Category Archives: Influences

Sound and Fury

When I was researching on deafness for my current project, my audiologist friend Erin Desmarais suggested me to watch Sound and Fury. As a person who values hearing the most important asset and skill, this documentary about deaf culture was a shocking eye-opener. Below is the summary  of the documentary from PBS.

SOUND AND FURY documents one family’s struggle over whether or not to provide two deaf children with cochlear implants, devices that can stimulate hearing. As the Artinians of Long Island, New York debate what is the right choice for the two deaf cousins, Heather, 6, and Peter, 1 1/2, viewers are introduced to one of the most controversial issues affecting the deaf community today. Cochlear implants may provide easier access to the hearing world, but what do the devices mean for a person’s sense of identity with deaf culture? Can durable bridges be built between the deaf and hearing worlds? Find out.

I assigned my acoustics students to watch the documentary and write their opinions on whether the protagonist should get the cochlear implant or not. The followup debate was loud and full of emotions.

A simple YouTube search will give you an access to a full documentary and its short sequel (watch the original first!). I strongly recommend it to all my music friends. We musicians cannot imagine the life without sound, and it is fascinating to learn about the culture that does not have/need sound. Find out the “fury” portion of the documentary by yourself.

PS: My research on deafness was for this upcoming show. More information will be posted at therenegadecompany.org soon.

hunchback

John Oswald

I met John Oswald when I attended Orford Sound Art Workshop in 2006. Initially, I was quite nervous about meeting the composer I read in the textbooks. Like other participating students, I was tense and eager to show how good and serious I am about learning sound art.

After spending two weeks with him, I learned that my imaginations about famous artists were quite different from their real personalities. I think the photo below exemplifies what kind of “workshop” I had with him.

John Oswald (left), Joo Won Park (right), a hand (center)

In addition to an impromptu swimming in the lake, John led a contact improvisation (for a bunch of music tech people), organized a field trip to a Gregorian chant-singing monastery, and shared good foods and drinks. I went to the workshop to work 24/7 on electroacoustic techniques, but John inspired me to have fun doing music. His music is playful but not silly. His compositional techniques are often transparent, but virtuosity and hard work are definitely present. When listening to his pieces, I smile and learn at the same time.

oswald contact improvisation

I guess I had my Karate Kid moment with him. Instead of wax on wax off, I swam, danced, and got drunk to be a better musician. After a few discussions with John, I decided to make a sound palindrome for the final presentation. The idea was to make a piece that sounds exactly the same when played forward and reversed. The piece is not plunderphonics, but I liked what I did (click here to read and listen). A year after the workshop, I worked a little more on the palindrome idea and made a longer piece (click here to read and listen). I like it even more.

PS: If you are not familiar with John Oswald’s work, search for his plunderphonics pieces as a start. He’s easily found at Google and Youtube. For me, plunderphonics goes beyond remix or remake of a song. Have a listen.

PSS: John was great, but I also met other inspiring composers in that workshop. Expect  separate posts about Yves Daoust and Ake Parmerud in the future.

No Ideas But in Things

I love Alvin Lucier’s music. I still remember the strange mental state I experienced when I heard I Am Sitting in a Room for the first time in 2000. Watching No Ideas But in Things,  a recent documentary about Lucier, reminded me that, but also taught me a few new things about his work ethics and aesthetics:

1. Lucier knows, thinks, and composes acoustics. He is fond of how sound affects rooms, ears, electronics, and everything around. He is fond of converting invisible or inaudible things in our world into sounds. I resonate with his approach on music more than ever because I struggled to teach Musical Acoustics last semester.

2. A significant amount of his pieces are written for him, or other non-virtuoso solo performer (or no performer at all). I was happy to realize that I am following his path, as I am interested in developing solo electroacoustic repertoire for the past few years.

3. He is a good and experienced teacher.  I know that there are few things that I could only have learned and understood through teaching. I wonder what Lucier has learned from his students during his years at Wesleyan University.

I have met Lucier twice. The first was at a conference in 2006 where he was a featured artist. I was fortunate to talk to him at the hallway and get a sign on my I Am Sitting in a Room CD.

SignedLucier

The second instance was purely coincidental. I was at my favorite Chinese Restaurant in Philadelphia, and I found him eating a meal by himself a few tables away from me. I approached him and thanked for all his work, and he informed me that he is visiting Philly to present a concert. I cancelled all my schedules and went to see the concert where he played Opera with Objects (the first piece you see in the DVD trailer.

To end this post, I would like to share my take on I Am Sitting in a Room.

Form+Code

I’ll be teaching a course in algorithmic composition in Fall 2014. To prepare for this course and other projects, I decided to reread books on the subject during the summer. The first book I am revisiting is Form+Code in Design, Art, and Architecture by Reas, McWilliams, and LUST.

I learned about the aesthetics of generative and code-based art from this book. I enjoyed applying the ideas and concepts I have learned to my music. The book taught me how to think about composition in numbers and codes.

I am thinking about requiring students to read at least the first chapter of the book. The summary of the chapter includes some great sentences:

“Learning to program and to engage the computer more directly with code opens the possibility of not only creating tools, but also systems, environments, and entirely new modes of expression. It is here that the computer ceases to be a tool and instead becomes a medium.” (p25)

The chapter also mentions that using a computer in art reduces the production time, so the artists can use the extra time and energy to explore the procedure and structure. Coding in art also enables a person to customize and “hack” the tool. These ideas are easily applied to computer music.

I also like the chapter because it gives succinct definitions on algorithm and code. Algorithm is a specific instruction to do a task (p13). Code is an algorithm written in a programming language (p15). Thus, an algorithmic composition is a process of making music with specific instructions written for computer.

Here’s a simple example of such algorithmic compositions. Introvert has algorithmically generated computer accompaniment for live melodica player.  The computer part generates same chord progression, but the timing, volume, and octave position of each notes are chosen by the computer. This makes the computer part somewhat unpredictable, and makes the part unique for each performance.