for
Click here to generate a dance
The idea of this project is for people to create original music using 'packets' of material. The precise content of these packets will vary. The music that is produced by participants will be uploaded to the Net Symphony website to create a kind of aural patchwork. This can be accessed by anybody. All original material will be fully credited to the composers, and there will be the opportunity to 'tag' the sounds with verbal descriptions to aid searches.
The Music, Technology and Outreach module at De Montfort University includes a placement programme, and for this first stage in the project, students will be working with the participating schools and colleges to prepare the finished music. In addition, the Net Symphony forms part of the Philharmonia Orchestra's Education and Access Web Development. The coming Philharmonia season is themed around dance which, as we shall see, is relevant to this phase of the project.
The packets that will be provided to schools on this occasion will contain:
These can be viewed on a standard web browser on any computer. The Quicktime plugin will be required. It works on both PCs and Macs, and can be downloaded free here
To create a piece for Net Symphony, you should do the following:
1. Select
a dance, using the random dance generator
2. Research the dance form and the instrument required
3. Create an original composition of up to 3 minutes' duration
4. Send a recording to Net Symphony
Let's go into more detail on each of these...
This is simply a matter of pressing the button below and seeing what chance gives you. There are many different possible dances and instruments, so if you are not happy with what appears just press again until you get a result you like. Whatever the outcome, that is the composition brief, so if it generates "a waltz for clarinets", we would like to receive a waltz for clarinets... AND free percussion. You can add percussion at will (or indeed use no percussion if you prefer).
Researching the dance form could be an interesting project all on its own, but the idea is to find the distinctive features of a given dance. This will have to be done using conventional resources, or indeed the knowledge of staff and students. Researching the instrument can be helped by using the supplied 'orchestration manual', which contains very detailed accounts of most instruments, along with video clips for demonstration, audio files and more.
The idea here is to use technology as part of the compositional process, and this is where the DMU students will be of most assistance. It doesn't matter whether you have access to the specified instrument to be used. Instead, you will have samples of the various instruments, which can be loaded into a sampler or sequencer, digitally processed or manipulated, in any way you choose.
Let's take two examples of possible approaches to this composition, to give an idea:
i. the conventionally 'musical'
approach
A student notates a score for the required dance, using a computer notation
package. The resulting notation file is exported as a MIDI file and is played
back on a synth module, using the preset sounds, or linked to a sampler laying
the provided instrument samples. The result is recorded.
ii. the 'sound art' approach
A limited number of instrument samples are used as the basis for processing.
The work is all done in an audio manipulation package, and the sounding result
is saved as an audio file. Perhaps environmental sound recordings could be used
as part of the composition.
These are perhaps the opposite ends of a spectrum, and there are many compromise solutions in between. A lot will depend on the resources of the individual schools and the abilities of students. In all cases, adding a live element is fine at any time (i.e. players of the instruments featured) and a recording of a live performance will do just as well as a computer file.
The recording should be digital stereo, 44.1MHz, 16-bit. It can be sent as a CD, or on DAT, or on Minidisc. The intention is to offer both a hi-fi and an mp3 version of each file on the Net Symphony site. DMU will undertake the conversion of your original to mp3 format.
The address for Net Symphony
is:
c/o Prof A. Hugill,
Music, Technology
and Innovation,
De Montfort University,
1, The Gateway,
Leicester, LE1 9BH.
These are the first acorns in what will grow to be a massive oak. Here, to get you thinking, is the random dance generator. Have fun!
A
for
Click here to generate a dance
And to get you started researching
dance forms, here are a few links to relevant sites:
Sarabande and other
early dances
Foxtrot
and other ballroom dances
Rumba Tango Samba Bossanova
Habanera
Andrew Hugill, 2003