The International Guild of Musicians in Dance

Music and Dance

Innovations in Music Technology,Music Scholarship and Research,in the Field of Music and Dance

Volume 7Winter 2007

The Journal

The Journal Music and DanceThe journal Music and Dance is published by the International Guild ofMusicians in Dance for its members and other interested members of thedance community. Its members are principally musicians who work in thefield of dance – musicians who play for dance classes (ballet, modern, jazz,ethnic, etc.), teachers of music for dance, conductors and composers in thefield of music and dance, and scholars.

The journal accepts articles on any subject related to the broad field of musicand dance, or even more broadly, articles about the relationship of sound andmovement. The journal is interested in encouraging practitioners in any areaof the field to submit scholarly works, journalistic documentation of creativecollaborations or performance, point of view articles, and articles abouttechnology. The journal is published whenever the editorial staff feels there isan appropriate collection of articles of interest.

The International Guild of Musicians in DanceThe International Guild of Musicians in Dance was formed in 1990 to addressthe particular concerns of musicians working in the field of art dance. TheGuild publishes a Journal, holds conferences, and maintains a website,(http://www.dancemusician.org.). The website has news about the Guild’sactivities and other resources for dance musicians, instructors and researchers.The Guild also maintains a listserv, which hosts discussions among guildmembers regarding issues of music and dance for professionals in the field.Visit the website for information regarding joining the Guild and the listserv.

Editorial Board of the Journal Music and Dance

William Moulton – EditorAssociate Arts Professor, New York University, New York City, NY

Suzanne Knosp – Assistant EditorAssociate Professor, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

John Toenjes – Guild President,Assistant Professor, University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana, IL

Please address queries concerning the journal to William Moulton(william.moulton@nyu.edu).

Table of Contents

From the EditorNew Directions - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1William Moulton

Point of ViewA Survivor’s Guide for Musicians in Dance - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2Steven Rush

Scholarship and ResearchA Movement-Pattern Approach to Musical Organization - - - - - - - - - - 7Andrew Warshaw

Il ballo delle ingrate: A Lost Genre Whose Time Has Come? - - - - - - 19Andy Teirstein

TechnologyUsing Interactive Computer Applications to Integrate theArts and the Artists in Music and Dance - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 26John Toenjes

Five Perspectives on Bringing Electronics into Dance Class

Robert Kaplan Using a Laptop as an Instrument in a Dance Technique Class - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 31

Jon Scoville Four Decades of Electronics in Class - - - - - - - 38

Neil Dunn Reasoning with the DrumKAT: Electronic Percussion in the Dance Class - - - 41

Keith Fleming Beat keeping, sound alteration, and improvisational liberty through music technology - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 48

Chris Peck On Dance Class Accompaniment with the Computer - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 57

Track listings for enclosed CD - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 61

1

FROM THE EDITOR

New DirectionsBy William Moulton

This Journal highlights some newdirections in our field, both in terms ofscholarship (Andrew Warshaw’s interest-ing, and we think ground-breaking, arti-cle on a movement-based approach tothe analysis of music), and in our newPerspectives Series on electronic instru-ments in the dance class.

In the Perspectives Series we askfive musicians who use electronic in-struments in dance classes to both re-flect on this new trend in dance accom-paniment and to describe what technol-ogy they use, and how they use it. We

asked them toinclude enoughspecifics aboutthe technologythat others mightbe emboldened totry their handand have the firststep into thetechnology sup-plied by thosewho’ve alreadyspent the manyhours finding outwhat worked andhow to plug it all

together. As you’ll see, there’s a widevariety of equipment and approaches.This typifies our field – a field markedby a very broad range of idiosyncraticapproaches to almost every aspect ofdance and music – from composing, toaccompaniment, to teaching.

There are two reasons for this idio-syncratic tendency in our field. First,there’s no accepted training ground,which means there’s no accepted pathinto the field and no accepted criteria orstandard for entrance. (see Steven Rush’sarticle on surviving in academia) As a

result people come in to the field withall kinds of backgrounds, skills and waysof working. In the end I think this hasbeen beneficial for the diversity of artis-tic vision and voices.

The second reason for our idio-syncratic approaches is that we are all soseparated geographically, and as a re-sult, isolated artistically, that musiciansare forced to develop their own methodsand styles simply because they’ve neverseen other ways that things could bedone. There’s little interchange of ideas,except possibly at festivals. People endup exploring on their own for manyyears without ever having contact withothers on similar paths. This was thereason that in 1990 we formed the Inter-national Guild of Musicians in Dance –to foster an exchange of ideas and toprovide a place for people to meet eachother and share concerns and enthusi-asms. Of all the things the Guild hastried, the conferences and journals havebeen its biggest success.

We are not suggesting by high-lighting these new trends in accompa-niment that these are the “cool newideas” or the “way of the future” or anysuch thing. Throughout the articlesyou’ll hear the musicians doing theseexperiments speaking of the continuedimportance to them of acoustic music.We do find it interesting that for manyyears the accepted sounds in a moderndance class were either made from a col-lection of percussion instruments or apiano. Instrumentation has expanded,and there are new sounds coming intoclasses. Synthesis and sampling, elec-tronic loops and layering, are all newsounds, and because of the technology,new ways of working with them is re-quired.

What we are encouraging is ex-perimentation. Develop your craft in asidiosyncratic a way as you please, or inas traditional a manner as you please –but experiment. It’s not that we need“new” in our field. What we need, as al-ways, is quality. The problem is keeping

Staleness is the

pitfall of our

isolation, and the

only way to keep

alive and healthy,

artistically, is to

keep working at

your art form and

developing your-

self as an artist.

2

yourself alive and vital while you play aballet class in Minnesota or Florida, or amodern class at a small college in Kan-sas, or Chicago for that matter. Stalenessis the pitfall of our isolation, and theonly way to keep alive and healthy, artis-tically, is to keep working at your artform and developing yourself as an art-ist.

This Perspectives Series is gearedfor the modern dance class. We will, infuture journals, present a similar serieson playing for ballet and using percus-sion in dance classes. We hope these ar-ticles will inspire and encourage morescholarly work, and a sharing of ideasby writing in this, and other forums.

William Moulton is the editor of thisJournal and is a composer and pianistand teaches in the Department of Danceat New York University

POINT OF VIEW

A Survivor’s Guide ForMusicians In DanceBy Steven Rush

The Problem: When I was in graduate school mycolleagues would talk about our futures,free-lancing in New York or Los Ange-les, writing orchestral and chamber mu-sic. Few of us, if any, had a pragmaticsense for employability as composers/musicians, and none of us openly soughtemployment in academe. Few of us, aswell, are actually employed doing whatwe love. We Musicians in Dance are doingwhat we love. We have a unique capac-ity to "see sound", or "hear movement," to

work with/against in-dialogue-withmovement material as composers, im-provisers and performers. These abili-ties are unique to the world of art, and inmost cultures, are revered and subject totheir own distinct world of training. InIndia in 1992 I visited the famous Kalak-shetra College in Chennai, where musi-cians were about one-half of the studentpopulation. The only purpose to thecurriculum? To become a great Musi-cian for Dance. My American universitycolleagues who travel frequently toGhana and Mali have noted that musi-cians, especially in West Africa, studydance and music together, not as sepa-rate disciplines. Ofcourse other examplesare myriad in the Farand Middle East, andhere at home, in Ap-palachia. The goodnews is that there areno standardized “skillsets” for Musicians inDance, nor shouldthere be. Each of ushas a unique trainingthat prepares us forthis career. The same cannot be said forour present and future music colleaguesin academia, who have a more-or-lessstandardized educational path leading toa Ph.D., in their field.

I believe the main reason wework as musicians in the field of dance isthat we love the idiom, and possess dis-tinct intelligences with which to ally ourgifts with theirs. The question remains:how to survive in this world? Dance de-partments in American universities grewmostly out of physical education de-partments (from Bennington to UCLA)and were the outgrowths of the physicaleducation dance requirements forwomen in the mid- 20th-century. Assuch, the most a university could affordto do with their nascent department washire an excellent dancer, or maybe cho-reographer. Alas, due to funding, hiringa musician who would work in tandem

We Musicians

in Dance have

a unique

capacity to

"see sound",

or "hear

movement,"

3

with the dancer was beyond the budgetor the foresight of our forbears. The"Black Mountain" notion that a nexus forcreativity should include a dancer, a mu-sician, and an artist (plus an architect!),was not embraced nor envisioned in theearly stages of dance academia.

The history of these dance de-partments in the United States creates aproblem for musicians in those depart-ments. There is a built-in "anti-priority"for the musician. As such, many schoolsemploy staff musicians instead of facultyfor the music component in their cur-ricula. Worse still, the musicians arebarely allowed a phone and office space,let alone the dubious pleasure of a ten-ure-track line and benefits. How to sur-vive in this world?

Packing for the Journey:Interest in dance is the first item

in the dance musician's survival kit –unabashed enthusiasm for that which isDance. Aptitude for expressing this in-

terest is the nextstep. Can youimagine threeways in sound tocomplement yourfriend leapingafter a Frisbee?Do you get tin-gles seeing danc-ers leap against apulse (or withit?)? Would youdo this for free?These are meas-

ures of both interest and aptitude. Thetrip is long and hard, and one's motiva-tion has to be pure, honest, and vital.

One might check their aptitudesfurther by asking – Am I an improviser?A composer? A concert pianist whoreally would rather play with dancersthan chamber musicians? Evaluate yourmusical skills. Can you improvise inmany styles, and maybe prefer that topracticing Chopin Etudes? This meansyou have a discretely spontaneous un-

derstanding of music theory. Being ableto improvise in the style of Brahmsmeans that you a) love Brahms, b) un-derstand Brahms, and c) can, with greatimmediacy, emulate the drama and syn-tax contained in his work. This is a rare,rare ability. Celebrate it. Substantiate it.Use it. Train it. Training might meanmany things to many people, i.e. beingan excellent cellist, pianist, percussionist,etc. Perhaps it includes getting an Engi-neering degree (as some of today's bestmusicians in dance have done – theyplay laptops!). Perhaps it means a post-doc in Aesthetics. Or a Master's inDance History. Or self-styling your owndegree (I studied Jazz Piano while pursu-ing a Master's and DMA at Eastman inComposition!).

Assuming one's goal is to be afull-time, tenure-track member of thefaculty at a U.S. college or university,one should assume that a Ph.D. or DMAis required. The painful fact is that mostof us grow into the field through vitaland circuitous paths, and this path doesnot include the traditional academicstudy of our main craft. So be it. None-theless, in order to be fully respectedand to be taken seriously in the longhaul of academic survival, this powerfularbiter of both status and standard re-mains.

Now, with love, joy, intelligence,and documentation of the same, let'sseek employment!

The Job:Jobs as musicians in dance are out

there. They exist. Know it and believeit. Good jobs, however, are as rare as afriendly Blue Jay or a Double Rainbow.Most jobs will require the ability to teacha Music Fundamentals class, play for atleast two classes a day (Modern and Bal-let), coordinate all musicians for otherclasses, create musical scores for studentand faculty concerts (usually meaningdubbing/editing, but also writing music),and possibly teach a choreography class.

The polyglot job

description of

most dance

musician jobs

implies an utter

misunderstanding

of the value in each

of these functions.

4

There is no music curriculum inthe world to prepare one for such a task.Preparing oneself for high-level per-formance on all of these fronts wouldtake a lifetime, indeed. The polyglot jobdescription of most dance musician jobsimplies an utter misunderstanding ofthe value in each of these functions.The result? Terrible edits, poor musicalchoices, tendonitis, and useless one-semester "Intro to Music" courses thatwouldn't pass as a 4-week intensive inmost music schools! Know this, and takewhat job you can get!

Knowing that these jobs are pat-ently absurd in their requirements, how-ever, can give you power to transformthe job into a reasonable load, and gleanout the things that you really want –what you enjoy doing, and allow you toflourish as a musician and as a humanbeing. Make your job. Envision the long

term. Do yousee your armsbeing able tohandle 5 hoursof intense im-provisation aday? Do yousee yourself vis-iting grandchil-dren in theevening after aday of "fadingout/fading in"bad splices ofBach Cello So-natas? Make

your job what you enjoy, what feedsyour soul, and what makes the craft bet-ter. Hire students (work-study, if possi-ble) to do editing. Create more staffmusician jobs by taking deans/chairs outfor lunch/dr inks /bowling and"schmooze". Let people know what yourreal interests are, and show them.

For example, at the University ofMichigan we have two tenured Musi-cians in Dance. One (me) teaches DanceImprovisation, Dance and the RelatedArts, and Choreography. The other

(Christian Matjias) teaches Music andDance, Choreography, plays for classes,and teaches a Graduate Seminar in Re-search Practice. We both compose spar-ingly for our colleagues and do a fewedits as needs arise (our students aretrained to do their own). This arrange-ment took 18 years to conjure and articu-late. "Interesting and perfect things,"says my friend LaMonte Young, "cantake longer than life." I received similaradvice from my AAUP representative.

Keeping the Job:There might more ugliness ahead

on this difficult journey. We've seenbumps in the road already, with educa-tion and job description issues, but thisnext part can be even trickier. Thesejobs, as noted above, are often confusedmesses, where the joys and the require-ments are frequently at odds with eachother. The results can be disastrous, andfrequently result in dissatisfied adminis-trators and musicians. Below I provide afew suggestions for smoother waters.

1). Work overtimeWhy? Because the end is clear.

The goal is worth it. I remember manynights where I did not go to bed, in or-der to finish copying an orchestra pieceor chamber work. Why is building aprofession any different? If your de-partment/school does not offer a coursecalled "Dance and the Related Arts", startone. This is an excellent way to honeyour own skills as a collaborator, as wellas guiding the next generation of col-laborators toward intelligent and crea-tive collaborations. Likewise, teach im-provisation. Whether it's Dance, Jazz,Baroque ornamentation – it makes nodifference. Most musicians in dancehave unique aptitudes for improvisation,especially multi-syntactical improvisa-tion. This is the "wave" of the future(whether you're a fan of Zorn, Braxton orJimmy Guiffre, "jazz" has always been apolyglot mix of cultural fusion). Like-wise, improvisation has been the life-

Most musicians in

dance have unique

aptitudes for

improvisation.

Teach improvisation.

Whether it's Dance,

Jazz, Baroque

ornamentation – it

makes no difference.

5

blood of composed music since the verybeginnings of notation. Claim yourknowledge, and substantiate it by teach-ing it and performing it.

2. Be Visible

Just as importantly, one’s visibil-ity in the artistic world should go be-yond the world of dance. To grow as amusician one should be present in theworld of musicians, giving concerts ofwhatever music we make. The myriadpossibilities are too numerous to gener-alize, since the kind of music-making wedance musicians do is shockingly widerthan the narrow world of “Classical Mu-sic”, and likely to include everythingfrom noise-based improvisation concerts,site-specific works, improvisation jamsand world music.

Examples of visibility by musi-cians refusing to be traditionally pigeon-

holed can be foundin such importantfigures as JohnCage and LouHarrison. A studyof their perform-ance careers couldprove helpful as wecreate paradigmsfor both our pro-gress in the field,as well as litmustests for successwithin it. I referredspecifically to thecareer of DavidTudor when dis-cussing my owncareer path in a re-

cent document prepared for my promo-tion to Full Professor – not that I am an-other David Tudor, nor did I create thecareer path that he so wonderfully trodone generation before me.

Many of these courses do not ex-ist, but students are hungry for them.Create them, and teach them as over-loads for a time. Then permeate the col-lusive world of the curriculum and put

these courses closer to the "core". Is thissubverting the system? No. In my opin-ion it's improving it. Whoever heard ofanyone volunteering to be on the cur-riculum committee? If you are a musi-cian, working in dance, you should jumpat the chance.

Specifically, make your job de-scription clear, and clarify it over time. Iwas willing to teach “Intro to Music His-tory” and play for 3 classes a day when Iwas first hired. Now that I’m nearing 50I’m less excited about this as my job de-scription. Demand the same titles (As-sistant Professor – tenure track) thatyour dance colleagues enjoy. Workingas a staff member, barely above the levelof a temporary secretary, will not fulfillyour artistic or career goals, nor haveyou regarded as an equal collaborator asan artist, nor an educator.

