Music and Technology Research Seminar, London Metropolitan University, Autumn Term 2006-2007: meetings in December

Please fins below details of the meetings in December of the London Metropolitan University Music and Technology Research Seminar. All are welcome to attend.

Monday 4 December: Sound Art and Creative Technology: A One-day Conference and Concert of Electroacoustic Music around the work by Larry Austin

CONFERENCE (Room CR100)
1:00 to 2:00 John Young (De Montfort University): Sound Design and Sonic Imagery: A discussion of the use of the use of digital audio processing tools to transform sound, with a view to the way this can influence the perception of sound sources and the referential and connotative dimensions of music.
2:15 to 3:15 Thomas Gerwin (Berlin): Positionen - Setting and aesthetic basis, means and spirit of the use of loudspeakers in different projects like �Berlin Loudspeaker Orchestra�, the work group �Soundscape No. X�, and the concert series �KlangWelten�.
3:45 to 4:45 Larry Austin (Texas): An illustrated discussion of recent works, including Williams [re]Mix[ed], art is self-alteration is Cage is, and Les Flutes de Pan: Hommage a Debussy...
6:15 - 8:00 CONCERT (The Parker Room, Ground floor),
John Young - Tongue
Larry Austin - art is self-alteration is Cage is
Thomas Gerwin - Feuer Werk 17
Larry Austin - Djuro's Tree
Larry Austin - Williams [re]Mix[ed] (1997-2001), based on Cage's "Williams Mix"
Larry Austin - Les Flutes de Pan: Hommage a Debussy (2005-6), for flute and octophonic computer music, with Robert MacKay (University of Hull, Scarborough), flute and piccolo
For full details please see separate notice or contact Lewis Jones (l.jones@londonmet.ac.uk) or Javier Garavaglia (j.garavaglia@londonmet.ac.uk)

Tuesday 5 December (CR310): Rob MacDonald (University of Edinburgh): Understanding undercutting: how the shapes of toneholes affect the acoustics of woodwind instruments.

Undercutting has been practiced by makers of woodwind instruments for centuries. A skilled craftsman can shape the junction between a tonehole and the bore of an instrument to alter significantly the characteristics of a note played using that hole. While undercutting is widely and effectively used, a full acoustical understanding is still developing. The effects of undercutting are not detectable in acoustical measurements made at low sound levels but rely instead on processes that are more apparent when an instrument is played loudly. This seminar will survey the various to efforts to understand and quantify these processes before focusing on current experiments which allow us to visualise the flow of air around a tonehole over the timescale of a millisecond. In the course of the talk we will hopefully answer the following questions: Why, when playing a woodwind instrument, can I feel a strong flow of air with my finger outside an open tonehole, while when I just blow down the instrument the flow is much weaker and most of the air seems to travel down to the bell? What limits how loudly I can play a woodwind instrument?

Monday 11 December, 5.15 (CR310): Jose Antonio Martin Salinas: The Conic Bellophone

Inspired on the instrument making developments of the early twentieth-century composers Juli�n Carrillo and Harry Partch, a new bellophone has been designed and constructed using an original bell made by deforming thick steel sheet into a conical shape. The instrument is in 96-tone equal temperament: seven additional notes have been placed between each semitone of the tempered scale in order to allow glissandi, timbral composition and a wide range of microtonal tunings. The construction of this bellophone is the result of an interactive process between instrument design and musical composition. The development process will be explained, with reference to the influences on the instrument, and the whole 96-tone instrument (G3-G4) will be presented for the first time. Examples of compositions for the bellophone will be presented in computer-generated sampled versions, showing how the composition process has developed while the instrument was being constructed. The instrument will be played to show its timbral properties and its techniques, and there will be an opportunity for the audience to ask questions or try the instrument itself.

The London Metropolitan University Music and Technology Research Seminar exists for the study of all aspects of the history and use of musical instruments, and of the relationship of music and technology. Seminars are usually from 5.15 to 6.45, in the ILRC Seminar Room (room 310, approached via the second-floor Library entrance), London Metropolitan University, 41-71 Commercial Road, London E1 1LA. Each presentation lasts approximately one hour and is followed by questions and discussion. Open to all staff, students and visitors: please bring these events to the attention of all who might be interested.

Further information from Lewis Jones: l.jones@londonmet.ac.uk; tel. 020 7320 1841.

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Lewis Jones
London Metropolitan University
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