Kata (1999)     Kristofer Bergstrom
for Taiko drummers and computer

Aura (1998)     Roger Dannenberg
for flute, clarinet, piano and motion detected dancer
Clement Kiew, flute, Matthew Ingalls, clarinet,
John McGinn, piano, Raul Parrao, dancer

Rhythm/Noise Study (in metal)(1998)     C. Matthew Burtner
for four-channel tape

Strain (1999)     Christopher Burns
for four- channel tape (premiere)

Arroyo (1998)     Jonathan Berger
for flute, clarinet, piano and motion detected dancer
Clement Kiew, flute, Matthew Ingalls, clarinet,
John McGinn, piano, Raul Parrao, dancer

50 Particles in a Three-Dimensional Harmonic Potential, an
Experiment in Five Movements. (1999)     Bob Sturm
for four-channel tape. (premiere)

Trio de Cuatro (1998)     Roberto Morales
for flute, clarinet, piano and motion detected dancer
Clement Kiew, flute, Matthew Ingalls, clarinet,
John McGinn, piano, Raul Parrao, dancer

Program Notes:

Kata
Kris Bergstrom

The term "kata," loosely translated, means form or style. In Stanford  Taiko, the word refers to the guidelines that determine how we perform.
We strive to be relaxed, centered, composed, and to play with spirit. The term refers to technical aspects including stance and arm position as well
as the philosophy behind the movements. The concept extends to all areas of performance, including how we warm up, move drums, and bow.
A work in progress, "Kata" attempts to develop a form which is flexible enough to incorporate two otherwise distinct musical genres,
namely computer music and kumidaiko. In its composition, practice, and performance, there is attention to this form. For example, all visual
aspects, for the human performers and computer alike, are directly tied to the production of sound. The drummers have no extraneous movements and
the computer displays the programmed code that generates each sound during playback.

Although there is no real-time feedback to the computer, the composition attempts to give the sense that each performer leads a section
of the piece. The computer's sounds were written in CLM in two channels and played back using SND. The application which creates the
visuals was written by Randal Leistikow using JAVA.
 

Aura
Roger Dannenberg
piano, flute, clarinet and interactive electronics

"Aura" is the result of a collaboration with Roberto and Eduardo Morales. Our goal was to combine the real-time sound synthesis capabilities of Aura (a computer program) with the real-time gesture and music generation capabilities of SICIB (another software system). Also, this work uses Roberto's Escamol composition software both to realize the instrumental parts and to generate musical lines in real-time. I still wonder if my use of Escamol bears any relationship to what Roberto had in mind when he wrote it. For me, this collaboration and compositional approach is a welcome departure from my usual way of working, which has increasingly focused on improvisation with interactive computer systems. In "Aura," the instrumental score imposes a fairly rigid structure, but the dancer is free to improvise, and the dancer's gestures guide the music generation process in real-time.
 

Rhythm/Noise Study (in metal)
C. Mathew Burtner
for computer-generated tape

"Rhythm/Noise Study (in metal)" explores computer-generated textures of polyrhythmic transformation and noise. The piece was developed on the polyrhythmicon, an original computer hyper-instrument created by the composer, which creates complex rhythmic transformations in real time. The work is in two large sections, each exploring aspects of rhythmic accumulative energy. While rhythm provides formal cohesiveness and generational structure, filtered noise acts as a harmonic/contrapuntal element, fluctuating between varying states of color, gestural clarity, and density.
 

Strain
Christopher Burns
for computer-generated tape

Strain began life as an essay in musique concrete, but quickly evolved in a different direction. As I worked on the piece, I began to camouflage the prerecorded material, distorting it beyond recognition. The original recordings now leave only indirect traces of their presence. Nevertheless, they animate the music, creating the rhythmic structures and sonorities of the composition.

The music is explicitly embodied within the four loudspeakers. Strain fixes its sounds in space, eschewing panning and reverberation effects. The loudspeakers are used as a quartet of voices, producing a coherent sense of ensemble. The speakers are in no way "humanized" through this procedure --the sound world is deliberately alien --but their material presence is recognized by the piece.