3) Invade other departments This is not wholly unrelated to numberone. My 2nd and 3rd years at the Uni-versity of Michigan I taught 6 or 7courses a semester as a means to seatingmyself in the Theory, Composition,Technology and Jazz Departments. Idon't do that now. But it was a means toan end that was finite. Do it. One buildsallies and friends around the campus.Your sense of alone-ness is dispersed.One finds more collaborators for facultyand students, and more people to bringmusic into the dance building. Simplyput, when asked about my role in thedance department, often my answer issimply, "to bring more musicians intothe building." One can't do it by stayingin the building.

Make a point to get to know theMusic Faculty at your school. OftenDance Departments are situated (physi-cally) away from the Music Department.Don’t accept this physical limitation asindicative of an artistic separation. Weare all making art in the same materialworld, and because something or some-one is in a different building does notmean they are in a different world.

Simply put, when

asked about my

role in the dance

department,

often my answer

is simply, "to

bring more

musicians into

the building."

One can't do it by

staying in the

building.

6

Traverse the physical space, and get toknow all of your colleagues (this mayinclude the Art faculty, Film/Video/Theatre/Engineering etc.).

Offer to teach courses in the Mu-sic Department. Integrate your skillswith the needs of the Music Department,as well as the Dance Department. Im-provisation, especially, is an art that em-braces many art forms. You, as a musi-cian in dance, probably have a prolificskill at improvisation. Learn how totransmit that skill to other musicians.You also have an ability to discuss theshape and form of a piece of musicthrough years of collaboration withdancers – you will make an excellentmusic theory teacher!

Be visible. Do concerts. Attendconcerts. Double dip –write acoustic pieces foryour dance colleagues andget repeat performances ofthem as concert works. Putthem on recitals in the Mu-sic Department. Get thefaculty to play them. Pub-lish them. Get more per-formances around thecountry and the world. Thesame is true of a perform-ance career. Be visible.

4. Be an Artist – Commission Your OwnWork

Half of my projects in the last tenyears have been Musician contactingChoreographer for a project. The ideaswere mine (or co-ideated with a writer orvisual artist) and funded. Reject the di-minutive role of collaboration for onethat takes equal responsibility (or more!)for the resultant work. This is equallytrue of one's role in the classroom. Foryears I have rejected the term "DanceAccompanist" (see Chekhov's story bythe same name). The term will not getyou tenure. The term will not get you acommensurate salary to the person youare "accompanying". The term will notget you a respectable and realistic teach-

ing load. It will only continue to placeyou as a "less-than" in your department.

There is an ethic involved withour love for the field. Often this ethicleads us to see ourselves as a supportperson, rather than one who takes theartistic lead on projects. Making a soundedit for a dance colleague (for instance)can be one of two things: 1) a statementof who we are as a musician – protectingthe integrity of the music, questioningthe music choice itself, procuring rightsfor the creation of the edit, or suggestingmore artistically sensible solutions, or 2)simply being a “worker bee” in a subser-vient position. This example is a meta-phor for our approach to work in gen-eral. Do support work in a way that re-spects the art of Dance, and the place of

Music within that field. Atthe same time, demand re-spect for your own artistryand time. It is all “one thing”.Finally, trust the process. Youare doing what you love.This is worth it. Music andDance will outlive our time,our aesthetic predispositions,and certainly the model ofteaching Dance that thrivesin universities and collegestoday. Your mark on thefield should be an artistic

mark, and you can't do that holed up ina musty closet splicing tape with anti-quated equipment (wearing an ice-packon a Carpel-tunneled forearm). Makeyour mark in the field by bringing to itthe artistry that is uniquely yours, as animproviser, composer, performer andteacher in the field of Music, in Dance.

Stephen Rush is a composer and teachesDance, Music, Art and Engineering stu-dents at the University of Michigan, andtours with his multi-media Jazz trio,Yuganaut.http://www.music.umich.edu/facultystaff/rush.stephen.lasso

There is an ethic in-

volved with our love for

the field. Often this ethic

leads us to see ourselves

as a support person,

rather than one who

takes the artistic lead on

projects.

7

SCHOLARSHIP AND RESEARCH

A MOVEMENT-PATTERNAPPROACH TO MUSICALORGANIZATIONBy Andrew Warshaw

Dance musicians need practical,insightful approaches to relationshipsbetween music and human movement.This is not because movement/musiccorrespondences are hard to find, butbecause most are metaphors. Music can be “danced.” Movementcan be “musicalized.” Metricstructures, phrase divisionsand accents may be sharedbetween the mediums; andbodily shapes and tensionsmay be represented by con-sonant and dissonant tones.Yet even the most overt cor-respondences betweenmovement and music juxta-pose events of different na-tures. Unless the movementitself creates sound, the onlyunambiguous correspon-dence between a musical ac-cent and a movement accentis that they take place at the same mo-ment.

In my manuscript Musical Orga-nization and the Evolutionary Origins ofHuman Movement, I propose a novelmodel for correspondences between mu-sic and human movement. The model isbased on a small taxonomy of move-ment patterns, neurologically “hard-wired” through millions of years of ver-tebrate evolution. These patterns arecomponents of every human locomotivemovement.

Musicians use these same move-ment patterns in creating and perform-ing music. Correlations between themovement patterns of locomotion andthe movement patterns of music-makingreveal encoded “movement content” in

music. As with traditional musical ele-ments such as harmony, rhythm, pitch,and form, the movement patterns can benamed and categorized. The musicalfunctions of the patterns can be ana-lyzed. These patterns offer a means bywhich movement – human movement –may be considered as a musical element.For dance musicians, this can be a pow-erful, creative and analytic tool.

THE FOUR MOVEMENT PATTERNS

By considering human movement asan accumulation of abilities perfectedover hundreds of millions of years of

vertebrate evolution, Dr.Temple Fay, a Philadel-phia neurosurgeon, pro-posed a helpful taxonomy(Fay, 1952). First, he classi-fied the locomotor pat-terns of progressivelycomplex vertebrate spe-cies. Then, he correlatedthese patterns with low-brain, mid-brain, andhigh-brain activity in hu-mans. Using his pattern-classifications in therapyfor neurologically im-paired patients, he dem-

onstrated how these stages of vertebratemovement underlie human locomotivemovement. Refined in later writings byoccupational therapist and movementresearcher Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen(1993), among others,1 Fay’s taxonomyincludes five basic patterns. The first,approximately 350,000,000 years old(Fay, 1968), originates with fish:

1 Irmgard Bartenieff, student of Rudolph Laban’s,and a noted teacher and movement theoretician, par-allels a similar neuro-developmental theory of loco-motion with Laban’s “complexity of degrees ofmovement” (1974). Bartenieff herself originated atraining system called Fundamentals, whose descrip-tions of Body Part Relationships include striking par-allels to Fay's taxonomy.

I am proposing a new

model for the correspon-

dence between music and

human movement,

based on movement

patterns neurologically

“hard-wired” through

millions of years of

vertebrate evolution.

8

1. The ocular-head-neck-trunk-tail se-quence . . . a chainlike reaction . . . ,the movement of the eel, newt,snake, and weasel (Fay, 1952).

2. The . . . hopping pattern of the am-phibian [frog. Upper extremities to-gether, lower extremities together].

3. The . . . homolateral . . . movement ofthe amphibian [salamander. Upperand lower extremity movement inunison on the same side].

4. The cross-diagonal . . . pattern ofmovement of the reptile [turtle. Up-per extremity of one side synchro-nized with the lower extremity of theother].

5. Modified cross-diagonal pattern ofmovement and extremity . . . aselaborated by the mammal and up-right human forms (Fay, 1968).

The actual distribution of Fay’scategories among vertebrates is notquite as neat as his list suggests. His sec-ond pattern (“upper extremities to-

gether, lower ex-t remit ies to -gether”) is foundnot only in am-phibians, but alsoin rabbits, kanga-roos, and dogsand horses (onthe run). Reptiles,such as alligators,fit his third pat-tern, as do gi-raffes.

In the move-ments of higher-

order vertebrates, lower (more neu-rologically primitive) movement pat-terns are still present. They may func-tion in a supportive role for the higherpattern, as, for example, when spinal in-tegrity and stability contribute to a fastand efficient crawling motion. They mayalso provide alternative locomotionstrategies. Humans, with our array oflocomotive abilities, are a good exampleof this.

Fay’s basic point – that these

stages signal progressively sophisticatedneurological capabilities pertinent tohuman movement – is what mattershere. Cohen provides a helpful termi-nology for Fay’s patterns (see illustra-tions this page and next):

1. Spinal movement – as with snake,fish, or eel2. Homologous movement – uppers to-gether, lowers together3. Homolateral movement – right upperand right lower advance together4. Contralateral movement (a combin-ation of Fay’s 4th and 5th patterns) – rightupper advances with left lower

Each of these four patterns isused in making music. This article, how-ever, will examine only the three pat-terns in which the limbs (of vertebrates,and of musicians) are involved: Ho-mologous, Homolateral, and Contralat-eral Patterning.

SPINAL PATTERNINGMouth—Head—Neck

Spine—Tail

The diver’s Spinal Patterning directs hermovement.

These four stages

of vertebrate

development signal

progressively

sophisticated

capabilities

pertinent to

human movement.

9

HOMOLOGOUS PATTERNINGUppers push or reach together.Lowers push or reach together.

The Homologous reach supportsmovement into space.

HOMOLATERAL PATTERNINGSame-side upper and lower extremities flex

or extend in unison.

The archer is not locomoting, but HomolateralPatterning supports her action.

CONTRALATERAL PATTERNINGLeft upper and right lower extremities

advance together.

A critical movement-pattern con-cept concerns the significance of thebody’s vertical midline, down the centerof the face and torso, extending betweenthe legs:

• Homologous movement is sym-metrical around the midline. A motherreaches for her child with both armsequally outstretched. A percussionist’sarms mirror each other when he crashescymbals directly together.

• Homolateral movement involves amidline division, by which right side andleft side may alternate. A speaker ges-tures as she talks, indicating first “on onehand,” then “on the other hand,” firmlydiscriminating between the two.

A further Homolateral organiza-tion is one in which one side of the bodyprovides a stable support for the move-ment of the other side. A baby, who haspulled herself upright by holding on to asofa, “cruises” the furniture by securing

10

one hand, planting the foot below thathand, then reaching out with the otherhand (or foot, or both). Because Contra-lateral movement is often initiated withthe reach of an upper limb,2 the baby’sContralateral potential may be drawninto play if she reaches too far (resultingin movement that surprises the baby andalarms onlookers). However, the initialstabilizing movement is a Homolateralimpulse.

• Contralateral movement involves adynamic diagonal counterbalancing oflimbs across the body’s midline. Agoalie fields a ball and boots it, left armrising with right foot. This promotes spi-raling movement in the spine. (Thecruising baby spins and twirls as shefalls against the sofa, landing miracu-lously nonplussed.) Adding the cross-body support of the Contralateral to thesame-side stability of the Homolateralpattern completes a body’s repertory ofways to stabilize and support movement.The body can coordinate and balance,regardless of how, or on what side,movement is initiated. Thus, Contralat-eral neurological organization permits abody to infinitely vary the rhythms ofinitiation between its sides. A soccerplayer dribbles, fakes, and stunts, stabi-lizing with his torso and uppers againstthe syncopations of his feet as necessary.The same capabilities underlie the asym-

2 These neuromuscular “coordinations,” so called byCohen’s student Linda Hartley (1994), may occur inmovement in any plane. Therefore, some movement-patterns initiate as a push down towards the ground,or off another surface. Other movement-patternsreach out into space, drawing the body after it(Cohen, 1993). The manner of the initiation of apattern can be important to its definition. Homo-lateral patterns usually involve the push of a limbagainst the ground or some other surface of support.Contralateral coordination – in a vertebrate neu-rologically capable of it – tends to result when anupper limb reaches far out from a body, drawing theopposite lower limb into play to balance locomotion.

metrical accentuation patterns betweenthe hands of a typist, passing strokesseamlessly back and forth between leftand right as he works.

Exploring the PatternsThese four Basic Neurological

Patterns (Cohen, 1993) should be experi-enced physically if they are to be under-stood intellectually. It is recommendedthat the reader briefly explore these pat-terns with improvised movement. Alarge space is not necessary. Nothingelse will impart as immediate a sense ofthe connections suggested here.

• Spinal Movement: roll on the floor withoutusing limbs; softly ripple spine from head totailbone and back.

• Homologous Movement: leapfrog; breast-stroke; hop like a kangaroo; bench-press,push-up, pull-up; pound on the table fordinner; reach with both hands for a child.

• Homolateral Movement: walk like Frank-enstein (same-side arm and leg moving for-ward together); stand like an archer, ex-tended arm forward over straight front leg;grip same-side arm and leg on a rock sur-face while climbing, reaching out with theopposite hand or leg.

• For Contralateral Movement: walk; cake-walk; can-can; strut; sprint; creep like a cat;swing a baseball bat and watch follow-through.

THE MOVEMENT PATTERNS INTHE HANDS OF THE MUSICIAN

In applying these neurologicalpatterns to music making, I am propos-ing a new terminology for the move-ments of playing an instrument.3 At the

3 Musical Organization and the Evolutionary Originsof Human Movement charts characteristic deploy-ments of these movement patterns on percussion (twolimbs and four), piano and strings. Examination oftheir role in singing, and in wind and brass music, isalso discussed. For brevity’s sake, the discussion inthis article will be limited to the expression of neu-

11

piano, the movements – perpendicularto the keyboard – of arms, hands, andfingers, that make notes sound, will becalled “strike” movements. The side-to-side movements of arm, hand, and fin-gers that position strikes up and downthe keyboard, over different notes, willbe called “sweep” move-ments.4

In their simplest manifesta-tions at the piano:

• Homologous “strike” pat-terning results in the twohands striking the piano atprecisely the same time.

• Homolateral strike patterning meansthe hands are independent, but not in-volved in complex interdependent coor-dination of impulses. A paradigmaticHomolateral strike pattern is strict, me-chanical, alternation between the hands.

• Contralateral strikes, though occurringin many different kinds of sequences ofLH and RH strikes, are characterized byaccents tossed back and forth betweenthe hands. Contralateral coordinationcreates conversation between the LHand RH: syncopated, smooth, or jointlyarticulate.5 “Sweep” movements can also beunderstood as expressions of specific

rological patterns at the piano and in percussionplaying (with hands or sticks).4 “Sweep” also may involve a succession of fingerstrikes, in a stationary hand, that creates pitchchanges.5 Most (but not all) instrumental music making in-volves only the upper extremities. How can thesemovement patterns, that describe relationships ofupper extremities and lowers, be applied as actions ofonly the uppers? The reply is that just as motor “pro-grams” for many activities are measurable in thebrain without physical execution of the program(Haslinger, et al., 2005; Naito, et al. 2002), so arethese patterns complete neurological expressions withonly partial physical realization.

neurological patterns.6 However, theconcerns of this article (again for brev-ity’s sake) will be limited to neurologicalpattern expression in “strike” move-ments only. Further: though in mylonger manuscript I discuss pattern ex-pression in the movement of a single

hand, this article will exam-ine only the pattern expres-sion of the two hands linkedin coordinated strikes. Theterminology thus refers toLinked Homologous, LinkedHomolateral, and LinkedContralateral Strikes at thepiano and in the hands of apercussionist.

The musical interest ofthis approach is a result of the fact thateach neurological pattern has character-istic, dependable, particular and far-ranging musical effects. They have dis-tinctive personalities and combine in in-teresting ways.7 This brief introductionof the terms will principally focus, how-ever, on distinguishing the Linked Strikepatterns one from the other.8

6 “Strike” creates rhythm. On a keyboard, finger-board, or fretboard, “sweep” creates change of pitch.For a percussionist, sweep may involve change oftimbre or pitch. Every passage on an instrument canbe analyzed for the interaction of strike and sweepcomponents of neurological patterns. The inter-dependence of strike and sweep movements is under-lined by the fact that each can be defined, in a neu-rological pattern sense, by its initiation and by therelation of limb movement to midline (see p. 9).7 Cohen (1993; Hartley, 1991) describes each move-ment-pattern as embodying what she calls the pat-tern’s “mind,” an affective state incorporating psy-chological and kinesthetic qualities. Something ofthis nature may be experienced as each pattern is ex-plored in movement.8 Space also restricts discussion of this importantaspect of pattern-expression: the notion that musicallistening involves the (unconscious) recognition ofthese patterns. Godoy’s work on motor-mimetic mu-sical cognition (2001, 2004) suggests mechanisms forthis. Future investigation of the extent to which themovement-patterns are recognized in music mightcompare the affective experience of musical passagesand movement-patterns.

