Jump to Navigation

Main menu

  • Login
Home

Secondary menu

  • [Room Booking]
  • [Wiki]
  • [Webmail]

Automation Is My Salvation: Eight Studies for Automatic Piano by Seth Horvitz

Date: 
Wed, 04/06/2011 - 5:15pm - 7:00pm
Location: 
CCRMA Stage
Event Type: 
Colloquium
Seth Horvitz (b. 1973, Los Angeles) is an interdisciplinary artist, electronic musician, composer, and designer whose work revolves around the perception of sound and the idiosyncratic behavior of machines. Since the mid-1990s, he has created experimental electronic dance music under the name Sutekh for dozens of record labels and performed extensively throughout the world. In recent years he has gravitated towards a more studied approach to composition and sound art. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science from UC Berkeley (1995) and an MFA in Electronic Music and Recording Media from Mills College (2010).
 
Eight Studies for Automatic Piano makes use of simple, computer-aided compositional processes to test the limits of human perception while relying on one of the most recognizable musical sounds in the Western world: the acoustic piano. The work relies on a bare minimum of technical means to explore notions of temporal distortion, iterative process, and elegant complexity. Presented in an immersive concert setting without the presence of a human performer, Eight Studies advocates for an expansion of traditional notions of live performance and musical “life.” During the concert, extraneous sensory input is removed in order to draw attention to the connection between the sound of the piano and the abstract geometric nature of the piano keyboard. By controlling the lighting with a single spotlight and providing a video projection of the light reflected on the keys, the keyboard is depicted on screen as a simple row of lines and dots. Adhering to a set of machine-dependent parameters, this work raises questions regarding the relationship between nature, humanity, and mathematical precision. Building upon the practical, theoretical, and aesthetic contributions of James Tenney, György Ligeti, Conlon Nancarrow, Steve Reich, and Charlemagne Palestine, Eight Studies plants the seeds for an ongoing, focused and innovative approach to composition and performance for automated piano.
 
The 45 minute concert presentation will be followed by a discussion of the work.
 
- - -
 
More about Seth: http://www.context.fm

 
FREE
Open to the Public
  • Add new comment
  • Calendar
Syndicate content
  • Home
  • News and Events
    • All Events
      • CCRMA Concerts
      • Colloquium Series
      • DSP Seminars
      • Hearing Seminars
      • Guest Lectures
    • Event Calendar
    • Events Mailing List
    • Recent News
  • Academics
    • Courses
    • Current Year Course Schedule
    • Undergraduate
    • Masters
    • PhD Program
    • Visiting Scholar
    • Visiting Student Researcher
    • Workshops 2022
  • Research
    • Publications
      • Authors
      • Keywords
      • STAN-M
      • Max Mathews Portrait
    • Research Groups
    • Software
  • People
    • Faculty and Staff
    • Students
    • Alumni
    • All Users
  • User Guides
    • New Documentation
    • Booking Events
    • Common Areas
    • Rooms
    • System
  • Resources
    • Planet CCRMA
    • MARL
  • Blogs
  • Opportunities
    • CFPs
  • About
    • The Knoll
      • Renovation
    • Directions
    • Contact

Search this site:

Winter Quarter 2023

101 Introduction to Creating Electronic Sound
158/258D Musical Acoustics
220B Compositional Algorithms, Psychoacoustics, and Computational Music
222 Sound in Space
250C Interaction - Intermedia - Immersion
251 Psychophysics and Music Cognition
253 Symbolic Musical Information
264 Musical Engagement
285 Intermedia Lab
319 Research Seminar on Computational Models of Sound
320B Introduction to Audio Signal Processing Part II: Digital Filters
356 Music and AI
422 Perceptual Audio Coding
451B Neuroscience of Auditory Perception and Music Cognition II: Neural Oscillations

 

 

 

   

CCRMA
Department of Music
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-8180 USA
tel: (650) 723-4971
fax: (650) 723-8468
info@ccrma.stanford.edu

 
Web Issues: webteam@ccrma

site copyright © 2009 
Stanford University

site design: 
Linnea A. Williams