The annual Kyma International Sound Symposium includes papers, workshops, demos, and live performances presented by Kyma practitioners along with master classes presented by the creators of Kyma, all tied together by a unifying theme. You are invited to learn, to share, to meet, and to enjoy!
Kyma experts and performers from Austria, Belgium, China, Colombia, Germany, Ecuador, Netherlands, South Korea, UK, and the USA will be in Lübeck to share their expertise in workshops, demonstrations, talks, and live performances.
Clicking on a triangle in the schedule reveals additional information about that presentation.
Monday thru Wednesday, 22-24 September 2014
- Pre-symposium Collaboratory rehearsals
Thursday, 25 September 2014
- 12:00 Symposium officially begins, MHL Foyer
- 15:00 Opening Session, MHL Kammermusiksaal
Introduction to the New Kyma, Carla Scaletti, Kurt Joseph Hebel ▶
An overview of the new Kyma for novices and experts alike. Whether you are new to Kyma or well on your way to becoming a Kyma master, you are sure to learn something new from this presentation.
- 17:00 Opening Reception, MHL Foyer
- 18:00 Concert, MHL Concert Hall
Internet Rumbles, Ludovic Laffineur, Cristian Vogel, Marinos Giannoukakis ▶
Have you ever thought to listen to the Internet ? That is what the performance attempts to achieve by analyzing network data traffic. Spectators are going to feel Internet rumbles through visualisations and sounds.
organic silence, Nayla Mehdi ▶
This piece is guided by the patient pace of nature, and it explores the organic and intricate elements that can be found in field-recorded sounds.
Quicksilver (2014), Craig Vear, Sally Doughty, Audrey Riley ▶
Quicksilver (2014) is a composition for dancer, cello, Kyma and projection technology. The piece operates on 2 levels: firstly as an operetta {of sorts} that plays out an imaginary rehearsal of Adrian Leverkühn, the main character of Thomas Mann’s Doktor Faustus (1947), conducting his composition The Lamentation of Doctor Faustus whilst in the final stages of his syphilitic induced death. In this scenario the cellist could be perceived as Mephistopheles, conjuring up sounds and music beyond Leverkühn’s compositional ability. Secondly, as a hypermedial organism in which the boundaries of individuality are blurred through the interaction of digital technology, and creativity is fused selflessly within a lived understanding of a whole instrument.
Microphun, Michael Wittgraf ▶
Michael Wittgraf, microphone
Microphun (pronounced “micro-fun”) is an improvised musical for live feedback, using a microphone, Kyma software, and a Nintendo Wii remote control. It is the result of the composer sitting in his studio gleefully jamming microphones into speakers to hear what happens with various configurations of software. Don’t worry, nothing will explode.
Imagined Destinies, Jeffrey Stolet ▶
Imagined Destinies is a real-time composition for a single performer and Kyma. In response to the Chinese text (from the fictional Book of Imagined Destinies) that focuses on the challenges of two countries working towards a deep and lasting friendship, the musical fabric offers a simple and tranquil demeanor. The text and its English translation are:
当我们长途跋涉通过教堂的苦难，生活的折磨 已经使我们勇于对抗，我们共同的人性，我们的热情，我们的爱会消融我们路边的参差岩石 ，那些路弄伤了我们的脚，却使我们互相拥抱联合起来拥有最深的友谊，也使我们灵魂相依。
Though the torments of life have antagonized us as we trudged through the churches of our miseries, our common humanity, our passions, our loves, will melt away the jagged rocks along our paths that have bloodied our feet enveloping and uniting us in the deepest of friendships as our souls entwine.
Two microphones provide the input mechanism for musical control.
- 19:30 Dinner together at Sachers Restaurant & Café (no host)
Friday, 26 September 2014
- 10:00 Morning Session, MHL Kammermusiksaal
What is the Most Organic Sound?, Carla Scaletti ▶
An overview of the symposium theme with links and threads that tie together the talks and performances over the next three days.
