Clavilux 2000: Generative Music Visualization Composition

Clavilux 2000 - Interactive instrument for generative music visualization from Jonas Heuer on Vimeo.

Another link that I need to thank Amy for finding:

Clavilux 2000 [jonasheuer.de] is a subtle music visualization installation that represents the playing of sounds by way of a simultaneous animation that can be interpreted.

For every note played on the keyboard, a stripe appears of which the dimensions, position and color correspond to the way the particular key was stroke. The length and vertical position of stripe is mapped unto the velocity, while the stripe's width reflects the length of each note. By mapping the color wheel on the circle of 5ths, the colors give the viewer (and listener) an impression of the harmonic relations. Notes belonging to one specific tonality correspond to colors from one specific area of the color wheel. Therefore each key has its own color scheme and "wrong" notes stand out in contrasting colors. The more different tonalities a music piece has, the more colorful the resulting visualization will be.

As all the stripes do not disappear, the resulting representation is able to convey insights about the composition as well as the specific performance: Which notes were played the most? Which were the loudest notes? Which range of the keys was played mostly? How harmonically constant was the music?

Larry Cuba's 'Calculated Movements'

I posted Calculated Movements by the seminal Larry Cuba on the Communication Design blog a while ago. I remembered it again today as Cuba's name was mentioned in one of the books I have [within a chapter about music represented through video].

Current reading

To add to the bibliography:


Harkleroad, L (2006) The Math Behind the Music, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Link: The Math Behind the Music (Outlooks)


Leppert, R (1993) The Sight of Sound: Music, Representation, and the History of the Body, London: University of California Press.
Link: The Sight of Sound: Music, Representation and the History of the Body

Scrutton, R (1999) The Aesthetics of Music, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ikea use augmented reality

Chapters

I've been working on my report today and have been trying to define a boundary for this study. Only the more I look into this subject, the bigger it becomes.

Subsequently, I've narrowed it all down and decided on my chapters. One thing (amongst many) that I've excluded is researching the idea of dance as a way of visualizing/interpreting sound - although the above Busby Berkeley images do share a similarity to the cymatics I've been looking at. I still think that they're worth ackowledging here.

Meantime, here is the list of chapters for the first section of the research report:


4. INTERPRETING SOUND

4.1 MUSIC NOTATION

4.2 WAVEFORMS, CYMATICS, SPECTROGRAMS AND OTHER CONTEMPORARY SOUND VISUALIZATIONS

4.3 WASSILLY KANDINSKY AND SYNAESTHESIA

4.4 VERBAL REPRESENTATIONS OF SOUND

4.5 JOHN CAGE AND NOISE AS ART

4.6 SILENCE

Reply from The British Library #2

Via email:

"Dear Daniel,

As long as it is a hand held camera with no additional equipment, that should be fine and will not require supervision. It will also be fine to record background noise but not any individual conversations, etc.

Hope that helps.

Best wishes,
Chloé"

So that's that sorted. I just need to find a suitable time to head down to London and get what I need.

Reply to The British Library

Via email:

"Dear Chloe,

Many thanks for your reply dated 1st March 2010 in response to my request for permission to take photographs and record sound in The British Library.

To confirm, it would be using a hand held camera and no additional equipment. The purpose would be to document the environment - rather than the library's users - and would not be intrusive. I don't believe that I will require staff supervision.

With regards to the sound recordings, these will be made using a small hand held digital voice recorder - about the same size as a mobile phone. It is battery powered and has an in-built mic so does not require the use of any additional leads.

The purpose for this is to document the sounds/background noise in the library as part of a project that looks, in part, at what we refer to as silence. Both are part of my research for a MA Communication Design project that attempts to visualize sound.

Should you require any further clarification, do let me know.

Regards,
Daniel Cookney"