Practice · Research Thread
Gestalt-informed Composition
Gradual transformation of musical units within a hierarchical compositional model
The Foundation
The multi-level transformation technique developed during my MA at the Institute of Sonology (2011) — hierarchical compositional models in which transformations occur simultaneously at multiple structural levels — is not a fourth research strand alongside DMI, DGC, and Music on Ambiguous Reality. It is the compositional infrastructure that makes all three strands artistically viable.
Without it, the authenticity question could only be posed theoretically. The hierarchical model provides the technical means to control exactly how and when perceptual coherence is sustained, strained, or broken in a composition. The audience perceives disruption as disruption precisely because the underlying transformational logic holds the musical surface together.
The Sonology thesis formalised this through interpolation algorithms that generate intermediate states between defined endpoints at multiple structural levels. But the broader principle — controlling gradual transformation across nested structural levels, grounded in Gestalt grouping principles (proximity, similarity, continuity) — persists in works that do not use the algorithms themselves.
How It Connects to the Research Threads
The thesis’s goal — to produce music that gives “a single strong impression,” coherent fascination that holds the listener — and the research programme’s umbrella question are the same problem from opposite sides. One addresses construction, the other reception. Both converge on the same perceptual event: a listener captivated by something that coheres as meaningfully whole.
- In DMI work — the gesture-sound causal link is dissolved through analogous parametric transformation; the hierarchical model controls the rate and trajectory of that dissolution
- In Gameful Composition — the question becomes whether emergent, game-driven form can satisfy the same perceptual coherence requirements that the hierarchical model guarantees top-down
- In Music on Ambiguous Reality — the reality–virtuality continuum functions as a macro-level transformation, with individual perceptual parameters (visual fidelity, audio synchrony, spatial coherence) each following their own trajectories at nested structural levels
Works
Contraction (2023)
Solo traverso
Gradual transformation within a hierarchical structure, applied to the intimate scale of a solo instrument.
Convergence (2018)
Symphony orchestra
An orchestral work applying the hierarchical model’s gradual transformation logic without the interpolation algorithms. Commissioned through the Andrew Svoboda Memorial Prize at McGill University.
Andrew Svoboda Memorial Prize 2017 · 2nd Prize, ICU International Composers Contest, Symphonic Category 2021
Schnelzug (2016)
Chamber ensemble
Interpolation algorithms applied at multiple structural levels, with transformations between noise and tone across phrases and morphological changes from one phrase to another.
Constellation (2015)
Quarter-tone ensemble · Micro Ensemble, Finland
Quarter-tone pitch intervals as essential structural material, explored through harmonic, melodic, and micro-polyphonic textures across three contrasting sections.
Centrifugal melodies (2014)
Flute, violin, harp and electronics · Commissioned by Vertixe Sonora Ensemble
Musical tension oscillates between higher and lower intensities — inspired by centrifugal force — while four types of melodies emerge and vanish during the course of the piece.
Beyond the eternal chaos (2014)
Flute and electronics
Interpolation algorithms applied at multiple structural levels: balance between flute and electronics across sections, transitions between noise and tone across phrases, and morphological changes within phrases.
3rd Prize, Musicacoustica-Beijing 2014 · Finalist, Destellos 2014
Assimilation (2013)
Double bass and computer
An exploration of organic relationships between three motion types — exploding attack, monotonous succession, and metallic harmony — gradually converging to a single stream.
3rd Prize, International Taiwan Electroacoustic Music Award
Satellite (2010)
Octaphonic fixed medium · 5′55″ · Institute of Sonology, The Hague
The earliest composition in which the hierarchical model with multi-level transformation is fully realised. All sounds derive from a single bell sample, processed through four granular samplers structured as a hierarchy of sequencers. Interpolation algorithms are applied simultaneously at the section level (overall tension arc), unit level (repeated oscillation cycles), and voice level (grain-by-grain behaviour), so that transformations at every level are coupled but not identical.
The piece represents the trajectory of a falling satellite: an orbital object gradually loses altitude, crashes, and its debris scatters. The narrative is rendered as a time structure of oscillating tension whose intervals shorten toward a crash point, then widen again in the epilogue.
FUTURA Prize, Contemporary Computer Music Concert 2011 · Seoul International Computer Music Festival 2011
Still-life of cb. (2010)
8-channel fixed medium · Institute of Sonology, The Hague
Inspired by Picasso’s abstract still-life drawings, the piece transforms contrabass recordings through fragmentation and reconstruction, linked by interpolation techniques.
Honorary Mention, Musica Nova 2010
2/2 (2008)
Bass clarinet and live electronics
Finalist, Musica Nova 2008
Flashback (2006/rev.2013)
Fixed medium · Kunitachi College of Music
Renders the aural experience of a fetus in a womb through motifs of amniotic fluid, heartbeats, bone sounds, and voices.
Key Concepts
- Hierarchical compositional model — transformations occur simultaneously at multiple structural levels (note, motive, phrase, section, composition)
- Gradual transformation — the principle of sustaining coherence through controlled change across nested levels
- Grouping principles as perceptual mechanism — Gestalt proximity, similarity, and continuity as the cognitive basis for perceiving transformation as coherent rather than arbitrary
- Modernist technique sustaining postmodern content — the underlying transformational logic holds the musical surface together so that conceptual disruptions (dissolved gesture-sound links, simulacral performers, game-driven indeterminacy) register as meaningful departures rather than incoherent noise
Specific to Satellite / Sonology: interpolation algorithms, quantity-adjusted interpolation, two-dimensional interpolation, insertion technique, t.lib (Max/MSP object library)
Publication
Fukuda, T. Applying Interpolation Algorithms for Multi-level Transformations in a Hierarchical Compositional Model. MA thesis, Institute of Sonology, Royal Conservatoire, The Hague, 2011.