Noise for Airports

Drones play the James Bond theme. This is amazing. (via...

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:49:56 -0500

Drones play the James Bond theme. This is amazing.

(via explore)

A “record player” that translates the rings of a...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:03:32 -0500

A “record player” that translates the rings of a tree into sound.

(via @justinsnow)

At Most 10% Syncopation

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:48:24 -0500

From this post on Nazi responses to jazz:

But maybe the single most remarkable example of 20th-century totalitarian invective against jazz that Skvorecky ever relayed was here in the intro to The Bass Saxophone, where he recalls — faithfully, he assures us (“they had engraved themselves deeply on my mind”) — a set of regulations, issued by a Gauleiter — the leader of a regional branch of the National Socialist Party — as binding on all local dance orchestras during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. Get this:

Pieces in foxtrot rhythm (so-called swing) are not to exceed 20% of the repertoires of light orchestras and dance bands;

in this so-called jazz type repertoire, preference is to be given to compositions in a major key and to lyrics expressing joy in life rather than Jewishly gloomy lyrics;

As to tempo, preference is also to be given to brisk compositions over slow ones so-called blues); however, the pace must not exceed a certain degree of allegro, commensurate with the Aryan sense of discipline and moderation. On no account will Negroid excesses in tempo (so-called hot jazz) or in solo performances (so-called breaks) be tolerated;

so-called jazz compositions may contain at most 10% syncopation; the remainder must consist of a natural legato movement devoid of the hysterical rhythmic reverses characteristic of the barbarian races and conductive to dark instincts alien to the German people (so-called riffs);

strictly prohibited is the use of instruments alien to the German spirit (so-called cowbells, flexatone, brushes, etc.) as well as all mutes which turn the noble sound of wind and brass instruments into a Jewish-Freemasonic yowl (so-called wa-wa, hat, etc.);

also prohibited are so-called drum breaks longer than half a bar in four-quarter beat (except in stylized military marches);

the double bass must be played solely with the bow in so-called jazz compositions;

plucking of the strings is prohibited, since it is damaging to the instrument and detrimental to Aryan musicality; if a so-called pizzicato effect is absolutely desirable for the character of the composition, strict care must be taken lest the string be allowed to patter on the sordine, which is henceforth forbidden;

musicians are likewise forbidden to make vocal improvisations (so-called scat);

all light orchestras and dance bands are advised to restrict the use of saxophones of all keys and to substitute for them the violin-cello, the viola or possibly a suitable folk instrument.

(via The Atlantic)

The Dartmouth Contemporary Music Lab walks the length of...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:01:25 -0500

The Dartmouth Contemporary Music Lab walks the length of Manhattan, playing an arrangement of Christmas carols slowed 128x and arranged for percussion by Chris Peck. Sped back up in this video, it turns into an incredible buzzy medley of xmas tunes. You have to watch it (click ahead if you get bored).

(via @aleaboy)

mounts: Bird cage with real birds and 2 real vertical pianos –...

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:08:15 -0500

mounts:

Bird cage with real birds and 2 real vertical pianos – when birds jump on the aluminium straw they play piano notes, robert gligorovs.

Totally gorgeous city maps wrapped around a barrel and used to...

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:55:54 -0400

Totally gorgeous city maps wrapped around a barrel and used to play the piano. Up my alley, obviously.

(via information aesthetics)

"Nestle, one of the world’s biggest makers of pet food, said on Friday it had launched the..."

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:49:17 -0400

“Nestle, one of the world’s biggest makers of pet food, said on Friday it had launched the first television commercial designed especially for dogs, using a high-frequency tone to grab their attention.”

- Nestle ad first to pitch at canine customers | Reuters

Nothing More

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 13:43:16 -0400

Bruno Latour, on writing, in Reassembling the Social (2007):

Writing texts has everything to do with method. You write a text of so many words, in so many months, based on so many interviews, so many hours of observation, so many documents. That’s all. You do nothing more. (148)

Otto Ortmann, on playing the piano, in The Physical Basis of Piano Touch and Tone (1925):

What we actually do, then, when playing the piano, is to produce sounds of various pitch, intensity, and duration. Nothing more. (171)

This is relevant to my interests: Every time anyone says the...

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 12:33:57 -0400

This is relevant to my interests:

Every time anyone says the words ‘crazy’ or ‘baby’ in any of [Britney Spears’] songs. In chronological order.

(via The Awl)

Appropriate for the hurricane tropical storm: Pierre...

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 14:54:00 -0400

Appropriate for the ~~hurricane~~ tropical storm: Pierre Sauvageot’s Harmonic Fields. Instruments/installation pieces played by the wind.

(via Everyday Listening)

John Cage, 1990: In the late forties I found out by experiment...

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 07:54:00 -0400

John Cage, 1990:

In the late forties I found out by experiment (I went into the anechoic chamber at Harvard University) that silence is not acoustic. It is a change of mind, a turning around. I devoted my music to it. My work became an exploration of non-intention. To carry it out faithfully I have developed a complicated composing means using I Ching chance operations, making my responsibility that of asking questions instead of making choices.

update: Related.

