"I"-Tunes: Multiple Subjectivities and Narrative Method in Computer Music

Representational aspects of a computer music composition may forge a perspectival conduit into the music, partly through conceptual boundary structures described here as "frames." The perspectival conduit includes the illusion of subjectivities inside the music and is called here the work's "point of view." These internal subjectivities shape a listener's sense of self, including role, location, and identity. Where and how does the given sound world let the listener in, conceptually, to interact with the work's point of view? This essay considers musical discourse that draws on literary theories of narrative, but it also examines techniques that derive directly from computer music's distinctive features and capabilities.