Performance cartography, performance cartology: Musical networks for computational musicological analysis

This research seeks to track the creative processes of a group of musicians who were commissioned to make music with a set of digital tools created by the FluCoMa project. These tools offer many solutions for dealing with digital audio, notably large collections of sounds.

The varied and multidisciplinary natures of the case studies mean that traditional forms of analysis would miss essential parts of these practices. Subscribing to contemporary approaches, this research proposes a
methodology for analysis articulated around the idea of musical networks. Here, musical practice is conceived of as the configuration of, and existence within, networks of entities where musicking occurs.

The methodology is proposed in two parts: a cartographical, descriptive analysis that seeks to map these networks; and a cartological, interpretative analysis that seeks to inspect the nature of these networks. The methods are illustrated and developed by the case studies, grounding them in real musical practice.

With these methods, this research looks to address three primary questions: how can a network-oriented analytical stance account for temporality in musicking? Can we consider the network as constituting a materialised form of musical thought? And what are the ways in which entities of networks are configured?