Strain was realized at CCRMA using Bill Schottstaedt's CLM environment.
 

Arroyo
Jonathan Berger

In 'Arroyo' a dancer must traverse a virtual three dimensional virtual maze relying solely upon sonic cues to guide him. The piece thus considers virtual reality from a sensory deprived standpoint rather than providing the standard assault of multi sensory stimuli. As in any maze, backtracking and retracing steps provide the only way out of wrong turns and mistaken paths. Thus musical structure is provided by this natural process of 'finding the way'. There are a number of mazes provided by the composer for the piece. In the future, an interface in which performers or listeners can create their own mazes will be provided.

The instrumentalists react to the dancer's arrival at key points in the maze by augmenting the digital audio cues and clues as well as provide occasional 'hints' when the dancer seems to be floundering.

The labrynth used in tonight's performance is taken from the architectural layout of an 11th century Anasazi pueblo in New Mexico. In the central room of the pueblo archaeologists found the skeletal remains of a macaw. Macaw are not indigenous to the region, and, in fact, are not found within thousands of miles of the site. The mystery of how and why the macaw found its way to the central room of the edifice inspired the source sonic material for the work.
 

50 Particles in a Three-Dimensional Harmonic Potential, an Experiment in Five Movements.
Bob Sturm

I: Gradual introduction of the particles into system and tuning the spherical potential.
II: Adding viscous fluid to reveal the relativistic spectrum.
III: Sudden increases in the Coulomb potential of the Universe.
IV: Cascading radioactive decay into three generations.
V: Gradual filtering of particles and reduction of system.
 

For the past five months I have been hard at work deriving a new means of sound synthesis and algorithmic composition by using quantum and classical mechanics and a simple analogue of sound. The result, which I call "Matter-Wave Synthesis", provides a very unique perspective on music making. Essentially, if you could see matter-waves, this is what you would hear. In composing this piece I was not only a composer, but was also a scientist--formulating, creating, observing, experimenting, discovering. This composition was derived from my observations of the system during particular times. Certain parts of movement III took over 2 hours per second of sound because of the interactivity of the 50 particles. This harks back to the beginnings of computer music which required very long computation times. You can learn more about my techniques at http://www-ccrma.stanford.edu/~sturm

Biographical information
 

Jonathan Berger

Jonathan Berger's current commissions include a (just completed) work for the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the Chamber Music America Millennium Commission for a work for Baroque ensemble and computer, and a collaborative work with sculptor Dale Chihuly for a sound installation in Jerusalem.
 

Kristofer Bergstrom

Kris Bergstrom has been practicing and performing with Stanford Taiko since he came to Stanford in 1996. "Kata" is his fourth major work for taiko ensemble and his first for computer and live performers. He is moving to Japan after graduation where he hopes to study dance and kumidaiko and continue his interest in computer music.
 

C. Matthew Burtner

C. Mathew Burtner is currently a doctoral composer at Stanford University and CCRMA. As a composer his work is guided by an interest in natural acoustic processes, and a focus on music as the synthesis of imagination and environment. A native of Alaska, he studied philosophy at St. Johns College, composition at Tulane University (BFA 93), computer music composition in Paris at Xenakis's CEMAMu/UPIC studios, and computer music at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University (MM 97). From 1996 to 1998, he was composer-in-residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, and the Phonos Institute in Barcelona.

Burtner has written for a wide variety of ensembles and media, and has received numerous prizes, commissions, and grants for his work. His music, which has been performed throughout the United States and Europe, as well as in Japan, Canada, Australia, China, and Brazil, is available on two recordings: "Incantations" on the German DACO label (DACO 102), and a newly released solo recording, "Portals of Distortion: Music for Saxophones, Computers, and Stones", from Innova Records (Innova 526).

