score is a music parameters such as the rhythm,
dently of the graphic size. The gesture pictorial-verbal glossary of instruments, meter, tempo, dynamics and articulation
orientation on the page can expand in each page detailing an object (the sound of the imagined music in conventional
a multiplicity of directions, as in Silvano source) and prescribing particular tech- notation.)
Graphics featuring hands engaged in
actions can be found in the score of my
Fig. 9. An excerpt from At and Across for Slovak sheep bells and cyberbells, 2007.
(© Juraj Kojs) At and Across (2007) for Slovakian sheep
bells and cyberbells (Fig. 9). While the
conventional notation shows which
tuned bells to use, the hand graphics
provide instructions for the operation of
the bells.

Conclusion
Tablatures never became the basis for
a universal notation language but they
do reflect the intimate relationships be-
tween the instrument maker, composer,
performer and notation, specific to a
particular instrument and locality [56].
Expanding the tablature designs, novel
notations (often invented for particular
pieces) showed the extreme closeness
between the music-making and arts of
the 1960s [57]. More than that, unique
expressions symbolized the zeitgeist and

70       Kojs, Notating Action-Based Music

creative freedom, for “to standardize 8. R.I. Godoy and M. Leman, Musical Gestures: Sound, 35. J. Wolf, Handbuch der Notationskunde (Leipzig,
notation is to standardize patterns of Movement, and Meaning (New York: Routledge, 2009). Germany, 1919. Reprint: Nabu Press, 2010).

thought and creativity” [58]. Some com- 9. M.M. Wanderly and B.W. Vines, “Origins and 36. S. Virdung, Musica Getutscht: A Treatise on Musical
posers have brought that spirit to the 21st Function of Clarinettists’ Ancillary Gestures,” in A. Instruments. B. Bullard, ed. and trans. (1511, Reprint
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While the imagination itself cannot
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be imprinted onto a page, methods of 38. Oxford Music Online. Retrieved from <[Link]
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40. P. Griffiths, “Sonic-Code-Image,” in T. Mukher-
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57. R. Haubenstock-Ramati, “Notation-Material
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Kojs, Notating Action-Based Music     71

Manuscript received 1 January 2011. chael Straus, Susan Fancher, Eugen Prochac, and Computer Technologies from the Univer-
Canticum Ostrava, Atticus Brass Quintet, sity of Virginia. Between September 2008 and
Juraj Kojs is a Slovakian composer, performer, IKTUS Percussion Quartet, The Quiet Music May 2010, Kojs was a Postdoctoral Associate
multimedia artist, producer and educator re- Ensemble, Ensemble s21, Cassatt String Quar- in Music Technology and Multimedia Art
siding in the U.S. Kojs’s compositions were tet, The Now Ensemble and Yale Gamelan at Yale’s Department of Music. In the fall of
recently featured at festivals and conferences Suprabanggo. Kojs is the director of the Foun- 2010, Kojs was a visiting lecturer at Univer-
in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Players dation for Music Technologies (FETA) in sity of Virginia, teaching an undergraduate
who performed Kojs’s music include Tomoko Miami, where he has managed the monthly class in songwriting and graduate courses in
Mukaiyama, Blair McMillen, Margaret Lan- 12 Nights of Electronic Music and Art con- enaction and composition. See <[Link].
caster, Madeleine Shapiro, Laura Wilcox, Mi- cert series. Kojs holds a Ph.D. in Composition net> for more information.

72       Kojs, Notating Action-Based Music