ABSTRACT

We present our work in the development of an interface for an actor/singer and its use in performing. Our work combines aspects of theatrical music with technology. Our interface has allowed the development of a new vocabulary for musical and theatrical expression and the possibility for merging classical and experimental music. It gave rise to a strong, strange, unpredictable, yet coherent, “character” and opens up the possibility for a full performance that will explore aspects of voice, theatrical music and, in the future, image projection.

Keywords Theatrical music, computer interaction, voice.

1. INTRODUCTION

CyberSong is a collaborative piece of theatrical music created by Paulo Maria Rodrigues Luís Girão and Rolf Gehlhaar. It is a structured improvisation that develops from a personal journey of discovery on the potential of the interaction between a performer and a computer. At the root of the performance lies the traditional “classical” singer’s clothing, the tails, which has been transformed to host a set of electronic controllers that communicate with a computer. CyberSong explores the challenges of meeting “classical’ music (the sound utterance, the theatrical context) with new technologies (which causes the redefinition of the role of the performer/interpreter/composer). CyberSong involves a singer/actor that processes his own musical discourse in real time. There is a set of “sound objects” and “theatrical actions’ (including the musical/theatrical treatment of scientific/artistic relevant texts) that serve as departing points for a dialogue between the performer with his memories (instant or long-term) and the gesture that results from the electronic manipulation of the sounds. In this paper we examine: 1) how the idea of developing a new instrument for musical expression allowed us to establish a dialogue between artists with very different backgrounds 2) how the technical and performing possibilities of a simple idea gave rise to a coherent performance in musical and theatrical terms 3) how this has changed or enlarged the usual range of tools for musical and theatrical expression by a performer from a classical/operatic background 4) how other people have perceived the performance.

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Nime’05, May 26-28, , 2005, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Copyright remains with the author(s).

2. BACKGROUND

The CyberSong project has its roots in the individual research and performance experience of its creators. Since 1970 Rolf Gehlhaar has been experimenting with both mechanical and electronic technology towards the development of new sound sources for the making of music. Most of them were quite simple; a few of them have matured and become musical instruments. One of these was ‘superstring’. [1](Feedback Papers No.2 1970). Gehlhaar performed with it many times, solo, accompanied by electronic sounds on tape or with others in an ensemble (Feedback Studio Ensemble, 1970-76). Most importantly, however, was that its sound was clearly very attractive to the ‘average’ listener, particularly to the musically untrained. The first thing people would say after a performance was always, “Can I have a go?”. This fact inspired Gehlhaar to devise a musical installation with it – a public improvisation room - in the Folkwang Museum in Essen, Germany in 1972. [2](Feedback Papers No.3, 1972)

The second set of ‘instruments’ Gehlhaar devised was for his personal use, within his compositions or to play in the Feedback Ensemble: They were called “Nail Gongs”. (SPEKTRA 1974), [3], [4].

In another different area, that of electronics and interactive music, Gehlhaar’s work led to the creation of SOUND=SPACE, an interactive musical environment that was used in installations, in creative play and therapeutic workshops, in dance or as virtual instrument for musicians. The general idea is that an Ultrasonic Ranging System using echo-location, surveys an empty space and measures very precisely the positions and movements of any persons or objects. These measurements are then employed by a computer to generate MIDI commands that control sound synthesizers. A full description of SOUND=SPACE is available at [5] and it has been a reference for many other researchers work in the field of interactive music. Recently, the work of SOUND=SPACE evolved into HEAD-SPACE, a MAX/MASP instrument for a disabled musician. [6]

Another root of CyberSong comes from the work of Paulo Rodrigues and Luís Girão. In the first case, after many experiences as a classical / operatic singer, his work started to be developed more into the direction of creating new pieces of theatrical music [7]. In recent times, the collaboration of Girão and Rodrigues led to the inclusion of interactive multimedia in theatrical music projects, such as Bach2Cage, where very simple interactive tools were developed in order to integrate both sound and image manipulation in real-time performance [8].

The emergence of a regular academic and artistic collaboration between the three led to the idea of developing an interactive garment that a performer could use in his performance. The idea was inspired by recent developments in wearable computing [9] but the purpose was not the development of a highly sophisticated instrument, but to create a simple and versatile tool that could allow the emergence of theatrical / musical “character”, in other words, a “performing being” that would connect the cyber world with the classical music world.

3. TECHNICAL ASPECTS

3.1 Interface: the CyberTails

A microphone is used to capture the singer/actor’s voice and to pass it to a computer where it is stored and/or processed. The performer has access to the commands of the computer program via sets of electronic circuits implanted in a coat (classical music “tails”. Buttons and sliders allow the performer to trigger or change continuously electrical current (5V). This information is processed by a programmable microprocessor (STAMP) and sent as MIDI information to a MAX/MSP patch in a computer (Fig 1)

Fig 1. General scheme of the elements of the CyberTails

A circuit with eight buttons allows the control of functions related with recording and playing audio in real-time. These functions are: start audio (switches on the audio output of the entire program), stop audio (the opposite) record on (activates the recording of the sound into a buffer of fixed size), record off (deactivates the record on), play (plays the contents of the buffer), clear (erases the content of the buffer), loop on (loops the contents of the buffer), loop off (stops the looping A circuit with two faders controls the length and direction of the loop playing. A circuit with three faders controls two effects, feedback and delay and the dry/wet mix (Fig.2)

Fig.2 Detail of set of controls

3.2 Max/MSP Programming

The arquitcture of the Max/MSP program developed for the CyberTails is divided in two types of data. The first one is MIDI data, incoming from de PARALAX micro-processor STAMP2, that as been programmed to receive and convert analog current variation into digital serial communication. The second one is audio data. The program relates this two kinds of information and outputs processed sound as a result.

The MIDI data is composed by start/stop messages coming from the buttons, and value variation messages (0-127) coming from the sliders. Three of them are used to control parameters of the sampling process: start/stop recording and erase. This process is based on a 2000 miliseconds buffer. The playing process as 7 parameters, also controlled by the incoming MIDI data: play, stop, loop on and loop off as start/stop control, and loop length, loop start and loop direction/rate as value variation control. There is also the possibility to record and recall an audio file with the buffer content, but this operation is not controlled by the singer.

After this recording and playing process comes a process chain composed by two effects: LFO and reverberation. The LFO effect as feedback, delay and dry/wet balance parameters controled by incoming MIDI messages, and modulation rate and depth, and panning rate parameters controlled directly in the patch. The reverberation module as reverberation time and dry/wet balance controled by incoming MIDI messages and early reflections time and high frequency rolloff, controlled directly in the patch.

A memory section composed by presets allows to record and recall values to all parameters. This section is associated to a MIDI on/off button that makes possible the recalling of this memories: there is the need to turn the MIDI control off in order to recall the memories, otherwise the program assumes the incoming MIDI values.

All the parameters controlled by the singer can also be controlled by the second performer, due to the fact that all incoming MIDI messages are gated, i.e, the second performer can select to activate or deactivate each parameter control of the singer.

4. PERFORMANCE

Since late 2003 CyberSong has been presented in several circumstances: it has been part of a recital for voice and piano which followed the traditional/classical model, it has been presented in contemporary music concerts (in the line of classical tradition) and in experimental music performances (Fig. 3).

In Discussion we will analyze these different situations and the peculiarities of CyberSong in these contexts. Although CyberSong has a strong improvisational component, we have used also some recurrent elements, both musical and theatrical. Some of them have been notated and that is what we mean by “score”, a quite loose indication of sound and theatrical actions that we experimented and found particularly effective.

Fig.3 Aspects of a performance of CyberSong