[spectre] Drawing, Weaving, and Speaking Live Generative Music (workshop led by Alex McLean)

[l'ull cec]

Drawing, Weaving, and Speaking Live Generative Music

This workshop will explore alternative strategies for creating live 
sound. We will make connections between generative code and our 
perception of music, using metaphors of speech, knitting and shape, and 
playing with code as material. We will take a fresh look at generative 
systems, not through formal understanding but just by trying things out.

Through the sessions (Symbols, Words, Language, Notation), we will work 
up through the layers of generative code. We will take a side look at 
symbols, inventing alphabets and drawing sound. We will string symbols 
together into words, exploring their musical properties, and how they 
can be interpreted by computers. We will weave words into the patterns 
of language, as live generation and transformation of musical patterns. 
We will learn how generative code is like musical notation, and how one 
can come up with live coding environments that are more like graphical 
scores.

During the workshop, the participants will visit systems like Python, 
Supercollider, Haskell, OpenFrameworks, Processing and OpenCV, as well 
as experiment with more esoteric interfaces.

Tutor: Alex McLean [ http://yaxu.org ]

Alex McLean is a live coder, software artist and researcher based in 
Sheffield UK. He is one third of the live coding group Slub, getting 
crowds to dance to algorithms at festivals across Europe. He promotes 
anthropocentric technology as co-founder of the ChordPunch record label, 
of event promoters Algorave, the TOPLAP live coding network and the 
Dorkbot electronic art meetings in Sheffield and London. Alex is a 
research fellow in Human/Technology Interface within the 
Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific Research in Music, University of 
Leeds.

Level: Introductory/intermediate. Prior programming experience is not 
required.

Language: English

Dates:

Tuesday   23.07.2013, 17:00-21:00h
Thursday  25.07.2013, 17:00-21:00h
Saturday  27.07.2013, 12:00-18:00h
Monday    29.07.2013, 17:00-21:00h
Wednesday 31.07.2013, 17:00-21:00h

Location: Hangar. Passatge del Marquès de Santa Isabel, 40. Barcelona. 
Metro Poblenou.

Price: Free.

Participants will need to bring a laptop (preferably a PC, or a Mac 
able to boot off a DVD), an external webcam and a pair of headphones.

To sign up, please send an email to info at lullcec.org with a brief text 
outlining your background and motivation for attending the workshop. 
Note that applications won’t be accepted if candidates are unable to 
commit to attending the course in its entirety.

+info: [ 
http://lullcec.org/en/2013/workshops/drawing-weaving-and-speaking-live-generative-music/ 
]

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