Volatiles that sound bad, Jean-Luc Boevé, Rudi Giot ▶
Defensive chemicals such as volatiles are essential for many insects against the attack of predatory insects. To apprehend and explore the diversity of emitted chemicals as related to the receiver’s perception, here we aim to transform chemical into acoustic signals by a process of sonification. Since insects often emit a complex mixture of repellents, we prototyped a sonification software (called ‘SonifChem’) to process physicochemical parameters of individual molecules, prior mixing these sonified data by following the chemical profile of specific insect defensive secretions. In a proof of concept, the repellence of insectivorous ants towards single chemicals was compared with the repulsive response of humans towards the auditorily translated signals.
Voice controlling Voice, Gustav Scholda ▶
Extraction of control data from the voice to manipulate itself or another voice organically
free range preparation, Robert Jarvis ▶
This is my account for how I prepared for a concert at an organic food café. The music created was for improvised trombone and Kyma, and during this session I will talk a little bit about my process and share some of the Sounds that I worked with. If you want, you can listen to the concert.
- 13:00 Lunch together (included with conference registration), MHL Foyer
- 14:30 Collaboratory I, open rehearsals, hands-on workshops, Kyma Open Lab
Voice Processing with Kyma, Gustav Scholda ▶
Gustav Scholda will show you various techniques to transform and process your voice. You will record a sample of your voice (or bring voice samples you’d like to process) and then design voices for robots, animals, or any creature you like. Gustav will assist you and show you techniques to transform or create organic structures for voices.
Kyma Open Lab, Carla Scaletti, Kurt Hebel, Franz Danksagmüller, Robert Jarvis, Bruno Liberda, John Mantegna, Jeffrey Stolet, Cristian Vogel & others ▶
Try out the new features of Kyma!
Bring your Kyma questions and consult with the experts!
- 16:30 Break
- 17:00 Collaboratory II, open rehearsals, hands-on workshops, Kyma Open Lab
Kyma Open Lab, Carla Scaletti, Kurt Hebel, Franz Danksagmüller, Robert Jarvis, Bruno Liberda, John Mantegna, Jeffrey Stolet, Cristian Vogel & others ▶
Try out the new features of Kyma!
Bring your Kyma questions and consult with the experts!
- 19:30 Concert, St. Jakobi church
Conductus, Carla Scaletti ▶
Birte Prüfert, Theresa Szorek & Iga Osowska, voice; Franz Danksagmüller, organ; Anne Michael, rehearsal conductor
In organic life forms, it’s rare for new growth to completely supplant what already exists; usually, growth occurs as new layers are added to older ones, similar to the way polyphonic music or “organum” evolved as new layers and new intervals were added to the original monophonic chants. Reverberation functions in a similar manner, allowing you to add new layers as the older layers are still ringing in the air.
In fact, reverberation—a quasi-organic process of memory, feedback, and decay—is the “Fifth Element” in Conductus; there are three singers, an organist, and the reverberation of St Jakobi which is treated as a distinct personality and has its own “solos”. Kyma’s role is to process and reshape the reverberation by capturing the environment through two microphones, reacting to it, and responding according to the gene transcription regulation network of an E. coli cell (as described by Uri Alon in 2002).
To excite the reverberation, we will be “feeding” it an arrangement of one of the very first examples of polyphonic music from the Liber Sancti Jakobi (Codex Calixtinus) which is a kind of “tour-guide” for pilgrims following Die Jakobswege to St Jakobi’s shrine in Santiago de Compostela. So the music itself is a kind of echo or reverberation from medieval times and the processional is an echo of all the pilgrimages associated with St Jakobi.
By exciting the reverberation in St Jakobi, the hope is that we might be able to hear, not just this piece, but faint echoes and traces of all the music and words that have ever been spoken or played here over the years. And that we can add our own new layer of computer-processed sound to join those echoes.
