Abstract: The nexus of music and architecture (spatial design) has been a subject of intrigue for musicians, architects and scholars over the ages. My creative practice as both musician (drums and percussion) and architect positions me well for an extended critical inquiry into the intersection of these domains through Design Research. Using a generative methodology of digital drumming improvisation, a set of parametric digital design frameworks are explored that act as a ‘reflective lens’ on a musical practice and inform speculative extensions of this practice through ‘Spatializing Polyrhythm’. Working across domains, the practice of digital drum improvisation is explored and extended through the creation of electroacoustic works as Digital DrumScapes.
Transformation of the practice of improvisation informs a new ‘Spatial Improvisation’ where the skills of digital drumming are employed as agents of new design processes in the spatial domain. Cross-domain creative practice resolution is achieved through a new ‘Musico-Spatial Improvisation’ founded on the performance of real-time dynamic musico-spatial polyrhythmic improvisation in Virtual Environments and spatial sound. These speculative investigations thus provide the basis for a re-consideration of the music: architecture nexus as well as improvisation and hope to inform new directions in cross-domain creative practice.
Jeremy J. Ham 