view digishore/info.tex @ 52:bcedee4183e7

First Draft of MUME 2012 workshop paper

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
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\usepackage{geometry}
\usepackage{tools}
\usepackage{graphicx}

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\title{Information Dynamics Installation\\Pattern and Predictability in Music}
\author{Samer Abdallah and Henrik Ekeus}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
One of the noticable features of most sorts of music is that it
involves patterns in time---a repeating bass line, the cycle of
harmonies in a 12 bar blues, a melodic theme that is repeated, perhaps
in slightly different forms, at different pitches or at different speeds, and so on.
One of the tools available to a composer or performer is to play
with his or her audience's expectations, by setting up patterns that
seem more or less predictable, sometimes doing what listeners expect,
and sometimes doing surprising things.

Our work on \emph{information dynamics} involves studying several
different kinds of predictability in musical patterns, how we as
human listeners might perceive these, and how they shape or affect
the listening experience.

This installation allows participants to explore a space of melodic
and rhythmical patterns organised by \emph{how predictable} they are,
at least according to a simple model of how one might guess the next
musical event given the previous one.
Each person in the space generates one instrumental line, at a certain speed
and using a certain pitch range. 

\subsection*{Moving around}
As you enter the space, the system will start generating an instrumental
line or voice.  The loudness of your voice is linked to your height,
so if you crouch, you will become quiet. The active space is triangular,
with each corner corresponding to three different extremes of predictability/unpredictability.
As you move around, the system will generate patterns corresponding to
where you are in the space. With other people in the space, you can 
cooperate to create polyhonic textures, for example, you could lay down
a predictable repeating ostinato or bass line while your companion can
generate a freer melodic line on the off-beats.

\begin{center}
\hangbox{\includegraphics[width=0.55\linewidth]{PredictabilitySpace.pdf}}
\quad\hangbox{\begin{minipage}{0.4\linewidth}
\vspace{1em}
\textbf{Tip}\quad It's best not to move around too quickly, to give yourself
time hear the pattern you are generating to notice its characteristics.
Then you can decided if you like it or want to try somewhere else.
If you move around quicky, the patterns will change so quickly that there
will effectively \emph{be no pattern}.
\end{minipage}}
\end{center}


\subsection*{Control gestures}
\def\out{in$\rightarrow$ out}
\def\in{out$\rightarrow$ in}
Control gestures are made pushing out or pulling in your left and right
arms rapidly, either separately or together (while facing the Kinect
motion tracker; if you face away, then left and right are reversed).

It should be noted that the system will sometimes detect gestures when
none was intended. In particular, you might find the timing of your voice
goes wild if you walk around quickly. In this case, the \textbf{(\in,\in)}
gesture will reset your voice to the initial tempo and on the beat.
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{lll}
	\textbf{left arm} & \textbf{right arm} & \textbf{meaning} \\
	\hline\\
	\out & static in & double tempo \\
	\in  & static in & halve tempo \\
	static in  & \out & triple tempo \\
	static in  & \in & one-third tempo \\
	\out & static out & shift by half-beat \\
	\out & \out & change instrument \\
	\in  & \in & reset tempo 
\end{tabular}
\includegraphics[angle=90,width=\linewidth]{01.pdf}
\end{center}

\end{document}