Break, Break, Break, Olga Oseth ▶
Sam Golter, flute; Konstantin Busack, narration
On a hot, summer day my client asked me to read some poetry to her. “Break, Break, Break” by Alfred Tennyson happened to be the first poem I opened up the poetry book to. When I finished reading, I saw tears running down her cheeks and I asked her what the poem really meant to her. She said: “This poem is about a father losing his child to sea. No parent deserves or should go through that!” At that moment, I realized that even though she had Alzheimer’s, the poem brought her mind back. She was referring to herself and the loss of her two sons. The poem became an inspiration for this piece. I imagined a father standing near the ocean remembering, grieving and telling a story of his lost child. I explore with the use of delays and live spectral analysis to imitate thoughts and memories and use of drones to imitate waves coming to shore.
Electro-Organic Ecosystem for Lübeck, Scott L. Miller ▶
Alexander Annegarn, organ
Each pipe of the organ is treated as an individual oscillator in an additive synthesis engine, and different stops as filters. During performance, Kyma analyzes the sonic environment and in response to changes in the sonic ecosystem, adds partials to those performed by the organ. The process of performing the space is an exploration of additive (re)synthesis, by the organist in collaboration with Kyma and the space of St. Jakobi.
Sphaera, Franz Danksagmüller ▶
Franz Danksagmüller, Alexander Annegarn, Arvid Gast & Anne Michael, organ
Sphaera was inspired by the statement of Bernd Alois Zimmermann that all music that is played today is contemporary music. He also states that our music culture is comparable with a sphere: all music is available and we can choose which music we want to listen to. We float between all kind of sounds as they are equally present.
The organ was often compared to the human body. It’s bellows would correspond to the lungs, the wind would represent the pneuma and therefore the origin of life and sound.
Soul Hermit, Chi Wang ▶
Soul Hermit is a multichannel interactive performance for the Leap Motion controller, customized software and the Kyma sound synthesis system. The Leap Motion reports various data streams, in this composition, the composer chose to use hands’ and fingers’ position in 3D space, distance between two hands and two fingers, then use those accessed data to modify synthesized and recorded sounds as well as video processing. Therefore, the interactive composition is performed with two hands’ real-time actions. The hands’ movements in the air and musical expression as well as real-time processing video create mysterious yet lively intermedia experience.
“Gestus.Geheimnis.Weg” Raumklang für Aerophone in alter und neuer Stimmung plus live elektronik, Bruno Liberda ▶
Alexander Annegarn, Franz Danksagmüller, Arvid Gast, Anne Michael, Marion Krall, Sebastian Borleis & Fabian Luchterhandt, organ
Alles Sichtbare haftet am Unsichtbaren,
das Hörbare am Unhörbaren – das Fühlbare am Unfühlbaren.
Vielleicht das Denkbare am Undenkbaren …
NOVALIS
- 21:00 Dinner together at Schiffergesellschaft (no host)
Saturday, 27 September 2014
- 10:00 Morning Session, MHL Kammermusiksaal
dávny—bygone, Franz Danksagmüller ▶
Inspired by the works and ideas of John Cage and pictures and videos by urban exploration. Instead of preparing instruments I was looking for desolate, so called unplayable instruments, recorded their sounds and improvised on them.
These organically grown sounds are being processed and combined to a soundtrack for a documentary about decay. We recorded not only sounds but also filmed deserted industrial buildings, churches and other buildings and interviewed old people about their past, the past of the respective district and their traditions.
Composing and performing using body capacitance: an exercise in simplicity and sensitivity, Nayla Mehdi ▶
In the work presented here, I share the considerations and techniques I used toward building a musical interface that deals with body capacitance. With the exploiting of electrical fields comes much instability. The path chosen was one of acceptance. The result was tapping into the sensitivity of body capacitance, and embracing simplicity.
Controlling Organic Sound in Kyma Using Leap Motion, Chi Wang ▶
The Leap Motion is a small USB device that can observe a roughly one-meter hemispherical operation area, synthesizing 3D position data operated by objects (performer’s hands in this composition). Using two monochromatic IR cameras and three infrared LEDs, the performer’s hands in the operation area can be reported in real time to the host computer thus controlling musical parameters in real time through Kyma. In this presentation, I will demonstrate how to organically integrate Kyma language and the controllers’ data together, increasing the musical expression of the compositions.
