JNMR023M03 Abstract The use of computers in live performance has resulted in a situation in which cause-and-effect has effectively disap- peared, for the first time since music began. Once we started to use computers in live performance – to interpret abstract gestures and generate sound as a result – the age-old rela- tionship between gesture and result became so blurred as to be often imperceptible. In historical terms, this problem is extremely recent, involving only the last few decades of musical practice preceded by at least thirty thousand years of music-making by conventional (acoustic) means. The aim of this paper is to show how this affects contemporary per- formance and the relationship between the performer and the audience. 1. Introduction As the final speaker at the STOMPS 2002 conference, I wish to approach performance from the opposite direction. Instead of asking: “What is a musical performance?” I ask “What is a musical performance?” That is to say, I am not talking about what makes a performance musical (certainly a deep question); rather, I’m talking about what makes a perfor- mance at all. I focus here on the aesthetics of performance, not the aesthetics of music. We have studied traditional performance practice by applying tools (computers) to aid us in the analysis of music performed by traditional means. But what happens when computers and modern technology are used in the live per- formance of music? Suddenly, we are confronted with a new problem: Can the observer/audience understand the perfor- mance from a direct, physical standpoint? And does it matter if they can or cannot? No matter what the culture, there is a relationship between performer and audience. This relationship is based on many factors, most significantly on trust, and also on the audience understanding what the performer is doing on stage. Typi- cally, the performer is doing something that the audience cannot do themselves; there are of course numerous reasons that people go to concerts, but this is one of the most impor- tant and universal reasons. We can listen to recordings, but of course it is not the same thing as going to a live concert. Ironically, with technology, some “performances” have become as dull as pressing “play” on a CD player (or the equivalent button in Pro Tools or iTunes). 1.1 My claim It is now necessary, when using computers in live perfor- mance, to carefully consider the visual/corporeal aspects of the performance; that is, to consider the observer’s view of the performer’s modes of physical interactions and mappings from gesture to sound, in order to make the performance con- vincing and effective. Even though these are in many cases “extra-musical” requirements, I believe that it has become necessary to deal with them directly, because the integrity of the performance is in jeopardy. 2. Background In the 20th century, we have seen the ideological boundaries of music and musical performance tested, beginning with atonality, serialism (of pitch first, and eventually all musical Accepted: 25 March, 2003 Correspondence: W. Andrew Schloss, School of Music, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada V8W 2Y2. Tel.: +1 250 721 7931, Fax: +1 250 721 6597, E-mail: aschloss@finearts.uvic.ca Using Contemporary Technology in Live Performance: The Dilemma of the Performer* W. Andrew Schloss School of Music, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada Journal of New Music Research 0929-8215/02/3101-001$16.00 2002, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. ••–•• © Swets & Zeitlinger * Presented at the Stockholm Music Performance Symposium, 18 May 2002.