INTRODUCTION
My approach to the topic of sound comes from
the view that generic instruments, including
some of the more diverse, still dictate how they
are played. An example of this is the way we
are required to press buttons in a certain,
preset order to make ‘music’ that the listener
can enjoy. This then led me onto the theory of
whether we are actually using instruments to
express how we feel, or, do our instruments use
us to express themselves. I tried to consider
why it is that saxophones are synonymous with
Blues, Jazz and Soul, acoustic guitars remind us
of ballads, and loud bass beats create connotations of dance clubs! We do not always possess
the ability to use these instruments outside of their preset genres, so why do musicians often
talk of the freedom in which they feel when holding their chosen tool.
BACKGROUND RESEARCH
In my research on how instruments contain their own emotions and personalities, I considered
certain well known instruments and the connotations to which they convey in us. The first of
which was the Saxophone, which creates a low and sometimes depressing sound, often used in
Jazz and Blues music when the musician is conveying their own low emotions, and sadness for
their day to day lives. But we must consider the possibility that these emotions may not be
entirely our own. For the Saxophone doesn’t just affect us by the tone that it reproduces when
played, but also how it makes the musician feel. It requires a lot of energy to play the sax, and
large lungs, this tends to tire the player, and make them feel lethargic, which in turn, will cause
them to be slow up, and be more apathetic than they normally would.
A similar emotive response is produced by the trumpet, in its regal, and almost aloof expression,
which is so often heard in parade marches or within our own war time connotations. The
trumpet has also been used by some SKA bands to produce an almost satirical sound, using this
instrument with such rigid connotations, and creating music that is very lose and eclectic. This
is one of the few instruments which has taken a great leap in diversifying itself into a second
strong emotive group, and staying there.
The organ, which is often used in religious environments, carries with it a very strong idea of the
spirit. It has been used in other types pf emotive environments, but it appears that it mostly
creates the same spiritual ideal. In the film ‘Phantom of The Opera’, the strong sounding Organ
is situated in an underground cavern, yet it is still able to convey the Phantoms angered soul
and emotional spirit to the listener. Due to the previous imagery and genre that is carried with
this instrument.
This research into instruments leads me to consider whether we are in fact controlling these
instruments and expressing ourselves in such an open and diverse way as musicians often feel
that they are. If we look at certain musicians we see that throughout their careers their music
rarely evolves from one singular style of music to another. So it would seem that instruments
are able to dictate the styles of music we produce, making it hard for us to break free from their
imagery. But this doesn’t mean to say it is impossible. As with anything, the first steps towards
making a change are acknowledging a problem, and as so, my project will try to educate the
observers into understanding that the music we produce is not a true representation of what the
musician is trying to convey! We are mere puppets to the instruments before us, creating
sounds that have been preconceived by the saxophone, trumpet, or keyboard. So people must
recognize this, and when they learn instruments, acknowledge the fact that an instrument must
be treated for what it is, a tool for a task.
Pikapika
Although Pikapika isn’t to do with an instruments emotions, it does
use a persons body to create the sounds in an extremely elegant
fashion! In its own way, it is a much more sophisticated technology
used than I had envisioned for mine. It looks into the ways that
Japanese animation and films have their sounds created, and that a
persons movements merely affect the sounds produced, creating a
form of ‘Sonic Mask’ around the character.
The reason I have included this in my write up is because whether it
was intended or not, when I saw the project, it drew the
connotations of being a human puppet which I had envisioned for my
project! The woman is entangled in all this technology, and her
movements affect the sounds, but it will always be in the Japanese
style, similar to the way that the Sax is in the blues style.
It’s as though Pikapika creates a soundtrack for whichever individual
dons the outfit. The sounds are then manipulated using the poses
made by the user. In a report from Eric Cook at NIME’03, he talks of
how ‘The designers said that the control system did not necessarily require very complex
gestures, but Hahn obviously knew the sounds and the behavior of the system extremely well,
and that gave her a very visible responsiveness’. So who was more in control? The instrument
had to be learnt to be played well, and was limited in the sounds it produced. But the sounds
would have been very repetitive & clunky without the users’ actions!
Who was the real puppeteer?
PRODUCTION APPROACH
My research into the topic of the musician being as much a tool of the music as the instrument,
has influenced the design for the final structure with the connotations it puts across to the
viewer, and so I ended up with my 'Human Marionette' structure. This structure uses the
‘musicians’ gestures to create music, but uses ready made sounds from a selection of
instruments. Although the sounds that are produced sound 'new' and interesting, every sound
could easily be recreated in subsequent performances. The objective is to use the imagery of
the marionette, and the disjointed repetitive sound loops, to portray a sense that although a
musician may feel as though they are expressing themselves, it is in fact the instruments
expressing themselves through the musician. This would make the viewer think about how,
once a musician starts practicing with a particular instrument, would they be able to remove
themselves from that select? Such as a blues artist deciding that they wanted more upbeat
party tracks. Some manage it, others do not get the desire, because the instruments thrust
these emotions upon the artist.
PROBLEMS
This project wasn’t without its own problems to accompany it, the first one being with creating
the structure on a minimal budget, and little experience. From this problem, I have learnt a
great deal, and would have made a more stable structure in the future, and also thought about
using something more reliable than rubber washes on the discs.
Originally I was going to use a simple PS2 controller to get the inputs from the structure to the
PC, this ended up being very ropey. On the day of my progress report, the wires began to fall
off, and I ended up having to glue gun the wires to the circuit board so the PS2 controller was
reconsidered as a viable device, and I began to search for more reliable ideas. From this I
decided I would make a socket box for the Miditron, which would use phono (digital) and stereo
(analog) sockets to get the signals to the PC. Doing this would also ease the usability of the
device by the general user.
I then had issues with the Miditron setup program, this went on for about 3months, when we
realized that for some reason we could only program to the Miditron from our lecturers laptop, it
didn’t work on any of the other PCs or MACs around the university or home. So we programmed
it once, and then never opened the inbuilt max patch again, which wasn’t a problem, but did
make getting the interfaces to work take longer than expected.
EVALUATION
After the final presentation was done, and I had time to reflect on how it worked, and how I may
have improved upon it. One amendment I would have made would have found a way to attach
the rotating discs to the rod more indefinitely so they didn’t slip, and on that note, I would have
also used cogs instead of rubber grips to turn the pot, although this would then cause a problem
of the potentiometer was over turned, so would take some time and skill to amend. One
element that I feel I should have looked into more, is to make in the presentation, adding some
lighting, colored sheets etc…