The musical interest

of this approach is a

result of the fact that

each pattern has a

distinctive person-

alitiy.

12

HOMOLOGOUS ANDHOMOLATERAL MUSICALORGANIZATION

For a pianist or a percussionist,Linked Homologous Strike patterns al-ways involve the simultaneous soundingof impulses by LH and RH:

In Pianos I and III (Ex. 1.), LH andRH strike in near-perfect unison (the

grace notes are not consequential in re-gard to the patterning). This is Homolo-gous patterning at work in the arms,forceful and bounding.

Pianists II and IV use strictLH/RH alternation: LRLRLRLRLR etc.Their patterning is Homolateral.

The juxtaposition of patterns here– the forcefully expressive, almost im-pulsive Homologous patterning of Pi-anos I and III and the propulsive, some-what mechanistic version of Homo-lateral patterning in II and IV – helps toestablish the signal ferocity of “Les No-ces” at its very first notes.

Example 1: Stravinsky, Les Noces, First Tableau, Rehearsal #1, m. 1-7

However, Linked HomolateralStrike patterning also supports more nu-anced relations between LH and RH.9The specific qualities of Homolateralorganization, as expressed in movementor understood affectively, appear in avariety of musical figures. For instance,Linked Homolateral Strikes can be pro-longated slightly without destroying

9 See Ex. 3, and many other Classical homophonicchord/melody textures. In these passages the limbsare set off one from the other, such that one side sup-ports and the other “sings.”

homolateral coordination. On a snaredrum, a double-stroke roll is a Homo-lateral pattern.

A triple-stroke would be the same: thearms forceful and bounding.

The forcefully

expressive,

almost impulsive

Homologous

patterning helps

to establish the

signal ferocity of

“Les Noces” at its

very first notes.

13

Homolateral musical patternsmay also include instances of strikes thatsound simultaneously in both hands.This is because Homo-lateral patterning is a neu-rologically "higher" levelcoordination than Ho-mologous; thus “lower”Homologous capabilitiesare subsumed by and in-cluded within the Homo-lateral capabilities. A bodythat is able to move homo-laterally will also haveHomologous patterns in itsrepertoire.

In the following patterns, alter-nating (Homolateral) Strikes effectivelyintegrate Homologous unisons, expand-ing the set of textures expressive ofHomolateral organization.

Example 2: Linked Homolateral Strike (incorpo-rating Homologous elements)

Alternation marks homolateralitybecause its simplicity preserves the dis-tinction of the sides. Moreover, Homo-lateral organization, as the secondphrase in Ex. 2 demonstrates, is stableenough that an offbeat phrase begin-ning in one of the parts does not disruptthe clear sense of division between thehands.10 As long as accentuation does not

10 An offbeat ending to a phrase is a different matter.In such a case:

the accentuation that accrues agogically to the finalnote of the RH (especially as followed by a rest), may

alternate between the hands, but re-mains in a single hand, then the result-ing pattern will reflect the relative de-

liberation and stability ofHomolateral patterning.

Below, accented strikesin a single hand (RH) mayseem to make the impulses ofthe hands somehow too differ-ent for Homolateral pattern-ing. This is not the case. Themark of homolaterality is dif-ferentiation between the sides.Accentuation in one hand thatis not “thrown” to the otherhand simply creates a Homo-

lateral Strike structure:

As Homolateral accent patternsin a single hand grow progressivelycomplex, it might be anticipated thatthey will eventually suggest the higherlevels of organization implied byContralateral movement patterning. Thereality is that the forms of Homolateralorganization are surprisingly varied.

also imply an answering note in the LH. That impli-cation of a LH answer can be enough to suggest aContralateral “tossing” of accents between lines.Thus, the musical phrase endings that most surelypreserve Homolateral conditions are on the beat.

A related concept is developed in MusicalOrganization and the Evolutionary Origins of HumanMovement. There, an analogy is posited betweenspecies of counterpoint and the “strike” sequencestypical of different neurological patterns. Generally,unresolved dissonances, that in species writing pro-duce expectation of consonant resolution, correspondwell to accented strikes in one hand that might beexpected to be answered by the other hand. In thisanalogy, Contralateral Strike organization occurs as akind of “4th species” syncopation: an accented strikethat may be “tied” over to the next beat, while notesin another part sound against it.

As long as accentua-

tion does not alternate

between the hands, the

resulting pattern will

reflect the stability

of Homolateral pat-

terning.

14

Here is a gait pattern that typi-cally would be produced with Contralat-eral locomotion – a forward-pointinglower limb counterbalanced (at the ini-tial leap on the first beat) by an oppositeforward-pointing upper limb:

However, if two hands on a drum pro-duce the sound of this movement pat-tern, the consistency of accents in theRH will keep the hands differentiated

enough that the musical strike patternremains Homolateral.

Other complexities of musicalline, such as rests in one hand, will notnecessarily mar clear differentiation be-tween LH and RH parts. Ex. 3 is anotherinstance of Linked Homolateral Strike.If there is any accentuation here it pro-ceeds from the terraced melody andphrasing in the RH only:

Example 3: Mozart, Sonata in Bb, K.333, I

Finally, an instance of Linked Homolateral Strike in the LH:

CONTRALATERAL MUSICALORGANIZATION

Homolateral patterning estab-lishes differentiation of the limbs, butContralateral patterning supports intri-cate conversation between them. When-ever accents pass quickly across the mid-line from one hand to the other –whether by dynamic level, durations, ormelodic factors – the result is coordina-tion with distinctly Contra-lateral agility.

In both of these patterns accen-tuation is “thrown” from one hand to theother.

15

In the first measure of Ex. 4, theRH strike tied to beat two at the finalsixteenth of beat one is answered by theLH at the beginning of beat two. This

transfers an accent to the LH, creatingcontralaterality.

Ex. 4: Joplin, Sunflower Slow Drag, mm. 5-8

In the similar instance of Ex. 5,mm. 5-6 provide a good example of ac-centuation transferred between thehands. The Linked Strikes that in m. 5begin with the entrance of the bassnearly are Homolateral, but for the syn-copation in beat one of the RH.

Contralaterality is confirmed when theimpulse behind the offbeat, tied, lasteighth-note in the RH of m. 5 is an-swered by the strike of the first LH noteof m. 6. This melodic gesture, shiftingattention from the line of one hand tothe other, is repeated at the next meas-ure.

Ex. 5: Bach, J.S., Fugue XXI, Well-Tempered Clavier, Bk. I, m. 1-8

Fast eighth note and sixteenthnote mixed meter between hands alsocreates the contralaterality of a conver-sation across the midline. The unevendurations – two LH answers to the RH atthe end of each bar – create an agogiceffect in the group of three eighth notes.

Even without any intentional LH dy-namic accentuation, one feels the“throw” back to the RH:

Contralateral

patterning

produces a

different kind

of flow than

Homolateral.

It is more

complex,

nuanced and

perhaps more

magical.

16

In fact, practically any syncopa-tion emerging from L/R alternation in-volves contralateral coordination be-tween the hands. When one hand delaysthe anticipated accented answer to aprevious strike, or a hand creates asym-metry by striking unexpectedly, contra-laterality occurs.

Contralateral patterning producesa different kind of flow than does Ho-molateral. It is more complex, nuancedand perhaps somehow more magical.This is true even in cases with no synco-pation, or perfectly symmetrical LH/RHalternation. The accents sound asthough they are tossed back and forth,purposefully. Each accenting handseems almost to reach forward to receivethe accent. In such cases, it is clarifyingto remember that contralaterity inmovement is initiated by reaching.(Again, see Note 2.)

and

Practically any polyrhythmicLinked Strikes, even the most mechani-cal and regular, will be Contralateral.Resultant (compound) rhythms linger inearshot and will pass sounds quickly be-tween the hands:

APPLICATIONS OFMOVEMENT-PATTERNMUSICAL ORGANIZATION

The work of dance musicians re-quires visceral response to movement.With some physical experimentationand observation, musicians can learn toquickly recognize neurological patternexpression in movement and thus ex-pand the range of their reactions.Whether a musician chooses to accom-pany specific movement-patterns in adancer with music of the same patternexpression, or that of a contrasting pat-tern, consistent, highly individuatedmovement-music “compounds” result.

Suppose movement with a highdegree of Homologous content is ac-companied by music that also has a high

degree of Ho-mologous con-tent. The conver-sation betweenthe two mediumstends to be thatof definitive, de-clarative, oftenforceful, partners.

Homologousmusical expres-sion, through thearms and hands,may be subtle in

touch and placement, but it is on thewhole more purposeful than tentative.Homologous movement and Homolo-gous music may parry, explode, bound,or bind together in primal gestures.However, if movement or music shouldtransition into Homolateral organiza-tion, the quality of the movement/musicrelationship will instantly change. Aforeground/back-ground relationshipmay result.

Although the following illus-tration of Homologous/Homolateral

Dance musicians

can learn to

quickly recognize

neurological

pattern expression

in movement and

thus expand the

range of their

reactions.

17

content is not cross-disciplinary,11 it maystill be useful. In homophonic music ofthe Classical era, many RH melodies (onthe piano, and played in octaves) move“forward” with unison strikes of the fin-gers of a single hand. An accompani-ment figure, however, (for instance, anAlberti bass), may deploy with an en-tirely different quality – alternating Land R sides of the hand in a mannercharacteristic of Homolateral organiza-tion. Such paradigmatic opposition ofHomolateral and Homologous pattern-ing may be imitated in many differentpresentations of music andmovement.

Such specific juxtaposi-tions of pattern content haveunique clarity, internal reso-nances, and physical logic.Conscious control of move-ment-pattern elements givesthe musician, or the dancer,tools to craft the most effectivecombinations for particularaesthetic ends.

When musicians col-laborate with other artists inmedia that represent or implyhuman movement patterns – film, pho-tography, painting, sculpture, even lit-erature – pattern analysis can be useful.Paintings or photographs “move,” when-ever a viewer imagines, and thus pro-jects into the picture, the moments pro-ceeding or successive to the instant cap-tured in the frame. There may bemovement-pattern implied in the twistof a torso, the set or thrust of limbs, orthe particular quality of internal supportdepicted in a body. In film or on stagethe bodies of actors make movement-pattern statements with clarity compa-rable to dancers. A musician whose mu-sic counterpoints practically any imageof the body is operating in an arena ofneuro-developmental pattern relation- 11 It also relies on pattern expression in single, asopposed to “linked” hands, a concept I have not de-veloped here, but address in my larger manuscript.

ships. Again, music created with patternentities in mind is music that can refine,or deepen, the play of these elements.

The new terminology proposedhere can be used in musical improvisa-tions, compositions, and analyses. It isnot difficult to imagine a rhythmic fig-ure realized in Homologous, then Ho-molateral, then Contralateral coordina-tions. Each coordination produces aunique version of the figure – one mightbe monophonic, another polyrhythmic.The variety of expressions of a singleidea is one of the primary subjects of

composition and improvisa-tion; and movement-patternexploration can suggest newpathways to musical variety.

Musical analysis usingthe movement-pattern termi-nology can provide novel de-scriptions of vectors andforces at work in a composi-tion. We say a passage is Con-tralateral and mean that it isproduced with Contralateralpatterning. However, move-ment-pattern terms also pro-vide an analytic language for

perceived locomotive forces in the musicitself. Features representative of a singletype of patterning – or a combination ofpatterns – mark musical passages, transi-tions, transformations and develop-ments. Thus, sophisticated accounts ofthe “locomotive” sub-structure of a pieceof music can be produced with this ter-minology. Musical Organization and theEvolutionary Origins of Human Move-ment contains examples of such analy-sis.

The Homologous, Homolateral,and Contralateral “Linked Strike” pat-terns of the above examples are onlythree of approximately twenty catego-ries of movement-pattern presentationsin Musical Organization and the Evolu-tionary Origins of Human Movement.Other categories include the “sweep”components, characteristic appearancesof the patterns in individual hands, and

Conscious control of

movement-pattern

elements gives the

musician, or the

dancer, tools to craft

the most effective

combinations for

particular aesthetic

ends.

18

appearances in specific textural combi-nations. This article, the briefest of in-

troductions to mu-sical organizationexpressive of evo-lutionary move-ment patterns, isthe starting pointof an inquiry that Ihope other dancemusicians will join.

Dance mu-sicians have accessto collaboratorsskilled in move-

ment experimentation and observation.They may also have, because of their as-sociations and because of what they havelearned in collaboration, a sharperawareness of their own physicality. Thusdance musicians are uniquely qualifiedto help map relationships among thepatterns, create an awareness of theirfunctions, and pioneer their use in im-provisation, composition, and other mu-sical projects.

Bibliography

Bartenieff, I. (1974). Space, Effort and the Brain.Main Currents, Vol. 31 (1), 37-40.

Brooks, R. (1999). Cambrian Intelligence: TheEarly History of the New AI. Cambridge: MITPress.

Cohen, B. (1993). Sensing, Feeling, and Action.Northampton: Contact Editions.

Fay, T. (1952). The Evolution of Basic Patterns ofMovement in Man, Their Diagnostic Significancein Spastic Failure. In: Wolf, J. (Ed.), Temple Fay:Progenitor of the Doman-Delcato TreatmentProcedures. Philadelphia: Temple Books.

Fay, T. (1968). Human Walking Patterns – ASymphony of Movements of the Past. In: Wolf, J.(Ed.), Temple Fay: Progenitor of the Doman-Delcato Treatment Procedures. Philadelphia:Temple Books.

Godoy, R.I. (2001). Imagined Action, Excitation,and Resonance. In: Godoy, R.I. & Jorgensen, H.(Eds.), Musical Imagery (pp. 237-250). Lisse:Swets & Zeitlinger B.V.

Godoy, R. (2004) Gestural Imagery in the Serviceof Musical Imagery. In: Camurri, A. & Volpe, G(Eds.), GW2003, LNAI 2915, pp.55-62. Berlin Hei-delberg: Springer-Verlag.Haslinger, B., Erhard. P., Altenmuller, E., Schroe-der, U., Boecker, H., Ceballos-Baumann, A.O.(2005). Transmodal Sensorimotor Networks dur-ing Action Observation in Professional Pianists.Journal of Cognitive Neurosciences 17(2), 282-293.

Hartley, L. (1989). Wisdom of the Body Moving.Berkeley: North Atlantic Books.

Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors WeLive By. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago.

Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy inthe Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Chal-lenge to Western Thought. New York: BasicBooks.

Naito, E., Kochiyama, T., Kitada, R., Nakamura,S., Matsumura, M., Yonekura, Y., Sadato, N.(2002) Internally Simulated Movement Sensa-tions during Motor Imagery Activate CorticalMotor Areas and the Cerebellum. Journal ofNeurosciences 22, 3683-3691.

Developmental Movement images used by per-mission of Contact Editions. Infant, reptile andamphibian images drawn by Janice Geller.

Andrew Warshaw is a composer andwriter and Assistant Professor of Musicand Dance at Marymount ManhattanCollege, NYC.

The new termi-

nology proposed

here can be used

in musical

improvisations,

compositions,

and analyses.

19

SCHOLARSHIP AND RESEARCH

Il ballo delle ingrate:A Lost Genre WhoseTime Has Come?By Andy Teirstein

Music in the late 16th century wasin a state of serial marriage to other artforms, with poetry foremost amongthem. Composers and poets wrestledwith various ways to combine their arts,

exploiting thetension betweenthe abstract im-pulse inherent inmusic and theconcretism ofwords. Whatlater becameknown as operabegan as one ofmany forms ofspectacle, most ofwhich involveddance or some

physical enactment, such as tournament,pageant, or masque. It is curious, then,that the movement arts gradually be-came submerged in the depths of ab-straction, remaining aloof from the po-etic tradition, except for thematic asso-ciation. There is no sung dance form inthe catalogue of viable Western per-formance genres. At the point wherenarrative time begins to vie for centerstage, the dance becomes a non-lingualgenre.

