Month: June 2015

  • Paper presentation at CMMR 2015

    Paper presentation at CMMR 2015

    Here you can download the paper I presented at CMMR 2015 in collaboration with Esther Coorevits from IPEM, Ghent University, and Rodrigo Schramm from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.

    It’s titled Instrumental Movements of Neophytes: Analysis of Movement Periodicities, Commonalities and Individualities in Mimed Violin Performance here is the abstract:

    Body movement and embodied knowledge play an impor- tant part in how we express and understand music. The gestures of a musician playing an instrument are part of a shared knowledge that contributes to musical expressivity by building expectations and influencing perception. In this study, we investigate the extent in which the movement vocabulary of violin performance is part of the embodied knowledge of individuals with no experience in playing the instrument. We asked people who cannot play the violin to mime a performance along an audio excerpt recorded by an expert. They do so by using a silent violin, specifically modified to be more accessible to neophytes. Preliminary motion data analyses suggest that, despite the individuality of each performance, there is a certain consistency among participants in terms of overall rhythmic resonance with the music and movement in response to melodic phrasing. Individualities and commonalities are then analysed using Functional Principal Component Analysis.

    PQoM

     

  • Kineslimina: a study for guitar, viola and motion sensors

    Kineslimina: a study for guitar, viola and motion sensors

    I’m giving the final touches to a piece for viola, guitar, motion sensors and live electronics that I have been working on as part of my PhD research project. It will be premiered during the Gala Concert of the 11th International Symposium on Computer Music Multidisciplinary Research (CMMR) on Tuesday, 16th June 2015. It will be performed by Esther Coorevits and me.

    Here’s an excerpt from the programme notes:

    Kineslimina is a piece for viola, electric guitar and live electronics that explores the use of the musicians’ instrumental gestures and movements as an expressive medium. Such gestures merge with the other musical features and become an integral part of the score. While playing their instruments, the musicians wear an armband fitted with motion sensors, which tracks their movements and sends the motion data to a computer. The computer then processes the movement data and sound, responding with a wide range of dynamics: from subtle timbral alterations that follow the movements of the bow during string changes to deeper resonances when more overt gestures are performed by the musicians.

    Inspired by the studies of musical gestures and embodied music cognition, the piece requires the performers to exceed the usual boundaries of their instrumental gestures, thus creating new challenges as well as new possibilities of expression and interplay.

  • Motion and Music Workshop at CMMR15

    Motion and Music Workshop at CMMR15

    I’m co-organinsing the Motion and Music Workshop that will take place at Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK, on 15 June 2015. It will be a satellite event of the 11th International Symposium on Computer Music Multidisciplinary Research – CMMR 2015: Music, Mind, and Embodiment, which will be held at Plymouth University on 16-19 June 2015.

    More info on the workshop webpage.