We Bass: inter(actions) on a hybrid instrument

Paulo Assis Barbosa, and Miguel Antar

Music Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

• Year: 2019
• Location: Porto Alegre, Brazil
• Pages: 66–67
• PDF link

Abstract:

The key for a collective process of free improvisation is the interaction, dependence and surrender of its parts, so the resulting sound flux is more than the sum of each individual layer. The We Bass performance is an exploration of the symbiosis of two performers playing the same instrument: Their actions have direct consequence on the resulting sound, challenging the other player with instability and interference. From the experiments of the English scientist Thomas Young (1773-1829) on the phenomena of diffraction and interference of light waves, we observe that interferences generated by overlapping light waves can have a character of annihilation, when they are out of phase (destructive interference), or a reinforcing character when in phase (constructive interference). From this reflection we try to deepen the discussion about the interferences of the performers inputs involved in a free improvisation session. We seek a model of connection between the performers that promotes processes of creation in the free improvisation, exploring the dialectics between reinforcement actions (processes of interaction that reinforces a certain sound moment) and movement actions (that destabilizes and transforms the flow). We Bass is a duo performance exploring the interactions between the musicians playing one hybrid machine: an electric upright bass guitar with live electronics processing. The instrument consists of an electric upright bass with movement sensors and a live processing machine with a controller that interacts with the sensors, changing some processing parameters and some controller mapping settings, creating an instable ground for the musicians.

Citation:

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{nime19-music-Barbosa,
 abstract = {The key for a collective process of free improvisation is the interaction, dependence and surrender of its parts, so the resulting sound flux is more than the sum of each individual layer. The We Bass performance is an exploration of the symbiosis of two performers playing the same instrument: Their actions have direct consequence on the resulting sound, challenging the other player with instability and interference. From the experiments of the English scientist Thomas Young (1773-1829) on the phenomena of diffraction and interference of light waves, we observe that interferences generated by overlapping light waves can have a character of annihilation, when they are out of phase (destructive interference), or a reinforcing character when in phase (constructive interference). From this reflection we try to deepen the discussion about the interferences of the performers inputs involved in a free improvisation session. We seek a model of connection between the performers that promotes processes of creation in the free improvisation, exploring the dialectics between reinforcement actions (processes of interaction that reinforces a certain sound moment) and movement actions (that destabilizes and transforms the flow). We Bass is a duo performance exploring the interactions between the musicians playing one hybrid machine: an electric upright bass guitar with live electronics processing. The instrument consists of an electric upright bass with movement sensors and a live processing machine with a controller that interacts with the sensors, changing some processing parameters and some controller mapping settings, creating an instable ground for the musicians.},
 address = {Porto Alegre, Brazil},
 author = {Paulo Assis Barbosa and Miguel Antar},
 booktitle = {Music Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 editor = {Federico Visi},
 month = {June},
 pages = {66--67},
 publisher = {UFRGS},
 title = {We Bass: inter(actions) on a hybrid instrument},
 url = {http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2019/nime2019_music018.pdf},
 year = {2019}
}