This is a song that either Peter or Connor shared and I really liked it because of its simplicity. It's actually quite repetitive but I think it's texturally interesting enough to keep the listener engaged. This is something I'd like to explore with my group because we discussed the idea of playing with all types of machines, pedals, etc. to create varied textures. We also discussed the idea of having each person switch between melodic, harmonic, and bass roles, which I think would also contribute to the goal of creating different textures.

Paige suggested this video as an example of a way we could use the flute and layer sounds on top of each other to make a chord or a flute choir sound. I hadn't heard this song before and really liked her idea. I think this is a good example of something that we are going to experiment with in using the flute in our electronic composition and in interacting with the media in a performance setting. We are going to play around with recording my playing and creating layers to then play over. I am excited about the possibilities and the ideas this will generate. 

Flute Flute Flute

Merryl explained to Ben and I the different ways you can make sounds with flute other than pitches and notes. For example, using key clicks, tongue stops, breath sounds, etc.. Merryl showed us one artist in particular named Matthias Ziegler who displays many of these concepts. We are experimenting with these sounds in EMSB next week!

 Salutations, so we are trying to make some dope tunes with the flute and we've been looking at stuff done already online. I randomly remembered a track that me, Connor and other PATs worked on in a class and started listening to it and I totally forgot that it had flute in it. So here is a little something dope with flute, we put a tape delay on the flute and an insane amount of reverb and delay on the vocals and then played with the tape delay in real time.

Davis Studio Manual

Thanks to Leith, we have an initial version of a manual for the Davis Technology Studio. It will live in Google Drive, and this link will always point to the most current version.

Post 3

My group has decided to create a piece for percussion that is mostly based on nature and natural elements. In addition to percussion, we've decided to use field recordings as a major part of the piece. This video is a great example of a soundscape piece created with field recordings.

3D printing magic

Spencer, Sam and I have been discussing ways to use 3D printing technology to be able to physically patch a classical instrument to a computer (I hope I used that correctly, PAT majors).  The idea that one can dream up an idea, program it, and print it inside a box is, to me, pure magic.  While we aren't looking to print entire instruments, as the composer in the following video did, we are able to modify what we already have in a way that lets us realize some pretty neat ideas.  Looking forward to working with you guys!

The typical structure version

Gunter Hampel Music & Dance Improvisation - Black Box Theater

This video presents one musician and one dancer working in a black box space. The reason I'm posting it is because 1) we have used this structure (with two musicians, one dancer) to experiment inside and have considered including it as part of our final offering, 2) I found it really difficult to find videos to go beyond this mold into some of the things we also talked about, including shifting roles, playing with text, audience participation, and presenting what happens during the "warm-up" period typically prior to a performance as part of the performance. So this video represents a more typical structure of how musicians and dancers improvise together.

Team PinealGland's inspo

https://vimeo.com/69152711


Having discussed possible ideas, we came across this video which inspires our future setup with floor projections and utilizing blob tracking to create an interactive visual environment.

Silence Video

This video is by a dear friend of mine, Jonathan Hulting-Cohen. He is UM alumni and took part in a wide array of collaborations during his time at UM for his undergraduate and graduate degrees. This video brings together several art forms that I hope to be presenting with my group with Molly and Daphna this semester. Dance, PAT and music are brought together quite elegantly here as the performers travel through a mix of composed and improvised material and proves to be quite the journey!

Blog Assignment

This week's Blog assignment, two parts:  Part one, you now have a team and a bit of an idea of where you're headed.  Search out some examples of work you didn't know about before that relates to the direction your team is headed.  Feel free to take suggestions from your teammates in your search.  Post the example with some substantive comment.  Part two, Welcome to your team blog!  As stated in the syllabus (feel free to review), it's time to start updating your project's progress on your team's page.  For the first week present some of your initial ideas and a tentative schedule for completion.  This is not binding, but it should be realistic.  Please have it in by the usual time, Friday 11:59:59, and be sure and comment on something a classmate posted.

What is PAT?

Destroy

I have destroyed many things during my three years of being in the PAT department, intentionally and accidentally. I have made waterproof microphones, then shattered their casings while drilling into them. I have saved over a final composition Logic document with a blank one. I have purposely chopped up samples and recordings until they don’t sound to their original form in the slightest, and then I have accidentally done the same thing. I have also accidentally ripped out a joystick from a Gamecube controller while mapping parameters in Max/MSP.

And that’s fine. When everything leaves me and ultimately becomes destroyed, my brain restarts, my originality snaps back, and my outlook about my project changes typically for the better (after crying). 

“Think BIGGER”

A phrase I often hear. Can you expand on that? How can you turn this into a bigger concept? Etc.

When an individual comes up with an idea in the PAT department, everyone says that it’s great. But the PAT department also values one another SO much that we all know everyone can do better than great. Professors push us toward being the best we can be as creative souls, and us students labor to think up ideas that are past the obvious, the easy, and the “done before”. We always strive to  complete something original, which is my next word. Let’s talk about that.

Originality

Similarly to “think bigger,” no one ever wants to see a project that’s been done before. A fellow friend of mine in the PAT department once created an instrument that appeared to be made out of a human ribcage. Another created a tiny water display that, when interacted with, would trigger the projection of his own face on the wall to react in different ways. Personally, I find the pressure to be original daunting, but at the same time I value this concept more than most things the PAT Department has to offer.

Assumptions

We make beats. We make electronic music. We make dubstep, maybe? We hide like vampires in the basement. We do sound for the performing arts, which is theatre. Only theatre. 

PAT is diverse. I have never met two people in the department who wish to follow the same exact path after graduation.

Better Late Than Never - Week 1: Dance-Movement-Improvisation-Composition

This video (starts ~:32) is of a work/study that I recently did last semester. It’s 100% improvised and the two main movers are myself and recent grad Kula Batangan. Through our movement process Kula and I were investigating questions of physical support, gender expectations, trust, and intentionally being in relation to one another in a changing environment. The work was fueled by Shannon Jackson’s writing on “Performance, Aesthetics, and Support,” from her book Social Works, which I was reading in another class. For me, it shows us grappling with an idea without getting to a particularly perfect or easy conclusion, which I think is probably a good representation of what gets me excited or a space I’m willing to work in.

