String Techniques in the Composition: Synthetic Symphonic Sound

Abstract

The composition series “Synthetic symphonic sound” is comprised of 2 piece, “Ripples” for ensemble of 7 musicians and “Fertile” for symphony orchestra. This article describes the aspects of nature of string instrument as well as its various special techniques to create a variety of colours in the piece ”Fertile”. Because of predominant role of string instruments in the piece, The study of string techniques is very necessary not only for this piece but for all orchestral compositions. It was found that the acoustic instruments could produce a very colourful sound synthesis, comparable to the sound generated by the synthesis process with computer assistant if composer manipulates them in very detailed with care and deep understanding. The composer is influenced by the concept of sound synthesis in spectral music especially in the aspect of complex sound. The Sonic Event is caused by overlap of multiple sounds in multiple frequencies. By applying this concept to orchestral music, a new, innovative composition of acoustic sound synthesis was created.