Category Archives: New Ideas

Aural, Language, Life, Listening, New Ideas, Science, Technology, Video, Wider Connections

Prosody

Having recently attended Music: An Explanation by a Guitar Hero, which concluded with some deliberations on prosody (the music of speech which amplifies meaning), I chanced upon an inspirational TED talk by film critic, Robert Ebert, who lost his lower jaw, and his speech, through cancer.

Exploring text-to-speech technology, he found that, unless he entered very time-consuming XML coding, the prosody was never quite right. Work is currently in progress with Edinburgh-based company, CereProc to refine his voice, using recorded material from Ebert’s television archive. Exploring their site, I was quite astonished at how far along the speech synthesis road things have travelled. You can hear some of their voices here or type in your own text and choose a voice here. While CereProc finish their refinements, Ebert is using Apple’s Alex voice.

It is very touching to see how Ebert responds during the talk. The words are his own but his wife and two other close friends help out with reading. Despite the fact that the oral delivery is at one remove, he gestures as though delivering the words personally.

Let me, once again, flag up some interesting lectures on prosody by Peter Roach.

Community, Concepts, Connectedness, Culture(s), IT, Life, New Ideas, Radio Links, Technology, YouTube links

Gateshead Granny Cloud

1 Comment

I always felt that Martyn Lewis was unfairly pilloried in 1993 for opining that there should be more good news on the news. Is news meant to be a reflection of life, or merely a litany of human failing?

I caught an interesting story (in the car, as always) on Radio 4’s new technologies programme, Click On yesterday which typified, for me, the type of under-reported philanthropic instinct to which I suspect Lewis was referring. Chasing the idea today, I found the following video on YouTube which explains the story. You also get to see what must be a unique three-word sentence: Gateshead Granny Cloud:[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/IXxYgpQhsrU?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

The originator of the idea, Sugata Mitra, explains a little more fully here on TED:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/dk60sYrU2RU?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

 

Community, Live Events, New Ideas, Rehearsals

Youth Music Worker

My colleague in East Lothian, Iain Bruce (East Lothian Strategic Music Partnership Co-ordinator) got in touch with information about a job opportunity – Youth Music Worker. Applicants should be aged between 18 and 25 and have been unemployed for a minimum of 6 months. If you know of anyone who might be suitable and interested, Iain’s advice is for them to get in touch with Job Centre Plus as soon as possible.

Here is the Job Description

Community, Concerts, Live Events, New Ideas

3 Harbours Festival

Calling All Musicians

Are you a singer/musician/in a band? Would you like the opportunity to perform at this year’s 3 Harbours Arts Festival?

The 3 Harbours Arts Festival will be running from 28th May to the 5th June this year and we are looking for singers/bands to perform.

If you are interested and would like to know more please contact John Murphy at jmurphy@eastlothian.gov.uk
Please have a look at the 3 Harbours website – www.3harbours.co.uk
Registration forms for musicians must be completed by Monday 31st January 2011

Concerts, New Ideas, Technology, Video, YouTube links

Richard Durrant – The Guitar Whisperer

2 Comments

Sixty-seven of my pupils are in Musselburgh/Wallyford schools. That’s one reason why I was pleased to see a gig, scheduled for Tue 1 March, by Richard Durrant (aka The Guitar Whisperer ) advertised in the Brunton Hall’s publicity. Not only does the playing look very promising – multimedia nature of the programme strikes me as something which might aid younger pupils in concentration/enjoyment. In addition to films, some pieces feature animations by Miranda Vincent.

The YouTube videos below will give you some idea of what we might expect:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/tp45Xhan1nM?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/e_xJd9nwAnA?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/7udClrQtmws?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/cc141Pf1ZWA?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/grNPV21qEDE?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/UF7A6eXOYys?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/KEzrhGasv74?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Concepts, Expression, Feeling, Lesson Content, New Ideas, Science, Technique, Video, YouTube links

YouTube Annotations

2 Comments

I’ve long believed that we learn a lot just by watching and copying – surely that’s how we evolved as a species? That’s certainly how tai chi chuan has been handed down.  A certain amount of dialogue and understanding is certainly necessary, but if watching and feeling the movements is not taking place then, experience tells me, various technical misapprehensions can arise.  Chancing upon the theory of mirror neurons strengthened this belief.

In that regard, it has crossed my mind that annotated videos might be a useful learning tool. By way of experimentation, I’ve added a couple to a video I made of a duo by Carulli which was to be performed by a couple of senior pupils. In each case I play one part while a laptop (using Sibelius) plays the other – not in the least expressive, but instructive. The annotations in this video aren’t instructive either – just a test run. They occur at 1:45 and 2:23.