There is not a video of this so I’m sharing a link to a pic and a description of a group that worked with live improvisational movement, visual artists, and musicians and I’ve been interested in working with other mediums in improvisational settings. This is one form that’s open score... there are other options of course for this type of work.

http://www.the7lovelies.com/single-post/2016/02/22/The-Lovelies-at-ShapeShifter-with-Kinesis

Tradition:

Next to the seemingly monolithic tradition of "classical music", I think other traditions are often - though understandably - overlooked. Specifically relevant to this class is the tradition of electronic/experimental/etc music! There definitely is one and I think there is a lot to learn from it.

All PAT students take Prof. Gurv's PAT 101 class, which follows the birth of tape music in the 1920s (!!!) to today. An essential part of any successful artwork is context, and when it comes to collaborations of tech/art/music, PAT students tend to have a wealth of information to share! 

Basically, TED and youtube have a lot of "cutting edge" "music technology" videos - some are fresh and some use 10-40 year old ideas and technology (still can be fresh). I hope we don't let our work stop at "cutting edge", because the important thing is the piece itself, it's intention and such... An awareness of tradition / context can certainly help out the process!

Instrument:

There's something I really admire about attaching yourself to the mastery of a specific instrument - the depth of connection, extension of self, sole vehicle of artistic expression, etc. It seems super powerful.. 

I don't have the experience of the instrument, and neither do a lot of PAT people (generally speaking). This fosters a different musical worldview, almost at the base level. Maybe most immediately, we (again, generally) are most comfortable in different musical worlds (i.e. not "classical music").

Practically speaking, I often perform using guitars, my voice, keyboards, multi-instrument set-ups, electronics/computer, saxophone, misc., etc..... I'm more focused on context, musicianship, the "hole" that I'm filling. While I have general chops on some instruments, others are used only in specific occasions for a specific sound. I sort of think about my ears as my primary instrument (and the brain/soul that is attached to them). Much of my practice is critically listening to music, intentionally seeking out new ideas and trying to understand what is unfamiliar to me.

I'm also interested in developing my own instruments, but I have yet to build one that I can set up quickly enough to use in a "working environment"... lol.

Any sound you can imagine:

This is a phrase / idea that shows up a lot when people discuss technology in music. Basically every wave of new synthesis tech has made this claim, and it's an idea at the root of many new instrument designs. People are all about having total control. Personally, I'm more about have effective, expressive control! Or you know, maybe not even having that. Constraints are sometimes super helpful to me. 

Performing Arts and/with/without Technology

I tend to take issue with the technologist / performer dichotomy, or at least the way it is often presented. A lot of it comes down to the distinction of "what is my art?" and "what do I need to do to make my art possible?". For me, technology is a means to an end, not the end itself. 

In the same way we don't label performers, "practice room - ers", I don't call myself a technologist. While great performers are amazing practicers and great PAT performers are often very capable technologists, we must remember to make art with each other! I hope that collaborations in this class give each person an equitable role in art-making.

Classical Saxophone and Soundpainting

In the two disciplines that I've brought to the table, I hope to present a few terms that will help clear up common misconceptions of what I do

1) Classical saxophone - Despite the use of the term "classical", the saxophone was not invented during the classical period of music (1730-1820) but was patented by its inventor Adolphe Sax in the mid-1840s during what is considered the Romantic era of music. In a typical course of study in classical saxophone, music genres range greatly between French concert pieces, like those of Jules Demersseman and Jean Baptiste Singelee, and modern music, like the works of Georg Friedrich Haas and John Adams.

2) Prompter - In the Soundpainting community, there is a strong effort to differentiate the role of a conductor of a band or orchestra and a prompter in Soundpainting. A conductor typically works from a musical score of pre-existing material provided by a composer. A prompter, on the other hand, generates suggestions of musical ideas which are left to the ensemble members to interpret and perform. So although conductors and prompters share similar spots on a stage, the subtle differences in their roles in their ensembles demands that each discipline be acknowledged as its own craft.

3) Improvise - Just as I want to respect that conductors and promoters are master of their respective crafts, I think it would be a crime to say that I play jazz because I have not spent time or have had training to be proficient in that medium and I respect jazz artist tremendously for what they do. My work as an improviser stems from the work of the Creative Arts Orchestra: it simultaneously abandons pre-existing notions of genre, style, or structure but embraces them as they appear in spontaneous music making. 

To extend what I brought up in my expression of what I do as an improviser, I want to address the distinction between different saxophonists. For better or for worse, the way saxophone is studied in higher education institutions have led to the categorization of saxophonists as being "classical" or "jazz" saxophonists. The divergence in culture and traditions of each branch saxophone playing is so great that it is extremely difficult for an individual to be proficient in both languages so it is really unfair to assume that a saxophonist is completely fluent in both languages. It would be the equivalent of asking someone on a sports team to be able to play any position on the team - although it would be ideal to be able to be a master of everything, there simply aren't enough hours in a day to be able to do all of that! I would love to answer questions/comments about this idea!

Language - post 2!

1. Shifts: I know this term in a couple different contexts within dance. For example, shifting weight from one leg to another, or from the heels to the balls of the feet. So we can experience individual weight shifts, and we can also share weight with each other and shift weight from one person to another. Another shift I was thinking of was compositional shifts that happen in group improvisational settings. I was in a workshop once where we were working on shifts and coined the phrase, “shifts happen”. I’ve been fond of them ever since.
   
2. Warming into moving: I know this phrase to be used in improvisational dance settings. It is the time that you spend warming your own body up - listening to your own impulses for movement and allowing yourself to follow them. Listening and saying “yes” to these impulses. As you continue to move you often start to increase your awareness of others and your compositional choices for movement while also trying to stay with and keep awareness of your own impulses. I am drawn to these words as they represent a key part of the improvisational process.
   
3. 4th Wall: I’m not sure if this is secret, but in breaking away from the proscenium style theater, the “breaking of the 4th wall” is key. The fourth wall is the area at the front of the stage between the performers and the audience. I’m a fan of site-specific work that incorporates the history and space of a performance site.

