Leonardo Music Journal: Building Bridges

EDITORIAL LEONARDO MUSIC JOURNAL: BUILDING BRIDGES When the idea oflannching the LeonardoMud,Journal (LMj) appeared a few years ago, the intention was that the new publication would focus on music and the sonic arts. It would observe and illustrate the pervasive influence of technology and science upon musical thought and practice today. I am confident that you will find that the articles in this issue reflect such a preoccupation. Other publications exist, however, that to some extent share this goal. They, too, offer aesthetic, research and technical papers. More than anything else, they demonstrate the vigor of creative thinking in all areas of musical activity. Readers will find here papers on all aspects of music-making involving technology and scientific concepts: articles by Godfried-Willem Raes, Andrew Gerzso, Laura Bianchini and many others explore music that uses computers, new electronic and acoustic instruments, paradigms of music software-the list can go on. Without doubt, one expects that these areas will be represented in LMJ Nevertheless, probably because it is an offspring of Leonardo, this journal also serves other purposes. Here, works are discussed directly by their creators, who can therefore express their ideas through words, scores, algorithms, photographs, drawings and schematicsall ways offurther illustrating the musical thought embedded in their works. If I purposely avoid the word composer, it is because LMJopens its pages to artists who do not necessarily fall into a specific art category. Poets who choose electronic means (either live or recorded) for 'sound poetry' or 'textkomposition' offer a good example of sonic art that broadens and transcends definitions of musical art. In other cases, composers associate with comedians or writers to create works for the radio medium (such works have come to be called Hiirspiel). Radio, thus, has become a genuine theatre for the ear; with no visual or material contingency, it allows for the creation ofimaginative virtual landscapes. Other composers combine visual and performance elements with sound to create multimedia works. Articles by Stephen Pope, Barton McLean and others exemplify this approach. Sound environment is a field that is rarely discussed in musicjournals. One reason is that, because of its spatial nature, it rarely lends itself to representation through recordings. Some artists have chosen the path of creating sounds for nontheatrical spaces, whether these be urban or natural, indoor or outdoor, using acoustic and/or electronic sound sources. LMJintends to reflect these activities. There are many other fields that do not belong to traditional definitions of music but which find their place here. One instance is Brian Evans's description of his use of musical structures in developing animation. The accompanying compact disc (CD), Interaction: NewMusicfrom Gamelan, is a good example of a contemporary creative activity that did not start with a Western idiom. We increasingly share a global awareness, and musicians have never had such convenient means of travel or the opportunity to hear so much of the music of lands far away. Still, there are invisible cultural barriers that separate continents and countries. It is the wish of LMJto create bridges for better understanding between musicians and artists around the world. This CD documents a remarkable interplay between Indonesian and non-Indonesian ideas, musicians and instruments. e 19921SAST Pergamon Press ltd. Printed inGreat Britain. 0961·1215/92 $5.00+0.00 LEONARDO MUSICJOURNAL, Vol. 2. No. I, pp. 1-2, 1992 1 2 Editorial Conversely, Peeter Vahi's article describes the traditional Buddhist instruments of Mongolia and how that tradition has been threatened. Interaction: New Musicfrom Gamelan provides access to music that, mostly for commercial reasons, is otherwise rarely available. The reader can thus directly experience the art object. Of course, not all music is meant to be heard through a pair of loudspeakers, and not all music is created to be kept in a single, fixed version. The reader will find documentation here of interactivity between composers (as in Lottery by Nick Didkovsky) and between viewers and installations (as in Firefliesby McLean). There are indeed many different manners of perceiving sound waves. And the visual setting is sometimes of utmost importance. LMJwill strive to offer other media for conveying these concerns. Research is being done to investigate ways of using hypermedia as...