"Disrupt The Norm: Creating New Music Compositional Tablatures Using Circos. Part II"

Crafting Disruptive New Music Compositional Tablatures.

"Spectrant Codes" for Cornet and Bass Flute.  Bil Smith Composer

"Spectrant Codes" for Cornet and Bass Flute.  Bil Smith Composer


Circos is a novel software program  for visualizing data and information. It visualizes data in a circular layout — this makes Circos ideal for exploring relationships between objects or positions. Circos was initially designed for displaying genomic data (particularly cancer genomics and comparative genomics) and molecular biology.

Bil Smith

Bil Smith


Beginning in 2012, composers at Laboratorie New Music have been working on modifications of the Circos program to create a systematic, fluid tablature system to facilitate compositional structure. 


The notion to explore this powerful visualization tool came about from a separate study we were conducting on the implications of 'Big Data'.


The potential of big data is immense.  Eliminate constraints on the size, type, source and complexity of relevant data, and composers can ask bolder questions.


Technology limitations that once required sampling or relied on assumptions to simplify high-density data sets have fallen to the march of technology.

Louise Wei

Louise Wei


At Laboratorie New Music, we have been working towards the realization of alternative musical tablatures; some highly restrictive and some indeterminate. We are proponents of game theory, constructivism, computational linguistics, ellipsometry, and hypoliterary fragmentation; cross disciplinarian approaches to unearthing new methodologies to construct musical languages.

Danielle Bourette

Danielle Bourette


Page from the Score of "Explorer, Producer, Stoic, After Your Fashion" for String Quartet.  Acetate, plexiglass, zinc powder, oil, mica, oil pen and combustion.