Here’s what I’ve heard a lot… “oh I’ve seen modern dance, on So You Think You Can Dance”. My grandmother said this to me after asking me if I watched the show. I said no and that the show was more in the vein of commercial dance and I study modern dance. I nodded and smiled of course, it was my grandmother, but this is a standard conversation I have experienced. It can be tricky when a person outside of dance sees something labeled “modern” dance on tv and not know the difference between that and the long lineage of artists that developed and continue to develop and expand that extremely broad category. I think some things about the commercialized version of dance that really get to me are how it’s “beautiful” “emotive”; dancers are “gorgeous”. Conversely, some people also know modern dance to be “weird”. Dance does have different genres and dances that stem from different cultural heritages. It is everything of the body, of life, and often beyond the body through imagery.  It can be anything, and everything - it is expansive, not limiting. This is my belief.

-Molly

I

What are three of your favorite words from the 'secret language' of your discipline, and why are you drawn to them?

This is interesting to reflect on since for me I dislike labels. As dancers we tend to use as many of the senses as possible to illicit interactions and reactions when dealing with many subject matters. The words and labels that come up to describe the art form of dance are. Mesmerizing, Amazing and of course "How do you remember all those steps."



What is the outsider description of your discipline that you find to be most inaccurate, reductionist or plain wrong? 

For me, I think when you say that I teach dance and I am choreographer they only think of commercial dance. They think of hey "I Saw so you think you can dance."  Or they say hey "show me a dance move". Or they assume that you want to dance at any event when there is music playing. The point being is that some people do not have an idea of what I means to train as dancer. To train as a dancers actually means that you approach your craft from a cross discipline approach. Many dancers are film makers, Musicians and painters. When dancers see they are usually seeing in depths of 3-4 layers at any given time to figure out ways to interact with the audience using all of the senses. 

Post 2

1. Processing - Processing is anything done to affect an audio signal. It can be used to totally change a sound, manipulate a sound, enhance a sound, etc. It can be done in many different ways using many different tools. It can be done in a live performance setting or a studio setting. Processing is at the heart of audio technology.

2. Hi-Fi - High fidelity audio is just really good sounding audio. As a person who loves working in the studio, I put a lot of effort into making things sound real good.

3.  Aesthetics - This is not a secret PAT word, but I think it's an important word for art making. I think for a work of art to be completely successful, it has to be aesthetically pleasing. And I think for a collaboration to be successful, the collaborators have to have a shared aesthetic.

There are so many types of PAT majors that do so many different types of things, so just keep that in mind.

Wearing Many Hats

The many 'hats' a PAT major wears are great deal. Most of us come from a variety of different backgrounds (music, visual artist, engineering, computer science), and somehow we end up in the same program.  These three words describe my discipline:

1) Movement

Most of my practice is influenced by staging interactions involving movement. Whether that be between performers, audience members or other objects. In the PAT department we do this through various hardware / software to create these moments.

2) Chops

Another aspect of being a PAT major for me is also being a performer -  'Chops' refers to your overall ability to play - whether that be something super technical with lots of notes, or a piece that requires longer notes with more breathe. It also refers to your physical 'fitness' of your playing - For instance, if I haven't played clarinet in awhile - my chops aren't as strong.

3)  Processing

In PAT, this word means taking in input (whether that be audio signal, sensor input ) and manipulating it in some way to get a desired output. I also love how this word can relate to other types of processing: information, memory, actions)

PAT words

Some favorite words of mine that find themselves in the language of my discipline:

1) Sample - This word is used a lot in my world, either referring to units of signal processing (such as the Sampling Rate), or an audio recording being used (sampled) in a new/different context. But what I really like about this word is simply that, at its core, all it means is there are multiple ideas that create the larger picture, and they are all equally important.

2) Process - I hear this word a lot when it comes to my discipline in a Live setting. "Live processing..." Which isn't really that specific, right? So what I try to think of when I'm "processing" something/someone, is that I'm trying to be an instrumentalist of a pre-existing sound, without losing what originally drew me to want to "process" the sound in the first place.

3) Produce - Everyone knows what a producer does, right? ...A lot of times, it's usually a grey area. Some people like to look to the individual who conceived the idea,  while others look to whoever first made the beat before there was a vocalist on top of it. When I think of what a "producer" is, I think of the individual that was essential to the work being created, to getting all the musical elements and artists that were necessary together; the one who pushes each artist until they've recorded the most perfect take, just so they can be the one to put a seal on the end of it, saying "that's it, we're finished."

Honestly, there are so many poor views on what PAT is, I feel, and it simply has to do with this idea of us all studying the same thing... because a lot of the time, we aren't. I think people would have to meet all of us just to begin to grasp just how diverse our department is. Because based on who've you've met, your view of the average PAT student could be quite tainted. Some of us are mainly interested in a lot of coding aspects and using other various computer processing for work with audio, others are into instrument design, and others like to get in the studio. (There are even more different avenues in PAT that I could list; I just think my point is already evident.) SO... with that being said, I don't think there's one description of what a PAT major is that I hear the most or is the most wrong, I just think that the very idea that there could be one description is a wrong thought to have in the first place.

Just some technical jargon for you to enjoy!

Hello everyone:

So here are a few technical terms for percussion that I think are interesting and not many people think about:

1) Grip - This term refers to how we hold the stick/mallet. Though it seems like a simple concept (with the whole "you just hold a stick and hit the thing" thought process), it is actually extremely advanced. I have been a percussionist for over 10 years, and I am still today working on the technical aspects of my grip. It is the direct link to being able to communicate and control everything you play, no matter how difficult/easy/quiet/loud/fast/slow it it. Percussionists do not just hold the stick.

2) Closed versus Open Rolls - This refers to how percussionists execute rolls (our version of sustained notes) when playing them. There are traditional open rolls, meaning that for every wrist/arm motion the stick hits the drum twice, and closed rolls which means the stick hits the drum three or more times for every wrist/arm motion. This is more commonly known as a buzz roll (a term that I think is a misnomer and encourages bad technique). Skillful percussionists work to control the amount of bounces per stroke, manipulating the roll to be produced with a consistent number of bounces.