The Linguistic Theremin – Creating a gesturally controlled speech and voice synthesiser, Robert Hofmann ▶
The goal of this project is to create a musical instrument that enables not only the playing of melodies in terms of varying pitch, volume and timbre but also, more specifically, melodies with added text. This is unusual, given that normally this is the privilege of the human voice alone.
But whilst the human voice is the model for the project, the actual starting point – and means of playing the instrument – is the theremin.
The theremin’s signal is used in Kyma to control various different parameters and so dynamically determine which text (resynthesised spectra of pre-recorded samples of the phonemes of the English language in various pitches) will be chosen.
The result – fingers crossed – will be an instrument that you can intuitively play; the words will, though intentionally unintelligible, suit and complement the melody/sound that is played.
- 13:00 Lunch together (included with conference registration), MHL Foyer
- 14:30 Collaboratory III, open rehearsals, hands-on workshops, Kyma Open Lab
Conduction, part I, Robert Jarvis ▶
Conduction is an approach to conducted improvisation devised by Butch Morris and used by the London Improvisers Orchestra (LIO). Robert Jarvis, composer and trombonist with the LIO will be working with an ensemble of Kyma performers and acoustic musicians. In the first half, we’ll learn how to perform in a Conduction ensemble, and in the second half, Robert will teach us how to use the Conduction signs to conduct an ensemble.
Kyma Open Lab, Carla Scaletti, Kurt Hebel, Franz Danksagmüller, Robert Jarvis, Bruno Liberda, John Mantegna, Jeffrey Stolet, Cristian Vogel & others ▶
Try out the new features of Kyma!
Bring your Kyma questions and consult with the experts!
- 16:30 Break
- 17:00 Collaboratory IV, open rehearsals, hands-on workshops, Kyma Open Lab
Conduction, part II, Robert Jarvis ▶
Conduction is an approach to conducted improvisation devised by Butch Morris and used by the London Improvisers Orchestra (LIO). Robert Jarvis, composer and trombonist with the LIO will be working with an ensemble of Kyma performers and acoustic musicians. In the first half, we’ll learn how to perform in a Conduction ensemble, and in the second half, Robert will teach us how to use the Conduction signs to conduct an ensemble.
Kyma Open Lab, Carla Scaletti, Kurt Hebel, Franz Danksagmüller, Robert Jarvis, Bruno Liberda, John Mantegna, Jeffrey Stolet, Cristian Vogel & others ▶
Try out the new features of Kyma!
Bring your Kyma questions and consult with the experts!
- 19:30 Concert, MHL Concert Hall
Cuerdas Falsas II, Catalina Peralta C. ▶
Michael Knarr, electric bass
“Cuerdas Falsas II” for Electric Bass Guitar with live Kyma processing pretends to be a piece as a result of experimentation and some extended technics with the E Bass-Guitar and Kyma processing.
The Kyma will be used as DSP processing, and non linear recording/playback of input materials of the E-guitar, principally.
It can be understand, in the sense of a musical composition for a soloist as an “organism”, and in the way of the meaning of “Organicism: emphasis on the organization or process of composing / improvising”.
“Why are cheetahs becoming extinct?” Trio for Piano, Violin and Kyma, Kiyoung Lee ▶
Ha-Young Park, piano; Lukas Stubenrauch, violin
What is the key to survival and evolution of any organisms?
The “diversity”. Cheetahs are becoming extinct essentially because of that reason, lack of diversity in the genetics.
This “Collaboratory” leads to an unique result and adds diversity in the musical genetics of this piece.
Through the composition and performance of this piece, Kyma will replicate, rearrange and recreate the information received from the performers under a meaningful sequence while preserving its uniqueness, just like in the process of the evolution. Which means that all the sounds heard from the Kyma come from the sound made by the live instruments on the stage, either processed in real-time, or recorded from an earlier point in the performance.
NOPera, Simon Hutchinson ▶
Kimberly James, voice; Krzysztof Grzybowski, clarinet; Lisa Oefler, flute; Lukas Stubenrauch, violin; Sina Lützenkirchen, cello
NOPera is a micro-opera on algorithmically created text from the US National Organic Program (NOP) regulations and guidelines.
