This first video is an example of interaction design with the motion capture system in the Davis studio. I think it lends itself to political protest because of the gesture that are afforded by the parameters that the hands control. I would really love to have someone who actually knows how to move and dance to try this out.
The second video is a good example of the meditative and healing nature of process based music. This is something that I find really interesting and want to incorporate in this class. I think the inherent healing nature of music can be brought out through the sonification of body movement through motion capture.
Wow I love the motion capture hands and their relationship to sound! There's definitely a lot that can be done with that in terms of performance, and I think it lends itself very well to performance. I'd love to hear more about what parameters change as the hands move and understanding how to control it like an instrument.
ReplyDeleteAlso I'm interested in the idea of combining meditation with protest, since protest seems like an often violent or emotion-filled thing. I wonder how the two can be combined most potently.
Your instrument is one of the most expressive NIME's I've ever seen. I think there is a ton of potential to use it in tandem with dance to make an especially cohesive and expressive work. And I think that process music, especially something like the sonic meditations, can be very effective as protest music because it not only tells the audience/participants the information you want to convey, but further cements ideas by encouraging them to adopt and practice the message.
ReplyDeleteI've been experiencing and researching the endless ways movement is catharsis to anybody (not just people who dance as a profession), and I think music is often necessary for movement to come alive in an open environment with others. It's cool that you brought up the potential meditative element- music is so powerful and can really alter a human's innate vibrations.
ReplyDeleteAhh that motion capture system looks like a lot of fun to toy around with! I can already start thinking of the ways you can create movement in contrast with each other to create an intense contrast in sound, for example, fanatic, chaotic gestures as opposed to gooey, slow movement.
This mo-cap video is truly inspiring. I love the untraveled roads of experimentation. I agree that it would be even more interesting to experiment with another dancer to see how the kinesthetic movement of a trained artist would interact with the mo-cap apparatus. I wonder if there's a way to replicate the energy from this Oliveros piece with electronics. Vocals and electronic processing? Could be an interesting road of discovery!
ReplyDeletePiggybacking off of this and what I ended up talking about in my first speed-dating group, the potential for mo-cap and certain gestures to have different implicit and sonic meanings seems very juicy, especially in the realm of protest, where so many movements have prescribed gestures as well.
ReplyDeleteHi Joey! I think your motion capture piece is very inspiring. I can't wait to see what you do with it in the future. We have a long history with Pauline Oliveros and I always cherish my chances to perform sonic meditations together. Have you heard of the band Nirvana?
ReplyDeleteNo I haven't.
DeleteI am so glad I got to see your motion capture work in action after you mentioned it in our group chat! It was very cool and I instantly wanted to experiment with it. I think part of what makes it so compelling is that the body becomes an instrument that anyone can play.
ReplyDeleteI love the meeting of mindfulness and music making in your second example. The stillness of it drew my attention to the fact that there was an arrangement of performers, but hardly any motion in contrast with the aural experience. I would be really interested to talk further about how this kind of experience could intertwine with activism/protest.
Nice. I loved hearing the enormity of the sound in relation to what I saw as softer, quieter movement in your video. It brings up ideas of power dynamics for me, and it feels like there's potential to explore which element (sound or movement) is in control at any given point.
ReplyDeleteI would be curious to see what mixing a VR experience with the motion capture system in Davis would be like and explore the possibilities of what you could do with an extensive system like that and merging the two. I really love whatever sounds you are manipulating with the mo-cap system too; I would be interested to see how a dancer would move based on different timbres, too.
ReplyDeleteHow you're able to create different sonic textures based on movement using the motion capture is something I'd love to learn more about and experiment with.
ReplyDeleteI also love the idea of music as a meditative experience presented in the second video. This piece really forces all involved to be centered in the present moment.
I love Pauline Oliveros, she is my absolute inspiration and I think it is really great that your posted her here because meditation and healing can equally be a part of protest despite their soft nature. If you haven't heard her album Ghostdance, you should totally check it out (I have been really digging "Greetings" lately with some funky mushy sounds and vocals). Cool stuff!
ReplyDeleteFantastic sound design in the mocap example. I'm intrigued to hear more about your idea of tying this into protest. I overheard you saying in class how the meanings of specific gestures ('hands up') could be employed. One challenge that a lot of movement-to-sound work faces is 'what happens with everything in between'? In other words, if the emphasis is on these relatively static poses, but we are tracking your movement continuously, what do we do with all the data when you aren't in one of those categorical poses? How does that become a musical resource?
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