Making Music Based on Marcel Proust's "Combray"
Using the P22 Music Text Composition Generator

Michele Rosen
ATEC 6390 Translation in the Digital Age
Spring 2011

Introduction

Using the P22 Music Text Composition Generator, any text can be converted into sound. Each letter in the alphabet is assigned a note on the C major scale. The Generator also allows the "composer" (aka the translator) to choose from more than 100 electronic instruments and to select the beats per minute for the generated "song."

Best Result (based on original text)

First Attempts: Using the Generator "As-Is"

The Generator provides no suggestions for its use. Although its genesis clearly indicates that it was intended to create music, I found that simply cutting and pasting text as-is creates "sound," but not "music" -- the results seem (to me, at least) to lack the coherence one associates with a melody. At this point in the process, I didn't see any reason to bother switching instruments -- however, the speed (bpm) seemed relevant immediately. The Generator defaults to 120 bpm; after trial and error, I settled on 300 bpm and used this speed for the remainder of the project.

Unedited Source Text (112 words) and Sound Output

Longtemps, je me suis couché de bonne heure. Parfois, à peine ma bougie éteinte, mes yeux se fermaient si vite que je n'avais pas le temps de me dire: "Je m'endors." Et, une demi-heure après, la pensée qu'il était temps de chercher le sommeil m'éveillait; je voulais poser le volume que je croyais avoir encore dans les mains et souffler ma lumière; je n'avais pas cessé en dormant de faire des réflexions sur ce que je venais de lire, mais ces réflexions avaient pris un tour un peu particulier; il me semblait que j'étais moi-même ce dont parlait l'ouvrage: une élise, un quatuor, la rivalité de François Ier et de Charles Quint.

Proust, New Age

Proust, Timpani

Proust, Voice

Unedited Translation (130 words) and Sound Output

For as long as I can remember I have gone to sleep early. Sometimes, just after I put out my candle, my eyes would close so quickly that I did not even have time to say to myself: "I am falling asleep." And, a half an hour later, the thought that it was time to go to sleep woke me; I wanted to put down the book that I thought I still had in my hands and to blow out the light; as I slept, I had not stopped thinking about what I had just read, but these thoughts had taken a rather odd turn, in which it seemed to me that the work was about me: a church, a quartet, the rivalry between François I and Charles V.

Tr. Rosen, New Age

Tr. Rosen, Timpani

Tr. Rosen, Voice

From Sound to Music: Manipulating the Text

In an attempt to figure out whether the aforementioned incoherence was caused by the presence of stop words, I (somewhat haphazardly) removed common words from both the source text and the translation, resulting in the elimination of about half of the words in the text. At first, it occurred to me that I should have used an "official" list of stop words, but as it turned out, it was much more beneficial for me to create a list of keywords "by hand."

This was by far the most valuable step from a translation standpoint. For example, I initially started removing the word "I," but I saw quickly how frequently this word is used in the text. Actually, as I eventually discovered, Proust did not use it as much as I did in my translation. By comparing the keywords I selected from the original and the translation I could see that I had added three uses of the word "I" where Proust had used other words:

I also found two other words that I kept as keywords in English ("later" and "seemed") that I had not included in the keyword list derived from the original source text.

In other words, the process of condensing the text, which I initially undertook in an attempt to achieve a more aesthetically pleasing sound-based translation, was instrumental in highlighting the importance of certain words in the original text. I do not know how commonly or under what circumstances concordances are used in translation, but it seems to me that this "condensation" approach could be useful for looking at a translation through a different lens.

Keywords from Source Text (51 words) and Sound Output

longtemps je couché bonne heure parfois bougie éteinte yeux fermaient vite je temps dire je endors demi heure pensée temps chercher sommeil éveillait je voulais poser volume je croyais mains souffler lumière je cessé dormant réflexions je lire réflexions tour peu particulier je moi même parlait ouvrage église quatuor rivalité françois i charles quint

Proust, New Age

Proust, Timpani

Proust, Voice

Keywords from Translation (55 words) and Sound Output

long I remember I sleep early sometimes I candle eyes close quickly I time say myself I falling asleep half hour later thought time sleep woke I wanted book I thought I hands blow light I slept I stopped thinking I read thoughts odd turn seemed work me church quartet rivalry François I Charles V

Approaching Music by Removing Spaces

The output based on keywords still did not sound like music to me, however. To see if I could eliminate some of the skipping, I removed the spaces between the words. Voilà! I do not know how the Generator determines the length of each note, but eliminating the white spaces maintained some variation in note length while making the output sound much more coherent; much closer to music, to my ear.

At this point, it seemed worthwhile to try some of the different instruments. This made me think about which instruments seemed to fit with Proust's work. Honky-tonk piano? Harmonica? These instruments did not seem to resonate on the same frequency as Proust (orchestral harp, for example). In some cases, instruments with names that seemed promising turned out badly because of the electronic nature of the sound. When I tried Timpani, however, I knew I had something -- the rhythmic emphasis of the instrument sounded more natural than many of the other electronic sounds, even if it did not seem to fit with Proust's work. I can't say that any of these results seems like a perfect fit, but the process of thinking about which instruments might fit with Proust's work was valuable.

Sound Output from Source Text Using Keywords Without Spaces

Proust, Piano

Proust, Guitar

Proust, New Age

Proust, Timpani

Proust, Voice

Sound Output from Translation Using Keywords Without Spaces

Tr. Rosen, Piano

Tr. Rosen, Guitar

Tr. Rosen, New Age

Tr. Rosen, Timpani

Tr. Rosen, Voice

New Translation

The changes I made in my translation (limited, as with the rest of this project, to the first three lines) were prompted by the process of selecting keywords. I eliminated two of the three examples where I used "I" but Proust did not. I also added one of the words I selected as a keyword from the source but had not included in my original translation: "chercher."

For as long as I can remember I have gone to sleep early. Sometimes, just after putting out my candle, my eyes would close so quickly that I did not even have time to say to myself: "I am falling asleep." And, a half an hour later, the thought that it was time to try to go to sleep woke me; I wanted to put down the book that I thought I still had in my hands and to blow out the light; while asleep, I had not stopped thinking about what I had just read, but these thoughts had taken a rather odd turn, in which it seemed to me that the work was about me: a church, a quartet, the rivalry between François I and Charles V.

Conclusion

It does seem important to note that once I had something that sounded like music, it became increasingly difficult to care whether the sound fit with the original source material -- the music became a creation in and of itself, seemingly divorced from Proust's work and from my textual translation. I think this highlights the relationship between music and text -- while music and sound can obviously connote meaning, music appeals to a different sense (literally and figuratively) than a written text. Nevertheless, I think it's clear that incorporating music and sound into the translation process provides a fresh approach that can help the translator focus on the text in new and interesting ways.