A Paradigm for Scoring Spatialization Notation

The present paper is a shortened version of the one presented at the ICMC/SMC2014 [1] where it was demonstrated that SSMN (Spatialization Symbolic Music Notation) research seeks to establish a paradigm wherein OSC (Open Sound Control) [2] and a Rendering Engine allow a musical score to be heard in divers Surround formats. The research team consists of composers, spatialization experts, IT specialists and a graphic designer. After having established a taxonomy identifying and classifying spatiality of sound with associated parameters, open source software is being developed and tested by practitioners in the field. Composers, utilizing dedicated graphic symbols integrated into a score editor, have full control over spatialization characteristics. They can audition the results and communicate their intentions to performers (i.e. conductors, musicians, dancers, actors) as well as to all participants in the chain from rehearsal to performance. SSMN capitalizes on time-based phenomena: choreographers can combine and synchronize sound and body movement; installation artists can program interactively visuals with audio manipulation; film and video can be enhanced with 3D sound effects and spatialized scores. SSMN focuses not only on musical composition, other performing and media arts or even game interaction design, but is useful in academic contexts such as professional training in conservatories and in musicological research addressing the perennity of spatialization in early electroacoustic music.