However, among the shared rootsof opera and ballet, we find a short-livedform in which words, music and dancewere dramatically intertwined: the ballo.Anticipating Robert Wilson, MeredithMonk, and Martha Clarke by over fourhundred years, this dance-theater genremay have a rightful claim to the statusof “Grandaddy to Post-Modern Music-Theater.” In fact, the intrinsic interlacing

of music. Dance, and poetry, brought toa climax in Monteverdi’s Il ballo delleingrate, might serve as a guiding exam-ple for composers, choreographers, andcollaborative writers in the twenty-firstcentury.

In the Renaissance, the term ballowas used to describe the lively dance fol-lowing the stately, slow bassa danza. Thejuxtaposition of two pieces of contrast-ing rhythmic impetus is at the origin ofthe dance suite, a form that was to haveenormous formal repercussions in thedevelopment of instrumental and vocalmusic as well as ballet. Toward the lastdecades of the 1500s various works of amore dramatic nature began appearingwith ballo in the title, often as the finalparts of intermedi, which were sungspectacles, or proto-operas, performedbetween the acts of plays. Most of theseemerging forms were presented at courtfestivities honoring the ruling princes,such as marriages or visits by foreignroyalty.

The occasion of Il ballo delle in-grate was the marriage of FrancescoGonzaga and Margherita of Savoy in theearly summer of 1608. Monteverdi’s con-tributions to the celebrations were con-siderable. In addition to the ballo, hecontributed music to a Chiabrera inter-medi for Guarini’s play, L’idropica andcomposed the opera Arianna. Each ofthese works was a re-envisioning of theirrespective genres. Although Monteverdihad composed balli before this event, Ilballo delle ingrate relied on the dra-matic through-line to a greater extentthan the earlier endeavors, and is an ex-ample of the genre in its most evolvedand independent form. Significant con-tributions were made by Ottavio Rinuc-cini, Monteverdi’s poet/collaborator onboth the opera Arianna and Il ballo delleingrate, who had visited France and re-turned to Italy with ballet de cour con-cepts.

The integration of dramatic, sce-nic, musical and balletic elements wasaccelerated by a spirit of intense creative

Among the shared

roots of opera and

ballet, we find a

short-lived form in

which words,

music and dance

were dramatically

intertwined: the

“ballo”.

20

competition fostered by various wed-dings occurring in 1607-8 among theNorthern Italian nobility, which simi-larly involved multiple productions.These events may have been influencedby changes that were occurring in theseforms during the time of Catherine de’Medici. A cultural intercourse betweenItaly and France was renewed by themarriage of Catherine de’ Medici toHenri Valois in 1533. Catherine had pro-duced five complex fetes between 1564and 1581, culminating in the Balletcomique de la Reine, staged by Balthasarde Beaujoyeulx (Baltazarini de Bel-gioioso), a transplanted Florentine.

The wedding celebrations in 1608,each involving a variety of lavish enter-tainments, were demonstrations of whatsocial historians refer to as “conspicuousconsumption,” in which wealth is con-verted to status via enormous spectacle.

From our present-day viewpoint it isdifficult to con-ceive of an event,p r e p a r e d f o rmonths in advance,involving a col-laborative effort ofthis scale, to beperformed onlyonce.

In order tounderstand thisspectacle, we needto abandon precon-

ceptions we carry about the various rolesinvolved. For instance, it was not un-common for a composer to be a con-summate singer, poet and dancer. Theconcepts of “performer” and “audience”are also misted in a landscape of shiftingfunctions. Curt Sachs, in Our MusicalHeritage, writes of a “cleavage betweenactive and passive artistic expression oc-curring in the 17th century performerand public,”1 in which spectacles were 1 Quoted in Paul Nettle, The Story of Dance Music(New York: Greenwood Press,1969) 160

tailored to the particular talents andpredilections of the attendees. The courtpatron was likely to be honored in thesung text, but he also might appearonstage as part of a dance. Likewise, the“audience” would be participants. Thoseattending Monteverdi’s Il ballo delle in-grate were swept into the opening pro-ceedings, dancing socially in what wemight associate with a “ballroom” set-ting, although the dances were perhapsmore prescribed. At a certain point, astartling noise reverberated through thehall, and attention was drawn to thegates of hell, signifying the start of thecomposed ballo.

The subject for Il ballo delle in-grate is a strange one for a wedding. Cu-pid implores his mother Venus to askPluto to bring forth from hell a band ofwomen who were ungrateful to the menwho courted them, and unresponsive toCupid’s arrows. After castigating thesewomen, Pluto also addresses the ladiesof the court in attendance, and warnsthem not to succumb to the fate of theingrates.

The only surviving score wascreated for the re-staging of the ballo inVienna in 1628, and published in Mon-teverdi’s eighth book of madrigals(1638), Madrigali guerrieri et amorosi.In a preface to the score, the composerdescribes the order of events. This de-scriptive page informs us of several keyaspects of the form of the ballo. Amidstthe confusing multiple allusions to the“beginning” of the ballo, and the refer-ence at the end to “any instrumentalpiece” at the curtain’s rise, we sense anemphasis, for Monteverdi, on begin-nings, which is born out by his dramaticuse of the convention of prologues inhis operas.

First there is a scene in which thesetting represents a mouth of hellwith four paths on each side, whichare to emit flames and from which

The court patron

was likely to be

honored in the

sung text, but he

also might ap-

pear onstage as

part of a dance.

Likewise, the

“audience” would

be participants.

21

the Souls of the Ungrateful Womenenter two by two with pitiful ges-tures to the music of the entrée thatshall be the beginning of the ballo.This music is to be repeated by theinstrumentalists as many times asnecessary until the dancers are inplace in the middle of the space inwhich the ballo is to begin. Plutostands in the middle, leading themwith slow paces, then he withdrawsa bit and when the entrée is overthey begin the ballo. AfterwardPluto, stopping it in midcourse, ad-dresses the Princess and ladies whoare present in the fashion describedin the text. The costume of the Un-grateful Souls is to be of ashencolor and adorned with imitationtears. When the ballo is finished,they return to hell in the same waythey left it and to the same sad mu-sic. One of them is to remain onstage at the end, singing the lamentas written, then she enters hell. Atthe raising of the curtain any in-strumental piece desired is to beplayed.2

The question of multiple begin-nings is settled by a look at the score, inwhich stage directions in the music de-tail how the ballo is interwoven. Thesinging that occurs between Venus, Loveand Pluto is all leading to the mainevent, which is the emergence of the In-grates. When they do enter, we are givena dance suite. This is the centerpiece ofthe work, and the suite is the distin-guishing feature of the ballo genre. Another pertinent aspect of thepreface is the emotional description ofthe women, who enter with “pitiful ges-tures.” One wonders how the dancers in-terpreted this direction. An image ofIsadora Duncan comes to mind, a mod-ern dance pioneer who also looked tothe ancients for her themes. At issue isthe sense of form as it applied to the

2 Claudio Monteverdi, Madrigals, Book VIII (Madri-gali Guerrieri et Amorosi), ed. G.F. Malipiero (NewYork: Dover, 1991) xvii-xviii

dance. The dancers, constrained to thepatterns of the specific dance forms,were also required to project an expres-sive aspect contributing to the dramaticprogress of the narrative. It may be im-possible to ascertain how much of anexpressive range was achieved in themovement for the ballo. A more expres-sive movement aesthetic is thought tohave developed in the ensuing genera-tions, and particularly through the workof Lully, who gave specific charactersidiosyncratic movements.

In the 1680s three types ofmovement in theatrical dance wereidentified, which we may consider re-garding Monteverdi’s time as well: steps,figures and expressions.3 The first,“steps,” consists of turning, springing,rising, and other movements apparent intreatises like Thoinot Arbeau’s classic1589 text, Orchesography. “Figures” con-cerns the spatial patterns of dances suchas those comprising the suite. Eachdance mapped a particular patternacross the floor, involving curved orstraight lines, chasing or fleeing, andvarious geometric designs, most ofwhich were symmetrical. The third cate-gory, “expressions,” entails the dramaticinterpretation ofcharacter; the move-ments and gesturesof drunks, wrestlers,boatmen, and soforth. But mightthere have been afourth species, the“emotionally expres-sive,” in which dra-matic impulse is ex-pressed throughmovement?

Although ac-counts of Il b a l l odelle ingrate do not give much descrip-tion of the dance, we know that Mon-

3 Ken Pierce, Jennifer Thorp, “The Dances in Lully’sPersée,” Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music X,1(2006) 2

We know that

Monteverdi was

concerned with the

emotionally

expressive nature

of movement in his

work, from letters

regarding his

opera La finta

pazza Licori.

22

teverdi was concerned with the emotion-ally expressive nature of movement inhis work, from letters regarding his op-era (now lost), La finta pazza Licori(1627). In one of these he stresses theimportance of finding the properwoman to play the role of the protago-nist, Licori; someone “with lively ges-tures and clearly distinguished pas-sions… so that when war is spoken of,war must be mimed, when peace, thenpeace, when death, then death…”4 A pic-ture emerges of a heightened style ofmovement which is used to enhance themeaning of the text. The placement ofthe dance at the dramatic high point ofMonteverdi’s Ballo delle ingrate indi-cates that the dance was intended tomove the narrative forward, particularlyin the appearance of the dancers with“pitiful gestures.”

The dancers would have foundmusical support in the descending tetra-chord, emblematic of lament, whichpervades the “entrata” section. This sec-tion rhythmically resembles a SpanishPavanne, as described in Orchesography(see illustration).

The overall form of the suite con-sists of six related parts, beginning withthe Pavanne, which was commonly usedas a stately promenade to introduce thenobility. The effect of this promenadewas enhanced by the fact that it was per-formed by “the duke and the prince-bridegroom with six knights and eightleading ladies of the city as noble as theywere fair and graceful in dancing.” 5 Thesuite takes us on a journey of contrast-ing tempi and rhythms; an Allemande,Branle Gay, Gigue and Galliard. Theopening Pavanne then returns as thewomen are led back by their male part-ners into the fires of hell, except for the

4 Claudio Monteverdi, (to Alessandro Striggio, May7, 1627) in The Musician’s World, ed. Hans Gal(New York: Arco, 1966) 205 Frederico Follino, in Pirrotta, Music and Culture inItaly from the Middle Ages to the Baroque (Cam-bridge: Harvard University Press, 1984) 293

one who lingers behind to sing of hermisfortune. Returning to the openingtheme lends unity to the suite.

Thoinot Arbeau, Orchesography (1589)

The calling forth of the Ingrates,and the ensuing dance, is followed by (orinterspersed with) solos from Pluto, and,finally, a madrigalesque monody sungby the lingering Ingrata, who, in her fi-nal moments, is joined by a chorus ofdistant Ingrates and no basso continuo.Instrumental ritornelli, sinfonie, andsuite intermingle with as many vocalforms and dance. The beauty of Il ballodelle ingrate is in its ability to contain,within its forty-five minutes, multipledialogues between these various forms,all of which come to balance on a simplemoralistic narrative. Within this sphere,the dance seems to live on its own, unre-lated musically to the surrounding ma-terial, and representing the women, whoare also alone in a place submerged be-

23

yond words. The extra-literal role ofdance had already been prescribed inearly operas such as Jacopo Peri’s Dafneof 1598, and Monteverdi’s Orfeo of 1607,

each of whichended with

rhythmicallyintense dancesthat s toodoutside of thenarrative. Thistradition has,for the mostpart, persistedthrough time.I f a r t i s t i cDarwinism isat work here,

the absence of song in ballet, and thelack of movement in theater, is a con-scious reckoning with the fact that dancestops the narrative flow. Although theremay be times when this is desired, it isonly recognized as a valuable asset whena distance is maintained between the twoirreconcilable yet codependent forces,reason and release from reason; the ar-ticulate voice and the expressive body.As Richard Albright has remarked, “thetrick of opera is the displacement ofbody into voice.” 6

It is in the ballo that the potentialof dance as an elemental force in thedramatic through line was most in evi-dence, partly because the narrative itselfwas not yet of prime importance. Rinuc-cini’s libretto for Il ballo delle ingratefulfills its purpose, but is not remark-able. Movement, poetry, and music wereall in the service of spectacle, and werevalidated by their contribution to grandeffect. The scenography of Il ballo delleingrate was nearly a repeat of the previ-ous year’s Orfeo, even sharing the char-acter of Pluto. That the effect of thespectacle was of primary impact is ap-

6 Richard Albright, “Golden Calves: The Role ofDance in Opera,” from the Proceedings of SOUNDMOVES: An International Conference on Music andDance (London: Roehampton University, 2005) 5

parent in a contemporary description ofthe scenery, costume, and even thewomen’s hair, which was…

…part cut short and part spreadaround with wondrous art, seem-ingly destroyed or burned; and al-though it was covered with ash andsmoke, a certain splendor, fromwhich one could well recognize thatat another time they were blondestof blondes… and their faces, show-ing signs of former beauty, werechanged and palled in such a waythat they brought terror and com-passion together on looking uponthem. 7

The sensationalism of the eventlay as much in the castigation of thewomen of Mantua (and in the later pro-duction, Vienna) as in the fact of such amoral slap on the nose occurring incelebration of a marriage. BonnieGordon, a present-day writer, imaginesthe scene from the point of view of thenew bride.

Margherita of Savoy, aged eighteen,attended the production of L’Ariannaduring the spectacles written tohonor her wedding to FrancescoGonzaga in 1608. These spectaclesstaged a stream of violated, punishedwomen, including a ballet in whichher groom dressed as one of a groupof women eternally condemned tothe smoky infernos of the under-world. In that role, he danced in andout of the gaping mouth of hellwhile Mantuans and visiting digni-taries from all over Europe gazedupon his young bride.8

The word “spectacle” applies toBroadway musicals of recent decades. Inthe field of musical theater the narra-tive, or “book” has always incorporated

7 Follino, in Carter, 818 Bonnie Gordon, Monteverdi's Unruly Women:ThePower of Song in Early Modern Italy (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, January 2005) 3

The sensationalism

of the event lay

as much in the

castigation of the

women of Matua,

as in the fact of such a

moral slap on the nose

occurring in celebra-

tion of a marriage

24

dance. In fact, musical theater may besaid to have an evolutionary historysimilar to what we find in the early Ba-roque, especially in the culling of vari-ous forms of spectacle (vaudeville,medicine show, burlesque), which aregradually infused with narrative untilthey find a new genre. However, Broad-way dance is not inherently expressive,but tends to conform to a generic stylewith only minor reflection of the dra-matic/emotional context.

In recent years modern dancechoreographers such as Trisha Brownand Doug Varone are increasingly in-volved in operatic productions. The useof movement in theater also achievednew status via the avant-garde perform-ance art movement, which fosteredMeredith Monk and Robert Wilson,among many others. Wilson, known forhis highly stylized Butoh-esque use ofmovement in drama, recently directedLohengrin at the Metropolitan OperaHouse. He has said that he wishes tocreate a “feast for the eyes and ears, soyou won’t have to think. Everything isbefore you.”9 He might well considerMonteverdi, who, in another letter re-garding La finta pazza Licori, wrote,“There will be a dance for every act, alldifferent and fantastic.”10 Composersand choreographers take note. Wilson,Monk, and Clarke have shown thatthere is a receptive public for a newgenre. The gates to this new musictheater of song, in which dance plays anorganic, dramatically expressive role,have been standing open since Mon-teverdi.