(image via Dan Holdsworth)

Then/Now

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 17:20:00 -0400

The Music Trades, 1924:

Entire Piano Industry to Profit by Work of Newly Organized Research Department of American Piano Company

“Among other things,” said Mr. Stoddard in discussing the plans of the new department, “we shall make a careful research into tone analysis. […] We doubt if there has been enough absolutely accurate knowledge in this whole subject of tone production. We cannot, of course, predict what we will find out, but we propose to go into the matter as thoroughly as is humanly possible. The manner in which we are approaching this subject is revolutionary.”

The Music Trades, 2011:

Zenph Software Creates Opportunity: Interactive Technology Delivers Unique Educational and Performance Experience That Promises to Expand the Keyboard Market

RePerform provides a user-friendly environment for recording and editing performance data at up to eight times time resolution of normal MIDI data. The program measures a wide range of parameters that correspond to even the subtlest nuances of a musician’s performance — from hammer velocity to pedal technique — ultimately replicating the gestures, timing, and physicality that define an artist’s individual imprint on a piece of music. “Representing the artist’s unmistakable signature, this incredibly rich, highly-detailed data set can then be used to create new music,” says Litterst.

Axel Boman & The Radioactive Orchestra featuring Rubidium 88...

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 09:16:00 -0400

Axel Boman & The Radioactive Orchestra featuring Rubidium 88 & Cobolt 60

(via @christianbok)

Fight the (Tympanic) Power

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 10:32:37 -0500

A really awesome Kickstarter project ends in 5 days and is about $800 short of its funding goal. Here’s the description:

Expressive Machines Musical Instruments (EMMI) is comprised of Troy Rogers, Steven Kemper, and Scott Barton. Since 2007, the group has been designing, building, and composing music for robotic musical instruments on a shoestring budget. EAR Duo—Dana Jessen (bassoon) and Michael Straus (sax)—is an incredibly gifted, innovative, and engaging force in new music. The duo is ready to tap into the power and promise of EMMI’s musical robots. EAR Duo is commissioning EMMI to create an ensemble of next generation robotic string and wind instruments for a series of upcoming performances across the US and Europe.

EMMI has done some interesting work with robot-only performance, but this new band, MARIE, is going to be designed for performance with humans. If you’ve been following this blog (while I was still updating regularly…), you know I’m a fan of mechanical music and experiments with non-speaker-based “automatic” music performance. These are the kind of cool projects that will help feel out the boundaries of what it is possible to do with musical robotics.

As they write on the kickstarter page:

The current state of musical robotics resembles that of electronic music 50 years ago. Robotic instruments are poised to explode forth from research institutions onto the larger musical scene, creating new genres and transforming existing ones.

But, as in the era of modular synths created by people like Buchla and Moog, it’s going to take extraordinary machines—both in terms of design and sound—to instigate such a revolutionary transformation. It’s clear that these machines must be designed by musicians, for musicians.

I’ve pitched in already, and it would be a pity for an adventurous project like this to go unfunded, so please think about giving!

A lego tribute to Jean Tinguely. I wish they made those lego...

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 19:04:16 -0400

A lego tribute to Jean Tinguely. I wish they made those lego kits for things like this.

(by roman gerold)

From zedequalszee, a very fun-looking public sculpture: Erwin...

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 03:44:25 -0400

From zedequalszee, a very fun-looking public sculpture:

Erwin Stache, “87,3 Kilo Ohm”

My favourite thing about this sound sculpture is that it encourages people to play together in public.

When it rains, it pours. (via Vulture)

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:24:44 -0400

When it rains, it pours.

(via Vulture)

Sound poet Anne-James Chaton performs his piece “Évênement...

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:56:30 -0400

Sound poet Anne-James Chaton performs his piece “Évênement nº 1” in this video.

Reading against a constantly repeating recording of his own voice, Chaton produces a densely layered sound-world that immediately drew me in. It’s a disorienting and propulsive work, and I just wish I knew enough French to get that extra layer of meaning out of it!

This installation looks fantastic: Five modified toy pianos...

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 12:59:15 -0400

This installation looks fantastic:

Five modified toy pianos circulate the gallery on five elevated wooden tracks. Each piano is equipped with small speakers to play amplified sounds picked up from conductive tape on the tracks. Each piano also contains small motors which intermittently spin to strike the toy pianos’ tone bars, adding acoustic elements to the overall soundtrack of the work.

Needless to say, the idea of toy pianos riding atop magnetic tape and picking up samples as they go is a brain-tickler.

Fantasie no. 1 for Mobile Pianos (by Joe Winter)

[p.s. I disappeared again, due to the curse of saying “I’ll be back” on one’s blog. Turns out the 1st year of a PhD program is work-intensive. No promises, but I will try to squeeze in the funs here as much as possible.]

A musical mechanical cigarette lighter, designed for and used by...

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 12:56:04 -0400

A musical mechanical cigarette lighter, designed for and used by (!) Leonard Bernstein. It would appear that the marvelous tremolo is the result of that sound coming from that speaker, spinning Leslie-style at the top of the device.

(via kindofbleu.tumblr.com)