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PROFESSOR: Hello and welcome.

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My name is Chris Ariza, and
this is 21M.380, Live

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Electronics Performance
Techniques.

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What we have here is a rather
unique ensemble.

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You should probably be asking
what is this ensemble.

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Some people refer to these
sorts of organizations as

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laptop orchestras.

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Although this is indeed an
orchestra of laptops, we've

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looked more towards the
traditions of jazz and

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improvisatory music and early
live electronics performance,

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where each musician is
responsible for improvisation,

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contribution, and real-time
composition at a level maybe

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not found in every orchestra.

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So what we've done here
is we've started

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with a common interface.

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And that is the Dual Analog Game
Controller along with the

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Pure Data synthesis language.

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And so you'll see that each
of us have one of these

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controllers.

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Using a common controller with
a number of different

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instruments allows us to reach
a certain level of virtuosity

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with these controllers.

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Of course, virtuosity with
these controllers is more

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often associated with video
games, we are going to harness

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that virtuosity and put it more
towards music-making.

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So from there we've explored a
number of different approaches

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to improvisation, composition,
and performance.

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Each student has explored
their own interfaces and

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design of their own instruments,
some of which

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you'll see here today.

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And we've prepared a number
of works for you.

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A couple of the works are
compositions by me for the

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whole ensemble that explore
my work in algorithmic

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composition and live electronics
on a large scale.

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Additionally, in groups the
students have worked on what I

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call performance frameworks.

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These are contexts for
improvisation and composition.

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And we will go through
those as we proceed.

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The first work is,
again, by me.

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I call this "Work II." This
work is an exploration in

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rhythmic and textural
heterophony as we move through

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three distinct landscapes.

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I hope you enjoy the concert.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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[APPLAUSE]

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GUEST SPEAKER: So for "Fruit
Loops," what we'll be doing is

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using a loop pedal to first
lay a track and

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create a loop of music.

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And so the chord will actually
be passing from person to

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person, and each person
will add to that loop.

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So what we're going to do now
is just go down the line and

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explain a little bit about
our instruments.

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So this right here is a
Victorian oscillator.

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And it's proof that
you can create

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electronic music very cheaply.

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This is literally a battery, a
small speaker, one of those

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little tabs from a soda can,
and a piece of tin foil.

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So you too can make
this music.

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GUEST SPEAKER: I'll be playing
software bagpipes today in

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edition to a couple of other
instruments that Professor

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Ariza designed for some
percussive sounds and a couple

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of instruments that you just
heard in "Work II."

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GUEST SPEAKER: I'm going to
to play [UNINTELLIGIBLE]

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in a different way, on
this small keyboard.

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GUEST SPEAKER: I'm
[UNINTELLIGIBLE]

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different pitched screams.

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So some of them are screams
from other songs.

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Some of them are just screens
that they use for movie

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backgrounds and stuff.

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So you'll just hear
[INAUDIBLE].

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PROFESSOR: Are you going
to build on the scream?

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GUEST SPEAKER: Huh?

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PROFESSOR: Are you going
to build on the scream?

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GUEST SPEAKER: No.

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I don't think so.

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[LAUGHTER]

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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[APPLAUSE]

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GUEST SPEAKER: So next
we're going to

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be improving a little.

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And improvising in an electronic
ensemble is exactly

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how you improvise in
any other ensemble.

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We're just going to be choosing
some instruments and

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playing with them.

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While sometimes when you
improvise, you give some

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structure, we are doing the most
basic structure we can.

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So we're going to start.

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We're going to play.

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And then about six minutes
later, we're going to stop.

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And it's going to sound nothing
like anything else

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we've done before, but
hopefully it'll

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sound pretty good.

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Thanks.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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[APPLAUSE]

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GUEST SPEAKER: So next--

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there's a long tradition of
improvising to movies, because

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you get a nice story
with that.

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So we wanted to do that.

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But we wanted to improvise to
an amusement-park ride.

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So one of my favorite
amusement-park rides is

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Disneyland's Haunted Mansion.

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So how many of you have been
to Disneyland's Haunted

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Mansion or Disney World's?

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Yeah.

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So it's a great ride.

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It's a great story.

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And we're going to be playing
music to that.

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So I'll be playing--

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[INAUDIBLE].

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So I'll be playing a noise
instrument to give you a

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certain ambiance that you expect
in a haunted house.

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GUEST SPEAKER: I'll be playing
my spooky instrument, which

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also uses this gamepad
interface.

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But it's designed to
give you spooky or

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ominous background noises.

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GUEST SPEAKER: I'll be playing
a sample bass instrument also

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on the gamepad with various
sound effects and loops.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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[APPLAUSE]

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PROFESSOR: All right.

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We have one more
piece for you.

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This is titled "Work III,"
another composition by me.

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Before I describe a little bit
about this piece, I want to

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thank Peter and all the library
staff for giving us

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this excellent opportunity to
use their beautiful space and

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to do something a little
different in here.

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00:32:04,500 --> 00:32:05,510
Luckily we're indoors.

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Otherwise we'd be a little
problematic.

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00:32:10,330 --> 00:32:14,720
Thanks also to the music
division for their support,

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00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:18,680
Curt at OpenCourseWare, and
all of you for coming.

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00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:19,931
Really glad to have you
guys here today.

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Finally, this work.

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This work explores a number of
approaches to algorithmic

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design, algorithmic composition,
both at the micro

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level with a stochastic
synthesis instrument, which

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you will hear as a strident,
bright sound, and also at the

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00:32:37,886 --> 00:32:40,580
sort of macro level where we
work with combinations of

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algorithmically-generated
and combined patterns.

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Thank you very much.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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00:40:11,900 --> 00:40:27,738
[APPLAUSE]