9 Robert Wilson. Interview with Stan Schwartz inBamezine, April, 2006https://bam.org/events/06PEER/06PEER_ezine.aspx10 Gal, 11

Bibliography

Albright, Richard, “Golden Calves: The Roleof Dance in Opera,” from the Proceedings ofSOUND MOVES: An International Confer-ence on Music and Dance (London: Roe-hampton Univer-sity, 2005)http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/soundmoves/SoundMovesConference2005_

Arnold, Denis, Monteverdi, rev. T. Carter(London:J.M. Dent & Sons, 1990)

The Monteverdi Companion, eds Denis Arnoldand Nigel Fortune (New York: W.W. Norton,1968, Au, Susan, Ballet and Modern Dance(New York: Thames and Hudson, 1988)

Arbeau, Thoinot, Orchesography, trans.Mary Stewart Evans (New York: Dover, 1967)Carter, Tim, Monteverdi’s Musical Theatre(New Haven and London: Yale UniversityPress, 2002)

Chafe, Eric, Monteverdi’s Tonal Language(New York: Schirmer, 1992)

Cohen, Selma Jeanne, Dance as a TheatreArt: Source Readings in Dance History from1581 to the Present (Princeton: Dance Hori-zons, 1974)

Fenlon, Ian and Carter, Tim (eds), ‘Con chesoavitá: Studies in Italian Opera, Song, andDance, 1580-1740, (Oxford: Clarendon Press,1995)

Gal, Hans, ed. The Musician’s World (NewYork: Arco, 1966)

Gordon, Bonnie, Monteverdi's Unruly Wo-men: The Power of Song in Early ModernI t a l y (Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 2005)

Horst, Louis, Pre-Classic Dance Forms(Princeton: Dance Horizons, 1987)

Kirstein, Lincoln, Dance: A Short History ofClassic Theatrical Dancing (Princeton:Dance Horizons, 1987)

Sachs, Curt, Our Musical Heritage,(Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1965)

25

Pirrotta, Nino, Music and Culture in Italyfrom the Middle Ages to the Baroque: ACollection of Essays (Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press, 1984)

Pierce, Ken and Thorp, Jennifer, “TheDances in Lully’s Persée,” Journal of Seven-teenth- Century Music X,1 (2006)

Redlich, Hans Claudio Monteverdi: Life andWorks, trans. Kathleen Dale (Westport:Greenwood Press, 1952)

Schrade, Leo, Monteverdi: Creator of Mod-ern Music (New York: Da Capo Press, 1979)

Monteverdi, Claudio, Madrigals, Book VIII(Madrigali Guerrieri et Amorosi), ed. G.F.Malipiero (New York: Dover, 1991)Nettle, Paul, The Story of Dance Music (NewYork: Greenwood Press, 1969)

Pirrotta, Nino, and Povoledo, Elena, Musicand Theatre from Poliziano to Monteverdi,trans. Karen Eales (Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1975)

Andy Teirstein is a composer and Asso-ciate Arts Professor in the Departmentof Dance at New York University

www.andyteirstein.com

26

TECHNOLOGY

Using InteractiveComputer Applicationsto Integrate the Artsand the Artistsin Music and Dance

By John Toenjes

One of my interests as a musicianin dance is in blurring the division betweenmusician and dancer. This desire is anexpression of an aesthetic that seeks tointegrate the art forms of music and

dance as tightlyas possible intoone whole, whichmeans that per-formers cannotbe accuratelyidentified as ei-ther musician ordancer, but theyare performingboth functions atthe same time, orat least bothfunctions at dif-ferent times inthe same dance.On a composi-

tional level, this means that the struc-ture of the music and its sonic expres-sion is integral to the course of the cho-reography, and vice-versa. In several ofmy collaborations I have either reversedroles and danced while the “dancer”plays music, or made music by stompingon amplified boxes while appearing asequal partner with the dancers onstage. Ihave experimented with looping struc-tures of music and choreography,wherein decisions made about the tim-ing and number of those loops has a di-

rect effect upon the course of the work.Quite recently I have been delving intoan intriguing new way to achieve thisintegration, that of using interactivecomputer software to create a dancescore that can only be activated or cre-ated through movement. Because thedance movement is the direct cause ofthe sound, and the way in which thedancer chooses to move directly altersthe music composition, and the way themusic sounds then feeds back to effectthe way in which the dancer subse-quently chooses to move (that is, thedancer is playing an instrument), in asense the dance literally is the music,and the music is inseparable from themovement. Therefore one art is notmore important than the other, and oneis not independent from the other – in-deed, each one becomes the other.

Achieving this idealized integra-tion through the use of computers in-volves two separate but equally inte-grated and referential efforts. One is tolearn how to program and use the soft-ware packages involved, and the other isto learn to conceptualize such work.Learning to use computer software andsensor technology is interesting in itself,yet using such stuff in a dance for themere sake of it can lead to artistic confu-sion. Therefore, conceiving of a validreason why to use such technology inthe service of an artistic vision is anequally important component of interac-tive composition. Yet in order to envi-sion such a piece, one has to have somenotion of what the technology can do.Deeper knowledge of what the technol-ogy can do then further informs andpossibly changes the concept of thepiece. The beginner at this art form hasto jump onto this wheel somewhere, andthen ride it around a few times until theskills of conception and execution cometogether to produce a work of interactiveart.

I have seen a couple of works thathave achieved a high degree of integra-tion, notably a piece entitled Seine hohle

One of my interests

is to integrate

music and dance

into one whole…

which means that

performers can not

be identified as

either musician or

dancer, but are

performing both

functions

27

Form by choreographer RobertWechsler and composer Joseph “Butch”Rovan1. The movement vocabulary isdirectly tied to the specific needs of mak-ing the music sound, expressing amovement style that was formed partlyto allow the music to soundcorrectly. At the same time,the sonic feedback, which canchange from performance toperformance, either con-strains the dancers to movein specific ways, or inspires afreedom of movement thatelevates the dancers’ experi-ence to a new height of ex-pression. Other practitionersof interactive dance, such asMark Coniglio of TroikaRanch,2 take an approachwherein sometimes the mu-sic and dance are tightlywoven together, where themovement of a dancer’s el-bow might influence, say, the playbackspeed of the sound, and therefore thefeel of the dancer’s movement in rela-tion to the sound, and at other timesthey are more independent one fromanother, the music and movement freeto coexist in time without being depend-ent upon each other for their method ofperformance.3

In February 2006 I premiered awork, entitled Value Intensity, with cho-reographer Todd Williams,4 that incor-porated interactive computer technologyinto one section of the dance (the othersections consisted of live vocal loops,

1 Excerpts can be seen at www.palindrome.de2 www.troikaranch.org3 More about this can be found in my paper “Com-posing for Interactive Dance: Paradigms for Percep-tion” which you can download as part of the pro-ceedings of Sound Moves: An International Confer-ence on Music and Dance, atwww.roehampton.ac.uk/soundmoves4 92nd St. Y/Harkness Dance Festival, New York,February 2006

and rock ’n’ roll tunes5). The interactivesection was conceived with the dual goalof tightly welding the sound score to themovement, and of hinting at one of themain subtexts of the choreography. Thissubtext was an exploration of Carl

Jung’s ideas of the subcon-scious mind. By program-ming an interactive systemwherein the dancers move-ments would cause the soundto happen, thereby mitigatingsome of the conscious controlthat I, as performing musi-cian, would have over thecourse of the score, I hopedthat I could suggest the in-fluence of the subconsciousin subverting our consciouscontrol of our environment.Because the dancers would bein some way influencing thedirection of the sound towhich they would subse-

quently be emotionally responding to,perhaps a tiny bit of their subconsciouswould become active in directing theflow of the piece. Since this was one ofmy first forays into interactive technol-ogy, my application of it was imperfect,and left much room for improvement.But I describe it here in some detail, toexplain how such technology might beintegrated into the conception and crea-tion of dance scores, in order at least toadd another tool to the dance composi-tion palette.

The computer setup for this partof the dance score used an Apple iSight®

video camera connected to a Power-Book® computer pointed at the stagefrom the lighting booth, which commu-nicated with a second laptop computeronstage (which I also used to record andmanipulate my live vocal loops) via thebuilt-in Airport® wireless network. This

5 Vocal loops were created with the use of AbletonLive software (www.ableton.com), and the rock mu-sic was played by me on keyboard, Tigger Benford,drums, and David Moltz, guitar.

I have been delving

into an intriguing new

way to achieve this

integration… that of

using interactive

computer software to

create a dance score

that can only be

activated or created

through movement.

28

camera/computer setup tracked the mo-tion of the dancers with a software com-ponent known as Jitter,6 and output thedancer’s positions onstage as a stream ofnumbers (x – y coordinates) over thewireless network. Over the video cominginto this motion-tracking computer, Isuperimposed a drawing made by one ofJung’s case studies. Whenever the danc-ers’ video image would intersect withthat drawing, the onstage music com-puter, running Max/MSP soft-ware, would react by triggeringsound derived from a record-ing of session of Jungian wordassociation, to which the danc-ers would improvise.

The dancers’ move-ments caused a pair of words tobe picked at random from a listof 100 such pairs. The order ofthe word pairs was dependentupon which side of the stagethe intersection occurred.These word pairs were thenplayed in one of several ran-dom speed/direction combina-tions, and subsequently runthrough a flanging echo VSTplug-in processor, which was randomlychanging its own parameter settings in-dependent of any other process. This wasall happening within the confines of apredetermined timeline (which is a Max“object”) that played specific words with-out filtering, as cues to keep the dancerson track within the overall timing of thedance. As this section of the dance pro-gressed, the dancers moved more andmore, and triggered more and moresounds. Also, the patch “opened up” toaccept more triggering, thereby increas-ing the frequency of the word sounds,climaxing in intensity to segue into thefinal rock ’n’ roll anthem.

An aesthetic incorporating ran-domness is one pioneered by John Cagein his work with Merce Cunningham. In 6 You can download trial versions of Max/MSP andJitter at www.cycling74.com

this case, the randomness is used tosimilar purpose, yet with somewhat dis-similar effect in mind. My aim was toinspire a different reaction in the danc-ers each night because of the nature ofthe sound they were hearing, rather thanmerely allowing the two arts, music anddance, to coexist at the same time in thesame place. Also the frequency of eventswas carefully structured to influence thedancers to move more energetically as

the piece was movinginto the final climacticsection, in an attemptto marry choreo-graphic and musicalstructural goals.

Well, this is theway I’d designed it,anyway. I have learnedthrough talking withother interactive dancecomposers that it isgood practice to have aback-up plan when re-lying on computer in-teractivity to createtheater. In this case,the unforeseen diffi-

culty was in the lack of time in the thea-ter needed to properly control the light-ing. This type of motion tracking de-pends a lot on the lighting for its accu-racy and I had no practical way to runback and forth between computers dur-ing rehearsals to adjust my patch to thelighting. It turns out that such an inte-grated system of light, motion, music,and computers needs a certain amountof time and number of people devoted tomaking the adjustments necessary tocoordinate all these pieces to make itwork flawlessly. So as my backup plan, Iprogrammed a motion-tracking emula-tor to simulate the movement of thedancers on stage. This simulator wasthen fed into the main Max patch tocause the sounds to trigger as if thedancers were moving more and more asthe dance progressed. My goal of inte-grating the movement into the dance

The programming of the

Max patch did allow the

music go into a realm not

under my direct conscious

control. Thus the score was

different every night, and

the dancers’ changing

improvisation imparted a

fresh perspective to each

performance.

29

score was frustrated by my lack of expe-rience and lack of sufficient assistanceand time to experiment in the theater.However, the programming of the Maxpatch did allow the music go into arealm not under my direct consciouscontrol. Thus the score was differentevery night, and the dancers’ changingimprovisations to the different wordsounds they heard, imparted a fresh per-spective to each performance.

As I learn more, I am becomingconvinced that the aforementioned diffi-culties can be worked out, and interac-tive computer technologies can be util-ized in a theater with less and less timeneeded for experimentation and set up.

My current focus inthe effort to masterthe software andhardware is two-fold: to make set-up times shortenough for the av-erage performer ordance company tomanage in a prac-tical theatrical ven-ture, and to honethe lower-cost mo-tion tracking tech-nologies, withineconomic reach ofnearly all dancersand musicians, tothe point wherethey are depend-able and useful.

Therefore I am actively investigatingproblems and solutions in this area, witha goal of disseminating and demon-strating this as a reality in my works. Mycurrent work with St. Louis dancer DavidMarchant, entitled Leonardo’s Chimes,takes a large step forward for me in thisarea, as well as in the integration ofmovement with music, as I wrote of inthe introductory paragraph. In its pre-miere workshop performance, we wereable to get the piece up and runningwithin 15 minutes during intermission,

through consolidation of wiring andhardware items into pre-connected,compact road cases, and automatedsoftware setup routines. Initial setup ofthe lighting in the theater took severalhours, but that is not terribly unusualeven in a traditional dance.

Motion tracking is just aroundthe corner for use by the average com-puter-savvy musician, and its use in in-teractive performance promises to openup exciting new areas of exploration formusic for dance. For example, Leon-ardo’s Chimes offers the challenge ofcreating a score for seven areas of spacethat are played by the dancer. This re-quires new compositional thinking, andintense listening on the dancer’s part tocreate a convincing and complete musi-cal and choreographic journey. This en-vironment also intensifies the sensitivityof the composer to the actual soundcoming out of the speakers, as slightvariations in the timbral qualities have adirect effect upon the inspiration adancer feels to move to the music. Froma showmanship point of view, I find thataudiences are also fascinated by this newrelationship of sound to movement, andby the mystery of their correlationthrough an invisible medium. Balancingthe amount of cause and effect pro-grammed into the interactive system(what David Marchant and I refer to asthe “C-E ratio”) is a fascinating area forcomposer and choreographer to explore,as it has a distinct and noticeable effecton the audience’s perception and recep-tion of the work. Most exciting for me, isthe ability to create new, all-encompassing instruments that requirelarge expressive movement as their vir-tuosic technique. This developmentpromises to foster a fully integratedpartnership between the movement andsonic arts. New movement vocabulariescome out of the need for expressivity onthese new instruments, not necessarilyincorporating “tendu” and “arabesque.” Ifind myself moving through Leonardo’sChimes’ seven areas in a very different

Motion tracking

is just around the

corner for use by

the average

computer-savvy

musician, and its

use in interactive

performance

promises to open

up exciting new

areas of explora-

tion for music for

dance.

30

way than David does, to very differentcompositional and expressive effect. Theinstrument leads me to move in dra-matic and communicative ways I hadnever accessed before, and demands thatI improve my corporeal expressiveness.In this way, not only are the arts of mu-sic and dance integrated in a theoreticalmanner, but also musician and dancerbecome one and the same artist—andthis is my ultimate aesthetic goal.

John Toenjes, Assistant Professor andMusic Director of the Department ofDance at the University of Illinois Ur-bana-Champagne, is a pianist, composerand interactive media artist.https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jtoenjes/www/

31

Five Perspectives onBringing Electronics intoDance Class

Using a Laptop as anInstrument in a DanceTechnique ClassBy Robert Kaplan

IntroductionDancers dancing to live music in

a technique class is a natural activity formany of us. As musicians in dance weprovide music for people to dance to.But what happens when you feel low onideas and creativity? After a certainamount of time we all need to stimulateour imagination and find new directions– whether by playing in different keys,changing instruments, playing piano

and percussiontogether, playingi n d i f f e r e n tstyles, bringingin new music –the list goes on.

I ’ve no-ticed times whendancers wouldrespond differ-ently to drumsover piano; orwhen two ormore musiciansplaying togetherchange the na-ture of the class. I

recently decided to try something totallydifferent.

Noticing the students’ response todrums over piano and my own personalneed to bring something new to my ap-proach, I decided to expand my range ofsounds when playing class by using alaptop computer as an instrument. This

decision was a catalyst for self-examination that has been refreshing.

Aesthetic ConsiderationsAs musicians interpreting the

movement material presented in classwe react within a range of aesthetic re-sponses. Essentially, we view the quality,rhythm, mood, character, and phrasingof a movement combination and bringthat to life through sound; which helpsto bring yet another dimension to themovement. This is achieved by either:

1. Playing pre-composed pieces,from show tunes to classical rep-ertoire etc.

2 . Providing an overall rhythmicgroove or atmospheric wash.

3. Incorporating the nuances of therhythm, phrasing, and characterof the movement into an impro-vised piece for that combination.

The third area has been my aestheticapproach to playing for both ballet andmodern, although I have used all threeapproaches in class at different times.But it’s the third orientation that putsme in direct relationship with the mate-rial on a musical/kinesthetic level. Mydecision to use a laptop as an instrumentin class automatically puts me at a dis-advantage because I am no longer ableto watch the teacher’s demonstrationwith my full attention, nor am I able towatch the dancers as closely during thecombination.

In many ways introducing thelaptop into my array of instruments forclass has reduced my experience level tothat of a beginner, which is very refresh-ing. While the teacher is demonstratingthe material I find myself searching forsounds and trying to get everything inplace before the count-in. Once thecombination starts I’m using my righthand on the computer mouse, looking atthe computer screen, watching thedancers, and simultaneously playing pi-ano and/or percussion. While learning to

In many ways

introducing the

laptop into my

array of

instruments for

class has reduced

my experience level

to that of a

beginner, which is

very refreshing.

32

multi-task is valuable, my attention tothe nuances of the combination is re-placed by a more general musical ap-proach.

