Scott Smallwood was born in Dallas, Texas, and grew up at 10,000 feet in elevation in the Colorado Rockies. Smallwood is a sound artist who enjoys working with a wide variety of electronic and acoustic materials, particularly real-world sound and field recordings. His work has involved creating electronic music in the studio; and improvising as a percussionist, a laptop performer, and a performer of the Trinidadian steel drum. He is one half of the laptop duo Evidence, performs dance music under the name sCAUGHT, and enjoys writing structured improvisations for traditional and non-traditional instrumental ensembles. He has released recordings on the Deep Listening and Televaw Records imprints, and his work has been presented internationally in festivals, conferences, museums, clubs, coffee shops, swimming pools, rooftops, and dive bars. He is currently a doctoral student in sound and composition at Princeton University. music.princeton.edu/~skot
On-the-fly programming (or live coding) is a style of programming in which the programmer | performer | composer augments and modifies the program while it is running, without stopping or restarting, in order to assert expressive, programmable control at runtime. Because of the fundamental powers of programming languages, the technical and aesthetic aspects of on-the-fly programming are worth exploring. This is part of our ongoing investigation into using code as an interactive and expressive musical instrument.
Our recipe for disaster employs the new ChucK synthesis language, which supports real-time, sample-synchronous, concurrent audio synthesis programming, and a highly "on-the-fly" style of writing code. Also, as an essential part of the performance, we project the entire process on screen for the audience to see/follow/deride. You will know when we crash and burn!
Everything begins with two blank ChucK programs. We construct the counterpoint piece-by-piece in real-time, using the facets of concurrent audio programming, precise timing/synchronization, and on-the-fly programming in ChucK. Contrapuntal simultaneities can be separated and compartmentalized into autonomous, concurrent entities. We can program and reason about each entity independently, as well as interact with other entities and with the program as a whole - creating, shaping (and debugging) it on-the-fly.
Goto:
- On-the-fly Programming Home Page: http://on-the-fly.cs.princeton.edu/
- ChucK Audio Programming Language (free available): http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu/
- Princeton Sound Lab: http://soundlab.cs.princeton.edu/
- TOPLAP.org (check out live coding manifesto there): http://www.toplap.org
Born quite impromtu during a live improv set performed for the Peadbody Conservatory student body in spring 2004, the Baltimore quintet, Trockeneis, has since been generating excitement in the East Coast improv/experimental music scene. The group is comprised of a core group of Baltimore improvisors each who brings great passion and musical subtlely to create a truly unique sound/improv experience. A combination of highly idiosyncratic instrumentation, focused, mature musicianship and ego-free, risk-taking group dynamics promise to make this group known on a national level. The group has definite roots in lowercase improv, but grows rapidly beyond that creating complex, rich soundscapes rooted in a true spirit of experimentation.
Audrey Chen, vocals
Audrey Chen has emerged as one of the most vital free- improvisors in the Baltimore community and beyond. Her approach to improvisation and performance is extremely visceral. She utilizes traditional and extended technique in order to create a hybrid language that pushes the boundaries of both instruments. These two combined with an unusually strong sense of movement, sound and space, contribute to the constantly fresh depth of her experimentation. Many of her performances incorporate both aural and visual components, utilizing sculpture, movement and sound. Her dance collaborations have involved artists such as Cathy Paine, Leah Stein, Maida Withers and Naoko Maeshiba. Among musicians, she has worked with many great improvisers, including Katt Hernandez, Jack Wright, Tatsuya Nakatani, Assif Tsahar, Michele Doneda, Paolo Angeli, and Gianni Gebbia. She has also recently formed an ongoing duo with percussionist, Toshi Makihara. Some recent performances include site specific works in collaboration with the Leah Stein Dance Company in Bytom, Poland and with choreographer, Maida Withers in Arkhangelsk and Solovki, Russia. In addition to this year's High Zero Festival, she will be appearing at the Kennedy Center with choreographer, Naoko Maeshiba, the nowNow Festival (Sydney, Australia) and touring in China and Japan later this year.
Paul Neidhardt, percussion
Paul Neidhardt is a very accomplished rock, jazz, free jazz and experimental percussionist from the Baltimore MD area. He performs in a variety of musical projects and also teaches percussion for a living. His ability to trade extremely tight traditional chops with very focused sound-oriented techniques such a doweling, bowing, suction etc has made him a favorite in improv circles.
Dan Breen, bowed metal
Dan Breen is an well-known multi-instrumentalist in Baltimore and other East Coast cities. His wandering, eccentric style of playing and living brings joy to the many who know and love him. He performs with a range of musical projects from the funk band, The Financial Group, to the un-categorizable and tasty electronics/drums group - Snacks.
Andrew Hayleck, bowed metal
Andy Hayleck is quickly becoming a nationally known sound artist and musician. His extensive touring and field-recordings (ice, crabs etc) are well-known in experimental music scenes across the US. He has performed in local and national festivals and participated in radio broadcasts in the US and GB. Andy is also a professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Catherine Pancake, dry ice
In an on-going tribute to Michael Culligan -- Catherine Pancake will play dry ice and try not to cause too many disruptions before it is all over.
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