3) Microshifting - This is more of an advanced concept. If you look at a picture of a marimba or any other mallet instrument with a "graduated" bar system, you will notice that notes at the lower end of the instrument are wider than those at the top. As you move through the entire range of the instrument, you will have to slightly change the distance between your mallets to compensate for that slight change in bar size. For example, if I play two notes on an instrument, and move to the same two notes an octave up, I will have to ever so slightly change the distance between the two mallets, or I would risk playing the wrong notes. This gets significantly more complicated once using four mallets. It gets even more complicated when you realize every marimba company has different bar sizes, so you have to constantly be aware of how they differ, and how you can compensate for those changes. This is one of the many reasons why percussionists try to practice on whatever instrument they will perform on.

Whenever I am speaking with someone, and they ask me what I do for a living, I make sure to respond that I am a percussionist. 95% of the time, the person I am speaking with responds with, "Oh, so you are a drummer! I love the drums man!..." There are stigmas tied to the word "drummer" in the percussion community. There is nothing wrong with people that drum; I have a ton of respect for so many people that actually play drums for a living, but there is something inherently disrespectful when you spend your life perfecting the art of percussion, and someone just refers to you as a drummer. Not only is it disrespectful, but the misconception is often annoying as well. I recently was a groomsman in my cousin's wedding, and her new husband's brother-in-law found out I was a "drummer", so he proceeded to talk to me about hair metal drumming for the next three days...

I do not want to come off as conceited when I say this. If someone ever calls me a drummer, I will just laugh, tell them that I do play the drums, as well as other instruments. I just felt that this is a good forum, specifically since the question was posed, to discuss the abhorrence that many percussionists feel when we are referred to as "drummers" rather than "percussionists".

The first word that comes to mind is not necessarily part of the "cello secret language" but for me, I really like the word "peanut butter" to describe the fingers on my bow hand. My teacher had been trying to improve my connection to the strings via my bow for a long time but it had never really clicked until he told me to think of spreading peanut butter on a slice of white bread-- when you spread peanut butter, you have to do so using your fingers to maneuver the knife smoothly because otherwise, you will exert too much strength and tear the bread. Now, though my bow hold is still not 100%, I've definitely noticed a difference in my sound. It's become more concentrated, more smooth, and certainly more luscious.

Another word that my teacher often uses is "chi." When non-cellists think of chi, they think of breath/life force/energy flow, which is kind of what my teacher is referring to. But when he says it, he uses it to remind us that we need to play from the core. A lot of times, we play by trying to exert force onto the cello-- we attack from above with our arms, thinking that the more force we play with, the more sound we're going to get. However, the best sound is achieved by sourcing the strength from your core and channeling it out to your limbs, giving you the greatest power. It all sounds very hokey, I know, but after I took his advice and focused on playing with my inner chi, my sound improved drastically and surprisingly enough, I felt more relaxed because I was no longer attacking my cello with brute force.

The last word I really like is "schmaltz." It's a pretty commonly used word in the music world but I think it has a special meaning for cellists because I think cellos are so much more capable of creating that cheesy, goosebump-rendering sound. It's the range that we play in and the position we play in (sitting down and playing vertically vs. a violinist standing up and moving his fingers horizontally) that gives us the ability to make music so classically schmaltzy.

One thing that drives me nuts is when people say "Oh, I love the cello because it's so beautiful! Bach Suite No. 1 is so beautiful and relaxing!" I understand that Bach Suite No. 1 is probably the most recognizable cello piece for non-musicians but there's so much more to the cello repertoire than Bach. I didn't spend all my time at a music school just to learn how to play a beautiful Bach. I spent my time learning ways to be a chameleon. Yea, I can play Bach, but I can also play an ethereal Debussy or a dramatic Ginastera. Don't limit me to just Bach!

Max's magical interactive phantom coils

My three favorite words from my discipline(s):

1. "Max," for Max/MSP. I love the confusion that this word creates when non-PAT majors hear it. Are we talking about our friend, Max? Are we talking about a collection of Mac computers? No, we are talking about multimedia software that both thrills and exasperates us.

2. Phantom power and voice coils. I'm attracted to how poetic these terms sound - almost like they could be book titles or band names. In fact they refer, respectively, to how condenser mic circuitry is powered, and to a coil of wire found in speakers and dynamic microphones.

3. Interaction. If you put two art technologists in a room, you will end up with five definitions of what "Interaction" actually consists of in the context of an artistic work. Does it refer to how a performer interacts with software? How the performer interacts with the audience while using software? Is it completely guided or utterly hampered by technology? And if you want 30 more opinions, ask one PAT major what "good" interaction design is...

The most frustrating interpretation of "Performing Arts Technology" that I have run across is the reduction of the entire discipline to sound engineering. Sound engineering is a fascinating field, but Performing Arts Technology encompasses so much more than that. Most of the people in my field are also performers and composers, including those who do a lot of sound engineering work.

Flute and general music terms that I like

I like these words more for the effect they are associated with but:

Jet Whistle - This is a loud glissando type of pitched sound that is created by blowing a high-pressure air stream right into the flute with the lip plate (some more jargon there) completely covered. The name perfectly describes the sound and it is something only the flute can do, so I like it a lot.

Other terms I like are more general musical terms:

Cadence - I like the sound of this word and also like resting points in music, whether resolved or unresolved.

Ostinato - Again I like this word because of what it represents - the repeated alternation of two different time signatures or just a repeated rhythmic figure. I love composers who use repeated rhythms, like Steve Reich, Fulvio Caldini and David Lang. I guess that's why I'm drawn to electronic dance music :D

A word that has been used to describe my group of people - I will use my orchestra in Johannesburg - "band". It's fine if this is used by one of us as a joke but it if someone genuinely thinks we are a band, they clearly have never been to a symphony concert.

Patching one thing, to another thing.

I think the biggest thing I have learned while studying here at school has been about the creative process, and about myself as a creative being.

One word that comes to mind.

