My very first thought was simply to create a multi-sampler that would be used in a piece that was an on-the-fly Dance/House piece. Where members of the ensemble would have objects and instruments in front of them, to sample and manipulate. And over the course 5-6 minutes a strongly pulsed live club mix would emerge. [That’s the former DJ speaking]

I thought, ‘simple enough. That would be cool… once or twice.’

The composer-side of me and somewhat emerging improviser thought it would be better to incorporate an air of pseudo-improvisation, where the members (and audience) are shown a word or an image and have a few minutes, as a group, to create a sonic/musical representation of the word/image.
[this somewhat fulfills my urge for demonstrative musical and procedural goals for the laptop ensemble – have a brief projection of the word/image. READ: crowd-pleasing projections].

An instance of the piece may not be limited to a single image. The possibility of more than one sequential image or even juxtaposed images is definitely possible.

The goal of the musicians is not [just] outright mimicry of elements, nor is it a race to the end. The process of creating usable sounds, coordinating with the other musicians, creating an environment, specializing them in time and performance space, and transition from one idea to the other is as much ‘goal’ of the piece as the actually arrival of coordinated effort.

It is more than likely performers will have a different/conflicting sonic ideas associated with a word/image. How the musicians deals with that factor, and the others listed above, is very open-ended
and discovery-based, which can be very exciting.
So what about that club mix? That would definitely be on the list, probably an interesting and more difficult ‘word’ to pull off with time synching issues.
But, Just Imagine: 5-7 performers on stage and this image pops up for 15 seconds.
[image from the SeattleWeekly].

5 minutes later, this image pops up. How would you do it? How would you make them different?
[from inhabitat.com]

“Just Imagine:” would not be technically hard or require too much coding, but whatever ‘instrument’ I decide to use, the performers will definitely need a level of mastery [this also fulfills my want for instruments with a learning-curve]. To be able to perform this piece, the musicians, will have to be extremely familiar with the interface. Like improvised music, the success of this piece rests on the musicians’ mastery of the instrument, their ability to convey their musical thought, and coordinate as a group.

Personal practice time on the ‘instrument’ would be a large requirement and rehearsal time would also be needed. Performances may not be limited to ‘words/images’ previously rehearsed. Well-rehearsed ensembles should not used previously seen words or should incorporating juxtaposed imagery or quicker paced sequences.

Nick Hwang 2010

The papers being presented have many interesting points, but they often end with the same questions, questions that I often find myself asking my own work: 1- is this simply remaking something already done; is it any any better; what does it bring to the table? 2- how does the design hinder/aid usability? Design should be 98% of anything created. The rest is perspiration/inspiration.

But anyway, I have 4 more days here in NY. I’m hoping to fit in sometime for MOMA. Otherwise, I’ll have to plan a trip back!!

I’ve been typing this post on the iPad. It’s the first serious typing I’ve done on it. The autocorrect works fairly well, but it takes a little getting use to in terms of hand/finger placement. The symbol options takes a little time to learn (@, apostrophe, and quotes).

One of the most annoying thing about multiple-touching is precision tasks. I hate the magnifying glass – cursor slide – to correct a misplaced letter.

For the most part, I see the iPad as a consumption tool and not much of a productivity tool. Yes, I know that Apple put iWork applications on here, and yes, I’m blogging — but beyond simple typing ( which is hard enough — I’m trying hard to avoid index-finger typing ) anything that requires precision tasks, extensive typing, editing, cloud communication, will be hard to sustain.

This is great for watching video, reading the news, casual browsing etc — consuming. But not easily creative.

Watch– next week, I may do next week’s class lecture on keynote through my iPad.

‘What the Bells’ involves a 4 Bell players, each with Wii-Motes and laptop running a client Max patch. A central laptop sends performer instructions via OSC. Global parameters such as timbre changes and delay, controlled by iPhone or iPad, are sent to the performers’ laptops.

Diagram of What the Bells

Performer Interface

Main Laptop Controller Interface

iPhone interface

The piece was an exercise on many levels.
1. Create a piece for Laptop Ensemble.
2. Use controllers that convey an audience-accessible associative real-world physicality. (Something that an audience could say ‘oh, yeah- she’s swinging the wii-mote like you would a handbell!)
3. Use OSC as a means of communication. Not just the exchange of data, but also performance instruction.
4. Create a robust Max/MSP patch with an elegant user interface.
5. Reduce Setup time.
(6. Visualization of Messages and Control Data is in the works.)

Each component of the piece was borne for this particular piece, but as I was a developing them, I saw the need to make everything modular. Now, each part can be recycled for future use. The messaging system, the wii-control interface for Max/MSP, the iPhone/iPad interface for Max/MSP, – and many components I wrote and did not implement in this piece: Event/Preset Control, Uni/Omni-Directional Control flexibility (the client Laptops can actually control each other), debugging controls, dynamic interface transformations, and a few others.

Each part of my Max code that I saw as modular and relevant for future use, I created as sub-patch/personal maxobjects– reducing the need to re-write or even copy-and-paste basic tasks.

