the music of sound

CDM has a great image of a solenoid powered physical sequencer which amongst other things has a great physical representation of quantizing, almost like a blocky moire pattern. When I was searching for info on the music of wires post I found a few great videos of music created using solenoids to play objects, check them out (but watch out for motion sickness with the wild camera moves on the first one!)

And a solenoid powered xylophone, which is interesting how the click of the solenoids combine with the xylophone tone – almost like having a clicky drum kit playing along…

Interview with Brian Eno on media and music. Edited by Denise Gallant for Video West, San Francisco KQED show, 1980s. Hee hee love the bit about idiot glee!

the past is a strange, strange place…

This is a great little mini-documentary that I also had illusions to making. Its a fascinating process & the one shot/sound that I wanted to shoot which they haven’t is to record ambient sounds a block away from the forge, so that the rhythms & sounds of making gamelan merge with normal street sounds…

I love the closeups of forging the big gongs, similarly in these photos:

In case anyone in Wellington is interested there is a gamelan workshop happening at Victoria University on Saturday 20th June (next weekend) – enrolment & more info here – let me know if you are going, I’ve enrolled…

Play Gamelan!
The sound of the percussion gamelan orchestras of Java and Bali has been described as ‘flowing water’, a subtle interweaving of different layers into a euphonious stream of sound. The New Zealand School of Music owns a beautiful set of instruments used for playing, teaching and learning, and the gamelan orchestra, Gamelan Padhang Moncar, can be heard regularly around Wellington.

This practical half-day session introduces the basic playing techniques of the instruments, and explains how gamelan music is put together. At the end of the session all participants will perform a classical gamelan piece together.

No previous musical knowledge or practical experience is required.
Members of the New Zealand School of Music community gamelan will also assist in the workshop.
More information about gamelan at the New Zealand School of Music visit www.gamelan.org.nz

Budi Putra is the Lecturer in Javanese gamelan at the New Zealand School of Music and Director of Gamelan Padhang Moncar. As an expert practitioner he is skilled on all gamelan instruments, as well as being a superb vocalist.

Jack Body is Associate Professor of Music at the New Zealand School of Music and Manager of Gamelan Padhang Moncar. He has had a long fascination with Indonesian gamelan, and several of his compositions have been influenced by gamelan.

Limit per course: 20

just in case you havent seen it… made by same people as the Phil Collins/Gorrilla clip

Checking out buskers on youtube is like having the ultimate teleport device; skipping between countries with none of the jetlag & dodgy airplane food… Heres the best few I found, post your favourites in the comments?

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

It would be a fascinating experiment to do in the real world what the In B Flat website achieved, ie have a basic backing tune/work in progress on an ipod & pay buskers to do overdubs by putting headphones on them & recording their performances on a portable recorder… Get all the versions home, line them up in ProTools & see what happens…

So Percusssion – have I mentioned them before? Shame on me if not..

my favourite is a track by them called ‘February’ but I couldnt find it anywhere online to link to… c’est la vie! Check out their blog here – it seems to be updated once a year, so no rush ok?

kawaii!