I am such a fan of everyday objects with personality, like in the work of Yuri Suzuki, where music is constructed from daily domestic noises, or technologically advanced machines that produce music like in the pneumatic quintet by Pe Lang and Zimoun. I discovered recently the stunning work of Felix Thorn, the Felix's machines, music making sculptures.
Video
FielDrum by Graham Grindlay is an acoustic drum outfitted with a system of magnetics which are used to induce pushing and pulling forces on a drumstick and ideally guiding a player through correct motions.
How do people learn the kinds of complex physical gestures required to play musical instruments? Although a beginning percussion student may know what motions are involved in a paradiddle, it will still take practice to develop the motor programs required to produce those motions. Part of the underlying hypothesis of the Magnetic Musical Training project is that beginners would benefit from a kinesthetic "preview" of a target gesture's correct execution. The MMT project is investigating whether people can "learn-by-feel" and if so, how this approach compares to traditional motor training?
One of the current MMT projects is the FielDrum, an acoustic drum outfitted with a system of electromagnets, permanent magnets, and control electronics. These are used to induce "pushing" and "pulling" forces on a drumstick moving it through a desired path in space. In its current state, the FielDrum has two states (attract or repel) which are controlled using the MIDI protocol (noteon messages attract the drumstick while noteoff messages repel it). Presently, we are working to add a position sensing system for the drumsticks as well as continuous control over the electromagnet.
Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ Architectradure
Blog Maison Blog Passion
A video on the beach by Keith Loutit that resembles stop motion (effect Tilt Shift) found on this super neat French blog Fubiz. The video animates beach lovers that shape like sharp color points using the fashionable effect called Tilt Shift, effect I used a lot to present my sculpture work, playing with a unusual depth of field, to create optical illusions and to give it a maquette look and feel. This effect is apparently also called smallgantics, popular effect based on a Thom Yorke music video.
For the amateurs of the animations with the beach, don't forget to check “la plage” by Bokanovski.
Beached from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.
Another video by Keith Loutit where the effect is even more stunning!
Bathtub III from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.
A very satisfying video of human motions within the light. Large format camera and filmed in high definition, the video entertains the viewer with light coordinated with motions. It is pleasing and becomes satisfying to watch the dancer twisting and jumping throughout the streets, playing with water and flowers. The soundtrack is a nice add-on by M83 (You appearing, Lower Your Eyelids to Die With the Sun), Sigur Ros (Staralfur) et Besnard Lakes (Devastation). Enjoy!
Human Movement in Light from Jordan Clarke on Vimeo.
My friend Amit Zoran, from the Ambient Intelligence group at MIT Media Lab, continued his work on structural innovation, re-designing acoustic musical instrument according to the abilities and characteristics of rapid prototype materials. Together with Pattie Maes and Marco Coppiardi, they created a new generation of physical instruments by tailoring wooden hearts. The wooden pieces are inserted in body of the guitar to give the instrument the desired sound identity.
Watch the video of the resonator ->here<-
Amit changing the physical heart of his guitar
can traditional values be embedded into a digital object? in this project we implement a special guitar that combines physical acoustic properties with virtual capabilities. The acoustical values will be embodied by a wooden heart - a unique, replaceable piece of wood that will give the guitar a unique acoustic sound. The acoustic signal created by this wooden heart will be digitally processed in a virtual sound box in order to create flexible sound design.
Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ Architectradure
As a child I empowered my toys with all kinds of will of their own. We all have one day stood up on a chair pretending it was a boat crossing Niagara Falls. Well Yuichiro Katsumoto did it. He creates objects that become anything you want with noises. By combining common household commodities with computers, Yuichiro Katsumoto works on ubiquitous computing. He created a set of daily objects that give our everyday lives a whimsical spin.
He created Amagatana an umbrella for enjoying a blissful walk after a rain.
Amagatana is a mystical sword for enjoying the blithe feeling after the rain. When you swing Amagatana, you can hear the sound of swords clashing from the headphone. Amagatana seems to be just a plastic umbrella. You also seem just like a cheerful person when you are playing Amagatana. However, the umbrella exists beautifully in your hand as a “sword”. On your way home, Amagatana offers you the world of make-believe. Then, you will be able to get a feel for heroes of comics, cartoon, and video games. It’s your own pleasure, which nobody can notice.
He also created Fula, a muffler for warming the user's body and soul on a cold winter's day. Ordinary mufflers protect our body against the cold by blocking the cold air. However, Fula warms the user by encouraging him to physically move, by fluttering its fabric in a superhero-like manner in response to the user's muscular contractions. Through acting in accordance to the flutter, the user can warm his body, and by seeing the reflection of his heroic self in store windows, his soul as well. Fula can also be used in conjunction with Amagatana, to have the two interact together.
I found this awesome video on Youtube. You gotta watch this video. It is too funny.
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Blog Jouons
Is this a land for you and me 1 by artist Paul Ramirez Jonas.
