As a child i attended music school. From the perspective of time it seems like I learned a lot theory, including musical notation, but there was no much of a creative space for the students.

Musical notation is the type of graphic scores i know very well and the connotation i have is a strict, framed or even restricted performance of music. When asked to produce an alternative music score (non linear) I was pretty excited as I like visual arts. But the final result was rather dull. I found it difficult to imagine the music and put it on paper, using a method that I have never even though off.

It was also hard for me to read the scores of others and perform them. While performing, I just tried to recreate the feeling i got looking at the picture, but to be completely honest I stopped looking at it and just went with the flow of others rather than followed the score.

I think those difficulties are manifesting because graphic score is in itself a limitation, and if it’s lacking a precise explanation on how to perform it ,then it’s just unreadable (unless that was the aim of an author).

Perhaps it would be easier to do it the other way round? To write the music that is being heard or have already been heard?

I have a love-hate relationship with the concept of the graphic scores. On one hand there are some amazing examples of writing and reading alternative music scores, like Cathy Barberian :

On the other… I don’t think I will be using it in my work any time soon.

Listening to the recordings of our graphic score jam I felt like most of the time it was pretty chaotic and did not seem like performers were reading any score. I can’t recall all of them but I remember the one I performed with few others and I have to say that it seems that everyone was a bit lost.