A LIVING SCORE
Composition · Improvisation · Electronics · Environment · Real-Time Performance
A Living Score is an evolving performance and compositional practice created by Logan Richardson in which music is not treated as a fixed object, but as a system capable of responding to the performer, the environment, technology and the conditions of a particular moment.
Saxophone, piano, electronics, synthesis, drones, field and environmental sound, rhythm and silence exist within the same compositional field. Written material can coexist with improvisation; electronic systems can become instruments; and the acoustic characteristics of a space can become part of the work itself.
Rather than reproducing an identical performance from one presentation to another, A Living Score establishes an architecture within which the music can change. Each performance becomes a unique realization of the larger work—shaped by place, instrumentation, technology and real-time decision-making.
At its center is a simple proposition: the score can remain alive.
THE SCORE IS NOT THE INSTRUCTION.
THE SCORE IS THE ENVIRONMENT.
THE SYSTEM
A Living Score functions as an open system rather than a predetermined sequence of events. Acoustic instruments, electronics, environmental information and improvisation can each alter the direction of a performance. The relationship between these elements changes according to the room, the available instruments and the circumstances surrounding the work.
Technology is therefore not used simply as an effect. It becomes part of the compositional process itself. Sound can be sampled, transformed, layered or allowed to remain untouched. Silence and resonance carry equal weight, creating a performance architecture capable of expanding or contracting in real time.
The work continues to evolve.
INSTRUMENTATION — saxophones, piano/keys, electronics, synthesis, percussion/e-drums and evolving technologies.
ENVIRONMENT & TECHNOLOGY — this is where the plant-interface work and other responsive systems belong.
PERFORMANCES — documented presentations of A Living Score by place/date.
WATCH / LISTEN — actual media.