MISAME

Recording of Mara Helmuth's Abandoned Lake in Maine. This work's compositional process uses technology to return the listener closer to nature, and into new relationships with nature. The composer's software, instruments, and algorithmic programs were used to create much of the material. The sources for this piece are recorded sounds of the loon in its environment and a naturalist's voice. This work uses field recordings of Maine

MISAME

Recording of Mara Helmuth's Implements of actuation. This piece involves electric mbira and bicycle wheels. The phrase "implements of actuation" is simply a more elegant and more inclusive way for a percussionist to refer to "beaters." However, the "actuation" - making things happen, bringing into reality things of the imagination - goes beyond the instant of a sonic touch, and is taken as a generating point of the entire piece. Implements applied to the mbira and bicycle wheel elicited new noises, textures, and gestures which then themselves became subjects to be acted upon by more implements: for instance, computer applications as compositional tools. The "implements" range from found objects used upon the mbira and wheel, to the computer used as both a mixing tool for all of the collected fragments which became the tape part, and also as an algorithmic generator of structure for both the tape and the live performance score, to the two collaborators, who acted not only with but upon one another. An ancient African instrument, a Javanese scale, a Chinese wok brush, red lentils, comb, credit card, the baseball trading card in a kid's rusty bicycle wheel, a sophisticated computer... This piece embodies looking for music in places one isn't yet sure it could easily be found; a music which, through coming from ideas, is not actually about those ideas, nor about the ones who first had or are now producing those ideas that it not even be about making music. Instead, it is about a desire to be near to music, to be with it, inside of it - to be attentive to its needs, to follow each step of the way as the "not yet music" emerges, to watch and listen just to where it (the "what if this were thought to be music") leads to eventually coming close enough to notice a music which moves itself first, and then the composer, too, literally

Water Birds: Compositional collaboration with clarinets, wireless sensors, and RTcmix

"Water Birds" is an interactive composition for Bb and bass clarinet, computer music and wireless sensor system by Mara Helmuth and Rebecca Danard. A wireless sensor network with infra-red sensors responds to the clarinetist’s movements, and sends data into MaxMSP for signal processing control. The wireless sensor configuration was developed by Jung Hyun Jun, Talmai Oliveira, Amitabh Mishra, Ahmad Mostafa and Dharma Agrawal, and extended for this project in collaboration with Helmuth. MaxMSP Mxj Java objects were created to receive data from the programmed tmote sensors. Helmuth’s score consists of four sound-generating ideas. Her Max patch and RTcmix scripts process the clarinet sound with spectral delays through the rtcmix~ plugin for Max5. Danard created a working score solidifying her decisions about materials played and order of events. Helmuth and Danard’s interactive compositional process allowed to piece to evolve organically into a work commenting on the interaction of people, nature and technology.Conference PaperPre-prin

Wireless sensor networks and computer music, dance, and installation implementation

Collaboration between the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Center for Computer Music and the School of Engineering’s Computer Science has resulted in the development of interactive performance systems for computer music. Several of the systems involved music generated by the movements of dance, culminating in a series of well-produced performances with 20 dancers and the music of two composers. Another system contributed interactive aspects to an installation environment based on a Tibetan monastery. Tmote sensors with light and received signal strength indication, and attached acceleration sensors provided data to the computer music system. Java instrument and client objects were created to bring this data into MaxMSP and Jitter to control selection of audio and visual material and digital signal processing. This paper is an overview of recent projects.Conference PaperPre-prin

ISEA 95 Montréal : Actes, 6e Symposium des arts électroniques = ISEA 95 Montréal : Proceedings, 6th International Symposium on Electronic Arts

The ISEA 95 colloquim proceedings include 82 essays presenting the electronic arts in terms of a new aesthetic environment shaping both body and mind. The authors discuss virtual reality, hypertext, interactivity, and computer-generated images. Untranslated texts. Circa 350 bibl. ref