Failure.   I think to me the word means to be doing.  All the time we spending thinking, sketching, experimenting, implementing, its all just work.  Everything I have done in my time in school has been new, and every single step of the way has had failure.  I now have a relationship with the word.  I look for it, and I expect it, and I hope to learn in it.

I think I have learned a lot about various technical systems, coding languages, computer applications.  I consider all of these things tools, or instruments. A lot like a percussionist, there are many tools available, and some do many tasks.  Its the job of the creative mind, and the intuitive person to use these tools in a way that helps create whatever the artist is creating.

Patch.

this word can even mean a million things in my PAT world.  Its a verb when working in coding environments, especially Max/msp.  "to patch it" like to make a function in code. or it can be a noun, representing a file of code, or a software function for music or hardware.

Also to connect things, like with cables. or to connect things in a general sense.

Like ideas to electronics, people to place, etc.  This is true and the epitome of PAT.

I have learned how to patch things together in PAT.  Many things including, emotion, meaning, life, perspective, experience, right into things like.... music, instruments, electronics, code, recordings, samples, images, installations.

Or even finding ways to patch various tools and instruments together to create something unique.

Or to bring ideas from one realm or world of art, and find out what they look like and mean to other artists and worlds of art.

Patch is a good word. :)


and I guess another personal one.

Grind.

this means to go to work on some thing or task, to fight, to fail, to struggle, to finely cut coffee beans, to practice, to study, to code, to not sleep, to dance, to laugh, to be the fullest person you have available to yourself.

Its a good thing.

always on the grind.


I'd guess most people think I know how to record rock bands and recitals.

I think am a technology minded improvisor, constantly looking to patch meaning and life's questions into honest and vulnerable art.

"Interpretive Dance"

I just cringed. I didn't just cringe, but I made some sort of animal sound, and probably rolled around the floor, arms and legs shooting out at a weird angles while I started to giggle, went into a headstand, cried and proceeded to execute the choreography from Waltz of the Flowers. Funny though this may seem, it's actually a pretty accurate description of what we did in my Solo Improvisation class on Thursday. Please, for the love of all you may hold holy, don't confuse "modern dance" with "interpretive dance." I don't actually know what "interpretive dance" is, but in its place I would be exceedingly happy if you started spreading the term "explicative dance" as that's a more accurate description of how dancers comment on the world using their bodies. Simply put though, don't ask a dancer if s/he does "interpretive dance."

As for this secret language of dance, us dancers like to talk about space. A lot.

• "fill the space" = put stuff onstage, this stuff could be your presence and awareness as a solo body onstage, but it could also be objects, other people, sheep, etc... 
• "see the space around you" = see the physical details in the room as well as the air in it, have an open presence 
• "go into the space" = go onstage 
• "eat up the space" = travel across the stage with gusto, move really big, high energy 
• "what a great space" = usually big stages get this reaction, but also warehouses, gardens, museums, living rooms... 
• "negative space" = space where there isn't anything, consider this both distally (like two sides of a room) and proximally (like the space created under your arm when you lift it to the side) 
• "enter the space" = go onstage 
• "leave the space" = go offstage 

and so on...

The thing to note about this is that yes, space can refer to a proscenium stage, but when you're making work site specifically and there is no traditional stage, "space" becomes a shortened version of "performance space."

We also like to talk about "pedestrian movement." When you see things done by dancers and you think "oh, yeah, I could do that!" (eg. people walking around and picking their noses) you probably can. Dancers train their entire lives to achieve superhuman powers and then have to train themselves some more to make you think they're regular people. It sucks, but if we don't they'll hire you and all those years of ballet academy and work-exchange toilet cleaning just went down the toilet. It's also super duper fun to stare down audience members for secret reasons they probably won't figure out until after you've stopped freaking them out, especially if it means nothing at all...

Lastly, "choreography" doesn't just refer to instructions given to a dancer moving around the stage. It can also be the way in which you manage traffic of audience members around a gallery, or where you choose to place musicians so audiences get a specific sound experience (points if you get them to turn their heads together), or how you decide to edit a film, or coordinate movements that generate sounds that create the score to accompany the dance that is making it (STOMP is a great example of this, also tap dancing), and so on.

Welcome to Frackville: The art of the French Horn

Yooooooo,


   I hope all of you had a great week. Super pumped to finalize groups and get our projects rolling. But first here is a little bit about the world of French Horn and Brass in general.

Air: When you become a brass player the idea of what Air means and how to describe it is blown way open. *pun* I really didn't understand the concept and how attentive it needs to be to your playing until I came to college. The number one misconception of your air is the strength; no matter how soft, loud, dark, bright, etc you are, your air must be strong. And usually with brass players when they are nervous, the first thing to go is their air. But there isn't another concept I talk about more in my lessons or with colleagues than air. We are always thinking "oh, you should make your air darker for this piece" or " you are over blowing and added too much speed", the list can vary from colors, to speed, to direction even! My last lesson was dedicated to the SHAPE of my air. My prof was saying that my air sounded too pointed and he wanted me to push it widely then pointed rather then just pointed. *explains with hand motions* But never the less air is crucial and very important to wind instruments. Its the key to any subtle details in a piece.

Chops/Lips: Chops aka Lips mean the same thing in French Horn land. The endurance and stamina of our playing relies on how our lips feel. The biggest struggle for a wind playing at times is our stamina. Although all instrumentalists are limited to a number of hours their bodies can physically handle , the brass world is much shorter than most. We have to be very careful with what we spend our time practicing in a day because we will eventually have to stop. Im always very cautious of how much energy I use in a rehearsal or if I have a lesson the next day I usually limit my night practice the day before. Currently I am going through a huge stamina change because this summer I didn't practice a whole lot and I lossed a lot of muscle. So by doing several short sessions throughout the day I am gaining that all back. Oh as a wind player, never bite your lip while eating or else its game over.

Frack:  Despite the urban dictionary telling me a very different opinion, Fracking is a joking way of being frustrated with our playing. The term relates to when you miss the beginning of a note but slide into it quickly after. Its like a little blurrish at the beginning. Horn players are just expected to deal with this regardless of skill due to the nature and difficulty of our instrument. Our partials are so close and small that fracking can happen due to a lot of things. But its always great to ask someone how their fracks are gong that day. Humbling.

