Let’s talk about what happens when you combine
two different musical creation techniques: The use of looping (which is the repeating of a portion
of sound over and over again) ...and the use of chance. (which is allowing music to be affected by an
element of unpredictability or randomness) When combined, ...the results can be incredible, ...forming the most well-known
technique in what we call ...'aleatoric music'. Today, aleatoric technique can be found everywhere, ...especially in electronic, ...rock, or ...ambient music. And it can be traced back to composers
writing in the early- to mid-20th century, ...yet another illustration of how
amazing that period was for music. And what’s more, ...it’s often used very effectively in game design too. So in this video, we’re going to be looking at
how its used across these different genres, ...and how much there is to learn
by investigating its history. Now, we’ve all seen solo performers
using looping pedals ...to create multi-layered backing
tracks using just their voice, ...which is pretty enjoyable to watch being done live, ...with probably my favourite example
being this TED Talk by Beardyman: Or, ...there are those who play live sets ...using multiple pieces of linked-up hardware, ...where the looping is a little bit more malleable, ...like this work by the YouTuber Michael Forest. Generally speaking, ...this is one of the two major
variations of looping technique, ...where everything is synchronised to a steady rhythm. The other major variation of looping technique ...is where the artist avoids syncing to any type of beat. ...often for the purpose of creating free-flowing
ambience or background texture. Here’s a fantastic example by the YouTuber AMULETS, ...who creates his own looping
devices out of cassette players: And with each looping device
running at different lengths, ...new combinations of sound will
just keep developing over time. I highly recommend checking out both
AMULETS' and Michael Forest’s channels, ...and I’ve put relevant links below in the description. We’ll come back to the idea of using looping
for textural purposes in just a second. Now, when sticking to a strict tempo, ...one simple trick is to deliberately lengthen or
shorten the number of beats in a given loop ...to achieve more complex, syncopated patterns. For a quick example, ...let’s just jump into Reason to see what I mean. First off, I created a simple pattern in 4 time: Now, let’s add a pattern that loops every 3 beats, ...and we’ll first play it slowly ...so you can hear the rhythmic
offsets that are being created: And on top, let’s add a pattern that loops every 9 beats, ...and we’ll also play that slowly: Now, if we quadruple the speed of both those patterns, ...we can hear how nicely they bounce off each other: Now, one interesting feature of this particular device, ...where we begin to transition into a
discussion about aleatoric music, ...is this button called: ...which allows the order of individual
beats to be left up to chance: And this simple combination of
controlled chance and looping ...can be traced back to two composers
during the mid-20th century: ...who, independently of each other,
came up with a nearly identical system. To understand what they were trying to achieve, ...let’s look at a common problem faced by composers. Let’s say you wanted to achieve a detailed texture ...like this example from Hovhaness’s 'Magnificat': ...or this one from Lutosławski’s 'Piano Concerto': Well, if you were trying to use traditional notation, (let me just lay out the notes
from Lutoslawski’s score here) ...you’d first want to avoid having
all the notes synced up like this: That just obviously doesn’t sound right at all. So, to get close to what Lutosławski achieved, ...you’d need to create all kinds of
complicated off-beat patterns and tuplets. But, as any composer who’s put something
like this in front of an orchestra knows, ...performers and conductors hate this kind of thing. It’s ludicrously hard for the musicians to time it properly, ...and the conductor won’t be able to micromanage
this level of rhythmic complexity either. The only way this could work would be to devote
an impractical amount of rehearsal time. And with classical ensembles, ...where you’d be lucky to get even three rehearsals, ...that’s not going to happen. Moreover, ...it would be difficult to predict
the outcome ahead of time ...and poor performances would
be much more likely to happen. And for those of you thinking, (well, I suppose, those very few of you thinking) "Have you never heard of New Complexity?" I have, ...but that’s a different discussion for another day. And so Hovhaness & Lutosławski both
conceived of almost identical solutions ...to achieve the sort of complex
flowing textures they were after. These techniques are pretty easy to describe. If we stick with Lutoslawski’s
'Piano Concerto' for a second, ...let’s focus in on one instrument
to understand what he’s doing. Now, at this point, ...a performer would be reading the notation as normal, ...until they reach a section that looks like this: A few notes sandwiched between two repeat bars. This is our looping mechanism. The musician now knows that they must
repeat this loop over and over again, ...until the conductor gives the signal to stop ...at which point the musician
abandons the loop immediately. The conductor's cues are often notated like this: But what’s really liberating about these loops ...is that the performer is no longer tied to the meter, ...so they needn’t worry about
staying in time with everyone else. These loops are often coupled with the direction: ...which, in this context, ...indicates that the player can improvise
certain aspects of the performance. Things like articulation, volume, ...or even the ordering of the notes sometimes. All in all, ...this system allows the composer
to achieve new sounds ...by actually relinquishing control over
