Kaps Freed (2017)
For piano and electronics
DOI: 10.4225/03/59f736cfd58c8
Commissioned by Gabriella Smart
[electronics by Stuart James]
Premiere performance, Australiasian Computer Music Conference, September, 2017.
Also: Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash University, Melbourne, April 2018.
DOI: 10.4225/03/59f736cfd58c8
Commissioned by Gabriella Smart
[electronics by Stuart James]
Premiere performance, Australiasian Computer Music Conference, September, 2017.
Also: Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash University, Melbourne, April 2018.
Gabriella Smart performing Kaps Freed.
This work aims to bring the sound of the piano as close as possible to the sound of Percy Grainger’s Free Music ideals, using pitch tracking and spectral filtering. It aims to transform the sound of the piano as closely to the Free Music ideal as possible, by sampling its pitches and transporting them into theremin like tones where the tempered scale becomes irrelevant.
The 'Kaps piano' is the childhood piano of Percy Grainger, and lives in the Grainger Museum in Melbourne. It was made in Dresden, Germany in 1887. Percy practiced on this piano for two hours daily as a child, presided over by his teacher and mother, Rose Grainger. I have always been fascinated with Grainger's Free Music, and this work explores the link between his childhood practice routine and lessons with his later investigations into Free Music. This was a music characterised by the emancipation of rhythmic processes and pitch, both explored in this, and most of my, work. The piano part is my response to the same lake, Albert Lake in Melbourne, that is said to have been the inspiration for Grainger's theory of Free Music.
Each colour represents a finger on each hand. The blue shades being the right hand, the red shades being the left. Use the sustain pedal to keep the notes ringing as long as possible. A grey dashed line shows middle C for reference purposes. A thinner grey dashed lines assist to show when notes remain the same pitch. The electronics part is indicated in opaque parts. This samples the piano at different moments, turning the piano tone into a sine tone (like a Theremin tone) and the colour represents the ‘hand tonality’ to be sampled at the moments marked on the score.
To perform this work, need to download the iPad app, the Decibel ScorePlayer which has many more features such as the ability to network multiple iPads, change the speed and show the computer part seperate from the piano part. You can download the file for the player here. Instructions on how to put the file in the player are here. The file to put in the ScorePlayer can be downloaded here. You can also play the score from the video file, downloadable below. The work also needs a MaxMSP patch to run with the piece, and you may need a technician to set this up for you. It requires a single microphone into the piano, with playback to stereo or quadraphonic speakers. Contact the composer for this.
The 'Kaps piano' is the childhood piano of Percy Grainger, and lives in the Grainger Museum in Melbourne. It was made in Dresden, Germany in 1887. Percy practiced on this piano for two hours daily as a child, presided over by his teacher and mother, Rose Grainger. I have always been fascinated with Grainger's Free Music, and this work explores the link between his childhood practice routine and lessons with his later investigations into Free Music. This was a music characterised by the emancipation of rhythmic processes and pitch, both explored in this, and most of my, work. The piano part is my response to the same lake, Albert Lake in Melbourne, that is said to have been the inspiration for Grainger's theory of Free Music.
Each colour represents a finger on each hand. The blue shades being the right hand, the red shades being the left. Use the sustain pedal to keep the notes ringing as long as possible. A grey dashed line shows middle C for reference purposes. A thinner grey dashed lines assist to show when notes remain the same pitch. The electronics part is indicated in opaque parts. This samples the piano at different moments, turning the piano tone into a sine tone (like a Theremin tone) and the colour represents the ‘hand tonality’ to be sampled at the moments marked on the score.
To perform this work, need to download the iPad app, the Decibel ScorePlayer which has many more features such as the ability to network multiple iPads, change the speed and show the computer part seperate from the piano part. You can download the file for the player here. Instructions on how to put the file in the player are here. The file to put in the ScorePlayer can be downloaded here. You can also play the score from the video file, downloadable below. The work also needs a MaxMSP patch to run with the piece, and you may need a technician to set this up for you. It requires a single microphone into the piano, with playback to stereo or quadraphonic speakers. Contact the composer for this.
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KapsFreed_score from cat hope on Vimeo. Above - the score to Kaps Freed.
Top right - a recording of the work. Bottom right - a recording synchronised with the score. |
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