Anyways, this is a little bit about my instrument and culture; so if you ever hear me talk about these terms, this is kind of what I mean but please don't hesitate to make me explain. Have a wonderful weekend, see ya Tuesday!

Much love,
Spence

Some thoughts about percussion..

In the percussion world, there are several terms and ideas that carry some connotations that I find troubling. In turn, I decided to combine both prompts into one, short cohesive list of terms that I love about percussion, but are commonly misunderstood by people outside of our discipline. I will note that sensitivity and support for the percussive arts are absolutely amazing here at the University of Michigan, so the misunderstandings I refer to have no bearing on my experience at UM so far.

1. Rudiments: Part of my GSI appointment at UM requires me to teach Percussion Methods to non-percussionist Music Education majors. This experience has shed a lot of light on the perspectives that some (certainly not all!) musicians have on percussion, and it's been very interesting. With that being said, some of my students had a lot of jokes to make about how silly some of our terminology is, not to mention a very ironic tone of voice to present them in. Paradiddle, pataflafla, cheese chut-di-chut, flam drag, the list goes on.... These names are absolutely ridiculous, but I love them! The names come from a long lineage of drummers that sat down at the drum and figured out patterns that were useful and felt good in the hands, and simply gave them names that stuck around. I think it says a lot about our art form that a huge part of our vocabulary comes from a few dudes that came up with some quirky stuff that everyone thought was cool.

2. Triangle: To non-musicians, the triangle is often seen and heard as a simple toy. To non-percussionists, the triangle is often seen as a novelty instrument. However, the triangle and other small percussion instruments are very powerful voices that demand years of practice in order to make an artistic statement with it. At the same time, though, its accessibility as a simple toy gives it a beautiful dichotomy. While the triangle is not so much a "secret word," its connotations among percussionists as a powerful musical instrument draw me very close to the family of instruments I plan on spending my life exploring. Chris Sies of Latitude 49 paid homage to the triangle in such an amazing way in his lecture in our last class.

3. Tone: Tone is perhaps one of the last things on a young percussionist's mind when learning to play, as I have learned from teaching middle school as well as undergraduates in my Percussion Methods course. However, percussionists that really dive into the artistic realm of music become obsessed with getting very specific tones out of seemingly simple instruments (see Triangle post). Once tone is achieved, absolutely any aesthetic is suddenly at a percussionist's fingertips, or stick tips. Often times, one might see a percussionist making a grand gesture or a huge motion to play a single note on an instrument. As silly as it looks, this is the sight of an artist focusing his or her entire being into getting the exact tone they are looking for.


I hope this gives a little bit of insight into the percussive realm! Like I said before, I have felt so much support at UM from my colleagues, and I have no doubt that all of my fellow artists respect my discipline as much as anyone else's. I can't wait to explore some thoughts on the various other artistic mediums that are represented in this course!

Hey everybody, here are photos of the board from our discussion on strategies for successful collaborations.  You may want to think these over as you formulate your groups.  Don't forget, blog posts are due tomorrow night!

Homework Week 2

Emailed Homework Assignment

Next week will be the final week of group formation.  You will leave class in a group that you will be working with for the rest of the semester.  We want you to individually email us with three groups that you would like to work with.  You can name the same person in up to two groups, i.e., one person cannot appear in all three of your groups.

For each group, give us a description of what sort of work you think this group could accomplish.

If you have already formed a strong bond or idea with a particular group, feel free to let us know, that will definitely be taken into consideration.  That being said, we will make the ultimate decision on group formation.  If you haven't made a connection yet, our first priority will be to endeavor to find you a place where you will thrive.  Our goal is to get everybody into a workable place, without anyone feeling excluded.

Send your response in an email, cc'd to both instructors, by Saturday 9/17 at 11:59pm.

Blog Assignment Week 2

Blog Assignment

A look at language...

In each discipline, and really in any human endeavor that involves a closed group, the members develop an internal language that has specific meaning for them and little or no meaning for those outside the group.  Even words that are in normal usage take on a new meaning in the in group.

What are three of your favorite words from the 'secret language' of your discipline, and why are you drawn to them?

Conversely, people outside of the group, not knowing the intricacies of the discipline, tend to reduce the function of the group using an unfair condensation of one or two words that they use to describe the totality of the group.  What is the outsider description of your discipline that you find to be most inaccurate, reductionist or plain wrong?

Make your blog post by Friday 9/16 at 11:59pm.

Between then and next class, be sure to read everyone's posts and comment on at least 3.

Yoooooo! Sorry I was having a lot of trouble figuring out how to get on the blog, but finally got it. Anyways, just to give a little insight as to what I'm into, as well as an example of me collaborating with someone, here's a track I wrote and produced with my good friend Jaime Cheung. What I hope you guys will get out of listening to this is my love for creating and ongoing quest to make music that is different.


Moving forward, I'd really love to get into some DANCE influences, and possibly creating music for live dance/visuals. With that being said, I couldn't really think of an artist that had done a live project like I'm imagining, so here are a couple videos (I wanted to pick one but I honestly couldn't decide) of the vibe I would love to achieve. I'd also be really into other live visuals as accompaniment as well, I just don't have a ton of knowledge in that department, so I'd definitely be down to listen to suggestions.




...this track by Sia just came out earlier this past week, and when I first saw the video I absolutely fell in LOVE with the choreography, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Yo! Super excited - sorry I'm late - here goes!

Here is my latest PAT project, an installation for 452 (like Sam's rainstick vid). 

The description at the beginning: 

"Wooden boxes were given to three close friends, instructed to carry them for a day. The boxes became a part of their enviorment, listening and recording moments. To engage with a box’s memory, look for a key to turn."

This is a part of what I do (electronics / building things), but I also play a bunch of music (guitar/vox in a band called Rooms, electronic stuff, other stuff).

As far as collaboration goes, I'm really into each artist getting to thrive in their craft / environment. It's easy to find music that's hot glued together - i.e. violin slapped on top of a techno groove, electronics/looping slapped on a piece of new music. Regardless of whether or not this method is meaningful or effective (I think it can be!), I'm not so interested in that. 