certain elements of the performance. A, sort of, controlled use of chance ...that opens up all kinds of textures and orchestral
colours that are hard to achieve any other way. In his 'Piano Concerto', ...Lutosławski uses this technique ...to allow the pianist a high
degree of rhythmic flexibility, ...so that every little phrase has room to breath. I’ve animated an example
I particularly like in the opening, ...where three flutes jump between different loops ...to provide a background texture
for the pianist to play over: And what’s interesting here is how all four
musicians are able to work together ...despite being rhythmically independent of each other. I’ve used this technique in my own music too. In this example, ...I'm giving three string players
rhythmically independent looping patterns, ...which allows a guitar player
time to play a solo as he sees fit: Another classic variation of this idea can be seen in ...Penderecki’s ‘Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima’, ...which has been fully animated
on this channel ‘gerubach’, ...which I highly recommend you watch. Each of these strange symbols ...represents a different unconventional way
that a player can strike their instrument, ...which, along with the loosely coordinated looping, ...creates a sense of pure mayhem. Today, ...composers are still modifying this
technique to suit their own style. Take the composer Gregor Forbes, ...who studied with me at the
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. His aleatoric techniques are
sometimes quite open-ended, ...allowing performers to take control over
larger things like length and overall structure. Take as an example his piece ...written for three players, (clarinet, violin and piano) ...where each player is given only three very
short fragments of music to choose from. Here, you can see the three options
available to the clarinettist. Now, not only can the players choose which
fragment they want to play at any given moment, ...they also don’t need to play
the notation from left to right: And when you think about it ...aleatoric technique is actually
perfect for game design too, ...where the chance events are provided
by actions the players are taking, ...which then affects what the music is doing. Take the game ‘Flower’ for example. In the opening, the background
music loops around the key of D: It’s quite simple to begin with, ...until the player begins to interact with the scene, ...which triggers chords and musical flourishes
that are harmonically consonant with that key: Notice, also, that the lack of a strict rhythm is
helping these moments blend together nicely. Here's that same technique again, ...used in the game 'Flow'. Both of these feel quite similar to the technique
employed in Terry Riley’s famous piece ...which, as the name implies, ...strictly locks down the key so that other
asynchronous rhythmic choices can be made ...without the results sounding messy: And then there are games that want
strong driving beats in their music. The most common aleatoric technique that they use ...is to first create a library of
multiple synchronised loops. And we’ll look at the game ...for an example of this. Initially, you can hear an underlying
pattern that starts off quite simply: Then, as the level gets harder, ...to ramp up the feeling of progression, ...additional layers of percussion and harmony
are triggered by the actions the player takes: Then there are also moments where the
music is stripped back to just one layer ...to indicate that a new level is about to begin: I like this because, ...not only does it give you a bit of breathing
space to prepare for the next level, ...it also, sort of, clears the air for the music ...so that it can change pace or maybe change the key. And I hope you also noticed how all the
moment-to-moment effects and explosions ...have been tuned to complement the key, ...another common game technique that really
makes the game a pleasure to listen to. So that’s my quite quick introduction to aleatoric music, ...which just keeps on morphing and
changing through the decades, ...with different musicians arriving at it
from completely different angles. If you’re a composer, ...it’s a very nice way to include a degree of
looseness into quite rigid musical structures, ...and I highly recommend you give it a try. In fact, ...if there are any people out there who have come up
with their own novel versions of this technique, ...no matter the genre, ...just let me know. And if I get enough responses, ...I'll do a follow-up video to feature them ...and discuss their individual working methods. Like, you could do something really revolutionary, ...uh, like this! Let’s take a random... ...2-syllable word, like... Well... this one: And a long 3-syllable phrase, ...like this one: And... an- yeah, tha- that's good. Let's play that. And now, ...to introduce an element of chance, ...this i- That's where, uh... you guys come in. The actions taken by YOU. Uh... You, the viewer, ...and... It's a great illustration of, you know, the kind of, ...novel... ...internet... ...composition, um... Because we’re all connected, and, like... You know, we’re democratising the listening process, ...and uh- Oh, well. That's the bar, guys. See if you can top that.
I really enjoyed this. I wish there was an active subreddit for videos like this. I've watched so many of them over the Xmas break.
Nice! I did not know this word for the concept. (I've always said "procedurally-generated" or "randomized" music)
Thanks so much for posting this!
I've been dabbling in electronic/game music composition for the last couple of years, and I've always run into brick walls with how predictable my pieces turn out to be. I'm trying to get out of the very strict, very regimented mindset that my violin teachers implemented when I was growing up, and it's great to see that there's still so much room for (ostensible) randomness and unpredictability in music composition -- and that these techniques have been around for a while!