SprachSchlag

SprachSchlag is a rhythmic interplay between the instrumental part and the electroacoustic sounds. All rhythms are derived from speech analysis of different languages. The principal instruments are skin (bass drum, tom tom) and vibraphone. They are accompanied by some metal sounds (tamtam, Peking gongs, crotales)

The electroacoustic sounds are live treatments of the percussion sequences and prepared soundfiles, composed from voice and percussion sources.

The electroacoustic part acts as a prolongation of the gestures of the percussionist. The dynamics of the live playing are analyzed by the computer to determine many parameters for the electroacoustic part. It is therefore the percussionist controlling playback aspects within a certain "Event" (see technical notes "how the electroacoustic part works" for detailed explanations).

Even if the live-electronic part is controlled by the playing style of the instrumentalist, the performance needs a second musician, advancing events and controlling the amplification and mix. He has to know the percussion score to "accompany" the instrumentalist.

The electroacoustic part is programmed as a Max/MSP-standalone application for Apple Macintosh. The program contains all sound sequences and the event handling for the live-treatments.
The events are notated as numbers (1-57). The first event serves as initialization.
The musician controlling the live-electronic part is pressing the spacebar of the computer keyboard at every event to activate it.

 rehearsal recording with Abel Billard

 

score

BabelScores