Transcript Blue does not seem like being attached to a specific colour

Music Research
Concept Paper
incl. Colour Organ
Akiko Abe
Graphic Design
and New Media
Research Targets
Things to investigate
•
How minimal/conceptual music composers make music. After looking
at some basic parts of music theory, I want to understand the way
they do. And hopefully, want to try for myself.
•
Also how they are different comparing with the traditional music and
composers’ context. How they broke the rules if there have been any.
•
Also listen to romantic music for comparison and investigate why it is
romantic, as I also often work in romantic motives.
•
In parallel with the investigation of them, watch again the films they
contribute their music to. Make notes again. It must be different to the
previous impression and understanding. If time allows, try games too.
Things to investigate
•
What does it mean that music has mathematical aspects? Is my
mathematical knowledge helpful to the research and making musical
elements within my work?
(You can’t just say it it mathematical because we do some
calculation when composing time of each notes, triads or harmonies. Those are just arithmetic!)
•
Make a colour organ (not necessarily made like an “organ”) and enjoy
playing, composing, and sharing with other people. Try to watch the
reaction.
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Feedback this to the project Blue. Current keywords are:
– Motif: Hope, Beginning, Change
– Visual: Blue, Dawn, Light, Open sky and things in the sky, Water, Slow
change
Research Paths
How to proceed investigation
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[R1] Reading Books
Discuss with teachers for inside topics. If the book is too difficult, ask help.
– Experimental Music - Cage and Beyond (Nyman)
To understand the context of minimal music and major composers in the field
– Sounds in Space Sounds in Time (Vella)
To learn and develop musical thinking and making in a creative way
– Music and Mathematics (Fauvel, Flood and Wilson)
To investigate the relationship between music and mathematics
– The Third Ear (Berendt)
Because I am not sure if I have the third ear, though I do have the third eye
–
大作曲家たちの履歴書(CVs of great composers) （三枝 Saegusa） [Japanese]
To look through some major composers’ profiles for background knowledge
– Point and Line to Plane (Kandinsky)
Because I adore this book
For others, also approach to poems. Reading voice is my favourite sound
source.
How to proceed investigation
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[R1] Case Study
– Music
とりあえず聴く。聴く、聴く、聴く。そして聴く!!! 耳の限界に挑戦。
o Experimental/Conceptual/Minimal music <--> In parallel with films
o Nyman, Cage, Eno, Takemitsu etc.
o Romantic music <--> in parallel with films
o Beethoven, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, R. Strauss, Debussy, Preisner etc.
o Satie, looking at Klee (Satie is cited in Jarman’s “Blue” too)
o Ballet music, looking at Joseph Cornell or de Gas
o Opera/Theatre music, looking at David Hockney (go theatre if possible)
o Holst, reading Greek myths
o Poems, reading aloud
o Hymns, gospells in a church. Read a sutra. Crystal ball music while
meditating
o Collect environmental sounds: water, wind, something burning, breaths..
How to proceed investigation
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[R1] Case Study
(continued)
– Films
Check specially those in which music is powerful in evoking certain
feelings
to the audience or giving impact to its storytelling. As this is connected to
films survey in Primary Research, I choose works from those in the
research.
 Nyman flicks (Greenaway films, The Piano etc.)
 Preisner’s works in Keislowski films (Preisner is influenced by Sibelius)
 Ennio Morricone’s works in various films
 Animation works: Fischinger, McLaren etc.
 Horror movies
 Watching CFs, music PVs

[R1] Making notes
This time, because the works vary and extensive, all the notes will be taken
How to proceed investigation
•
[R2] Making Colour Organ
This work is supposed to be made with Flash based on the transplant of my
previous work [am] from Director’s lingo codes. Details are in later pages.
This activity will be done by Easter break. (if be late, until the end of the break)
– Design visual presentation
– Design musical interaction
– Define colour-sound-key (or other devices) mapping
– Design backend architecture
– Obtain the sound source
– Work in actual coding

