The music and video in this piece were generated by a java program that I recently coded. The software uses some concepts borrowed from John Cage, but updates them with modern AI techniques. Specifically, I use Cage’s gamut, graph and chance techniques, as they were used in the third movement of the piano concerto, and after. Instead of using pure chance, however, I use artificial intelligence to control how the voices move around the graph. Swarm intelligence techniques allow each voice to follow other voices, or move away from them.
Our concert, titled “Electrics”, will be this Friday, April 24, at 8 PM in the recital hall at NIU.
We are excited to have a very strong group of compositions, which will include multi-channel audio and a piece utilizing a human-interactive interface. A preview of the submissions are in the posts below. Don’t miss it!
This is the stereo version of my 8-channel piece entitled Hexagon.
Hexagon is the exploration of the interaction and relationship between the pure, almost serene sound of the voice mixed with comparatively chaotic and harsh sound textures.
“Infidel Hymn No. 2” is a spiritual interactive music and video. The primary purpose of this spiritual work is to reveal the “light of truth and peace.” Thus, the audience can come to worship the performer/composer, to submit to him, and to believe that he is a last prophet and the perfect example of all mankind. There is no compulsion in worship. Truth is henceforth distinct from error. The believers, worshipers, and those who appreciate this perfect work will be safe in the hereafter. But for those ignorant disbelievers, they will face an inquisition in this life, and a painful doom in hereafter! God is forgiving and merciful. Lo! But God does not like those who ask too many questions. Nobody expects the (Spanish, Moorish, Roman, Arab, Japanese, or whatever) Inquisitions!
Technical Note: The audio part is programmed in Csound. The paranormal video part is miraculously programmed (patched) in an extraordinary (CPU hog) Max/Jitter.
This paranormal work needs to perform live. Anyway, you can click below to listen to music.
My second submission is a 5:37 piece entitled “Unibrow.”
Program Notes: This piece was written in homage to those with a confluence of eyebrows. Thanks to Steve Marek for his electric bass writing and performance on this piece.
Here’s a url to download a zipped .aiff file of “Unibrow”:
My first submission is a 3:12 piece entitled A Mousey Mermaid Montage. I was thinking that since most of my pieces are relatively short (6:00 and under), that the committee would consider putting two of my pieces on the program, if time allows.
Program Notes: This piece describes a day as a creature that is half mouse and half mermaid.
Here’s a link to download a zipped .aif file of the piece:
I am submitting for consideration for the Annex Group recital my composition entitled, “An Open and Shut Case.” This is 10:17 long, and may/may not include a video (pending). It is a 2-channel work, so does not require anything special for teching (except if video, having the projector and the screen down). This work will also be in my upcoming recital, so if there are too many submissions for the Group recital, I don’t mind if mine is not included.
Program Notes: Throughout history humans have been challenged by the duality of wishing to be self-revelatory and share in a communal experience with others - the absorption into “WE”, versus a desire to have boundaries and some level of privacy - maintenance of a discrete “I.” This work is a meditation on that conflict.
“The Sound-Life of Gebheart J. Reiling, 1926 - 2007″ is a portrait of the world during my grandfather’s lifetime. It is a living sound collage made up of tiny grains pulled from sounds that occurred during that time. In this version of the piece, each eight second time span corresponds roughly to a year between 1926 and 2007.
The software for generating this version was written in Java. Drawing from a library of chronological sound files, the software uses granular synthesis and evolutionary algorithms to generate a grain cloud for each year of a person’s life. Each grain is then processed based on its chronology in relation to its location in the piece.
