Music with Context: Audiovisual Scores for Improvising Musicians

Posted on December 30, 2013 by John CS Keston

Last May I completed my MFA in New Media at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. A good stretch of my time at the college was spent working on my master’s thesis. Here’s the abstract:

This paper explores the idea of mutable, audiovisual scores for improvised musical performances through the description of personal perspectives, practical examples, proposed projects, and research. The author postulates that an audiovisual score can be a useful tool to connect improvising musicians to each other and their audience through the insertion of a mediating audiovisual layer within the work. These systems are used as a primary influential agent for an ensemble of improvisers, providing them with a context for a musical conversation. In contrast to traditional notation and graphic scores, audiovisual scores embrace the chaotic ambiguities of environmental influences giving the music the context of unpredictable everyday events. Presenting an unpredictable audiovisual score parallels the indeterminate improvisation of the ensemble. It activates the last vestige of what remains immutable within traditional forms of notation driven performance inserting it into a mutable layer within the work.

Recently it occurred to me that many AudioCookbook readers will find the subject matter in my thesis interesting. There are detailed, conceptual explanations for many of the projects that I have shared here over the last few years. There are also references to work by many other artists who have provided inspiration to me. If you’re interested please click the link below to view or download the document.

Music with Context: Audiovisual Scores for Improvising Musicians by John Keston

Rule Based Electronic Music: Corpus of Utterance

Posted on December 17, 2013 by John CS Keston

socket

Here’s another improvised electronic track produced with a similar set of rules to the piece I posted in the article, More Rule Based Electronic Music.

Pop-up Music: Sangre Azur

Posted on October 23, 2013 by John CS Keston

This the sixth track in a series of mixes that I am creating by improvising on the DSI Tempest synched to the Korg Volca Keys, which is in turn synched to the Korg Monotribe. Minor editing for length and simple processing has been applied, but there’s no extensive post-production or mastering.

I have eleven of these tracks now. In the next entry I will share a link to an album preview on SoundCloud. I didn’t set out to make an album in less than two weeks. However, they kept coming and once I allowed myself to see the tracks as a sort of pop-up music making approach (more about this soon) I allowed myself forgo refining each piece any further.

Tempest, Volca Keys, Monotribe Series: Chimera Crew

Posted on October 14, 2013 by John CS Keston

This is one in a series of mixes that I am creating by improvising on the DSI Tempest synched to the Korg Volca Keys, which is in turn synched to the Korg Monotribe. Minor editing for length and simple processing has been applied, but there’s no extensive post-production or mastering.

DKO at FRANK Part 3: Everyday Music

Posted on February 11, 2013 by John CS Keston

This is another excerpt from a performance by DKO from the MCAD MFA open studio night on December 7, 2012. The document features Oliver Grudem (not shown) who produced the audiovisual score in real-time. The video and sound coming from the LED display and loud speaker below it was broadcast into the performance space as Oliver walked around the Minneapolis Uptown area during a snow storm. Listen for traffic, footsteps, car horns, and the occasional blurt of humans speech. The visuals and sound from his walk provided a “score” for the ensemble to respond to as we improvised. Oliver was also able to hear the musical reactions to the audiovisual score as he was broadcasting and respond accordingly.

The piece was recorded with my custom built binaural head microphone (Vincent) to capture the sound localization of the performance space. Remember that it is necessary to wear high quality, circumaural headphones to experience the binaural effect. While watching, imagine you are in the same position as Vincent. You should hear the bass clarinet in your left ear, the Rhodes and synthesizers to the right and the drums and video sound in front. The relative height of the sound should also be noticeable.