FRANCISCO FERRO
Composer/Sound Artist
Residence at La Casa de Velazquez, the French Academy in Madrid
September 2020 to August 2021, Madrid , Spain
The main focus of this one-year residency will be the development of musical writing techniques to suggest the auditory perception of a physical space by drawing on the pictorial and decorative arts: the methods of systematic deformation employed by M.C. Escher and the geometric transformations that govern the Islamic art of the Alhambra Palace, where the essence of Escher's approach originates.
Residence at Villa Medici, the French Academy in Rome
July 2019, Rome , ITALY
This project will focus on the composition of a musical work for ensemble inspired by the Scala Regia (Bernini). It will be based on geometric measurements of the architectural work and, particularly, the principles governing its accelerated perspective. Exploring an intuitive relationship between optical and auditory illusions, the work will focus on the development of musical process designed to create the illusion of a physical space in the listener's perspective, without any spatial distribution of the instruments. This approach will draw from the theoretical understanding of the associative mechanisms between the perception of sound and the perception of sight and movement, or visuo-kinetic imagery.
Presentation at the 40th anniversary of Laboratoire CRESSON
November 13th 2018, Laboratoire CRESSON, Grenoble , FRANCE
Pedestrians behavior as morphodynamic models for music composition:
This presentation addresses a project that is still at an embryonic stage. The work combines research and music composition in an interdisciplinary approach that revolves around the perception of space and movement in the fields of architecture and music. The main goal is to provide a theoretical and methodological framework for the composition of musical works using original techniques stemming from perceptual, architectural and spatial considerations. The ambition is to model the spectator’s kinetic experience and transpose it towards music composition in order to produce a corresponding listening experience. The first issue concerns studies on the relationship between the physical distribution of the building and the spectator’s pedestrian behavior, drawing from a method developed by architect Nicolas Tixier that combines in situ observations and visual representations resulting from digital modeling. The second issue concerns the elaboration of compositional techniques designed to stimulate the perception of an illusory space that is shaped by the dynamic forms observed in the model.
Towards a Spatialization of Musical Time
Doctoral Thesis Defense
McGill University (Schulich School of Music), Montreal, Canada, Nov. 30th 2017
Supervisory Committee:
Chris Paul Harman (thesis supervisor)
Fabrice Marandola (non-composition area member)
Brian Cherney (second reader)
Jean Lesage (internal examiner)
Ron Smith (external examiner)
My doctoral thesis comprises two compositions for orchestra, De Temps à Autre and Espaces Éphémères, that involve various techniques of structuring musical time. Both works elaborate a musical language incorporating sonic representations of three distinct conceptions of temporal organization: a linear model, implying a relationship of cause and effect between earlier and later events; a cyclic model, inspired by natural phenomena such as circadian rhythms, tidal movements or human breathing; and a spatial model, manifesting through auditory illusions of a physical space, without any strategic spatial distribution of sound sources. What I refer to as spatial time is designed implementing methods drawing from auditory and acoustic phenomena. The accompanying text expounds upon all three conceptions of temporal organization and the way they manifest formally, with detailed analyses of illustrative passages.
From sound spatialization to time spatialization
Conférence Université Populaire, March 30th 2017
Salle Le Tintamarre, Conservatoire de Montélimar, FRANCE
Throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the polysemic notion of musical space has been a major concern among musicologists. It has been studied as regards to acoustic phenomena (through the prism of physical properties of sound) and auditory phenomena (through the prism of human perception of sound). This conference will discuss examples of two distinct forms of musical spatialization: the first one applies to a physical space and manifests through the strategic placement of sound sources (i.e. instruments or speakers); the second one involves a virtual space and manifests through auditory illusions.