Early in the exploration process Ifound myself getting carried away by allthe sounds and textural possibilities. Theeffect was like having a world-beat,rock/jazz fusion band in class. While thiswas fun I wondered how effective it wasfrom the teacher’s and the dancers’ per-spectives. The teacher’s reaction was thatit was fine to have that type of soundevery now and then; the dancer’s reac-tions were mixed, they either loved it orhated it, without much middle ground.

Personally I feel that the “wall ofsound” approach tends to subconsciouslyturn off the dancer’s attention to detail

in their dancing.While it is fun tomove to a bigsound environ-ment, perhapsthis is best doneafter the dancershave learned them a t e r i a l . I tshould be usedsparingly.

Of course,intimately tied toall of this are thepreferences andexpectations ofthe teacher. Howdo they want the

music relating to their movement? Peo-ple react differently to music. I’ve hadsome ballet teachers who prefer only pi-ano in specific musical styles, while oth-ers are open to percussion and even tothe “computer.” Some teachers prefer aclean, simple approach to music fortheir classes, while others enjoy a wall ofsound. Even more basic than musicalstyle or instrumentation is rhythm.Some teachers consciously avoid threesbecause of the circular, laid-back quality,in preference of twos, which feel moredirect, driving, and faster.

So an important consideration be-fore you drag a computer rig into classis to discuss it with the teacher. I evendiscussed it with the class, telling themthat I was trying new things and learn-ing new software during their techniqueclass, warning them in advance of thepossibility that the music may not workat all with a given combination. Eventhough things never got to this dismalpoint, setting the stage in this mannergave me the freedom to fail.

Technical IssuesShould you be interested in using a

computer in class there are some techni-cal concerns to consider:

1. How portable is your electronicrig?

2. How much time is there for set-up and breakdown before and af-ter class?

3 . What is the proximity of thesound system (mixer, amplifier,and speakers) in relation to thelive instruments you may be us-ing in addition to the computer?

4. Will there be a need to amplifythe acoustic instruments?

5. How important is it to the teacherfor their comments to be heardover the music?

6 . What software programs lendthemselves to this type of musicmaking?

Okay, so how portable is your elec-tronic rig? The basic system fits in acomputer bag or a small knapsack andconsists of a laptop computer and anaudio cable to connect to the amplifica-tion system. The amount of set-up andbreakdown time is contingent uponwhere the sound system is in the room.The ideal situation is one in which theamplifier and mixer, or patch-bay –which lets you easily patch into thesound system – are right next to the pi-ano, allowing you to make adjustmentsin volume while playing. This might re-

I even discussed it

with the class, tell-

ing them that I was

trying new things

and learning new

software during

their technique

class – warning

them in advance of

the possibility that

the music may not

work at all.

33

quire an additional small mixer that cansit directly on the piano, next to the lap-top.

Next is the consideration of wherethe speakers are placed in the space. Anypianist knows that you only sound asgood as the instrument you play on. Interms of electronics a similar thing istrue; a good amplifier and speaker sys-tem can make or break your attempts atusing electronics in class. Say you’ve gota great sounding system that has fourspeakers spread out around the room. Ifthe piano and drums are set too far fromthe speakers, the sound of the live in-struments will not synchronize with thesound of the amplified instruments.Also, in order to hear the amplificationloud enough to play along with, the vol-ume has to be cranked pretty high. Thisthen makes it too difficult for theteacher’s voice to be heard. Not to men-tion that if a teacher is counting fromacross the room there might be an addi-tional delay in their voice by the time itgets to you, adding further to the confu-sion. Sure, there are ways to remedy thissituation with the addition of a monitorspeaker pointed directly at the musician,and adding microphones to the pianoand/or drums so they are mixed with thesound from the computer. But this alltakes more time to set up.

The easiest scenario is to have asmall amplifier right next to the piano.The sounds from the computer shouldcome from the same vicinity as the pi-ano or live drums, so it sounds like aunified ensemble rather than separateentities. While additional microphonesmay still be placed on the acoustic in-struments, at least all the sound will becoming from the same area, which helpskeep the dancers’ general orientation tothat of a technique class, rather than asurround-sound theater.

Perhaps most importantly is to find asoftware program that lends itself to liveperformance. I’ve gravitated to a pro-gram called Ableton Live, which is areal-time music production program for

Mac operating systems or Windows. Atthe time of this writing I was using ver-sion 4, although version 5 is now avail-able which includes, among otherthings, much-improved browsing fea-tures. Live allows you to access multipleloop libraries as well as MIDI material.The basic musical building blocks ofLive are called clips. A clip is a piece ofmusical material: a melody, a drum pat-tern, a bass line or a complete song. Youcould record and alter clips, or createlarger musical structures from them1.The thing that I like most about thisprogram is its ability to run in real timewhile you are either moving clipsaround, recordingnew ones, editing,creating an ar-rangement, adjust-ing automation en-velopes… The listcontinues. You canchange clips indi-vidually or ingroups, at one beat,half beat, one meas-ure intervals, orwhenever you desire.

Each verticalcolumn, or track, canplay only one clip ata time. So it makes sense to put a set ofclips that are supposed to be played al-ternatively in the same columns: parts ofa song, variations of a drum loop, etc.The horizontal rows are called scenes. Tolaunch every clip in a row (scene) simul-taneously, click on its associated SceneLaunch button, located on the rightmostcolumn, which represents the Mastertrack.2

Ableton Live accesses loops from anyloop library on your hard drives. Librar-ies that I use include those that comewith Live, GarageBand libraries (includ-ing various Jam Pack additions), AppleSoundtrack libraries, and MOTU (Mark 1 Ableton Live, Version 4, Reference Manual, p. 132 Ableton Live, Version 4, Reference Manual , p. 59

The sounds from

the computer

should come from

the same vicinity

as the piano or

live drums, so it

sounds like a

unified ensemble

rather than sepa-

rate entities.

34

of the Unicorn) libraries that come withDigital Performer. There are well over6,000 loops in these combined libraries.

Ableton Live enables you to turnthese cumbersome loop libraries into aninstrument that you can actually playwith precision and control. The mainchallenge is figuring how to organizeyour pallet, or “Live Set,” to enable quickchanges of meter and instrumentation.

Practical ConcernsPerhaps the first order of business

is to talk with the instructor to see ifthey are open tothe idea. It lendsitself to severaltypes of teachingstyles: from pulse-oriented extendedwarm-ups, atmos-pheric textures andarrhythmic envi-ronments, to anymetric combin-ation that is givenwith enough count-in to set a tap-tempo. Also, a dis-cussion of startingand stopping com-binations is helpful.

Without this quickly becoming atechnical rehash of the Live referencemanual, let’s try to keep things as gen-eral as possible. The concepts can thenbe applied to any other soft-ware/hardware you might find yourselfusing. What are some practical concernsthat might be universally applied to anyapproach to using computer technologyin a dance class?

Organizing Your Material in AbletonLive

Finding ways to organize yourmaterial is tricky, especially as loop li-braries tend to be huge, and are oftenstored on different drives. While I didn’tdo this before bringing the laptop intoclass, I’ve discovered there is no substi-

tute to taking the time to browsethrough your loop libraries creating anew, select group of sounds that can bequickly and easily accessed. Findingways to organize them into instrumentaland/or timbral groupings is another puz-zle. And finally, organizing loops incategories of duple meters, triple meters,and irregular meters, like 5s and 7s addseven greater options to your pallet. Re-member the key to making this work isbeing able to change quickly betweencombinations and within a combination.

Creating PalletsBegin by creating a new pallet, or

set, that becomes your master clip loca-tion. As you browse through your looplibraries, bring in only the ones you aredrawn to. The vast majority of rhythmicloops in commercially available loop li-braries are in common time, in four-beatphrases. While there are scattered triplemeters, some compound meters, and afew odd meters of 5 or 7, the only way toget any good grooves going in these oddmeters it to fish them out of the librarypool, and edit them to 5 or 7-beat loops.This type of editing in Ableton Live is soquick and easy that, if necessary, it canbe done during a combination in classwithout missing a beat.

Remember that this new set willbecome your collection area of editedclips, your goal is to build an assortmentof rhythmic, percussion grooves in tim-bral order, that can be navigated verti-cally and horizontally on the computerscreen to allow you to play in any meterwithout stopping. All of your meters willthen be contained in this one set, whichmakes this Loop Central of sorts, and itwill be huge and cumbersome to workin. Once completed you could always doa SAVE AS a specific work session andmake adjustments to fit specific needs,without losing your original collection.All you would do is click on the topmostscene, which places your cursor in thatscene, then go up to the Insert menu atthe top of the screen and click INSERT

I’ve discovered

there is no

substitute to

taking the time to

browse through

your loop librar-

ies creating a

new, select group

of sounds that can

be quickly and

easily accessed.

35

SCENE. Do this at least ten times to giveyour some room to work. You will copyclips from your collection below andpaste them into this top “work” area. Onefinal thought, the location of the newSAVE AS set should be in the samefolder as the original set.

Why, you might be wondering,use this one set as a home for all of yourdifferent metric clips? It’s a HUGE file!The main reason is that it enables you tochange quickly from a duple meter to atriple meter, or any meter, even to com-bine meters, all within the same set.

Developing Loops in Odd MetersSamples, or loops, and MIDI files

are searched and imported from disk us-ing Live’s on-board Browsers, which canbe pointed to any folder location on thecomputer. Since there are relatively fewloops in odd meters, the strategy forbuilding this collection of clips is to fishfor loops that are 8-beat phrases, thencut them down. There are literally thou-sands of great percussion grooves inthese libraries. 8-beat phrases can easilybe cut down to 7-beats. Once all your 7-beat clips are made, you can make cop-ies of them and cut them down into 5-beat clips, or 3-beat clips. They can alsobe organized and used as 4 or 8-beat cy-cles, as they were intended.

When you drag a loop from a li-brary into the set it becomes a clip andLive automatically creates a reference toit (essentially linking that clip to the ac-tual sound file, wherever it resides). It isadvisable to choose the SAVE SET SELF-CONTAINED command from the FILEmenu when saving your work. This pre-vents references to sound files spread allover one or more hard drives, and keepseverything you are using for that set to-gether. Okay, so why keep all the editedclips in one set? Although you may edita clip, the original sound file it was cre-ated from (which, since you’ve saved theset self-contained, it now resides in theset’s Sounds Folder), is still the originalunedited sample. In other words, only

the edited clip is your access to that ed-ited sound. If you want to have quickand easy access to your clips in odd me-ters, you have to access them as clipsfrom the set they were created in.

One moretechnical obser-vation related toLive. I’ve foundthat when build-ing loops in oddm e t e r s a n dbringing loopsinto Live as clips,the time signa-ture needs to beeither 4/4 or 8/4.Even if I’m ulti-mately going tobe making theclip a 7-beat loop, if you audition theloop and drag it into the set at 7/4, thetempo will not be in sync with the met-ronome. But if you bring it in at 4/4 or8/4, everything lines up just right. Themarkers for 8/4 make it easier to seewhere to end the loop when creating 7-beat loops.

Accessing Duple and Triple MetersEasily

Let us return to the idea of asound pallet, or Live set in Ableton lan-guage. When I first began using theprogram in class I found myself switch-ing from one Live set to another ascombinations changed from duple me-ters to triple meters. This process ofchanging files takes much too long andis not practical. Each Live set consists oftracks, vertical columns of sounds thatcan be accessed individually, and scenes,horizontal groups of sounds that can betriggered to play together. An early or-ganizational plan was to have severaltracks dedicated to DUPLE, and severaldedicated to TRIPLE. I found that byhaving both metric categories in thesame set, I was able to choose loops inthe appropriate meter, change thetempo and time signature, and be ready

It is also possible to

play clips in different

meters simultane-

ously. Polymeters

can be easily and

gradually explored

to add unexpected

syncopation to a

combination.

36

before the combination began. My cur-rent set is organized with several hori-zontal scenes in meters of 3, several in 4,several in 5, several in 7, and severalnon-metered.

As long as scenes are homoge-nous – only contain their own metric

type – you canaccess all of theclips in one scene

simultaneously.This works greatwhen you want tocreate big tex-tural contrasts allwithin the samemeter. It is alsopossible to playclips in differentmeters simulta-neously. Poly-meters can beeasily and gradu-

ally explored to add unexpected synco-pation to a combination. This is done byslowly adding different metric groupsinto a scene, or group of clips that areplaying – like adding a duple clip intoan environment of triple clips. This isbest done gradually so the dancers arenot distracted by the combination of me-ters.

PolyrhythmsAnother discovery I made acci-

dentally in class happened when theteacher demonstrated something in amoderate seven. Since the count wasslow enough, more like a half note, Ifound a shaker loop in 4/4. This created aduple feeling of half notes against mylive drumming in seven. So, duple osti-nati that don’t emphasize a strong 4-beatcycle can be used to provide more driveto irregular meters. Even a clear andsimple “Half-Time” drum set loop in 4/4can be used while playing over it in 5/4,using the quarter note as the commonpulse.

A similar thing can be done tospice up a combination in 4/4. Play

drums and piano in a 4/4 groove againsta simple drum loop in 5/4 with a kickdrum on beat one and snare hit on beatthree. The polymetric cycle creates rotat-ing accents every 5 measures. I’ve onlydone this by playing piano and drumtogether, over the 5/4-drum loop. I feltthat solo piano in 4/4 against the com-puter’s 5/4 drum loop would be too con-fusing; the live percussion was needed toclarify the 4/4 motion and integrate thesyncopating accents of the computerloop.

Tap-temposWhenever any type of sequencer

or external clock is used as an instru-ment in a dance technique class youhave to figure out how to quickly, andgracefully, adjust tempo when either theteacher’s count-in is too fast or too slow,or if your initial tap-in tempo is not ac-curate. It is helpful if you are workingwith a teacher who is comfortable pro-viding accurate count-in preparations forcombinations. I found that I needed an8-count preparation in order to use thelast 4-counts as a tap-tempo (Live aver-ages the 4 taps to create the tempo).There were times that I would beginplaying piano or drums and then do thetap-tempo on the computer after thecombination had already started. This isanother area that needs practice andopen communication between the in-structor and musician. There are prob-lems though if the tempo of the move-ment is supposed to speed up or slowdown. This is more difficult to seam-lessly render with the computer in animprovisational setting.

OverdubbingFor combinations that are re-

peated over and over and over, Live letsyou to record an arrangement, which iseasily done by clicking the record but-ton. The moment you begin activatingclips anything you do is recorded. Youcould then either overdub more layerson subsequent repeats of the combina-

If the teacher and

musician remain

in relationship

throughout the

class, the

non-human

aspects of the

computer can be a

positive addition

to the mix.

37

tion, or just play another instrumentover the computer arrangement. I havefound that playing piano or drums overthe computer’s sound helps to tie themusic more directly into the nuances ofthe combination. It also prevents thecomputer loop from sounding repetitive.

In conclusion, the addition of alaptop computer to a dance techniqueclass can bring many new metric, tex-tural, timbral, and stylistic possibilitiesinto the class. The degree to which it isused is wholly dependent upon theteacher’s aesthetic, their ability to com-municate with the musician, their will-ingness to try something different, andthe musician’s dexterity in making quickchanges. If the teacher and musicianremain in relationship throughout theclass, the non-human aspects of thecomputer can be a positive addition tothe mix.

Robert Kaplan, Professor/Music Directorat Arizona State University, is a com-poser who plays piano, guitar, and per-cussion. His book, "Rhythmic Trainingfor Dancers," is published by Human Ki-netics, Inc. His website is:

http://www.sounddance.net/sdarts.html

You can hear examples of some ofthe sounds described in this articleon the CD enclosed with this jour-nal. (The CD list is found on thelast page.)

38

Four Decades ofElectronics in Class

By Jon Scoville

In the late 1970's, I purchased aBuchla modular synthesizer, a formida-ble beast of a sound-making machine,and way beyond the means of a part-time teacher and full-time accompanist.But I had just written a book, Sound De-signs, on the design and construction ofacoustic instruments and I was lookingto expand my sonic palette. So I took thepublisher's advance and bought into the

world of elec-tronica. A worldrich with musicalpossibilities butfraught with theperils of hums,buzzes , poorgrounding, slowresponse timeand electricalcurses.

