Final Project Proposal

[Steve]

Hello All,

I'm going to be gone next week and thus will be unable to participate
in the brainstorming session, so I'm throwing out an idea ahead of
time.

I'm interested in the live performance aspect of technology and art.
Live performance with electronic instruments presents a number of
interesting problems, one of the largest being the level of virtuosity
required to control a huge number of parameters in real time.

Acoustic instruments provide a very intuitive approach to sound
production - granted you can use many extended techniques, but
electronic instruments have very few parameters that don't require
constant attention to attain a comparable level of expressivity. What
a violinist can do with two hands and five strings is only matched by
an electronic performer capable of manipulating pitch, amplitude,
attack, decay, sustain, vibrato, tremolo, filtering (there are 2 to
10+ parameters simply within filtering), and glide (moving smoothly
between notes), to name just a few.

Additionally, electronic performances tend to be centered around a
laptop. With, say, a percussion instrument, the audience sees a clear
correlation between performer motion and sound production. With a
laptop, it's impossible to tell what exactly the performer is doing
(if anything!). If a performer is tied to a laptop, he or she might as
well be playing a pre-recorded CD.

Because of these two issues, there is a need for expressive audio and
video interfaces - interfaces that allow the performer to A) use
intuitive and visible motion to create sounds and B) to control a
number of parameters easily with gestures.

Finally, there is a sort of unspoken understanding that the final
projects will be installations, but Keith assures me this is merely
the status quo. If anyone is interested in exploring live electronic
performance with me, that would be awesome.

--
Steve

[John Harrison]

Steve wrote:
>
> Finally, there is a sort of unspoken understanding that the final
> projects will be installations, but Keith assures me this is merely
> the status quo.
>

Yes there is plenty of room for a performance as a project, and I think
this is a rich place to look. BTW my violin only has 4 strings. Have I
been missing one this whole time and didn't notice? Uh-oh.

-John

--
John Harrison
Associate Professor of Violin
Director: CRATEL
(Center for Research in Arts, Technology, Education and Learning)
Wichita State University
Wichita, KS 67260-0053
USA

http://JohnHarrisonViolin.com
http://cratel.wichita.edu

tel: 001 316 978 6572
fax: 001 316 978 3625

[Steve Wilson]

> Yes there is plenty of room for a performance as a project, and I think
> this is a rich place to look. BTW my violin only has 4 strings. Have I
> been missing one this whole time and didn't notice? Uh-oh.

--
haha - yeah - it used to say Guitar instead of violin.

[John Harrison]

Geez you had me nervous. That would have been so embarrassing for me.

Wait...doesn't a guitar usually have 6 strings?

Oh well. What can you expect from a drummer?

...
...
...

Heated toilet seats?

[Steve Wilson]

I actually meant to write 5-string electric bass, instead of violin and guitar