WELCOME TO CREATIVE MUSIC TECHNOLOGY
7:30pm Friday March 8th Ian Hanger Recital Hall
The Creative Music Technology (CMT) department is pleased to open its 2024 performance series with a concert of new music by staff and students
1) “MODULAR MECHANICAL SYSTEMS” (10’) BY
JOHN R. FERGUSON ANDNICOLE L
CARROLLModular Mechanical Systems (MMS) is a study of DIY handmade electronic music systems utilising light sensors and kinetic movement as audio and control sources It explores tactile feedback systems where performance gestures and light control and reception enable cyclical sonic motifs The modular design allows an infinite array of potential performance outcomes MMS considers how each element–hardware and software, tangible and virtual–of the system can both enact and respond to generative processes through gestural control and light manipulation The authors explore the role and affordances of each element and how it contributes towards the temporal space. During performance, the authors explore shifting timbres, rhythms, and recurring sonic motifs by manipulating the boxes' configuration and their relationship to one another The interplay of emerging textures with the performers' responsiveness and interaction highlights the affordances of handmade bespoke systems toward musical structures in non-linear systems While improvisation and experimentation are at the heart of the composition process, the system allows for repeatable performance outcomes (we hope / this is work-in-progress!)
2) “MONOCHROME RESONANCE” (15’) BY
TIMOTHY TATE
Expanding upon my practice of repurposing outdated consumer electronics and obsolete media, monochrome resonance explores the unseen connections between sound and image Using a FFT (fast Fourier transform) algorithm on simple microcontrollers, live audio is converted to a visual output which is displayed on monochrome monitors in real-time Translating the audio into an array of monochromatic visual elements, light sensors are attached to the screen, activating a series of switches that are connected to the RAM (random access memory) buffer of circuit-bent portable CD making/processing devices A recursive audio-visual feedback loop is created, resulting in a generative system that creates an ever-evolving sonic landscape
RYAN, PERFORMED BY Z (9’-10’)
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WELCOME TO CREATIVE MUSIC TECHNOLOGY
7:30pm Friday March 8th Ian Hanger Recital Hall
elements in the visuals. The acoustic music is in a contemporary classical style, contrasted by the electronically-processed sound layer which is live-sampled from the acoustic sound When a performer is not playing their instrument, their focus switches to using their sensor glove movements to manipulate the electronic sound layer based on the other performer ’s acoustic sound This creates a sort of ‘cross-control’ between musicians, something that I aim to continue developing in future works The visuals are surreal in style, combining pseudo-realistic landscapes, generative sound-reactive elements, and a modelled character (the cartoonish disembodied face, to guide the audience through the work) The musician’s sensor glove movements are deliberate, as instructed in the sheet music with specialised symbols to tell the musician exactly when and how to move their sensor glove.
I can’t escape the Amen Break and I don’t want to anyway Instead, I mess with it more every year This time, I am jumping between heavily glitched instances of it, where various measures of it play back at varied, but specifically calculated tempos, so that although the tempo of measures frequently change, their duration is the same, thereby working through strings of metric modulations Getting increasingly fixated on the Amen is like doubling down on a particular point in a heated argument that you know you are correct about, but winning the argument is not in your best interest. I don’t know why I imagine it like that. I put the tune together as a kind of live production, using a sampler, drum machine and two analogue synths I believe that glitchy instances of Amen represent a certain mindset I stumble into periodically, especially on those occasions when I recall I’m due for a performance I’ve forgotten to prepare for, and my itch, finally relieved, to express the kind of mental up-tempo pulsation that happens while, say, stuck in a traffic jam when late for a meeting with Aphex Twin
5) “TENTANODE” BY
TARA PATTENDEN(5’-10’)
Tentanode is an improvisation created with tactile and wearable handmade instruments and processed live code My tentacle-based handmade instruments spark curiosity through their unexpected sonification of non-traditional materials I build these tactile instruments with e-textiles (soft circuitry) and bespoke electronic circuits Tactile instruments elicit a unique and varied expression for playing electronic sounds through the immediacy of touch and with a depth of expression available The body becomes part of the circuitry, and this electronic circuit design limits and constrains the sonic palette Through its unique cyclical approach to timing, live coding with TidalCycles affords exploration of loops and rhythms in cycles, allowing the development of structures that introduce random sample selection and playback in the composition This is my first performance as a PhD student and gives an introduction to the direction of my research project into expression and novel experience creation with tactile instruments
6) “CONTEMPLATION” BY ANDREW BROWN (10’)
Music is often associated with emotions, from excitement to sadness The work Contemplation is no exception and explores thoughtfulness with associated feelings from calmness to anxiety The work features a mixture of synthesised sounds and field recordings. It includes sounds from DIY instruments designed and made by the performer that create contrasting drone and percussive tones The work is a semi improvised co-creation between gestural human actions and automated algorithmic processes Despite the composition following an intentional journey from mood to mood, the magic of music is that
WELCOME TO CREATIVE MUSIC TECHNOLOGY
7:30pm Friday March 8th Ian Hanger Recital Hall
each listener's experience is unique, and hopefully it will prompt Contemplation for many in the audience.
7) “PORTRAIT PATCH #5” BY BENJI COLBOURNE (15’-20’)
‘Portrait Patch #5’ is the fifth instalment of a sonic exploration series of queer self-portraiture by electronic musician and HDR candidate, Benji Colbourne; aka, B. C. Slumber. Through the exploration of building a unique Eurorack synthesizer to capturing and highlighting moments of utterance and spontaneity, the ‘Portrait Patch’ series seeks to highlight and place an ornate frame around the self-experiential beauty of the often overlooked mundanity of contemporary queer life
Benji’s PhD explores the intersection between one’s queerness and sonic creation, using live performance and Eurorack composition as a hands-on, immediate and tactile medium in which to channel the queer experience into sonics. The textural worlds created are not to be experienced linearly, but rather find yourself within the sound, ignore some of the timbres, and embrace the others; Sit in the middle, fall asleep, wake up, transport, phase out, there is no right or wrong way to listen to this performance instead Benji invites you to experience a momentary painting of life inside of a queer mind
