S.L.Á.T.U.R.

Áki Ásgeirsson, Jesper Pedersen og Magnús Jensson standa fyrir innsetningu í Strætisvögnum á Safnanótt, 8.febrúar, milli kl 20:00-23:00.  Verkið er hluti af Vetrarhátíð og miðar að því að skapa sýndarrými í tveim strætisvögum sem eru samtengdir í rauntíma.  http://www.vetrarhatid.is/

Tónverk eftir nokkra S.L.Á.T.U.R. meðlimi verða flutt á Norðurljósatvíæringnum í Berlínarborg þann 28. september næstkomandi.
Flytjendur eru tónlistarhópurinn Adapter: http://www.ensemble-adapter.de/

Upplýsingar um hátíðina má finna hér: http://www.nordlichter-biennale.de/

Sláturtíð er lokið.

Þessi tónverk voru flutt:

Fagverk (Snorri Heimisson og Frank Aarnink), Óðinsdag 28.9

• Jeppe Virenfeldt Ernst – Funeral Music for Dada (#21)
• Erla Axelsdóttir – Rof
• Páll Ivan Pálsson – Þjóðlag
• Jesper Pedersen – Flycatcher
• Bergrún Snæbjörnsdóttir – Haters Gonna Hate
• Hallvarður Ásgeirsson Herzog – Miniature #7

• Þráinn Hjálmarsson – Skúlptúr #3
• Hallvarður Ásgeirsson – Miniatur #1
• Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson – Kvartett nr. 10
• Jesper Pedersen – Struttz
• Kristín Þóra Haraldsdóttir – Sounds of Silence
• Páll Ivan Pálsson – Bubblububbar

Vortex Project, Laugardagur 1.10

• ýmis verk eftir Bernhard Gál og Belma Beslic-Gál

Vortex Project, Sunnudagur 2.10

• Sterngucker (Stargazer)

Christoph Schiller, Mánadagur 3.10

• spunatónlist

Útúrdúr bókverkabúð og útgáfa kynnir útgáfur sínar á höfundakvöldi Norræna húsins fimmtudaginn 7. júlí kl. 20:00. Ásmundur Ásmundsson og bókin hans Kæru vinir ásamt Haraldi Jónssyni og bókinni hans TSYOL (The Story Of Your Life) verða til umfjöllunar. Þetta sama kvöld gefur Útúrdúr út sína nýjustu útgáfu sem er bók eftir Pál Ivan frá Eiðum sem ber titilinn Music – A Thought Instigator (Tónlist – Hugmyndahvati). Að tilefni útgáfunnar mun Páll Ivan frá Eiðum flytja gjörning í tengslum við bókina.

Um Music – Thought Instigator:

Music – A Thought Instigator (eða Tónlist- Hugmyndahvati) er bók um tónlist. Þó er ekki um að ræða tónfræði eða tónlistarsögu eða slíkt heldur fyrst og fremst hugmyndir og hugsanahvata sem allir mega nota að vild. Hún fjallar því ekki um hvað tónlist er eða hefur verið heldur kemur með ýmsar tillögur að því hvernig einhver tónlist getur mögulega orðið. Á hverri síðu er alfarið ný hugmynd kynnt til leiks og nokkrir frum möguleikar hennar skoðaðir. Þetta eru hugmyndir sem víkka skilning okkar á ýmsum hlutum í sambandi við tímaskynjun, framsetningu og kynningu tónlistar, sjónhverfingaraðferðir, gagnvirkni áheyrenda við tónsköpun og ýmsar hugmyndir sem hafa hingað til ekki verið áberandi í tónlist. Hún opnar því fyrir vítt samhengi tónlistar og setur jafnvel hugtakið tónlist í víðara samhengi. Við lestur bókarinnar uppgvötum við hvað hugmyndir okkar og skilgreiningar á tónlist eru þröngar og takmarkaðar og að hingað til hefur hugmynd okkar um tónlist rúmast í litlum, þröngum, loftlausum kassa. Bókin er því eins konar leiðarvísir að nýjum leiðum, eða alla vega nýjum upphafspunktum og viðmiðum. Bókin gagnast bæði þeim sem vilja fara alfarið nýjar leiðir og þeim sem eru forvitnir um að teygja út þann ramma sem fyrir er. Bókin byggist aðallega upp af skýru myndmáli og skýringartextum. Myndmálið er beinskeitt og grípandi og hverri síðu er ætlað að segja sem mest í sem fæstum orðum og myndum   -Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson

An article by Magnús Jensson and Áki Ásgeirsson.
Written in February 2011

A musical instrument has three different components: the controller, the sound generator and resonance. The controller component is the instruments user interface and is the area of human interaction. The sound generator is for example a vibrating string, an air column in wind instruments, the membrane of a drum or an electronic oscillator. Resonance is the amplification component, for example the sounding body of string instruments or a loudspeaker.

Note that sometimes the human player becomes himself a part of the instrument, either partially as in the case of brass instruments, where the lips vibrate to produce the sound, or completely as with singers, where the interface, sound production and resonance are all inside the human body. The role of external acoustics is of variable importance, but is in some cases essential for the instrument.

All three parts can be powered by the performer or external sources of energy.

Historically, these components are close together. Ancient instruments are usually self-contained; their interface, sound generators and amplifying bodies are closely connected in space and there is not much distinction between these parts. For example, a string instrument like the guitar or lute has an interface (the strings) which also generates the sound. The strings are connected directly to a resonating body which amplifies the sound. Drums, voices, ancient flutes and horns have the same clear connection of interface, sound generation and amplification.

With further technical improvements, the distinction between these parts has grown apart. One of the most advanced instruments of the 15th-18th centuries was the church organ. It’s components are quite separated, with a unified keyboard interface that is remotely connected to different sets of pipes, providing distinction between the performance and the audible result. One goal of the organ was to imitate, replace or accompany instruments of the ensemble, like was later the case with many synthesizers of the 80’s. Organs where externally powered since in the antiquity.

During the 19th century, many musical instruments went through a technical reconstruction. To meet the increasing size of concert halls, they were made more resonant and with a brighter sound spectrum that could cut through the growing orchestras. Also, 19th century harmony demanded chromatic instruments that could play evenly sounding scales in any key. Non-chromatic, soft, unevenly sounding instruments did not survive.

An instrument like the piano has, like the organ, a clear distinction between interface and sound generation. The keyboard is what concerns the performer, and the mechanics of the string-hitting hammers is not relevant to anyone enjoying the music, it is hidden from view; inside a black box. There is no more visual connection to the strings, only with the interface.

The 20th century electronic instruments continue to make further separations. The Theremin (1920) moves the performer away from the instrument, creating an invisible distance connection. The Ondes Martinot (1928) uses a familiar keyboard interface but adds resonating gongs (and string) to the amplification stage in the speaker cabinet.
The speaker is regarded as the body of the instrument. The speaker is not seen as a separated “neutral” unit. The electric guitar (1931) also uses an amplifier as an indispensable part of the instrument. The power and size of guitar amplifiers and amplification systems has grown considerably over the decades, opening up the possibility for very loud types of music styles performed for a large number of audience. The separation of the amplification component therefore became a prerequisite for the ritual of massive musical events.

Besides using external amplification, MIDI synthesizers usually separate the interface component from the sound generator. A synthesizer controller, usually a keyboard, sends note messages to the sound module which interprets them into musical sound. With MIDI, it is possible to send musical information over long distances in real-time or as a MIDI file to be played by different sound generators.

Since electronic music is mostly made with computers today, a great development has been on new interfaces and controllers. Distribution of music has also shifted from physical objects (vinyl, CD’s / concert amplification) to digital form (mp3, wav / headphones and computer speakers). This combined increases further abstraction of musical material in the creative process, as well as detaching the ‘end-user’ amplification stage. The world’s loudspeakers are now open for the creative musician. Maybe more importantly for the creative development, the world’s computational hardware is interconnected and ready to act as sound controllers and generators.