About the Talk

In this talk, I would like to take a phenomenological approach to the investigation of my 25+ years of experience writing computer code as a means of composing music and generating musical experience. In so doing, I will touch on a range of topics - including Code as Prosthesis, Lisp (List Processing), Sp/ARC (Specification and Audiation in Real-Time Composition), and Composing in the Continuum – and attempt to integrate this ‘dog’s breakfast’ within a wholistic experience that is rooted in – or at least related to - Taoist philosophy.

About the Speaker

Ron Herrema is a composer, digital multi-artist, and app developer. In recent years he has focused on live coding as both performer and researcher; he has also developed multiple app/artworks for mobile devices; co-produced the winning entry at The Tate Modern’s art hackathon; performed audiovisual free improv; composed for film; and created an interactive installation for the Tate Britain. He has been especially interested in integrating contemplative practices with technology and creativity, and is a certified teacher of Deep Listening. Currently residing in Bath, England, he is a Michigan native and received his PhD in composition from Michigan State University. He worked as a full-time lecturer at Northeastern University and at De Montfort University, followed by several years of working as a freelance creative technologist in London. For the past eight years, he has worked as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Computing at Bath Spa University.

The Talk

A piano piece, of Latin roots. It waxes and wanes through Spanish refrains, all the while evoking a reflective mood. But it is playful and urges a foot tap or a head sway that would evolve into a dance if you let it. Perfect for a piece named Baile…

This is how our inaugural BIG Culture guest talk, with Dr Ron Herrema on contemplative practices in computing and composition, commenced. Drawing on his background in music composition and computer science, Ron guided us through his personal history as well a whistle-stop tour of algorithmic composing, highlighting the stand-out figures in the field as well as his own personal mentors and heroes.

His tale begins at church, in a Dutch Calvinist environment which he left long ago, where he sat in contemplation whilst music played at the beginning of service. Ron recounted this as his first encounter with the concept of contemplation and its relation to music. However, the idea became tangible in the form of New Seed of Contemplation by Thomas Merton, which encouraged him to actively think about contemplation as a practice. Moving into University and beyond, with a BA from Calvin College, Ron was mentored by Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016) who developed the practice of Deep Listening:

“Deep Listening…explores the difference between the involuntary nature of hearing and the conscious nature of listening. The practice includes bodywork, sonic meditations, and interactive performance…“

Dr Herrema would eventually become a practitioner himself. He pointed out that Pauline had a practice of opening up her accordion first and just “letting it breathe” before playing even a single note. This practice of Deep Listening flowered the ideas of engaging in contemplation whilst playing music that had germinated whilst he had sat in church as a child. His next teacher was Laozi, through his seminal work the Tao Te Ching. It appealed to a longstanding fascination that Ron had about the relationship between efficiency and ease, which he believed was articulated in The Way, the core of Taoist practice:

“…the Great Way is easy…”

In simple terms, Ron wanted to study how the least amount of effort could accomplish the most amount of things, in the context of his composition and coding. This, combined with his study of contemplation, lead to questions such as: are coding and composition contemplative practices? When can we say ‘the Great Way is easy’? How can we flow?

Having linked his background in composition with coding via the Tao, Dr Herrema dove into his history with computing. His first exposure to computers was the Commodore 64 in ‘84, followed by Apple IIe in ‘85 and the Atari 520 ST in ‘87. Having come across Leon Brodie’s Starting Forth, he embarked on learning a language whose foundational syntactical unit was the word, alluding to the theological idea of the divine Logos. Ron then pointed out that he was attracted to Forth because of its terseness, which could have potentially related to his understanding of the Great Way. Following on from this Ron would briefly discuss the early compositional software and hardware that he encountered such as Dr T’s music software (a keyboard controlled sequencer) and UPIC (a graphic synthesis system) which was developed by Iannis Xenakis in his studio at Paris.

Dr Herrema then explored his early history of algorithmic composition, focusing on pieces such as Analogies (2001 which was made using AC Toolbox) - a lisp (list processing) based software developed by Paul Berg. This piece was preceded by Changing Weights in (2000) which is also the name of a function in AC Toolbox. His more recent works involve Music for Being (2012), Dancing Wu Wei and Infinity (2017), developed using Reaktor and OpenFrameworks in conjunction with AC Toolbox. Following Infinity Ron accepted the Southwest Creative Technology Network Automation Fellowship (2018-2019). His primary research as part of this Fellowship:

Dr Herrema then explored his early history of algorithmic composition, focusing on pieces such as Analogies (2001 which was made using AC Toolbox) - a lisp (list processing) based software developed by Paul Berg. This piece was preceded by Changing Weights in (2000) which is also the name of a function in AC Toolbox. His more recent works involve Music for Being (2012), Dancing Wu Wei and Infinity (2017), developed using Reaktor and OpenFrameworks in conjunction with AC Toolbox. Following Infinity Ron accepted the Southwest Creative Technology Network Automation Fellowship (2018-2019). His primary research as part of this Fellowship:

This, compounded by his encounter with Understanding Media - The Extensions of Man by Marshall MacLuhan lead to the development of Code as Prosthesis , a practice led research project. Why prosthesis? Etymologically, prosthesis finds its roots in prostithenai, from pros ‘in addition’ + tithenai ‘to a place’. The question beneath the question was: when does a tool become a prosthesis, to which Ron provided the following answer:

“When it becomes so integrated into one’s self as a means of sensing and controlling some dimension of the world, that it begins to function as part of oneself.”

Following on from the establishment of the project and the answering of his initial questions, Dr Herrema moved onto his next project Sp/ARC - Specification and Audiation in Real-time Composition (2020-2021). This project had three aims:

Following on from the establishment of the project and the answering of his initial questions, Dr Herrema moved onto his next project Sp/ARC - Specification and Audiation in Real-time Composition (2020-2021). This project had three aims:

• Develop series of templates for rapid creation of mobile audio software.
• Create an app that facilitates real time composition, including the ability to easily disseminate it.
• To create a beautiful interface. This was followed by a live demo of the software. Ron proceeded to wrap up the talk by discussing how undertaking the project helped answer the following questions for him:

How does one meet the self in one’s practice?

Listening inwardly and by engaging in one’s practice contemplatively.

When can we say the great way is easy?

When the simplicity of one’s tools are matched by their power and when they have become an extension of one’s self.