Below is a video of a number of works - performed/made by the London Contemporary Orchestra. Though Johnny Greenwood is the famous name, I would argue that the musical relationship between him and the other performers is equal/authentic/effective. Here is an electronic musician and guitarist playing music out of his own experience with a group of chamber musicians doing the same. I love the result! I also love the aesthetic of much of this.



As far as fixed media goes, I would also point to Drones and Large Cycles as a similar equality between Nico Muhly and Valgeir Sigurðsson.

Electric French Horn

https://youtu.be/I-uS57DtPxw?t=54m5s

Hey all,

I am mainly a classical horn player but I am really wanting to push away from that and to start exploring how to use the French Horn in music I enjoy more.

The video above is of Miles Davis in 1971, this is around the time of his Live Evil sessions where he really used a lot of "Electronic Trumpet", I'd love to start using this idea with the French Horn. Maybe not in the same style but I love the concept. Definitely would involve lots of looping as well as a goal. Check out this vid. Mainly around the 52 min mark.

https://youtu.be/84SjhW6GH8E?t=1m28s

Above is an example of another idea I would like to possibly do. Although Id prefer it to be on a screen through some program (maybe some form of "Mapping"?) , but I chose this video for the live aspect. It really adds an awesome effect to have someone visual displaying how the music makes them feel.

I saw performance over the summer of Chris Rosenau (Volcano Choir) and Nick Sanborn (Slyvan Esso) doing a live improvisation between Guitar and electronics. That alone was dope, but it was even more amazing because they were inside a 3-dimensional cube that was programmed with visual art flowing across the screen. Unfortunately no video is found or else it would be uploaded. But that is the concept I want!  Thanks for reading!

Videos from Shu

Hi! I am Shu Zhou and I am a composer here. I uploaded 2 videos of my compositions. Hope those would be interesting.  ​

https://drive.google.com/a/umich.edu/file/d/0B2wUEJseFmL8ajV6WFEwMlV4VnM/view?usp=drive_web

This piece is called Flying Fire and was premiered by Taya Konig-Tarasevich(Flute I), Anna Thompson(Flute II), Casey Voss(Percussion) and Joel Bein(Conductor) at Britton recital hall, U of M on February 15th, 2016. Thanks for all the performers and Professor Michael Daugherty's guidance!

https://drive.google.com/a/umich.edu/file/d/0B2wUEJseFmL8TVk5b1pxLUlsTlk/view?usp=drive_web

This art song piece was composed in 2010, the year that I started my undergraduate at SCCM in my hometown Chengdu. It was under the guidance of Professor Yang Xiaozhong. And today is the Chinese teacher’s day, best wishes for all the teachers who help me a lot during those years!

Something representative of what I want to achieve:

Carlos Funn Submissions for 1st Assingment for PAT

I really enjoyed the less is more yet still more than enough to enhance the bridges between tech and dance.






I love the raw and free way they approached this composition. Sampling in real time and improvisation

Post 1

Here are a couple songs that I wrote/recorded/mixed this past summer. I think they're a good representation of my skills as an artist as well as an engineer.

https://open.spotify.com/album/6vuykQgDLUCiZ7YggIpLM9

Here is a link to Spotify for Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool. And here's a link to one song on Youtube in case you don't have Spotify:


I chose this album because it's beautiful, it's very well produced, and it uses a wide range of instruments and sounds. I'd love to create something similar in scale and style.

This is one of my favorite pieces because it is so beautifully lush and romantic. While I'm open to doing contemporary pieces, I prefer to stick to Romantic pieces because that's what I feel like I can emotionally connect to more. I also don't generally like lots of cheesy slides but I think Sol Gabetta does it so tastefully here and it fits so well with the beauty of the piece.




While this piece isn't much of a collaborative work in the sense of mixing different disciplines, I think it's still at least a piece that is unconventional in its formation because the music is literally a duo for the heart and breath-- the pianist is wearing a stethoscope to play in synch with the rhythm of his heartbeat while the violinist is playing in synch with the length of his breaths. I would love to work on a project similar to this but I would also be interested in adding motion graphics in order to incorporate a visual element of emotion.

Groove-Oriented Works for Mixed Chamber Groups

This is a video of a work for snare drum and electronics I performed at my senior recital two years ago. The sheet music and video track was provided by the composer. I created the video to respond to the audio file to create the illusion that the computer was actually speaking with me. I really enjoyed the process of figuring out how to use Adobe InDesign to create this, and it worked really well with my recital.




I posted this video because I know of very few examples of works that fit the parameters of what I am looking to do. There is a large amount of high energy works for solo and electronics, but very few for chamber groups and electronics. The current works for chamber ensemble and electronics that exist tend to be more ambient and less groove-oriented. I would love for my project to introduce a new piece that bridges the divide that has been made between this performing medium and this genre of music. Live electronics are desired over pre-recorded tracks.

Interactive electroacoustic performance with violin improvisation and wearable, foot operated software control

This is a video of the first prototype of my master's thesis. I chose this video because it shows me improvising, which I really enjoy. It also shows the technical/interactive work that I am interested in. The violin playing is improvised, while the prerecorded tracks are controlled with the slippers that I'm wearing. I would love to further develop this tool for a performance involving an instrumentalist + live sound processing. I would also be really happy if I could play/improvise on violin.

 This track that really inspires me. It for flute and supercollider, which I've dabbled in. I love how it combines true expressivity with incredible programming skills. I would love to explore working on a project that uses live sound synthesis and processing as part of an improvisatory experience.

Son Lux and My Stuff

This is a piece I wrote for a book series which displays my strong interest in altering acoustic timbre through electronic experimentation.

I have yet to compose experimental music for acoustic instrumentation, and I have never paired my work with another artistic element other than musical performers (example: dance, visual art, programmable art). Because of this, I chose one of Son Lux's concerts. When performing live, Ryan Lott does a really impressive job at creating very original sounds with a small amount of performers and instrumentation on stage. Ryan Lott inspires me both as an individual and as a collaborator because the music he makes is produced with such a limited amount of resources. This video should be start playing at 1:00:22, but one could hypothetically click anywhere along this video and be impressed by the types of sounds being produced. 

