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Summery for Computer Music Jurnal Gala 20th Anniversary
= THE SYNTHESIS of TRADITION and TECHNOLOGY=2/4 |
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| "Development in Cyberspace" I belong to graduate school of Keio University, in which there are so many research groups of media technology. Graduate school present an environment which demonstrates the interconnectedness of different facets of media technology. Computer music shares a position with computer graphics as one of the components of media literacy. Professor Tohru IWATAKE of our laboratory experiments has several approaches to the future of music and computer as a media technology. Eric LYON is developing some DSP programs based on Csound, Cmix, and NeXTSTEP. Other students in our Master's class are developing a virtual drum machine on the Web. All researchers not only do research but compose music regularly. The computer network as a communication media expanded the musician's network into an international one. This motivates us to create music international in quality. This tendency will continue and accelerate, I think. If the real-time communication technology on the Net is developed, the stress musicians feel will be reduced and the behavior of players will change drastically. I think that day will soon come. "Keep in Touch with Body Acoustic" Now I will discuss the research conducted on the relation between brain function and music by Professor IWATAKE of our laboratory. This is related to the research of Professor Toshimitsu MUSHA who has developed a special analysis system of brain function. The purpose of the project is to study sound cognition and the psychological effect of sound. Previously, I've done some testing of the relation between brain function of player and listener concerning the sound of the SHO instrument. I've obtained some interesting data. In music the body of the player becomes an amplifier of sound. Of course, as a player I sense a wide range of vibration in musical performance. Specifically, I recognize the vibration over the standard range of listening when I play SHO. In fact, The physical analysis of data of SHO indicates there are rich sounds over 20kHz. This means that we need to think about the range of listening more deeply. This argument holds fundamental implications for theories of perception and technical audio standard. Conversely, SHO makes a simple sound of a nearly sine wave in a single tone. But that is usually played by chord in high tone. We can conclude that SHO synthesized very complex spectra by producing pure over tones. In recording of SHO, many engineers confuse the beat which synthesized itself. This sound is a technological innovation produced in China around 3500years ago. I see the same system of sound oscillation in computer music. However, I approach the acoustic of SHO separately from other instruments. The experience of the sound of SHO is not only auditory, but an experience of whole body. The occasional high tone makes it next to impossible to find out what actually is the original sound of it in space. I think it has a relation between cognition and phenomenon. "Where is the sound source?" This is pertinent to GAGAKU and GAMELAN, too. However, the wonder of SHO is that is can produce this phenomenon by itself. Measuring brain waves with cognition can render data on the condition of the human body. Our music can affect that condition. "The Original Sense of the Body with the Computer as Media" Composing music or coding some programs to make music is intellectually demanding work. But on the other hand, we must not forget the other side of music in which "playing by body" is integral. By playing with the body as signification, music can realize spiritual communication and pleasure. In 1991, ISPW/IRCAM was introduced at Kunitachi college of music in Japan. As the result, players can participate in the computer music. The best programer-musician using ISPW in Japan is Professor Takayuki RAI who acts as a musical resource in Kunitachi as well. I welcome this as a player very much because I believe that musical discipline of the body can be reflected in and amplify the power of computer music. Accordingly, I think sensor technology has an important position. However, currently it is not developed enough to completely record and process the energy of a performance. I have some ideas to fuse the mental and physical work. I would like to collect physical information, especially brain wave data, of players and listeners, and use it to inform composition and performance. Then, it will be possible to create a session with an other field of body performance, such as "Noh" or "Butoh" as such. |
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