Christopher Burns

Christopher Burns is a graduate student at CCRMA.  A founding member of the Balinese gong kebyar ensemble Gamelan Jagat Anyar, his compositions reflect his experiences with Indonesian music as well as his study of
computer techniques.
 
 

Roger Dannenberg

Dr. Dannenberg is a Senior Research Computer Scientist in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, where he received a Ph.D. in Computer Science in 1982. He performs frequently on trumpet in experimental music and has given performances of his works in San Diego, Cincinnati, New London, Amsterdam, The Hague, Paris, Pisa, and Montreal.

Dr. Dannenberg has also played trumpet at the Apollo Theater, the Greenwich Village Jazz Festival, and in an NBC TV-Movie. He sometimes performs in the Pittsburgh area with drummer Roger Humphreys.

Dr. Dannenberg is interested in the use of computers in live music performance. He holds a patent for the ``Intelligent Accompaniment'' technology now being used in music education across the country. For the past 10 years, Dr. Dannenberg has explored the integration of live music with computer graphics. His research interests include the application of computers to music composition, synthesis, education and performance.
 
 

Matthew Ingalls (clarinet)

Matt Ingalls is a clarinetist/composer/computer music artist based in Oakland. He frequently performs composed and improvised music, some of which have been documented on commercially available recordings. Matt's compositions have been performed in the united states and abroad, receiving many awards and recognitions. His web page contains much more information on Matt and his recordings, upcoming performances, and music software.
 

Clement Kiew (flute)

Clement Kiew is a freshman at Stanford University. During his nine years of flute studies, he has played with various presitigious orchestras, bands and ensembles. Most recently, he served as the principal flute of the California Youth Symphony, the National Honor Orchestra, and the Stanford Symphony Orchestra. Last spring, after winning the Senior Soloist competition, Clement performed the Khachaturian Flute Concerto in D major in a series of concerts with the California Youth Symphony. His playing prompted internationally-renowned conductor Jose Serebrier to say "You play with such a beautiful, free, and expressive tone." Clement plans to major in Industrial Engineering.
 

Roberto Morales

Born in Mexico City in 1958, Roberto Morales-Manzanares started his musical training when he was nine years old studying guitar and musical
theory. When he was sixteen he became interested in national folkloric music and learned how to play harps (Chamula from Chiapas, Arpa Grande
from Michoac n and Jarocha from Veracruz) and different kinds of guitars and flutes from several regions of the country.
In 1977, Morales-Manzanares went to the music school Escuela Superior de Msica , where he finished his professional studies on flute, piano and
composition. In 1981, he has created an interdisciplinary workshop in music, painting, literature and dancing which functioned until 1984. At that
time he founded the group "Alacr n del C ntaro" which he continues to direct. In 1986 he was one of the participants of the first Mexican
recording of electro-acoustic music of the Hispanic-Mexican Collection of Contemporary Music.

As a composer, he has written music for theater, dance, movies, TV and radio, and has participated in festivals like "Foro Internacional de Msica
Nueva","Festival Internacional Cervantino", and ICMC (International Computer Music Conference) among others.
As an interpreter Morales-Manzanares has participated on his own and with other composers in forums of jazz, popular and new music, including
tours to Europe United States and Latin-America.

As a researcher he has been invited to different national and international conferences like ICMC and IJCAI (International Join Conferece on
Artificial Intelligence) in 1995. In 1988, he was co-founder of the first Computer Music Studio in M xico at the "Escuela Superior de Msica". In 1990, Morales-Manzanares received a grant from the "Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes" to compose a piece for Computer and Orchestra. In 1992 his composition Nahual II was chosen for inclusion on the compact disk for the 1992 International Computer Music Conference.

In 1994 Morales-Manzanares was invited as composer in residence at CNMAT (Center for New Music Art and Technology) in UC Berkeley, San
Jose State University, CRCA (Center for New Music Art and Technology) in UC San Diego, Yale University in the United States and at the
University of McGill in Canada, presenting his work as composer as well as his program ESCAMOL as an alternative for algorithmic composition
and composition assistant.