The piece has been performed twice this semester and will be performed 8pm, April 14, at LSU’s Shaver Theatre in the Music and Dramatic Arts building during the Festival of Contemporary Music.

The italics portions is my opinion. Scroll down for the relevant material.
I like honesty and straightforwardness. Everyone likes to know the truth.

There’s a kind of allure to not knowing things. It’s the idea that showing some leg but not all of it. And largely, the popularity of oversized glasses hinges on the masking a large portion of your face. The observer’s brain and facial recognition and curiosity mix into a big mess. (But this may be something I don’t want to get into.)

But I also think that not some things are better left un-said. I had two odd situations this past month. The characters are really similar, their actions are different, but both stories end with me having a bad taste in my mouth.

1. Be Straightforward
I had been hanging out with “Stacy”, an asian girl, for a while. We had been going out, dinner, play, etc. Phoned, texted, yaddda yadda. She told me to call and text her more. She said she would make more time for me. Great?

To cover my bases and ‘just to make sure’ I asked her the other day if she had a boyfriend (we had a late night car ride where she went on about how she broke up with her previous boyfriend in December, and we started hanging out the end of January.

She said she has a boyfriend and they’ve been dating since January. It was one of those WTF moments that used to get me mad. But it didn’t. I’ve been riding at a moderate emotional range since last September. So I told her we’re not hanging out anymore and left it at that.

She should have told me she had a bf well before I asked. Sometimes I wish I had the courage to ask people “What were you thinking?” more often.

2. Leave it unsaid
I was at the casino last night playing Blackjack, card counting. I don’t usually chat with other players while I concentrate on the ‘count’ and remember deviations.

There was a little asian girl(“Fran”), who looked like my sister, Grace (not Gloria), playing at a different table. At one point, she sat down between me and some other guy. She chatted with him for a while.

Between shoes, the dealer said he taught Fran how to play the other night. I normally don’t like to play with inexperienced players (maybe it’s my superstition acting up), but I decided to help her a little on the basic-est of Basic Strategy.

Between shoes after that, Fran would go back to her previous table where her friends “Trudy” and “Linus” sat. After a little, they come play with us all for a while. I decide to not count for one shoe and talk with them a little. They’re all students, Vietnamese and they end their sentences with “man!”. (She keeps stealing my pho, man!). Trudy and Linus are siblings. Linus and Fran are dating.

After an hour, they all leave. But 2 minutes later, Fran and Trudy come running back:
Trudy: “Fran has something to tell you.”
Fran: “Shut up, no I don’t!”
Trudy: “Fran thinks you’re cute for a Taiwanese person. But she thinks you’re too old for her; it wouldn’t work out.”
They run away.

I didn’t think about flirting with Fran or say much past “You should double-down” or “I would split those”.

Stacy and Fran, you both have boyfriends. Do me and everyone a favor: put a freaking sign on your foreheads and leave me alone.

One good thing that grew out of this, was that I passed and did well in my classes. I don’t know if I could have done all that I did if I were still dating Christine.

I saw her today and had the first real conversation with her since we broke over 2 months ago. I feel like we both have realized- how much we compromised of ourselves and gave for each other. And we’re starting to learn how much of ourselves ( our beings ) we lost while dating. It’ll be forever a question “how much compared to our relationship should I/she/we be willing to give/lose in our next relationship”. And also the question

When you think of something funny or interesting, they’re usually the person you ‘try to remember to tell’. And when you’re in conversation with someone else, you would normally say something like “Christine doesn’t like asparagus either”, and you catch yourself before it comes out of your mouth. Or when your ex is also your best friend- the person with whom you tell everything- and you just have something to say, you catch yourself reaching for your phone to tell her that you’re excited about her play. Or when you’re having a really bad day and you need vent- you catch yourself. Because it’s something you’ve done for almost 2 years.

Or when you’re having a really, really good day, and just hope that the other person is outside, in the sun, breathing, feeling the energy and you just want to tell them you’re happy to know them.

You catch yourself. And you’re suddenly thinking about them again.

I’m going through my daily routine and I’m thinking about you, again, Christine. It sucks.

But I hope you’re having a really, really good day, and you’re in the sun and breathing, feeling everything you want to, and I’m happy to have known you.

Last semester, I arranged and directed music to an LSU theatre production of Maria Irene Fornes’s Promenade , music by Al Carmines. It was an “experimental” musical at the time in the 1970′s, that didn’t reach much success. Fornes’s obsurdist approach to forming the piece may have rubbed audiences the wrong way.

The LSU production of Promenade was a large success, being sold out every night and not not being a main stage show. The work I put into it did pay off in the connections I made with the theatre department. I am looking to do sound design and compose music for at least two shows next fall semester.

This semester I started work on my opera- Southern Werewolf. It’s a one act opera for soprano and baritone, based off a play by a fellow LSU grad student in the theatre department of the same name. It’s a story based in Southen Louisiana, around Lafayette parish. It’s a love story between a werewolf and vampire.

…

During intermission at an LSU play, my neighbor, returning to his seat, asked me if I was Nepalese.
“I had a friend who was from Nepalese.”
Nope, I’m Taiwanese.