A Real-Time Score for Collaborative Just-in-Time Composition

Abstract

This article explores listening and communications strategies that arise with a collaborative scoring system we are developing for use within improvisational contexts. Performers generate notation on a scrolling score a short time before it is played or rendered into sound. Working a short time in the future allows performers to respond to sound as they would in any improvisatory situation, and yet coordinate their activity through notation in a way typically associated with pre-composed music. The ‘Anticipatory Score’ platform supports the exploration of different kinds of relationships between performers, composers and audience members, and different listening and engagement strategies that affect the musical experience for all participants.