Organic definitions
and their exclusion,
the prohibition of substances.
In the pursuant,
These agents used,
A certification specified.
From food to regulations,
No program can accept,
The animal standards.
This information,
Provides ingredients,
Administrator! Processed again.
Feed, Conditions,
Crops, Exclusions,
The practice of handling.
In the defined,
These standardized lands,
An electronic organic.
X short stories: Story_1, Marinos Giannoukakis ▶
Lisa Oefler, flute; Krzysztof Grzybowski, clarinet; André Wittmann & David Cariano Timme, percussion
X short stories is an anthology of real time narratives, autonomous in nature but also interconnected through events, occurrences and affordances. They connect in a net like coherence but still independent from each other. Story_1 is the opening of this short stories the introduction to this net like narration and introduces the key concept, the something out of nothing. Difference and repetition build the narrative into one “body of potentiality”, an assemblage of elements continuously becoming into music, image, language, story, form. The performers, electronics and visuals operate as one body remembering, as one body creating memory, as one body actualized through its manifestations.
Pandora’s Vox, John Mantegna ▶
Theresa Szorek, singer
Originally told by Hesiod in the 8th century B.C., the Pandora myth has since been related and referenced in many realms of art. In the original myth, Pandora is formed organically from earth and water, becoming a pithos – a large earthenware jar. She then proceeds to open this jar (herself), so we have a recursive act performed by an organically formed being – perfect subject matter for this conference! The common phrase “Pandora’s Box” is due to a mistranslation of ‘pithos’ from Greek to Latin by Erasmus of Rotterdam in the 16th century.
This organic myth is sung, and accompanied by organic sound generated via simulated annealing. Simulated annealing is an algorithmic composition technique where a collection of sounds are gradually developed from within, moving toward a goal of some tonal characteristic such as consonance or dissonance. Most of the sounds you will hear from Kyma are generated using this technique on samples from the soprano soloist’s voice.
The text of this work is from Goethe’s unfinished play: “Pandora”. The soprano soloist narrates the story as told by Epimetheus, who is reminiscing about his Pandora encounter. Pandora does not speak in this unfinished version of the play, but sketches indicate that there was to be a second coming of Pandora, and perhaps a second jar opening, as indicated by Goethe’s original title: “Pandora’s Return”.
Thomas Mann’s “A Vision”, Theo Lipfert ▶
André Wittmann, David Cariano Timme & Johannes Fischer, percussion; Fabian Luchterhandt, Lars Schwarze, Franz Danksagmüller & Marion Krall, keyboards; Birte Prüfert & Theresa Szorek, voice; Lukas Stubenrauch, violin
“A Vision” was Thomas Mann’s first published work. In this short piece themes and strategies that will emerge in Mann’s later work are evident: the analytical description of “feeling states,” the scientific approach to documenting the irrational, and the objective, yet literary depiction of distorted perception. In my film version of Mann’s work I have tried to honor the visual quality of Mann’s writing. Though my film is set in the 1920s, the emotional truths he describes — of remembering love, and dealing with loss — resonate today.
- 21:00 Dinner together at San Marco (no host)
Sunday, 28 September 2014
- 10:00 Morning Session, MHL Kammermusiksaal
Swarm Synthesis in Kyma, Cristian Vogel ▶
In Kyma, the position of a Worker Bee following a Queen Bee is updated every millisecond by the Capytalk expression
swarmFollowFromPosition: velocity: acceleration: friction:
This simple algorithm, inspired by the dynamic behaviour of swarms in nature, can control the parameters of multiple Sound objects.
This talk will demonstrate how a simple allegory can be transformed into a complex compositional technique called Swarm Synthesis.
Selected Cosmos: Sounds of Life, Samuel Pellman ▶
As part of an installation project for which I have recently been commissioned, I am creating a sonification with the Kyma system of the base pair sequence of human DNA (as reported by the Human Genome Project). The two intertwining sequences of pitch and timbre are intermittently supported by drone timbres that are 54 octaves above the sound emitted by an active galactic nucleus in the Perseus Cluster. Thus the piece encompasses structures at both the micro and macro levels.
