All posts by D. Andrew Stewart

Jimmy Raps in Morelia



Jimmy Raps (presented at the International Conference on Live Coding in Morelia [Mexico] in December, 2017) is a text ‘rap’ and audio-visual composition; by rap, I mean the live writer composes verses and launches musical rhythms, revealing an unspoken word rap of English slang that listeners may find humorous and nonsensical – a metaphor for the central figure whose sampled voice features strongly throughout the piece. Gestures (instrumental, typographical, spatial, epistemic, ancillary, etc.) are given tangible form through the use of the MYO biosignal interface and the browser-based textual performance and visualisation interface known as Live Writing (Lee, 2015). The MYO is a biosignal (electromyography) armband featuring inertial measurement sensing (3DoF accelerometer; 3DoF gyroscope). Live writing is a web browser-based textual performance and visualisation interface directly inspired by the fields of live and creative coding in computer music. The underlying code of live writing includes JavaScript, Web Audio, WebGL and OpenGL Shading Language. It features dynamic and animated text rendering, allowing the performer to explore a potential for visual and musical expression through the creation of live poetry, live electroacoustic sound and temporal typography.

Live Writing created by Sang Won Lee
livewriting.github.io

MYO developed by Thalmic Labs
myo.com

Software support:

Samy Kamkar
github.com/samyk/myo-osc

Michele Abolaffio
github.com/Sindel

A bear whispers



In times of difficulty and danger, our true friends are revealed to us.

In June, 2017, ensemble IN EXTENSIO performed my “A bear whispers” (for clarinet and camping paraphernalia) in a concert, entitled BacKpacK MusiC, at le Petit Outremont in Montreal. A bear whispers is a musical recounting of Aesop’s (7th century BC) fable, Two Travellers and a Bear. The music was created specifically for this event, featuring the premieres of several new works developed for an all-ages audience.

After a long hike, two friends decide to build a campfire and rest. Suddenly, a bear comes upon them. One of the hikers quickly climbs up a tree in an effort to save himself from the bear. The other hiker, feeling he has no other option, falls to the ground and plays dead. The bear sniffs out the fallen hiker from head to toe and appears to whisper something to him. The hiker holds his breath because it is said that bears do not eat dead animals. The bear finishes sniffing around and then leaves. The hiker in the tree climbs down and asks the other what the bear whispered. The bear said, “in the future, never travel with friends who desert you in times of danger”.

BacKpacK MusiC is a multimedia concert based on a narrative featuring two travelling musicians from the digital age. The musicians undertake a journey, passing from district to district and city to city with merely one backpack replete with new music.
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BacKpacK MusiC est un concert multimédia basé sur une trame narrative mettant en scène deux musiciennes de l’ère numérique voyageant de quartier en quartier, de ville en ville, avec littéralement pour seul baggage un sac à dos plein de nouvelles musiques.

IN EXTENSIO https://www.inextensio.ca