A t t h etime I was ac-companying two2-hour techniqueclasses followedby a 3-hour comp/improv class andthe seven-hour

stint was as tiring on my ears as it wason my body. So I lugged the Buchla intothe studio and used it to create slowlymodulating atmospheres for the creativeclasses. It was a wonderful adjunct to thework, but there were so many technicalhassles, along with the 80 lb weight ofthe thing that I soon dropped it from myarmamentarium, and went back to usingan array of percussion instruments –many of which I had built specificallyfor use in dance classes – and my ampli-fied acoustic guitar which I ran through

an old Space Echo to do some loopingand other cool effects.

In the mid-80's Roland came outwith the SH202 (a more programmableversion of the better-known 303), whichhad a sequencer and some pretty goodanalog-type sounds. The trickiest partwas that it had no memory, so I'd have toprogram it anew every time I changedthe sequencer in class. Fortunately mostof my accompanying at the time was formy wife, Tandy Beal, who is very sensi-tive to the needs of the accompanist andwould use the time (generally a minuteor two for re-programming) to give critsto the class. I also needed her toler-ance/patience to set accurate tempos forthe sequencer, which I would then playalong with on my guitar or percussion.Additionally I used a Lexicon Jammanlooper, which was a very useful way tobuild up rhythmic and melodic ideas tosuggest a larger sonic environment.

Finally, in the early 90's I discov-ered the accompaniment device of mydreams. The DrumKAT – an amazinglyflexible and programmable device,which I now use in all my classes. It hasa memory that allows over 30 kits, whichI have programmed to cover traditionalpercussion sounds, marimbas, key-boards, basses, strings, etc. The onlydrawback is that it is a complex device,which has taken me many, many hoursof programming, and it requires an ex-ternal device to house the sounds – inmy case a Roland JV1080 which I havemaxed out with sound cards that includeworld instruments and sound effects.The flexibility to be able to step througha number of different instruments (orcombine several in one kit) makes it per-fect for the needs of a modern danceclass. If one is willing to put the time into program it, I highly recommend it.You can play chords or single notes (upto 128) on each pad – and there are 10pads so the possibilities are logarithmic.It's velocity sensitive so that you canchange instrument sounds or timbre de-pending on how hard you hit a pad. It

The flexibility to be

able to step

through a number

of different

instruments makes

the DrumKAT

perfect for the

needs of a modern

dance class – if one

is willing to put the

time in to program

it.

39

has room for 9 external triggers andreally outclasses anything that Rolandor Yamaha have done.

As to using a laptop, I can imag-ine the possibilities, but for me theDrumKAT is so complete that I reallydon’t see the necessity. I also have someaesthetic misgivings about using a lap-top in class – but I won't rule out thepossibility that at some point I may giveit a try in spite of my reluctance to turnover so much control to a computer.

Over the years, however, I’ve en-gaged in a long, aesthetic and pedagogi-cal argument with myself, and occasion-ally with other accompanists, about thevirtues – or not – of bringing electronicdevices into the studio. I must admit tostraddling the fence on this issue for solong that my pants may be about to rip.

On the plus sideare the incrediblevariety of soundsand texturesavailable, far be-yond the reach ofa piano or a set ofdrums . Also ,looping devicesand other com-

puter driven machines are unflagging intheir accuracy and tempo. For me, themain problem is the inherent artificialityof both computer-driven rhythms andsampled instruments.

At a pedagogical level, one of ourfunctions in the studio is to encouragemusicality in dancers – through how weplay, our choice of sounds, and the mu-sical forms we employ. Musicality fordancers (and of course for musicians) isprimarily about the quality of expressiv-ity through phrasing – the ability to playwith time and dynamics in sound ormovement choices. Technology-drivenmusic, whether it is canned on CDs, or“live” in a dance class, is often rhythmi-cally rigid and lacking in dynamic vari-ety. In a club environment this can be abig part of its charm – its machine-likeurgency is reflective of our mechanistic

culture, which translates into a trance onthe dance floor. In the dance studio,however, the danger in hearing instru-ments that are artificial, and rhythmsthat don’t breathe, is that the dancer’sear may lose its capacity to make quali-tative choices, thus accelerating the de-cline of their capacity to listen actively.

If we nourish our dancers on theMcDonalds equivalent of music (unvary-ing dynamics, artificial sounds), theywon’t develop a palette for all those sub-lime distinctions in picking, bowing,blowing, pedaling, sticking, and finger-ing techniques which we spend so muchtime mastering. With these subtle colorsat our disposal, we convey a more com-plex world of sound and time. But ifdancers, specifically modern and con-temporary, are primarily exposed toloud unvarying music – particularly inpop music with all its maxed out com-pression levels used to pump up the vol-ume – then we will, not surprisingly, endup with so many visually (and oftensonically) LOUD dances.

But now that I’ve gotten thatrant/grumble out of my system, here’swhat I do to try to have it both ways –and resolve some of these contradictionswhen using electronic devices in thestudio. If I use loops, which I feel are of-ten a mixed blessing (great for rhythmicdrive but terrible for developmentalforms), I try to enter the loops in real-time, which gives some elasticity to therhythms. Or if using a groove box, I atleast engage the “feel” factor so that itswings a little while playing live over it.I also have the extreme good fortune ofworking in class with a very resourcefuldrummer, so that the sampled sounds,triggered by my DrumKAT, are sup-plemented by real drums in real-time.

I’ve been involved with electron-ics in music for four decades, and I’mquite cognizant that it is still an imma-ture medium (for comparison imaginethe sound of the piano in the 1730s, someyears after Cristofori invented it). Still tobe resolved are the many problems of

The main problem

is the inherent arti-

ficiality of both

computer-driven

rhythms and sam-

pled instruments.

40

timbral richness and responsiveness totouch. In some areas, however, the stan-dard of samples is of increasingly highquality. Marimbas, vibes, and drum

sounds in particu-lar are quite ac-curate. But I’mstill reluctant touse most stringor wind samplesbecause of howquickly they re-veal their digitalnature when heldfor longer than aquarter note. SoI’ll often substi-tute sounds that

are digitally generated and have no basisof comparison with real instruments – itcreates a bit of an otherworldly atmos-phere (think Martian ocarina or accor-dion from Saturn, maybe a djembe fromplanet Pluto), which, on occasion, have aplace in the dance studio.

In an effort to balance these con-tradictions and my contrasting tastes,here’s my normal set up: a DrumKATMIDI’d to the JV1080 with both a thou-sand presets and some sound effectscards for atmospheric elements in im-prov and comp classes. I’ve programmedthe DrumKAT to have a number ofseparate percussion kits some of whichare primarily Brazilian, others African,and others Hip-Hop and electronicsounds. I also have kits with pianos, ma-rimbas, vibes, and cimbalom sounds.And kits that mix all of the above withacoustic or synth basses and pizzicatostrings. These kits can be switched in-stantly with a foot pedal. Additionallythere are a number of loops which I’verecorded into the Kat using traditionalcaixixi or agogo patterns, whose tempo Ican control with one of the pads andwhich, when once triggered, can give mea time and feel backdrop over which toplay.

Supplementing that, I occasion-ally bring in a Yamaha groove box, ei-

ther the AN200 or the DX200, whichprovides full percussion and bass pat-terns so that I can play off it with eithermy guitar, the congas, or the DrumKAT.The downside to these is that they taketime to change patches and to set thetempo, so I need to be working with ateacher who knows to vamp ‘til I’mready (usually 15-20 seconds).

Now all of this gear STUFF de-pends on the vicissitudes of electricityand circuit boards, and anything can gowrong at any moment!! – and at somepoint in my career they’ve all gonewrong. So I always have at least a conga,perhaps a d jembe or a cajon, and atrusty, rusty diatonic accordion that suf-fers from emphysema – giving it acharming wheeze-factor. And even wheneverything is copasetic in the electronicrealm, I make it a point of switchingregularly between electronic and acous-tic instruments. I’m really just a soundslut, and I try to keep variety in mychoice of sonics for the class. Analog,digital, orbital, microbial – if it makesinteresting sounds, I’ll use it – hopefullywith an ear for phrasing and expressiv-ity.

Jon Scoville is Music Director of theUniversity of Utah Modern Dance pro-gram, as well as co-artistic director ofTandy Beal & Co. Composer of dancescores for numerous dance luminaries,he is the author of “Sound Designs, aHandbook of Musical Instrument Build-ing”.http://www.albertsbicycle.com

Analog, digital,

orbital, microbial

– if it makes

interesting sounds,

I’ll use it – hope-

fully with an ear

for phrasing and

expressivity.

You can hear examples of some ofthe sounds described in this articleon the CD enclosed with this journal.(The CD list is found on the lastpage.)

41

Reasoning with theDrumKAT: ElectronicPercussion in the DanceClassBy Neil Dunn

I first began using electronics in danceclass during the fall 2003 semester afterthe long awaited purchase of a Drum-

KAT. I hadbeen an acous-tic player foryears with ausual instru-mentation ofthree congas,djembe, hi-hata n d b a s sdrum, piano,and “toys .”With the in-troduction ofonly a coupleelectronic de-vices into thedance class,my palette ofsounds andtextures grew

immenselyand immedi-

ately. In this article I will discuss someof these devices and how I use them,how I program the controllers for basicuse, how I set up sounds, and basics ongetting started before taking the applica-tions to dance class.

As a graduate student at the Uni-versity of Arizona, I played in a group,Crosstalk, which pioneered the elec-tronic percussion ensemble, a group thatuses a variety of instruments, all ofwhich are MIDI percussion controllers.It was an obvious choice for me to takethis technology to dance class as I couldclearly see the possibilities and versatil-ity. I play primarily for modern classes

but I have used electronic music in jazzand tap classes. The ability to play basslines and groove simultaneously workswell for Jazz class, and, especially forTap class with the music being ampli-fied.

My general approach is prettymuch the same; I still put accents in thesame places during the combinations,add and subtract layers from the musicaltexture in the same way, and use shortsounds for staccato movement and longsounds for legato movement; my “tex-tural and melodic” percussion approachis still intact. What did change the mostdramatically was the range of my palettewith the possibilities limited only to thatwhich is practical in the dance class en-vironment. Electronic music added amusical richness and versatility not pre-sent before.

I have a patch set up for thoselong stretches; a repeating loop of anocean sound underneath a breathy con-cert bass drum, shaker, and woodblock(run through a reverb effect) and abamboo flute, or piano. This may sounda little “New Age,” but the transparencyof the texture is really effective for astretch class. I might use an Indiantamboura sample with a tabla patch. Ican set up an African drum ensemble, aLatin ensemble, a hip-hop groove, or arock band with bass, drums, and guitar(advanced programming required). Oneof my personal favorites is to play adrum set patch with congas, shaker, anda Seinfeld bass line for prances acrossthe floor. It’s fun, it works, and the stu-dents in class love it. Sometimes I findweird electronic sounds to create oddtextures to change the atmosphere, wakeup the class, or just add comic relief.

I have observed that using elec-tronic percussion matches the energy ofamplified or “canned” music in terms ofthe volume created by a sound system,yet with the added presence of a livemusician. I have also found electronicpercussion in dance class to be ex-

I still put accents in

the same places

during the combina-

tions, add and

subtract layers from

the musical texture in

the same way. . .

What did change the

most dramatically

was the range of my

palette. Electronic

music added a musical

richness and versatil-

ity not present before.

42

tremely well received in class and at fes-tivals.

GearThe minimum requirements for

my electronic setup include MIDI con-trollers, a USB MIDI interface, and mylaptop computer with a sequenc-ing/sampling program and a sound sys-tem. I typically play through the soundsystems in the studios, connecting to themixer using an audio interface (or theheadphone jack on my computer).

My MIDI controllers include aDrumKAT and a 4-octave MIDI key-board. The DrumKAT is a MIDI percus-sion controller, which has no built-in

sounds and mustbe used with anexternal soundbank. The mainplaying surfacehas ten individual“pads” which al-together areshaped like a cat(to me it looksmore like MickeyMouse.) TheDrumKAT can bep l a y e d w i t hsticks, mallets, oreven fingers for asofter touch. Thepads are simply

numbered 1 – 10. The DrumKAT alsohas ports for up to 9 external triggers,which function the same way as thepads. During play mode, each pad canplay in a variety of ways: a single pitchor sound, a combination or pitches(chord), a sequence of alternating notes,or a sequence of timed delays. In addi-tion, each pad can be set up to play fromany of the 16 MIDI channels andthrough left or right MIDI outputs,which expands the capabilities of the in-strument dramatically. The DrumKATis set up to use different sets of parame-ters for the playing surface, “kits.” MyDrumKAT can use up to 30 kits. Moving

between kits is very easy and can bedone with a foot pedal or by striking apad programmed to do a kit change.Three foot-pedals on the DrumKAT aretypically used for sustain, edit mode, andkit changes. The DrumKAT can beplayed with sticks, mallets, or with fin-gers, as the pads are very sensitive.

Setting up the DrumKATFor general percussion patches, I

have found that setting up the pads onthe DrumKAT to ascend chromaticallyfrom C1 simplifies programming andsetting up sampler patches. In “edit”mode you can program each pad to playvarious parameters including MIDIchannel, pitch, gate time, and MIDIOUT. One of the great features of theDrumKAT is that it can play notes fromdifferent MIDI channels simultaneously,meaning you can use a wide variety ofsounds from different patches. This canalso cause much grief if that is not whatyou want it to do as you may produceextra sounds or find sounds missing. Forsimple programming, be sure that allthe pads are set up to the same MIDIchannel. The DrumKAT is set up to useMIDI OUT Left and Right. The pads canbe programmed to play MIDI OUT Left,Right, or None. Tedious troubleshootingsessions can be avoided by assuring allyour pads are sending the correct mes-sages on the correct MIDI channels.

I typically set up the DrumKATsurface like a multi-percussion set-upwith various percussion sounds on thepads and various time keeping instru-ments (bass drum, hi-hat, cowbell) ontwo homemade foot triggers. Often, Iwill play a djembe or congas simultane-ously with the electronic percussion.

Another common set-up for me isto add the MIDI keyboard with theDrumKAT. This may include somestring pad sounds on the keyboard tosupport percussion played on theDrumKAT. Sometimes I will pluck outchords or play a bass line or melody on

One of the great

features of the

DrumKAT is that it

can play notes

from different

MIDI channels

simultaneously,

meaning you can

use a wide variety

of sounds from

different patches.

43

the keyboard while playing percussionon the DrumKAT.

Layering the DrumKATFor many of my kits I have a pad

or two dedicated to playing chords andmelodic sequences. A typical kit for mewould be set up one of two ways. 1) Withonly percussion sounds (single notes) onthe pads, drum set, congas, cowbell, andtriangle, for example. 2) With percussionsounds plus a few pads dedicated to pi-ano chords (or vibraphone, or synthpads, or whatever, the sounds can be eas-ily changed) and a bass line of some sortto be played on alternating notes. Toplay different patches with the same kit,I simply program each pad to commu-nicate with the MIDI channel(s), whichcorrespond to the specific samplers (orsynthesizers, drum machines, etc.) as setup on the Reason hardware interface.For example: let’s say I have the pianopatch set up to play on MIDI channel 1,the bass sampler/patch set up to play onMIDI channel 2, and the drum machineset up top play on MIDI channel 3. Iwould program a few pads to playchords creating a simple progression.Pads 1, 2, and 3 will be set up to play a I –IV – V progression. These pads will beprogrammed to play through MIDIchannel 1. I will then program pads 4, 5,and 6 to all play 8-note alternatingmelodies, corresponding to the chords.Pads 4, 5, and 6 will be programmed toplay MIDI channel 2. With pads 7 – 10 Iwill set up a basic drum kit, bass drumhi-hat, snare and cymbals. I now haveall these voices at my fingertips, so tospeak. This doesn’t give you nearly theindependence of human players, butwith some practice and creativity, youcan learn to layer the voices effectively.Another way do this is to automate adrum machine program and only be re-sponsible for playing the piano and bass(tempo changes are tricky this way how-ever).

Using ReasonFor sound selection and sequenc-

ing, I use Reason 3.0, a sequencing pro-gram that includes samplers, synthesiz-ers, a loop player, many effects devices,and a drum machine. I use a laptop torun this program (which is compatiblefor Mac or Windows). With this programI am able to use any of the thousands ofsounds included with Reason. However,I often prefer to use my own samples,which I made at home with basic record-ing software. I used percussion instru-ments, kitchen items, and household ob-jects. This pro-gram also con-tains a sequencer,which allows youto record andplay using loops.

