Posts tagged aleatory
An improvement, I would say, on the katzenklavier.
From 5 against 4, Steve Peter’s The Webster Cycles:
It gets its name from the fact that the musical material originates in the Webster dictionary; Peters has taken all words that include just the letters A to G (being musical notes), arranged them in alphabetical order, & given them to players as a musical score.
You can listen to a few performances of the piece at the ensemble Interrobang’s Bandcamp page.
(via 5 against 4)
Evan X. Merz has posted his new album, Black Allegheny, which he composed using generative music software he designed. The effect is aleatory and quite lovely. The video above visualizes some of how it was composed (although I’d love to learn about it in even more detail!).
(via computermusicblog)
The Heart Chamber Orchestra plays music generated from their heartbeats, in front of a screen with visualizations based on the same. This must be an amazing experience live.
You can see another video with more explication on the Heart Chamber Orchestra’s site.
(via Everyday Listening)
Sun Boxes are an environment to enter and exit. It’s comprised of twenty speakers operating independently each powered by solar panels. There is a different guitar sample in each box all playing together making the composition. The guitar samples are all of different lengths so the whole piece keeps evolving. Participants are encouraged to walk amongst the speakers. It sounds different inside of the array. There is a different sense of space inside. Certain speakers will be closer and louder therefore the piece will sound different to different people in different positions throughout the array. Creating a unique experience for everyone. There are no batteries involved. The Sun Boxes are reliant on the sun. When the sun sets the music stops. The piece changes as the length of the day changes. Making the participants aware of the cycle of the day.
(via Super Bon!)
Another sculpture from Kitty Clark (I’m really enjoying the sonic sculptures these days, it seems).
This one uses eight of those dippy bird toys to complete circuits at uncontrolled intervals, resulting in some happy aleatoric bird music.
[FYI, the birds tag on this blog is used surprisingly often.]
A Healthy Complexity
This quotation comes from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard, in an article about biological complexity:
When Dr. Ary Goldberger looks at an EKG, he doesn’t just see the signal of a beating heart, he also sees a musical score, with its diversions and sudden shifts in tempo. Or at least that’s what he’d like to see. Because, according to Goldberger, an EKG that lacks such variations reveals a sick heart, which can’t respond to the body’s demands.
It’s an interesting choice to use music as your metaphor for “statistically chaotic,” given how often music (especially popular music) is denigrated for its repetition. If Dr. Goldberger is really interested in some aleatory music, I’ve got a few suggestions for him…
(via Oscillator)
Score for a Hole in the Ground is an installation in a forest, “near the village of Challock in Kent.” It consists of this large phonograph-like cone connected to a pipe that descends into a well. The dripping sounds from the wet environment (and nearby pond) are broadcast by the cone, producing aleatory music from the environment.
It’s a beautiful installation, and you can see more lovely pictures and hear how it sounds at the project’s web site.
(via oddstrument)