He has organized "La Computadora y la Msica", and "Callejn del Ruido" festivals. At the moment he is part of the "Sistema Nacional de Creadores", director of LIM [Laboratorio de Inform tica Musical] the first Computer Music Studio at Guanajuato, Gto., founded in 1992 by him and works as an associate researcher at CIMAT [Center for Mathematics Research in Guanajuato].

Eduardo Morales

Dr. Eduardo Morales received his bachellor's degree (1974) in Physics Engineering from "Universidad Aut\'{o}noma Metropolitana", in Mexico City, his MSc degree (1985) in "Information Technology: Knowledge-based Systems" from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and his PhD degree (1992) in Computer Science from the Turing
Institute -University of Strathclyde, in Glasgow, Scotland.

Dr. Morales has worked, as an invited researcher, at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), in Palo Alto, California (1986), at the Simulation Department from the "Instituto de Investigaciones El'ectricas" in Cuernavaca, Mexico (1986-1988), as a technical consultant in an ESPRIT project (the Machine Learning Toolkit) (1989-1990), and at the Information Systems Department of the "Instituto de Invesrtigaciones El'ectricas" (1992-1994). Since 1985 he has been working, as a reseach scientist, at the "Instituto Tecnol'ogico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey" - Campus Molelos in Mexico.

Dr. Morales conducts research and gives lectures in Machine Learning and Knowledge-Based systems where he has several publications in journals and international conferences and supervised several MSc and PhD theses. He has been involved in research projects funded by Conacyt (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnolog'ia), NSF, EEC
(European Economic Community) and by the Rockefeller Foundation.

Raul Parrao

Raul Parrao studied acting at Universidad Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) and Dance at Centro de Investigacion Coreografica (CICO) in Mexico City. He was member of Contradanza Dance Co. from 1983 to 1985 and in 1984 received an award from Premio Nacional de Danza UAM, as best male performer for his work in that group. In 1985 he founded UX Onodanza, Danza Bizarra and since 1986 the company has toured and participated in several festivals around Mexico. In 1991 he received a scholarship to attend the American Dance Festival and was invited to the International
Choreographers Workshop in Munich, Germany and the International

Festival of Young Choreographers in Caracas, Venezuela. In 1994 he received an invitation to stage the piece "The rupture of ornament" in Korea. He has participated as an actor and choreographer in several theatrical plays, videos and rock concerts. He has received grants from the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA). Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA), Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana (UAM), Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CNCA), Rufino Tamayo Museum, Border 's Cultural Program and the IV Gran Festival de la Ciudad de Mexico, among other venues. His futuristic reveries are brash, irreverent, abrasive and with a biting sense of humor. Boldly borrowing from every source, he goes daringly from punk to Butho, from phatos to caustic clown. This stalwart choreographer, l'infant terrible of the Mexican Dance scene, creates work full of vitality and spunk.
 

John Mc Ginn (piano)

Over the past decade, composer/keyboardist John McGinn has achieved widespread acclaim as a performer of new and recent music, appearing with such groups as Earplay and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (San Francisco), American Camerata, Opera Americana and the Kennedy Center Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), the Orchestra of St. Luke's (New York), and operatic and theatrical groups around the United States and Europe. This month, the AmCam label will release his tenth professional recording, a CD of 20th-century solo piano works plus three improvisations. Other recording credits include several works by Berkeley composer John Adams (Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer, Fearful Symmetries), song cycles by Russell Woollen with soprano Linda Mabbs, and numerous chamber works with American Camerata. Mr. McGinn has recently received his D.M.A. in composition from Stanford University.
 
 

Bob Sturm

Bob is a Master's candidate in the Music, Science, and Technology program at Stanford. He received his BA in physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He has had pieces performed at CUNY Brooklyn, the 1998 SCI conference, and various concerts at CU Boulder and Stanford. The piece tonight is markedly different from anything he has ever done.