Split Point: The Piano Reimagined as an Inclusive Hyper-Instrument

Alex Lucas, Tim Leatham, Eoin Fitzpatrick, Mary-Louise McCord, and Daniel Morgan

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

Abstract:

Split Point is a quiet ambient work which explores inclusion and constraint and the redistribution of musical processes in contemporary piano music. In a collaboration between inclusive music collective The Wired Ensemble and experimental pianist Alex Lucas, the piano is played collectively, over a network, through the use of reductionist, accessible interfaces. In this con guration, the piano is considered a hyper-instrument with parameters such as pitch, rhythm and timbre, split and redistributed amongst the group. We invite the audience to consider if it is musically interesting to split the piano in such a way and if an individual can communicate independent creative expression when using binary on-off controllers; a common goal in inclusive music.

Citation:

Alex Lucas, Tim Leatham, Eoin Fitzpatrick, Mary-Louise McCord, and Daniel Morgan. 2020. Split Point: The Piano Reimagined as an Inclusive Hyper-Instrument. Music Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6350634

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{nime20-music-Lucas,
 abstract = {Split Point is a quiet ambient work which explores inclusion and constraint and the redistribution of musical processes in contemporary piano music. In a collaboration between inclusive music collective The Wired Ensemble and experimental pianist Alex Lucas, the piano is played collectively, over a network, through the use of reductionist, accessible interfaces. In this con guration, the piano is considered a hyper-instrument with parameters such as pitch, rhythm and timbre, split and redistributed amongst the group. We invite the audience to consider if it is musically interesting to split the piano in such a way and if an individual can communicate independent creative expression when using binary on-off controllers; a common goal in inclusive music.},
 address = {Birmingham, UK},
 author = {Lucas, Alex and Leatham, Tim and Fitzpatrick, Eoin and McCord, Mary-Louise and Morgan, Daniel},
 booktitle = {Music Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.6350634},
 editor = {Wright, Joe and Feng, Jian},
 month = {July},
 pages = {14-15},
 publisher = {Royal Birmingham Conservatoire},
 title = {Split Point: The Piano Reimagined as an Inclusive Hyper-Instrument},
 url = {http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2020/nime2020_music06.pdf},
 year = {2020}
}