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: symphony of the senses 1
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: symphony of the senses 2
Symphony of the Senses is a piece by Simon Desorgher, for improvising musicians and dancers. The piece has a broad structure, in that specific sections are defined (heart, breath/air and so on), but the specific details of how each section is formed is largely left to the musicians to decide. This version of the piece was performed in Colourscape with Simon playing flute, Michael Ormiston on vocals, various eastern percussion instruments and (if I remember correctly) effects pedals, and myself on computer. There were three improvising dancers with large coloured scarves, and various scents were released in the different sections of the piece.
In Colourscape the audience move around the whole structure – fixed performers (that’s me) are in a large central dome, whilst the other musicians are on radio mics and can move around freely. The dancers also roam the structure during each performance. It’s quite an experience, for audience and performers alike.
I’m using the same software that I used for my solo perfomances with metal, so I’m layering and looping sounds using software recorders (technically, I’m recording into buffers) and replaying the sounds using granular playback and delay lines, as well as adding extra effects. These are live performances, but there was quite a bit of post-production – mostly in the mixing, though there was a bit of editing involved as well.
The software that I use for the Special Needs project that I run for Eyemusic/Colourscape was originally created for Simon Desorgher, the flautist who is one of the people who run eyemusic (the other is Lawrence Casserley). Simon had for years wanted some kind of a system that would record his live playing, and the allow him to replay and manipulate those recordings in real time, while he continued to play his flute.
Not long after I performed for the first time in Colourscape, we were talking about how such a system might work, and I suggested to Simon that I could build him the software to do this in max/msp. And so LiveSampler was born. The system was somewhat cranky to use at first, but after every series of Special Needs workshops I rebuilt the software almost from the ground up, gradually improving both the functioning (eliminating things which weren’t useful, and modifying the user interface) and the reliability of the programme. Working with different disablilties gradually narrowed down the choice of sensors, until the current system uses only infra-red distance sensors, presure pads (on the floor) and acceleration/tilt sensors, which Simon has on his arms.
I also finally decided that Simon should use a dedicated computer (a Mac Mini) for his performance system, as we were having constant problems using his all purpose PowerBook. Although there have been a few performances with this system over the last two or three years, I think I’m safe in saying that this is the first completely problem free performance that Simon has had. Hopefully we now have a stable system!