Plantification, Damien Grobet, Ludovic Laffineur, Rudi Giot ▶
This talk presents an easy way to transform every day objects into controllers. A home-made device has been developed with Arduino and is based on the capacitance measurement system “Touché”, developed by the Disney research lab. The device applies a signal to an object that sweeps over 160 different frequencies, and measures the electrical response. The measured data are sent to a sonification system based on a mapping grid that links these data to sound parameters in order to control Kyma.
Internet Rumbles, Ludovic Laffineur, Damien Grobet, Rudi Giot ▶
Have you ever thought to listen to the Internet ? That is what the performance attempts to achieve by analyzing network data traffic. Spectators are going to feel Internet rumbles through visualisations and sounds.
“Becoming Kyma, aural fluxes in transconsistent composition (the event of composing in Kyma)”, Marinos Giannoukakis ▶
Proposed by the author is a technical and theoretical approach to composition as a complex system requiring a dynamic approach in order to understand it as a process. We ought to move away from a rigid ontological approach, in order to understand it and render it intelligible. We need not to know its intrinsic architecture as much as its behavior and functional integration. The approach proposed uses phase-spaces as basic element to control real time assemblages, be it a complex Sound, a timeline, a grid or all that coupled with other media. An overview on how this approach is actualized in the Kyma environment is given.
- 13:00 Lunch together (included with conference registration), MHL Foyer
- 14:30 Collaboratory V working session, hands-on workshops, Kyma Open Lab
Plantification workshop, Damien Grobet, Rudi Giot, Ludovic Laffineur ▶
During this workshop, people will learn how to transform a plant into a control interface (Arduino and basic electronics) and use it with a sonification system in order to control VCS parameters. The system analyses incoming data from the plant and maps it to different outputs. As the system configuration is totally automated, people can test it with their own Kyma projects.
Kyma Open Lab, Carla Scaletti, Kurt Hebel, Franz Danksagmüller, Robert Jarvis, Bruno Liberda, John Mantegna, Jeffrey Stolet, Cristian Vogel & others ▶
Try out the new features of Kyma!
Bring your Kyma questions and consult with the experts!
- 16:30 Break
- 17:00 Concert, MHL Concert Hall
My Inner Self – Original and Remixed, Gabriel Montufar ▶
Iga Osowska, voice; Tabea Haarmann-Thiemann, viola
My Inner Self Original and Remixed explores a ‘world of sound’ through different perspectives, styles, and timbre combinations. This live performance includes a Wacom tablet, a custom built wireless controller, viola, and vocal, that together create distinct and rich textures to be explored in a live setting.
NEST, SGR^CAV (Cristian Vogel and SØS Gunver Ryberg) ▶
Theresa Szorek, singer
Technology has rapidly distanced us from our old ways of relating to nature.
From organism to analogue from digital to multiple.
We now swarm towards an unknown nature of wild systems and wild culture.
What further transformations await us?
A Lovely Gesture, Anne La Berge, Scott L. Miller ▶
Anne La Berge, flute; Lukas Stubenrauch, violin; Tabea Haarmann-Thiemann, viola; Sina Lützenkirchen, cello
The ensemble collaborates using a democratic process to determine the behavior of the group, both in terms of its musical intention, and in response to unknown signal processing.
FLOW, Silvia Matheus, İlker Işıkyakar, Nayla Mehdi , E. Zoe Schutzman ▶
Silvia Matheus, Kyma; İlker Işıkyakar, Kyma; Nayla Mehdi, Kyma; E. Zoe Schutzman, voice
Flow is an open form piece for four performers using Kyma, voice, electronics, and acoustic instruments. Ms. Matheus’ concept for this collaborative composition is based on an image of the 5 elements – fire, earth, metal, water and wood – through their cycles of generation and their spans of control. The image was used to construct a music structure, and provides sound and visual inspiration.
