Maybe the best way of describing systems music is to describe a piece made using that methodology...
Steve Reich's Pendulum Music is a particularly innovative concept, one that exemplifies this approach. It consists of microphones swinging past a stationary sound source, picking up more sound as they swing closer. However, the effect is also akin to when you hear a siren on a moving vehicle in the distance, with the apparent change of pitch as the vehicle moves closer to you, passes you, and then moves into the distance again (forgive my ignorance if "pitch" isn't the correct term). In this example, the system is created by the length of the microphone's swing, progressively shortening until the mic becomes stationary.
It's music made less by conventional means of composition, and more by setting rules or parameters. I play to start off small, by using percussive systems that interact in different tempos and time signatures. The techniques of systems music have long since become conventions in themselves, but they still offer a large area to explore for those who are unable to work on more linear forms of music (the tech at my disposal just doesn't suit that way of working).
Maybe if I explain my set up... I currently have access to a lot of mics, EQ, multi-effects and percussion instruments, with a rehearsal space set up in a part of town in which I can gather many interesting found sounds. My only recording technology comes from three mini-disc recorders and an classic tape deck (which I bet will create lovely warm feedback tones). I can set systems in motion using the mini-disc recorders, which lend themselves to random interplay far better than they do for multi-track recording, although I will have a limited multi-track style facility if I spend a lot of time making it work. The random interaction of two systems being played back from two of the mini-disc players, captured on the third.
Is this making sense at all? It's imagining a model for music that moves within a three-dimensional field, in which the various elements continue their disjointed paths until they collide in new, unexpected ways, forming musical moments. Let me know if this description has been at all helpful.  |