Incidentally, I hit (accidentally) upon a keyboard short-cut which works with YouTube:

Home – returns the video to the beginning

End – shoots to the end

…and, of course, Right Cursor to jump forward – in handy-sized 17” chunks :-); Left Cursor for the reverse; Space bar to Pause and to Resume Playing.

p.s. I’ve noticed since writing this that these shortcuts only work if you’ve clicked on the video once (which will pause it, of course). I suppose it makes sense as, initially, these shortcuts are directed at the page as a whole. Clicking on the video seems to redirect these commands to the video itself. However, as you know, clicking on an embedded video, such as this, will simply redirect you to the source i.e. Youtube

p.p.s. see David Gilmour’s comment below for a link to further shortcuts

Does anyone know of any others?[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/8nE0n4oEgEc?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Blogging, Connectedness, Expression, History, IT, Language, Life, Literacy, New Ideas, Radio Links, Technology

ngram

What better way to relax before a concert (Musselburgh Grammar New Year Concert – a neologism brought upon us by adverse weather at Christmas) than messing about with words. Driving home from school, I heard an article on Radio 4’s Open Book about Google’s Ngram software. Basically, this allows you to chart the popularity of a word between 1800 and now in books – approx 15 million of them.

It’s interesting to discover how words grow legs of their own, independent of their original coinage. For a bit of fun, try to predict (before clicking) which of the following words is the only one to enjoy a rise in popularity in last 200 years: heaven, hell, limbo, purgatory.

Can it be used to spot societal trends? Naomi Alderman pointed out, during the programme, the decline of “I must” compared to the rise of “I want.” Chart, though, the counter-intuitive progress of the word celebrity.

I wonder if one day an equivalent will appear for monitoring historical trends in music. What do you think the unit should be? Note? Chord? Voicing? And the method of input?

The use of the word music is interesting. It rose during WW2, peaking sharply around the late 1950s before falling sharply.

p.s. I suspect that neologism is not really a suitable term for a phrase, as opposed to a word. What should one use?

p.p.s I also realise that falling sharply is a musical contradiction – he said, voice rising flatly…

Concepts, Connectedness, Ensembles, Harmony, IT, New Ideas, Technology, Video, YouTube links

Virtual Choir

Many thanks to Ewan McIntosh for flagging this up – Eric Whitacre‘s Virtual Choir singing Lux Aurumque (Light and Gold)  – a beautiful blend of music and technology:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/D7o7BrlbaDs?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]


The idea and its history is explained here:[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/zyLX2cke-Lw?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

I found the following translation of the text of Lux Aurumque here:

Lux

Calida gravisque

Pura velut aurum

Et canunt angeli

Molliter modo natum

Light

Warm and heavy

As pure gold

And the angels sing softly

To the newborn babe

The following related videos might also be of interest:

Singing instruction (although this is for another work – Sleep):[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/dWCTKnbqE6s?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]


Recording instruction:[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/IrQRVI8y5j8?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]


Conducting track (instruction first and then real time conducting kicks in at 5:18)[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/uh1c2xWVWiA?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Score of Lux Aurumque (moves along with music)[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/aLBKyLT-j4w?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Community, Concepts, Connectedness, History, New Ideas, Recording, Technology, Video, YouTube links

Ideas are one thing and what happens another (John Cage 1912-92)

I must be getting younger and here’s what draws me to this unlikely conclusion. Have you ever had the experience where, relating an event and estimating its vintage, you discover that it took place, say, eleven years ago and not five? Does the tempo of life’s passing seem to hit home at such moments? Well, this morning I had the opposite experience. I heard that today marks the five-year anniversary of the official launch of YouTube – the Beta version having emerged some seven months earlier. I couldn’t believe it! Youtube – the third most visited website, after Google and Facebook – seems to have been part of my life for longer than I can remember. I can recall who first told me about Google and Facebook, but I don’t recall being led to YouTube – it just seemed always to be there.

What better way to mark this occasion than to stumble upon (if our networked world still permits such electronic happenstance) a video of the recording of a version of John Cage‘s 4′ 33′ by Cage Against The Machine (CATM). I’ll let The Guardian explain the provenance.

This much misunderstood and maligned piece is thought to be about silence – and only that. However, Cage’s intention was to allow listeners the time and space to notice and enjoy life’s everyday sounds, which we often take for granted, undervalue and ignore.

This film has some nice touches: introductory remarks to the musicians; performances phoned in by artists not available on the day of recording (4:00 into film); a variety of responses to the situation – some having fun, others perhaps a little self-conscious and some looking reflective/reverential. I’m no authority, but I suspect that John Cage would have been happy at recent events and would have smiled at those in the film, smiling and swaying, arm in arm and in time.[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/GYedTIMAf7E?rel=0" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

p.s. Re the title of this post – have a look at the story of CATM (the text on grey background) here.