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Since the early fifties “open form” has become a generic description for many different compositional concepts having in common musical outcomes which to a certain degree are indeterminate. The introduction looks into different meanings given to “form” in music and gives a historical survey of the origins of compositional indeterminacy. Next, the concept of “open form” is elaborated into a territory which is usually not associated with it: jazz. The introduction is followed by five case studies. Folio (1952-54) by Earle Brown is considered to contain the first intentionally “open form” works. It is driven by improvisational ideas, either at the compositional stage or at the interpretative stage. Brown's affinity with jazz also offers connections to other topics of the thesis. Miles Davis' Ife (1972) may at first seem like an odd inclusion in this study, but it is not. Its only oddity could be that of all the works discussed it has no score. But it is a composition; it is recognizable throughout its various incarnations and repeatable, and its outcome is indeterminate. Adam Rudolph did not conceive Ostinatos of Circularity as an “open form” work, but it is an indeterminate composition: it does have a score the musical result of which depends on the decisions made by the composer/conductor during the performance as well as the choices made by the performers. In Peter Zummo's Experimenting with Household Chemicals the performers play the same, often ambiguous, score, moving in the same direction at their own speed and discretion. The lack of synchronicity and the ambiguous notation result in a very elastic organic form. Anne La Berge refers to her recent works as “guided improvisations”. The scores mainly consist of suggestive text materials, software preset descriptions and rudimentary verbal indications, leaving major decisions to the performers. The last chapter is about my own work. It presents seven works (the scores of which can be found in the accompanying portfolio), composed between 2007 and 2011. Each of these works uses the score as a “field” through which the performers roam.

This thesis explores the expansion of the piano performance environment, using technology to augment the sound, the playing area of the piano and its surroundings, and/or the performer's own body in controlling electronic elements of the music. In particular I examine the extension of piano technique and how this is affected by adding technology. I also discuss collaborative compositional processes in creating co-authored musical works and have given a critical appraisal of the different technological systems used in all of these pieces. I have also introduced ideas about developing the structure of the piano to better suit contemporary techniques and the addition of technological elements in piano playing. These ideas are represented by my own "Inside-out Piano", illustrated within the thesis. Throughout this work many new pieces for piano and live electronics have been generated and I hope these may also be useful as a resource for other pianists exploring their own interactions with the piano.

This thesis describes a number of compositions in which the objective was to investigate whether, and how far, the organisation of light can function as an extension of musical expression in the non-figurative visual realm. I explore the extent to which sound and light are compatible as media, in the sense of both being able to communicate a common set of ideas. The thesis begins by placing the discussion in a historical context, with an overview of the history of analogies between sound and light from Antiquity to the 19th century, as well as the history of Light Art. The second part of the thesis describes synaesthesia as a historically developed aesthetic concept and as a field of research that reveals interesting facts about the neuronal processing of stimulations from the senses. The third part forms the core of the research. It leads from a general historic discussion to more specific problems that emerged in my own work with sound and light. Light is a medium strongly characterised by purity; at first, light therefore seemed an inappropriate medium in which to offer plausible translations of different degrees of sonic noise. However, because of the importance that the inclusion of noise has taken in music since the 20th century, this would have meant a severe handicap in looking for a homological relationship between sound and light in artistic contexts. From a discussion of the broad implications the idea of dirt has in social and cultural contexts, the focus is eventually reduced to the aesthetic problem at hand. By means of a classification of three different sorts of noise, a more differentiated understanding becomes possible of the various functions that noise can have. Corresponding forms of ‘dirty light’ eventually become conceivable and artistically applicable. In the fourth part, six compositions and one audiovisual installation are discussed. Each of these works explores different relationships between the visual and sonic component. When appropriate, the various concepts of ‘dirty light’ that have been derived in the third part are reflected in the form of concrete examples. After discussing each work individually, certain practical problems are addressed that surfaced repeatedly under different performance circumstances. In the fifth part I pose the question of how far events that are conceived to be musical have to be based on sonic events. Common definitions of music that describe sonic events as its exclusive concern are questioned and a number of examples of music are discussed where the sonic outcome is hardly audible or even completely silent. I propose a notion that conceives music as a larger field of activity in which visual manifestations form an integral part. The seven audiovisual works form the practical component of this dissertation. As a result of this research a more differentiated understanding of the nature of the coupling of sound and light has emerged, alongside a comprehension of the at times strongly differing views on the general nature of cross-disciplinary works.