Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble (SEAMUS 2009)April 27th, 2009

Another fantastic group that performed at the SEAMUS conference were students from the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio.

The works performed included Bright Days of Little Sunlight by Peter Swendsen, and The Death of the Moth by Oberlin professor Tom Lopez, among several others.

Not only were these phenominal musicicians, but they performed incredibly unique and diverse pieces with elements of live and pre-recorded electronics, and some with video.  I personally believe that these types of pieces will become increasingly popular as technology continues to reach the hands of composers, and it will even go as far as to redefine live performance in the “classical” musical genre.

Lower photo courtesy of “Sweetwater Sounds’ Notes” on Facebook.

Annex Concert a Big Success!April 25th, 2009

We had a very nice turnout at our concert last night.  The show opened and closed with 8 channel surround pieces (my work, Opening/Unknowing was the closer), had several stereo works, and a visual interactive piece by Natee Prasanpanich.
Our professor, James Phelps, summed things up nicely in an e-mail to us:
“What a nice diversity of work, which is one thing we are known for, for those who know us.  A smooth, clean gig… everything sounded good and looked good.”

Above:  Evan Merz working hard to keep things running smoothly.
(Notice his Korg Nano controller with netbook)

Above:  Tim Moyers preparing to begin his opening piece.

I also had the opportunity to debut a short piano piece with electronics at our composition seminar earlier in the day.  The work is tentatively titled, “Piano Piece No. 2″.  You can listen to a recording of it HERE.

We are down to the final week!  I have a lot to finish, including my Debussy paper and more composition work, but it will all be done before I know it.

WOUWHI Dance Interface (SEAMUS 2009)April 24th, 2009

At the SEAMUS conference, we saw Professor Joseph Harchanko give a fascinating presentation on WOUWHI. (The Western Oregon Wireless Human Interface)

As described in the program: The Western Oregon Wireless Human Interface, or WOUWHI … is an expressive wireless interface system designed for real-time creation of computer music and manipulation of video data. It was designed and built in collaboration between Scott Morse, Joseph Harchanko, and Sharon Oberst. The WOUWHI allows for expanded freedom in the temporal decisions of the performer. It allows for more spatial freedom than previous systems by means of the wireless connection between the performer and the computer. It is an ideal system for concert performance, choreographed dance, and installations involving real-time computer audio and video.

Thanks to Evan Merz for some of the content of this post.
He provided some great A/V links on his blog site.

Annex Concert this Friday!April 22nd, 2009

Be sure to check out “Electrics”, our Annex Concert this Friday, April 24th at 8PM.
I will be premiering my 8.1 channel piece, “Opening/Unknowing”.
There will be a great selection of works, including other multichannel works and a human interactive device.  Don’t miss it!

(My beautiful poster design featured above)

Displaced Resonance (SEAMUS 2009)April 22nd, 2009

We explored an impressive installation at the Seamus conference from the Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts and Animation, coming from Ball State University. As the website describes, it consisted of sixteen sculptural forms containing tubing of different lengths (the longest roughly ten feet, folded) mounted on boxes with internal loudspeakers driving sound through the tubes.

The system would interact with the physical movement while being controlled by a computer connected to an infrared camera.  Here is an interview that classmate Evan Merz did with sound designer, Michael Pounds:

For more info and a more detailed explanation, check out the official website: idiarts.org

Tesla Coil Music (SEAMUS 2009)April 21st, 2009

I might as well start with the “grand finale” of the conference… two huge Tesla coils making music!  This is perhaps the most dangerous instrument ever conceived.  It is a type of resonant transformer circuit originally conceived by scientist Nikola Tesla that creates high frequency alternating current.  In other words, it looks really, really cool. They began with an electro-acoustic piece, and then had some fun:

The system came from the University of Illinois and was performed and/or assisted by Scott Wyatt, Mark Smart, Steve Ward, Lippold Haken, Terry Blake, and Jeff Larson.  We also had an unexpected visitor in this video:

I have only begun to scratch the surface as far as learning what Tesla Coils are all about, but here are some links to begin learning about them:

Tesla Society

Types of Tesla Coils and how to build them

More Tesla links and info

SEAMUS Conference 2009April 19th, 2009

Four of us from the Electronic Music program just returned from a 3-day trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana to visit the conference for the Society of Electro-Acoustic Musicians.  We saw over 50 performances, including surround tape pieces, musicians with live electronics, video works, and human interface devices, as well as Tesla Coils!  (More on that to come…)

The conference was held at the brand new Sweetwater facility, which included an amazing performance theater and recording studio, as well as many amenities for guests and Sweetwater employees.  Over the next several weeks, I will be posting details about specific parts of the conference.  Needless to say, it was a fun and eye-opening experience that made me proud to be an electronic musician and part of the community.

Ars Nova Art Show and Karen Patton’s RecitalApril 15th, 2009

The busy semester continues!  Last Thursday was the gallery opening of the Ars Nova Art Show at the Jack Olson gallery in the Art building on campus.  My wife, Cassie, had two works presented at the show, one of which can be seen in the center of the photo (It is the knitted piece).

Additionally, Electronic Music Grad Student Karen Patton had a successful recital featuring her 8-channel works, and an acoustic song performed by a guest guiatrist and vocalist (Karen can be seen coaching the performers in the photo).

We will be heading out to SEAMUS at 5:30 AM tomorrow, so I’m getting geared up!

Performing Lullabies and Chinary UngApril 8th, 2009

We had a very successful Composer’s Concert in the university Recital Hall on Monday night.
I premiered my piece, Mechanical Lullaby No. 2, and also had the pleasure of opening the concert. I developed a score for the piece, which directs me on where to make adjustments in my Max5 software, and at what times. Here is a sample of the score: (click to enlarge)

Our guest artist at the concert was Chinary Ung, a renowned Cambodian composer. His wife, Susan, performed a fantastic solo composition for Viola and voice titled Spiral XI: Mother and Child.

Between the performance and technical help, it was a packed but very rewarding day.

Meeting Mark BorchardtApril 4th, 2009

Last night, Cassie and I went to a discussion with Mark Borchardt on campus as part of the “Reality Bytes” film festival.  The name itself may not sound familiar, but if you’ve seen the 1999 documentary, American Movie, then you will know why this was a not-to-be-missed event.

After showing an entertaining anti-trailer for his new movie, (he said that trailers give away too much of the plot, so he interviewed the cast in a humorous manner instead) he took the next 90 minutes or so to answer questions from the audience.  These questions revolved around everything from his favorite movies and music, new movie projects, and how his life has changed since the release of American Movie.  All of this was wrapped in a loose and often very humorous format.  It is safe to say that his portrayal in the documentary was no exaggeration.  It was pretty unreal to meet him!