Upon entering the exhibition space the public encounters short bases each supporting a hand bell. All the hand bells together form a song. Meaning, for each note in the melody, there is a hand bell. In fact, the bases are a blow up of the song's score, cup up so that each note is isolated. The only notes that remain grouped are the chorus. Members of the public are invited to take one bell/note, take it along, and ring it as they see the show. On their way out, they would place the bell back on its pedestal. The song is thus fractured and dispersed in the space. There is a slim chance that the public, either by chance or through cooperation, could perform the melody.
Posted by Cati Vaucelle
♥ Architectradure
What could that be? The sound machine project consists of a pneumatic quintet that will be playing at the Hanover Fair, the world's biggest industrial fair.
Five automatic sound machines will provide musical accompaniment for the opening celebrations at the Hanover Fair. Pneumatic components and a PLC control system will be applied very differently from the way they are used in industrial automation: They will create a bridge between technology and art.
21 micro-cylinders are used in each sound machine. The micro-cylinders imitate the mechanical movements of a musician's left hand on the string instruments, determining the pitch of the tone by changing the length of the strings. Various drumsticks and a jazz brush are moved on the drum by micro-cylinders.
Enjoy the movie of the sound machine project.
"The idea of constructing musical robots or music machines is by no means new. The 18th century was the heyday of the machine constructors. However, the technical possibilities of Roland Olbeter’s sound machines by far transcend those of earlier music-boxes, especially since electronic media open up entirely new realms of sound." - Festo
See also the fantastic Chandelier, a large scale robotic musical instrument created by Mike Fabio, Steve Pliam and Tod Machover.
Video of the Chandelier
Don't forget to check Untitled sound objects by Lang + Zimoun that are absolutely gorgeous. Thank you commentator gr Hicham for the link!
Video
Some use Hyperscore, a music software program designed to teach students and adults how to compose music simply by drawing lines on the screen, some use loop tracks, by simple drag of slider left or right and up and down using vertical lines.
Created by Angela Chang, Zstretch is a fabric device that can capture the richness of active touch interactions for controlling music interactions. Much of the prior work on integrating electronics with textiles focused on rigid, exact places for touching the fabric, rather than supporting the many actions our hands and bodies can create. The project explores how to support the large range of forces that people apply when interacting with fabric.
Paper for Nime 2007
E-baby Produced by Pleix / Chased by Cowboys. Music: Bleip. 2003.
Beauty kit Produced by Pleix. Music: Bleip. 2001.
Music videos that mainly deal with the question of the influence of technology on our lives such as biotechnology, media and plastic surgery, etc ... Pleix is a virtual community of digital artists -3d, musicians, graphic designers- based in Paris. I like their progression from the beauty kit, the e-baby: how to order a baby online, to birds as flying dogs: the imagery is stunning, to the complete human assimilation of freaky gigantic robotic-plastic rabbit.
Birds Produced by Pleix / Blink. Music: Vitalic. PIAS. 2006.
All their videos.
Check also Régine Debatty's report on Pleix's talk.
E-baby video
Toujours plus haut toujours plus fort! Music discovery systems can lack graphic visualization, Musicovery does not! 
Singing Sock Puppets by Matthew Brown
This is a MIDI controller sock puppet. Opening and closing the mouth bends a flex sensor and makes the puppet 'sing' up and down a scale. He can be tuned to sing in any scale - blues, pentatonic, chromatic and so on. These puppets could be used to help illustrate relatively complex musical theory - such as the differences between blues, chromatic and pentatonic scales - through play; this type of musical terminology doesn't normally enter the school music curriculum until GCSE level in the UK (ages 15 - 16).
Enlighted by Marc Downie's work at the MIT Media Lab, I just checked his company Openended Group where he co-creates digital artworks for stage, screen, gallery, museum and public spaces.
His PhD thesis (459 pages) on choreographing the extended agent is available for download online.
I selected this quote that I find particularly interesting regarding my current research ...
If you cast your mind back to childhood, you will soon discover our topic – motion-mapping – most clearly and imaginatively revealed. There in the games and pursuits of your earliest years you can distinguish this phenomenon in its three most basic forms. You can also follow each form forward in time to find out what they grew into -- forms of art.
You might start by bringing back the movement games you played so ardently as a child – in particular the games of imitation and mimicry, like Copycat, Follow the leader, Charades, Simon Says, and the innumerable variants you and your friends would improvise. These games had you map the movements of others onto your own body, sometimes in the simplest one-to-one transformations (as when you followed the leader), but sometimes more intricately, as when you mimicked a lion, or a horse, or a gladiator...
In 1960 John Cage appears in a popular TV show and performs the music piece water walk. He uses sounds of everyday objects to compose. His carefulness and very precise actions show that he must have rehearsed hundred of times to perform his piece. Via multimedialab.
