Visiting Practitioner Series: Samson Young

The works discussed were:

1. Palazzo Gundane (homage to the myth-maker who fell to earth) 2017
2. Possible Music #1 & #2 (feat. NESS)
3. The Immortals
4. The World Falls Apart Into Facts (2019 / revised 2020)

The piece that stuck with me the most was Possible Music. A colaboration with NESS (Next Generation Sound Synthesis) from the University of Edinburgh, focused on new physical modelling techniques which enable the incorporation of more real world parameters. It explores the concept of models and approximations of the real world and questions around what can be known and accepted as real.

Using physical modelling Young imagines what instruments played under extreme parameters (a trumpet played by a dragon) or old unplayable instruments would sound like.

The sound played is as supposition of three layers: synthesized, imitated and the real instrument.

He suggests that models don’t necessarily need to accurately represent reality, pointing out how sometimes ‘targetless’ models can still be useful and can lead to the discovery of real world systems enacting them.