Notation for an Electric Stage: Twenty Years of Writing about Notation and a Thought Experiment. With additional commentary about Preservation

Abstract

This paper is a sprawling document covering practical issues about music notation with more theoretical implications of notation. A distinction between reperformance and preservation is elucidated, and a thought experiment of how to notate a time-based light sculpture (László Moholy-Nagy’s Light Prop for an Electric Stage) encourages readers to think about notation as removed from sonic content. It is vital for composers to create notation that goes beyond the notes, so that pieces involving media can be re-performed in addition to creating an informed archive of the initial state(s) of the work as mediated by the composer themselves.