This is dope BECAUSE I love the visual art and I kind of want to work with lights.

https://vimeo.com/147072640

This is something I (Ben Brown) do

https://soundcloud.com/ben-brown-249

I like to produce and what not. Not too useful for this class, but I like this track.

Percussionist looking to create...anything

This first video is an example of some music and sounds that I am currently interested in and am (mostly) capable of creating. This particular piece is actually what inspired me to collaborate with an artist that specializes in technology. The music is set to a poem that is shown in the beginning, but feel free to skip directly to the musical portion (around 0:55).







This video is an example of some manipulation I had in mind for the "technology specialist." Of course, the content he is creating and manipulating is produced only by his voice (feel free to skip to 3:30ish). The variables that we can manipulate together are endless, and I am open to creating absolutely any soundscape, through-composed piece, etc. We can use any instrumentation and any electronic manipulation imaginable.

Hopefully these two videos paint some narrow framework for my artistic thoughts - I can't wait to go through everyone else's thoughts and see all of this cool stuff!

Flute and EDM

This video represents a portion of my current practice; I am principally an orchestral flutist but do a lot of chamber music too. As a professional flutist playing freelance for fifteen years, I now want to branch out and create my own music. I have dabbled with singing/songwriting and want to use that creative side together with my love of the flute. I have just started a project with an electronic music producer and thought I can learn a lot through PAT512 towards that project. I want to shake things up and compose my own flute and computer music through collaboration. Klingande and Lovely Laura are a similar example to what I am thinking of doing, additionally incorporating aspects of interactive media using Ableton.

Interdisciplinary dialogues via improvisational scores

Here are a few excerpts of a work I premiered with my company last year in New York entitled It Won't Buy You Lunch (thank you iMovie, apologies to film-folk).  It was a collaboration between my beautiful company dancers, musicians courtesy of the Open Music Ensemble, a filmmaker, visual artist, costume designer, inventor and lighting designer.  We had the most wonderful experience sharing ideas and working together in the studio throughout the process.  Each section with the exception of the first one, was generated using improvisational scores derived from exploration outdoors, in the studio and conversations about the relationship between artists and NYC spaces and artists across disciplines.  I am fascinated by the collaborative process and am excited to continue exploring it with new collaborators and new prompts.



There Might Be Others is an adaptation of Terry Riley's performer instructions for In C directed and choreographed by Rebecca Lazier in collaboration with composer Dan Trueman and all of the performers.  The dancers and musicians created movement and music modules independently and then worked together in the studio to develop their own set of performer instructions for the work as a whole.  Have patience as the piece develops, then once you have a sense of the big picture go back to the beginning and skip through to see how the music and movement motifs influence each other over time to ultimately culminate in a the creation of an exuberant coming together of music and dance.  (Note: while this video is an in-progress peek into a collaboration I adore, I am not seeking to recreate it in this class.)

I am excited to explore ways of being in dialogue with technology as a third component of a music and dance collaboration.  I am particularly intrigued by video elements that integrate motion capture technology and would love to investigate what might happen if you input both movement information and sound information into the same program and seek ways for them to interact that is actually within the same language (eg: visual output on a screen) and how participants can both create and respond to this new language at the same time.  The idea that elements of a work cannot exist without the others and still be the work is a value of mine.  I also enjoy bringing musicians into the performance space (what might happen if you use motion tracking technology on a cellist's bow... or from an entire orchestra playing live in another room??).

Exploring Stories through Interactive Media

This is a recording of myself and Norah Lorway's set during the Tidal.Signal~ Festival which took place in August 2016 @ Selectors' Records in Vancouver, BC. I chose to share this work because I think it embodies most of the components of my musical practice. I am interested in improving with sound through various digital signal processors and live instruments. Here, we are using SuperCollider, Max/MSP and Ableton to drive sound and processes the acoustic clarinet, while listening and responding to each others' audio sources.
 'Hakanai' is an interactive audio/visual piece for dance. I chose this work because I would love to explore human emotions / memories / stories by combining these themes through dance performance and interactive media.

Interested in discovering unique and surprising musical material only possible through collaboration!!!

This is a acoustic and kinetic sculpture installation I worked in last semester.  The idea here was to find passive ways to interact with a acoustic instrument.  First of all by not touching the instrument to create a sound, and second of all to not be confined to the limits of single input/output systems of interaction.



I also am very fascinated by dance.  Making many friends in the department of dance over the years has peaked my interest in the world of movement and music.


As for this course, I think I am interested in musical and sound material.  I am inspired by the miles davis dark magus, get up with it, on the corner era.  His electric trumpet is incredible.


I also saw Bon Iver perform their new unreleased album live for the first time.  There is a song where the bass player is playing saxophone, and the instrument is mic'd and being vocoded and processed in various ways.  I love the result.  Heres a clip.



It should be queued to 38:15, if  not go there.  That is the piece.

Anyways, I will say I am not going to let myself be attached to this work, for this class.  I am eager to find out what other people like and see what the best collaborative project is available to our groups various interest and skill sets.

Sax Notes, by Paul Steinberg, is one of my favorite saxophone and tape pieces. I am performing this piece on an upcoming recital but would love to take part in the process of creating a new composition for saxophone and tape or improviser in a technolological medium! Let's talk about this!

This is a video from a UofM Saxophone Ensemble Concert from last Fall. As the Director of Soundpainting for the ensemble, I essentially lead group improvisations that are curated by a sign language that was developed by Walter Thompson in the 1970s.

Blog Assignment 1

Blog assignment 1 (due Friday 9/9 at midnight) 

Post 2 videos or audio recordings:

1. Something representative of your current creative / technical practice (Could be something you have done recently, but not necessarily.) 
2. Something collaborative that you’d love to do (e.g., in this class) but don’t know how or haven’t had the opportunity? 

Write 1-2 sentences about each of your videos highlighting why you chose them. Watch all of the videos before class next week. Comment freely. Recall that discussion guidelines apply to online discussion as well as in-person.