Video
Recently, Nicholas Knouf created an interactive version of John Cage's graphical score Variations 2, called Variations 10b. I tried it during an exhibition at the Lewis Music Library at MIT and found the interface very convincing. The interface allows a performer to change the score and get immediate feedback as to the result. Nicholas hopes that both listeners and performers will develop a more nuanced understanding of the score through the use of the interface.
Paper on variations 10b.
Three dots activated in a performance
Rachel's graphical representation of Dan's musical composition
During the H2.0 event, Adam Boulanger, researcher at the Hyperinstruments group with Professor Tod Machover presented their most impressive latest research: enabling musical expression.
Dan Ellsey, who has cerebral palsy, has been composing with the Hyperscore environment for almost two years. Adam developed a head-set and supporting software so that Dan could expressively perform his hyperscore compositions as a soloist. Dan worked closely with the team to perform his “eagle song” using head movements during the event. Rachel Roppolo worked on translating the sensor inputs from Dan into minimal graphics. Zach Watts worked on the curve algorithm to determine the type of shape Dan was making.
The performance was clearly impressive, very detailed and empowered the public.
I later talked to Adam about the project. He explained that the project necessitated a number of important steps. The team initially built on the commercial head tracker that Dan usually uses. However the commercial tracker was unsuccessful for a performance because it is not fast enough and is not reporting continuous data. Adam had to create a continuous head tracker.
Regarding the design aspects of the system, Adam had to work closely with Dan to come up with the algorithm that he needed to get clean data from Dan’s head movements, the team later calibrated the sensors for Dan.
The other step consisted in designing a controller that could run a performance. The team designed a new software that could take Dan’s range of motions and velocity of movement. They also had to do curve analysis to determine the type of shape Dan was making. Adam had to also figure out, based on his piece and movement, how this would be represented as an expression of the piece. The whole process was a discussion back and forth between Dan and the team. The system being done, they went through the piece of music and defined the type of movement needed for expression.
The performance was incredible. I cried, impressed by what the team had achieved.
The speakers were all impressive, I missed a few of them that I have to catch up on the archive. The webcast of the event is available online.
Adam, Dan and Tod
Aurelius Prochazka, a big fan of Guitar Hero, developped a Guitaraoke Revolution game. Apparently an amazing guitar and ear workout, he offers how to play the Guitaroke Revolution using a simple hack. Basically, "splice your Karaoke Revolution microphone so that the microphone ends in a plug and the USB converter end has a jack" ...
More details on .apb.
Morwaread Farbood. Photography by Susan Wilson.
Presenting a harpsichord/piano sculpture in my previous post, I thought it would be nice to attend an authentic harpsichord concert. My friend Mary Farbood is performing in Cambridge and in New York this April.
Morwaread Farbood, American harpsichordist of Iranian and Japanese descent, is quickly becoming recognized as one of the rising young stars in the harpsichord world. She was selected for the Pro Musicis International Award in 2006 and won First Prize at the Prague International Harpsichord Competition the previous year.
Drawing and Tag cloud I made for the Kendall T Band
Looking for a site to show Charles Goldman when he is in town, I finally picked the famous Kendall Band - Kepler, Pythagoras, Galileo designed, fabricated and installed by Paul Matisse.
In 1987, Paul Matisse installed in Cambridge, Kendall T Station, the The Kendall Band a musical sculpture. Passengers can move handles located on each platform and will activate hammers that strike the bells. The instruments are suspended in arches between the tracks. Made of aluminum, teak, steel, the band consists of :
· Kepler a 55-inch aluminium ring that hums for five minutes after it is struck by the large teak hammer above it.
· Galileo a sheet of stainless steel that imitates a train roaring in when a train roars in.
· Pythagoras twin sets of eight bells of the type of the new memorial bell in Washington.
The Kendall Sculptures are very much the thing I love to show to a tourist in town. Being a student at MIT, I am not afraid of technical objects, I find them sexy. Bringing technicality into the T station where it is full of machines and the metallic sound resonating with its own voice: the sound of the train, the aluminum as a metal and the reverberation of the vibrato into the station, is exciting. It is definitely unique and as Paul Matisse says: “it is MIT’s baby”.
Social challenge: talk to strangers
It seems contradictory to what my grand ma told me: do not talk to strangers. Well, artists are different, they want things to be different. Paul Matisse wants strangers to talk to each others and maybe meet. He also thinks music can help that to happen. Passengers waiting for their trains can play with the sculpture. Sometimes, strangers can meet: can look at each others, can smile, maybe play together? I believe that one can cut herself from the visuals, but it is harder to do with sounds. So one can notice the change of sounds. Because propagating the sounds throughout the entire station is not directed towards one person, people can then feel free to respond or ignore the gesture. The inside is invaded, but somehow no pressure is put on bringing it outside. One can choose. And sometimes strangers can meet.
Music
The Kepler strikes an F sharp to go with the B minor of the Pythagoras.
Pictures
No picture for this post so you can then fully discover it when you are in Boston!
For more info, read the article Kendall Sculptures Bring Music, Talk to Strangers, The Tech, Volume 115, Number 66, 1996.