[Proj.Blue] Working on actual sound/musical elements for visual works
This is the temporary goal of this research but I am not sure if I can reach, for I extended
the
research very much. Constantly watched by tutors and if cannot handle for myself, ask
help.
Saving time and scceleration by learning efficiently is the key.
Colour Organ Project
Visual Presentation
Any better idea?
Searching for interesting visual…
A little bored of such visual… wondering what should be best…
Searching for interesting visual…
I need some twist… currently almost no idea. Please help.
Case Study - Piano - as Image Media (Toshio
Iwai)
Iwai’s work is a transformation of
drawing into sound scapes, rather
than a colour organ which is similar to
a real musical instrument.
It produces various simple-shaped
figures which are coloured according
to their relevant pitches sent from the
console and went through the dot grid
screen.
As seen in the work, it stands on the
paradigm that one (or more) octave(s)
are distributed to rainbow colours,
probably uniformly.
I am personally still in wonder if
colours should be shared by every
pitch equally, without a bias.
Case Study - Hammond Flower (Amit Pitaru)
This is more like a graphic
equalizer. Its sound is
similar to that of
a hammond organ but is
ambient and beautiful,
depending on the user’s
interaction.
The user can slide each
bar
and create the overall
texture of the organ’s
sound, according to the
author, Pitaru. And we can
see the polygon placed in
the centre of the screen
changing its shape.
Hammond Flower:
http://www.pitaru.com/
Case Study - O - [am]
This is also rainbow-coloured and similar in
the concept as Iwai’s work. The weaving starts
from the centre and spirally goes outwards.
The difference from the previous two cases
is that it has its trace of playing music as a
woven tapestry, although it lacks information
of each note’s duration.
It has three tones; accordion, trumpet and
piano, which are different in its colour tones
in the screen. The switching key position is
fixed but hidden. So is every colour-sound key.
The weaving visual is made
inspired by simple meias
weaving and very popular
Japanese girls’ toy “Lily-yarn,”
which almost all Japanese
around my age have seen it at
least once in their childhood. リリアン (Lily-yarn)
アンデミルミル (Andemirumiru)
A fancy knitting product by Hamanaka,
based on Lily-yarn
Case Study - O - [am] if the key mapping is known…
If you play it by your visual curiosity, tapestries may be like them.
If you play it by your musical curiosity, then tapestries are..
Each sound x 4 for one octave
Edel Weiss (Accordion)
Chiisana Konomi (Trumpet)
Originally the aria in “La Jolie Fille de Perth” by Bizet
Colour and Sound
Historical Colour-Sound Mapping
Blue does not seem like being attached to a specific colour as stably as red - C,
green - F/Fsharp or magenta - A.
Where is blue? Where should it be? Or it should be everywhere? Nowhere?
O - [am] Colour-Sound-Key Mapping
Tone: Trumpet
•
Basically mapped like a piano
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Piano’s white keys are distributed onto two lower rows of the keyboard and the
upper first row of keys are for piano’s black keys, which makes the touch of playing
quite different to that of a real piano
•
Right hand keys and left hand keys are same sets and independent to each other
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Tone change keys for each hand change the tone of the sound based on the
toggle:
–
Right: Accordion -> Piano -> Trumpet -> Accordion -> … (repeat)
–
Left:
Trumpet -> Accordion -> Piano -> Trumpet -> … (repeat)
And it changes the colour tones as well (next page)
O - [am] Colour-Sound-Key Mapping
Tone: Accordion
Tone: Piano
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This colour mapping is too blue-dominant. But the paradigm of what colour for how
much has no rule originally.
O - [am] Colour-Sound Mapping Alternative
I would rather do this!
Musical Interaction
Any better idea?
Key Mapping Alternatives: 2-octave Piano
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•
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I thought of this mapping when making [am], but discarded because it
was not my aim to make it like a piano
The upper two rows for the right hand, the lower two for the left
It is a serious imitation of a piano keyboard but both hands will confuse
each other because the space is very narrow
Can expect fast-response interaction owing to its simplicity, but still the
outputting sounds will have some difficulty if too much keys are pressed
at one time
Key Mapping Alternatives: Guitar (or String-based)
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This mapping is based on how we play a guitar
Right hand is for up/down strokes or arpeggio with the base shortcut
and each string: 1,2,…, 6, while left hand for bunch of chords
Need to prepare triad sounds in advance for strokes, as well as single
sounds source for single string pickings, which may cause a delay in
response. Especially stocks for choking should vary in combination and
large in data size
Yet might be very interesting in terms of interaction design. Similar kind
of toy guitar (shaped like electric guitar) exists in Japan
Is there any other better mapping?
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Not always have to follow a piano just because it is a “keyboard”
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For example, xylophone is also interesting to imitate, realising fast-changing
triads
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Dependent on the sound source, the instrument can be a rhythm instrument too
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The instrument could be something like a environmental sounds juke box with
video pieces
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If there is other controllable input device, it gives more interaction space
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Must remember that Flash can only have two audio tracks. In order to play more
sounds, multiple sound source must be given a priori, in either/both track
Interesting cases beyond a keyboard
bye bye
Basically, development in interface using other devices costs high and needs advanced
engineering
knowledge and experience, therefore, it is often a collaboration with a manufacturing company.
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ARS Electronica (probably similar works exist by previous nominees)
http://www.aec.at/en/index.asp
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TENORI-ON by Toshio Iwai and YAMAHA
http://www.global.yamaha.com/design/tenori-on/
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Maywa Denki (see ART -> TSUKUBA series)
http://www.maywadenki.com/
Maybe many of Music or New Media Department in various universities are doing similar projects.
But I don’t know who is doing what, especially in England, outside Japan.
High-IQ projects in science
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Hyperinstruments project led by Tod Machover, at MIT Media Lab
http://www.media.mit.edu/hyperins/
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Sony CSL (seems that they are doing musical stuff in France, but this lab. is more famous for
development in intuitive user interfaces.)
http://www.csl.sony.co.jp/
Appendix
Colour-Sound Mapping: Sound Tapestry (v3)
Sound Tapestry is one of my past
works, which shares the weaving
algorithm partially and the sound
set with O - [am].
It was a school project using
Tone: Accordion
Director, which we newly learned,
and I made it with the inspiration
given by early 80s video games.
Tone: Piano
Tone: Trumpet
Sound Tapestry: Visual Samples
In Sound Tapestry, the player can choose instruments
for each hand separately before playing, and colour
weaving is done from the most left upper corner of
the screen. The sound source is the same set as [am]’s.
[am] has its breakthru on the cross point of a creative
motivation towards a toy for celebrating children and
the reflection that this sound set suits better for healthy
visuals rather than the video-game atmosphere.
But this time, I really want to renew the sound set.
Colour me any colour of you!
Please give me any suggestion about this research project and if you need, please use this keyboard map.