Bird's Call Disklavier (acoustic)

This is a fixed media piece in 60TET for computer-controlled grand piano and electronics.

In this piece several sound models are 'orchestrated' on the Disklavier which is treated like an 'acoustic synthesizer'. The 4 virtual pianos are used both as autonomous instruments as well as microtonal, spatial extensions of the acoustic grand.

It is a reflection on the identity of the piano as a Meta-instrument.

Ab-Tasten, for Disklavier, 4 virtual pianos and spatial sound synthesis.

target:voix_femme dictionary:vibraphone (25 grains)

target:voix_femme dictionary:drumkit

This is a synthesized sound file used as material for the piece "Riding the Groove". This is stereo reduction of an octophonic sound file.

Riding the Groove (sound material for tape part)

This is a live recording (through camcorder microphones, hence the very low quality) of the premiere of the piece "Riding the Groove" at Usine C, Montreal, April 4, 2012.

Riding the Groove (2012), for Digital Drumset, Video and Live Electronics

This is a recording using binaural microphones within an upright Disklavier at IRCAM, Paris, in spring 2013. 

From the original Edition:

Marlon Schumacher’s piece deconstructed Koch’s raw audio material using signal analysis techniques and re-synthesized it to six miniature pieces (fragments) via a technique recombining sounds of piano mechanics and cleaning movements previously stored in a database. Serving as the “tape part”, Schumacher’s algorithmic re-compositions are guiding the live performance: The memory card included in this edition contains a six-part video file instructing two performers of either a house piano or two grand pianos via an animated cursor to complement the layers of synthesized piano noises with pure piano tones. Consequently, Schumacher translated the cleaning process into the virtual domain of digital signal processing - thereby separating it from the sensitive touch of the keyboard instrument to create a music with it its own, rebellious urgency. 

Marlon Schumacher is a composer of electroacoustic music and doctoral researcher in the fields of computer-aided composition and sound synthesis. He works as lecturer at McGill University in Montreal, Canada and is a research assistant at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology.

Deutsch:
Marlon Schumacher hat Kochs Ausgangsmaterial mithilfe digitaler Analyseverfahren dekonstruiert und aus einer speziell angelegten Klangdatenbank mit Geräuschen von Klaviermechanik und Putzbewegungen neu zu sechs Fragmenten synthetisiert. Als “Zuspiel” bilden Schumachers algorithmische Re-kompositionen nun die Leitspur zur Live-Aufführung: Die in der Edition inbegriffene Speicherkarte enthält ein sechsteiliges Videofile, nach welchem Interpretinnen am Hausklavier oder an 2 Flügeln, von einer Cursorbewegung geleitet, zur zugespielten Geräuschebene die Klaviernotation umsetzen. Konsequent verlegt Schumacher so den Putzvorgang in die virtuelle Realität digitaler Signalverarbeitung und trennt ihn vom empfindsamen Anschlag der Tastentöne, um ihm eine eigene, aufrührerische Dringlichkeit einzuräumen.

Marlon Schumacher ist elektroakustischer Komponist und Forscher im Bereich computergestützter Komposition und Klangsynthese. Er arbeitet als Dozent an der McGill University in Montreal, Kanada, und ist wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology.

6 Fragments on One Act of Cleaning a Piano (Disklavier performance, IRCAM Paris 2013)

Recording of Disklavier performance at IRCAM, Paris, Spring 2013. 

6 Fragments on One Act of Cleaning a Piano (Disklavier solo)

Recording of live performance of "6 Fragments on One Act of Cleaning a Piano", for 2 pianists, video score and vibrational transducers. M. Schumacher (2013)

Performed by:
Christopher Goddard
Charles Zoll

Recorded at:
Wirth Opera Studio, Schulich School of Music,
McGill University, Montréal, Canada

December 10, 2014

6 Fragments on One Act of Cleaning a Piano (live performance in Montréal, 2014)

Bird's Call (target sound)

Bird's Call Piano 10000

Bird's Call Piano 10

Bird's Call Piano 100

"CalmHarmonics" is part of my cycle of modular miniatures for Violin, Cello and Electronics, titled "Spielraum". This work was commissioned for the LesGestes project, a collaboration between VanGrimde corps secret and CIRMMT/McGill University, 2012-2013. This is a recording of Elinor Frey (Cello), Marjolaine Lambert (Violin), and a binaural rendering of the multichannel tape part based on Violin sounds.

Spielraum - CalmHarmonics: Violin, Cello and Electronics

This piece is part of my cycle of modular miniatures for Violin, Cello and Electronics, titled "Spielraum". All sounds are produced using extended bowing techniques (legno tratto, legno e crini, bowing on/behind the bridge, etc.).

This work was commissioned by the LesGestes project, a collaboration between VanGrimde corps secret and CIRMMT/McGill University, 2012-2013. Note, this is a binaural rendering of an electronic mock-up of an octophonic sound file including the instrumental parts. 

Spielraum - Prehistoric Sound Scape (binaural rendering)

Selected for the inauguration concert of the "QT Disklavier" @ UTEMS:  2 quarter-tone tuned-apart upright Disklaviers.

Acoustic stereo recording of the world premiere on December 5 2019,  @ Austin Electronic Music Studio (UTEMS), Butler School of Music, University of Texas in Texas, USA.

6 Fragments On One Act Of Cleaning A Piano (QT Disklavier performance, Austin, Texas 2019)

The piece is inspired by S. Beckett’s poem “what is the word” (see last page of this document), which for me somehow reflects two contrasting philosophical concepts of identity, namely abstract thought (“cogito ergo sum”), vs. sensory perception (“esse est percipit”). These concepts do not only transfer to, but indeed describe fundamental notions of music, such as in “musique abstraite” vs. “musique concrète”. Another manifestation of this contrast can be seen in music representations: on the one end, as symbolic score: an abstract description of ideas, relationships, proportions, syntax, actions, etc. (without providing an accurate description of the resulting sounds themselves). On the other, as digital recordings (or synthesis) of sound: a phenomenological representation of a signal in arbitrary detail (however, with little information about its musical meaning).

marleynoe

Popular tracks