An image was presented to three other composers living in different locations in the United States. They met via Skype to discuss ways to interpret it. After a series of consecutive meetings, they decided not to exchange sound material, but to focus only on the structural idea for the piece and let it take form live on stage. This would let the sounds flow, enabling a new piece to come alive with each performance and to share the excitement of responding spontaneously to the unpredictable possibilities as they emerge. One performer directs the others through hand gestures and text. The commands navigate performers throughout the different elements on the circle and suggest moments for listening and interaction.
The style of this piece is structural and dynamic: not one component is defined or fixed. The image is the graphic score. It can be understood as a flux of continuous energy, a web full of possibilities – for interpretation, learning, and creation.
This performance is dedicated to Hans Joachim Koellreutter, an esteemed teacher and mentor of Silvia Matheus.
Exo/Endo, Andrea Young ▶
Birte Prüfert, Konstantin Busack, Theresa Szorek, Nina Müller & Iga Osowska, singers
Exo/Endo [chant smash] is a movement from a larger work that uses voice as a direct sound source, an input for live processing and as an electronic controller through live feature extraction. This work uses multiple voices, harmonizers and miniature microphones inside the mouth.
- 18:30 Dinner on the way to Parkhaus (no host)
- 20:00 Club Concert, Parkhaus
“Nothing From Nothing”, İlker Işıkyakar, E. Zoe Schutzman ▶
E. Zoe Schutzman, voice; André Wittmann & David Cariano Timme, percussion
In English, “onomatopoeia” refers to a word that phonetically imitates, resembles or suggests the source of the sound that it describes, oftentimes found first in nature and thus organic (alive) in essence. This pattern persists across languages even if it materializes differently, subscribing to the specifics of divergent perceptual, cultural and linguistic norms. There are numerous words in the English language alone that serve to describe the sounds of water. We propose to create a piece wherein onomatopoeic words, as source, will serve to echo the drops in the midst of our living space. The players will consist of: (1) Voice artist, (2) Kyma artist, and (3) Percussionist(s). Artist will voice words that Kyma will capture to initiate a beat. As words are uttered, they will be captured and layered on top of previous ones. The beat and shape of the sound these words create will be individually controlled and transformed via a tactile controller that sends commands to Kyma. Different layers will turn on and off, new ones will be added and… words will move beyond word-ness. They will become percussion sounds wherein the sound they describe is an echoing reverberation that speaks to their hidden provenance. Words are freed in their transformation towards a musical structure. As this process unfolds, acoustic performer(s) playing percussion instruments will engage. Performers will feed off of one another and react to what they hear in the moment. Quintessential Improvisation.
The Cells of the Organs Sound – A Collaborative Improvisation, Michael Monhart ▶
Nina Müller, piano
A collaborative improvisation based on composed cells which we then join together in performance building interconnected organs of musical sound.
Improvisations 2014, Michael Wittgraf ▶
David Cariano Timme, percussion
Improvisations 2014 is a collaborative series of free improvisations between Malcolm Lynn Baker (University of Denver) and Michael Wittgraf (University of North Dakota). It began in 2011, arising from a partially funded University of North Dakota Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Grant, which enabled the purchase of key equipment and modes of travel so that Baker and Wittgraf could work together in the long term. Exchange of ideas and computer files took place through the internet and airplane/motorcycle travel. This collaboration is an exploration of the possibilities that arise when the sounds of musicians are electronically manipulated by other musicians in a live, freely improvised setting.
roh & gekocht, Johannes Fischer ▶
Johannes Fischer, Franz Danksagmüller
Bugger, Jim Brashear ▶
Did one of the techs get glitter-bombed and take over the mic? No, it’s Jim Brashear’s first performance as Bugger, a queer electronic rock act. All Kyma, all the time. Bears welcome.
The map below shows the location of the KISS 2014 venues (marked with flags) and the restaurants (marked with fork and knife).
View KISS 2014 in a larger map
Program as of 17 September 2014 and is subject to change. Please check back, visit our Facebook page, or subscribe to the mailing list for news and announcements: [emailpickup button_text=”Subscribe”]
