DLCGO (6:06)

Doug Van Nort

Notes on DLCGO

In 2006 I invited composer Kim Cascone to come to Montreal to conduct his workshop on genetic algorithms for collaborative content creation. Participants would rate sound files and more "fit" members of the population would be chosen for "mutation" (sound processing) and "mating" (essentially digital tape splicing). I was so struck with the experience of this process that I decided to evolve this working method into a fully-fledged composition, which in fact has become a series of pieces. In these works this evolutionary paradigm is directed by compositional rules, including the nature of the beginning "gene pool" and the type of mutation/crossover. At the same time, the process directs the structure of the score itself, determining the number of sections, number of players in this section, which sonic "generation" each player can draw from and so on. Within these confines, the performance is improvisatory, drawing on each epoch of the evolved sonic gene pool. In this way, there are actually two pieces to speak of: the first is the process and experience of creating this pool -- where the participants experience their own sounds and mutations interacting with other players over time. This is an anonymous process where identities and dialogues are formed completely through the digital media. The second piece is the performance and score, when this entire multiple day-or-week process of the pool's unfolding is collapsed into 20-40 minutes of a performance. Each performer at this point has an intimate understanding of the material, and modulates this pool in attempt to convey this process to a new audience. These series of pieces are collectively titled "Genetic Orchestras", generally being named "X Genetic Orchestra" where X is the name of the ensemble. They have been performed on at least seven occasions, including the International Society of Improvised Music conference in 2007 and in performance with the Florida Electronic Arts Ensemble (FLEA), directed by composer Paula Matthusen at various festivals in the Miami area. The recording presented on this CD is the very first performance, which was commissioned by the Deep Listening Institute for the Deep Listening Convergence event in June of 2007, which brought together 40+ musicians over the internet in a six-month long "virtual residency" before the final convergence of performances. As such this version is titled "Deep Listening Convergence Genetic Orchestra" (or, DLCGO). This version was special not only because it was the first, but because we evolved the piece completely over the internet, and over such a long time period. The piece truly spanned a great deal of time and space and was a communal effort to realize. The final performance in High Falls, NY was our first single-room experience of the piece, adding another layer of meaning for the performers. The performers and sonic co-creators who took part in the process and/or performance were Tom Bickley, Monique Buzzarté, Scot Gresham-Lancaster, Al Margolis, Kim McCarthy, Kristin Nordeval, Pauline Oliveros, Zevin Polzin, Roberto Rodriguez, Katharina von Rütte. While later pieces involved software written for performance this version was free in terms of digital instrumentation, ranging from my own custom granular performance system to Ableton Live to playback in Audacity, which can be heard in the textures, loops and unaffected sounds of this recording. The excerpt that I have chosen merges the beginning with a later moment that I feel serves as a nice coda until the next time you can experience one of these performances in the flesh.