Modus Operandi

Philosophers of the ancient Greece believed that all matter could be reduced to clusters of atoms. The idea that a continuous tone could be decomposed into smaller quantities of time ascends from ancient atomistic philosophies.

Since the title, Modus Operandi, suggests that there is a proper measure in doing things, this piece has been influenced by a peculiar approach to algorithmic composition and granular synthesis.

The focus is on the expressive potential of fragmented sounds (arco and pizzicato cello), and on the process of regrouping phonic materials in new sequences which produce new musical sense and form, by dilating and shorting time and frequencies from the original waveforms. As the suggestion of the Author, the result is comparable to see sounds and music forms through the microscope.

The main musical form is a sort of “responsorio”: three arco strikes, and then a brief replay with the pizzicato.

Along the pieces it is also audible a sort of b minor “bordone”. In this case the purpose is to join the tradition with music computing.

The treatment of sound processing has been made by joining the action of the granular synthesizer with the real time action on the sound parameters.

The granular synthesizer has been written in Max-Msp by the Author.

Modus Operandi had its first premiere in Firenze (Diffrazioni Multimedia Festival, November 2016. It has also been chosen by the SEAMUS (Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States) National Conference in St. Cloud University (MN – Usa, April, 2017).