Leonardo Music Journal Volume 18 (2008): Why Live? Performance in the Age of Digital Reproduction

“Structure in the Dimension of Liveness and Mediation”

by Jeffrey M. Morris

ABSTRACT: While technological developments can replace some aspects of live performance, they have also opened a new dimension of musical structure: that of liveness and mediation, which requires live performance in order to be meaningful. Liveness itself can be used and manipulated as a distinct musical element. The author describes these concepts at work in his compositions that explore mediatization as a device of intermedial imitative counterpoint and formal structure.

Emergent forms and themes in performance and culture in the first decade of C21 Edited By Peter Eckersall And Helena Grehan Online Now www.performanceparadigm.net PERFORMANCE PARADIGM No 4, 2008. Featuring reviews of recent books by Rustom Bharucha, Mike Pearson, Leslie Hill and Helen Paris and the enormous Performance Cosmology from CPR in Wales. We also have Meg Mumford’s detailed analysis of recent publications on contemporary theatre in Europe by and Maggie Philiips’ discussion of new work by Ramsay Burt . The articles section features new essays from a number of established and emerging scholars in the field. The topic of new forms and paradigms in performance emerges in essays such as Kate Rossmanith’s account of Bio Art, Jeffrey Morris’s discussion of digital music performance and Diana Smith’s account of Sydney based visual artists ‘The Kingpins’. We are especially excited to be publishing Meiling Cheng’s recent exploration of recent performance work in China.