The maindevice I use inReason for danceclass is the NN-XT AdvancedSampler. In addi-tion to loadingexisting patchessuch as piano,vibes, or bass, I like to create percussionpatches with different groups of soundsfor different exercises. To accomplishthis, I load individual sounds into thesampler and set them up so each soundis played on a separate pitch, similar tohow percussion patches are set up onmost MIDI keyboards. I set up thepitches to correspond with the parame-ters on the DrumKAT pads includingMIDI channel and pitch. If I am nothappy with the way the sounds are laidout on the DrumKAT, I can easilychange the pitch on the Reason samplerto change which sounds play throughthe pads. This is quicker than repro-gramming the pads. It is also easy tolayer sounds in this sequencer; simplyconnect two or more sounds to onepitch. One of my favorite features ofthis sampler is the ease of editing theparameters (amplitude, pitch, duration,

I often prefer to use

my own samples,

which I made at

home with basic

recording software.

I used percussion

instruments, kitchen

items, and household

objects.

44

attack, release, effects, etc.) of individualnotes or groups of notes.

Setting Up Reason FilesAfter you assure the controllers

are set up to communicate with Reason(preferences/ MIDI) you can begin to setup the “racks.” The appearance of Rea-son files is similar to a physical rackmount system for real audio/MIDI com-ponents. The front view displays thefront of the devices. By clicking the“tab” button on your computer key-

board, you cantoggle the rackto see the back,where the dis-play resemblesthe actual backof the rack, ca-bles and every-thing. This al-lows you tochange the waycables and de-vices are routed(Reason will dothis automati-

cally for you as well). When you open anew file, Reason automatically “creates”the hardware interface and mixer. Youneed only create sound modules andload sounds.

First, maximize the hardware in-terface located at the top of the rack.Select which MIDI bus you will use (as-suming you have already connectedyour MIDI controller and set up MIDIchannels in preferences). Note the six-teen buttons below for MIDI channelselection; these are used to select whichMIDI channels control the Reason de-vices.

Second, click the “create” menuto choose the component. Select “NN-XT Advanced Sampler.” Next to thewindow reading “Init Patch” are buttons.Click the folder icon to open a patch.Use the browse window to select fromReason NN-XT Sampler Patches. If youare using a keyboard, you should be

ready to play. Then maximize the re-mote editor on the NN-XT. Note thatdirectly under the keyboard diagram inthe sampler’s display window is a hori-zontal bar showing the pitch range atwhich the controller will play notes.Dragging the ends of the bar can changethe range from one note to many.

To create patches, first create anew NN-XT sampler. After opening theremote editor, right click (ctrl-click onMac) in the display window. From themenu select “add zone.” This will giveyou an empty sample location or “zone.”Repeat as needed. Double-click the zonereading “**No Sample**” and browse forNN-XT Samples or samples from othersources. To save the patch, click thesave icon next to the Patch Name (“InitPatch”) and select the location. Creatingand saving patches in other devices usesthe same procedure.

In the remote editor is a knobcalled “Root” this is the master tune forthe samples. You can use it to changeone or all samples. When you changethe root tuning, a marker moves acrossthe keyboard diagram in the editor win-dow. If you load samples that don’tsound quite right, chances are the roottuning is off. Simply move the roottuner marker to correspond with thepitch the note plays on.

My “stock” Reason files for danceclass are set up with several (duplicate)samplers. The availability of multiplesamplers gives me the freedom to haveas many different instrument set-ups as Iwant. Switching patches between exer-cises is as easy as a click of the mouse. Ican also easily switch between Kits onthe DrumKAT set up to play differentsamplers corresponding to differentMIDI channels.

Notes about ReasonWhen playing live in reason,

make sure the MIDI selection and therecord selection buttons are disabled inthe sequencer (below the rack) or youmay get unwanted sounds and/or noise.

I believe that,

kinesthetically, the

dancer has the same

experience with

acoustic or electronic

instruments, espe-

cially considering the

interactive nature of

live music.

45

These are located on the left column ofthe sequencer. The MIDI keyboard andrecord icons should be off.

When saving Reason files, sam-ples, patches, and other, beabsolutely sure to put themin a designated folder, theReason folder, or one youcreate, and leave them there,always. If you move them, itmay cause pathway problemswhen opening files. Ofcourse these problems can beundone, but it takes a lot lesstime to just organize thesefiles in the same place fromthe beginning (I learned thehard way).

Other DevicesI have also used other

devices such as the E-MUProteus 2000, Roland JV-1010, and othersound modules with great success. Thesedevices are basically just sound banksand are very easy to use. Programmingthe DrumKAT to communicate on dif-ferent MIDI channels and other parame-ters is exactly the same on these devicesas with Reason.

Aesthetic ConsiderationsAcoustic vs. electronic: does one

rule? Personally, I am more comfortableusing acoustic instruments in danceclass simply because I have spent moretime playing them, but I haven’t ob-served that one is better than the otherfor dance class. I believe that, kines-thetically, the dancer has the same expe-rience with acoustic or electronic in-struments, especially considering theinteractive nature of live music. What Ido know is most students usually reactwith enthusiasm on days when I set upthe DrumKAT. Many students are curi-ous and come over after class to hit thepads to make electronic sounds. It has

also been my observation that mostdance instructors are happy with elec-tronic percussion in class, provided mychoices are tasteful and supportive to the

exercises. The same rulesstill apply: I, as a dancemusician, am still respon-sible for making wisechoices musically. I alsobelieve that incorporatingboth acoustic and elec-tronic instruments pro-vides a positive atmos-pheric contrast.

As for the mechan-ics of the dance class andusing electronic percus-sion, I haven’t found that Ihave to work all that dif-ferently with the instruc-tors; I still rely on andprocess the same informa-

tion. I haven’t felt the need to ask teach-ers to do anything differently. I stilllook for sounds and textures to embel-lish the phrasing of the exercise. And asmentioned before, my general approachto phrasing has not changed. However, Ihave to work with myself differently andmy skills at multitasking have devel-oped further. For example: during thedemonstration of an exercise, if I don’thave the desired patch ready to go, Ihave to search for it. This requires that Iput on headphones on one ear; I listen topotential sounds with one ear and theteacher with the other. This sometimestakes my eyes off the teacher duringpart of the demonstration. I have to relyon my hearing more than before, but sofar, this hasn’t caused me problems. Aswe all know, a good dance teacher cangive the necessary information with hisor her voice. My problems usually occurwhen I don’t have the gear patchedproperly, which reflects on my prepara-tion, not the functionality of the gear.

One of the trickier prob-

lems I first encountered

was that of latency – the

miniscule amount of time

between striking the note

and hearing the note

seemed like an eternity

the first time. It was not

that difficult to adjust to;

it just involved listening a

little differently.

46

One of the trickier problems Ifirst encountered was that of latency, adelay measured in milliseconds. It takesa fraction of a second for the striking ofthe note to transfer from a MIDI signalto an audio signal, which then has totravel from the sound source to thespeakers, and then back to my ear. On

the DrumKAT,with latency ofthe notes firing,there is already aperceived delayto the personp l a y i n g t h eDrumKAT. Takeinto account thedistance of thesound travelingfrom the speakerson the oppositeside of a largedance studio inaddition latentMIDI sounds, theinstant gratifica-

tion we are used to with our normal in-struments changes completely. Theminiscule amount of time between strik-ing the note and hearing the noteseemed like an eternity the first time. Itwas not all that difficult to adjust to thisphenomenon; it just involved listening alittle differently. I had a new apprecia-tion to the term anticipation.

Even though I love the chal-lenges and fun of playing electronicmusic in class, I still use acoustic in-struments much of the time. I still con-sider myself an amateur when it comesto mastering my electronic set in thedance class environment. On a goodday, I am able to set up a number of“kits” to be able to make a smooth tran-sition between exercises without havingto fuss around with screens, MIDI chan-nels, volume, or any number of little“settings” issues, which can possibly gowrong. I like to have several kits readyto go at any time to accommodate dif-ferent needs of the class. There have

been a few situations, unfortunately,when I have found myself embarrassedduring class because I have not hadsmooth transitions between exercisesdue to either technical difficulty or hu-man error. In this situation I will oftengrab the drum (which is always near by)and try to fix the problem during thenext demonstration. As I gain a bettermastery of using my own electronic setfor class, I will use it more and more.

As I mentioned above, even whenusing MIDI instruments in class, I in-variably have at least a djembe and pairof congas near by. Sometimes the exer-cise calls for just a drum. Other times Iwill combine the acoustic and electron-ics. I like to trigger loops with the se-quencer and play along with the drums(if tempo changes will not be an issue,changing tempo while playing is diffi-cult using Reason). Other times I willplay the drums with the DrumKAT as ifit were just one of drums in my set up.Its kind of fun to throw in a roll on aconcert bass drum “from the sky” intothe mix with congas, as an example.This has a slight effect on the over allmix, depending on the room. I havebeen in studios where I can set up rightunderneath one of the speakers. In thissituation, if I set the volume on thesound system properly, there is no prob-lem with the mix. In fact, I have beentold that it provides a cool special effect.In other situations, I have had to set upeither where are speakers in all fourcorners, or there are speakers on the op-posite side of the room. With the inher-ent latency of the DrumKAT, this cancreate some minor phasing issues be-cause I have to hit the DrumKAT a frac-tion of a second sooner than the conga ifI want them to sound at the same time.However, I have not found this difficultto work around, it just takes a bit of an-ticipation. In fact, it was surprising tome how easy it was to adjust to this phe-nomenon.

In spite of the fact that nothingreplaces the sound of a real drum, I can

Using a laptop as a

sound module is a

bit cumbersome,

but so are three

congas and bass

drum. It takes me

about 10 minutes to

set up or strike the

electronic gear, the

same as to set up

and tune drums.

47

think of at least a couple of advantagesto the electronic setup, the first beingportability. I have been in asituation where I needed thefull range of instruments buthad to travel by air or in asmall car. I can carry all thegear necessary to operateDrumKAT in a backpack andbriefcase, provided there is asound system availablewhere I will travel. Using alaptop as a sound module is abit cumbersome, but so arethree congas and bass drum.It takes me about 10 minutesto set up or strike the electronic gear,the same as to set up and tune drums.The second advantage is purely that ofthe nearly unlimited sound libraryavailable with the electronic gear. If Ichoose, I can produce practically anytexture I wish in order to technically andaesthetically support the dance envi-ronment. My only limitations are myskills (or lack of) in using the equipmentand in creativity.

The obvious advantage to acous-tic instruments is that of availability andability. Most dance departments have atleast a piano and a set of congas avail-able in the dance studios. Many dancedepartments most likely do not have aDrumKAT in the closet. In other words,piano and congas are more accessible tothe dance musicians. Ability refers tothe skills of anyone who might be usingthe electronic instruments. We can as-sume that an experienced pianist hiredto play for the ballet class knows how to(1) Play the necessary instrument and (2)Properly accompany the exercises. Thesame assumption can be made for a per-cussionist playing a modern class, or anyother dance musician. The same wouldnot be true if, say, every dance depart-ment did own a DrumKAT. Without ex-tra training, the pianist, percussionist,string player, or wind player may not beable to just set up this equipment, turn iton, and make aesthetically pleasing

choices for technique class. Perhaps inthe future, the musicians in our field

would gain the necessarytraining and skills in settingup, programming, and play-ing electronic gear in danceclass. Certainly there are agrowing number of dancemusicians who already em-ploy this technology in class.

Electronic music willmost likely work its way intothe dance studio more fre-quently as more musiciansare given the opportunity touse electronic gear. This

trend is already evident in major dancedepartments and at dance festivals. Thethought of standardizing the generalizedtraining in the use of electronic instru-ments may be a reasonable notion forthe future. I feel training in the use ofelectronic instruments would need to bein programming the sound banks, mod-ules, and sequencers more than in play-ing instruments. Once the program-ming is done, the rest takes care of itself,assuming a certain technical ability onthe instrument (keyboard, etc). A key-board player could use the instructionsabove for programming Reason on aMIDI keyboard and achieve the same ifnot better results.

Neil Dunn, percussionist, composer, anddance musician is on the dance facultyat Kansas State University. Neil teachesRhythmic Notation for dancers, accom-panies classes, trains accompanists, andis production manager for dance pro-ductions.www.neildunnpercussion.com

You can hear examples of some ofthe sounds described in this articleon the CD enclosed with this jour-nal. (The CD list is found on thelast page.)

I feel training in the

use of electronic in-

struments [for dance

musicians] would need

to be in programming

the sound banks,

modules, and sequenc-

ers more than in

playing instruments.

48

Beat keeping,sound alteration, andimprovisational libertythrough music technology– or how I have semi-retired my ankle bells.

By Keith Fleming

Once a dancer I didn’t recognizeasked me if I was the fellow whostrapped a tambourine to his foot. While

this wasn’t ex-actly how Iwanted to beidentified, I hadto admit that Iwas the guy.Now, with thesuperior alter-natives of tech-nology, I rarelyuse the foottambourine orthose anklebells or anyother simpleacoustic beatkeeping soundsanymore. Occa-sionally I willuse them whenI want those

specific sounds and the musical effectthey produce, like instrumental simplic-ity or natural ritual, but because of tech-nology, I now have hundreds of excel-lent beat keeping alternatives, each withspecific sounds and a musical effect thatmore closely matches the variety of mu-sic I am trying to make. Back then onlysome type of foot stomping could helpme with the beat keeping function whenI played, especially when I was playingsome new instrument, which I may have

been learning because I wanted to bringthose timbres to the dancers.

Because of technology (and, un-fortunately, the prohibitive expense ofacquiring a grand piano for the studio), Ihaven’t actually played a piano in oversix years, even though we have a per-fectly suitable Kawai upright in the bal-let studio. The other full-time depart-ment musician at Texas Woman’s Uni-versity, Susan Myatt, always uses theKawai for her ballet classes. But my earsays that half of the dozen piano soundson the Technics Digital Ensemble SX-PR900 in the same studio sound betterthan that upright – and the rest sound atleast as good, including the samplecalled ‘upright piano’ which suspiciouslysounds like it may have been sampled orrecorded here. I rarely choose to usethat sound either. And the synthesizerseems to always stay in tune – except, ofcourse, the two or three piano samplesthat are intentionally slightly out oftune to better replicate the honky-tonksound from an upright piano!

Technology has changed and cur-rently shapes my accompaniment in somany different ways, that the all-acoustic-no-technology-involved classesare mainly reserved for those days whenthe weather is so nice we decide to haveclass outside on the lawn, or there issome type of power shortage in thebuilding.

However, there are actually onlyfive or six steps in the process of usingtechnology in dance class. Most of thesedo not differ too greatly from how Iplayed dance classes without technology.They include:

1. Choosing the instruments orsounds

2. Choosing a ‘preset’ rhythm orcreating (sequencing) a new rhythm

3. Choosing the method of pres-entation of the rhythm

4. Altering the waveform of theinstruments or sounds

5. Improvising with or over all ofthe above choices

Technology has

changed my

accompaniment in so

many different

ways, that the

all-acoustic-no-

technology-involved

classes are mainly

reserved for those

days when the

weather is so nice we

decide to have class

outside on the lawn.

49

6. Delivering all that sound andthose choices to the studio.

Of these six, the first four aresimply expansions of what I would nor-mally do in an acoustic class, and thetechnology just gives me scads of addedvariability. The great fun of using thetechnology is in the fifth step, increasingthe scope and playfulness of your im-provisational possibilities!

1. Choosing a SoundThe first step in using technol-

ogy, choosing instruments or sounds, iscompletely natural for me and for my‘style’ of accompaniment, where timbreis elevated and its relationship withdance dynamics and effort are empha-sized. I have always tried to bring asmany instruments as possible into thestudio and to use them in as many dif-ferent ways with as many different ar-ticulations as I could muster.

Having the large array of beauti-fully sampled instruments and craftilycreated sounds that are available in mostmodern synthesizers, enables a level ofaural variety previously impossible. Mostof the instrumental sounds are quitegood now and getting better as the tech-nology of recording, sampling and repli-cating sounds improves. This wasn’t al-ways the case. Only in the last fifteenyears have synthetic or sampled soundsbeen very compelling to the ear, widelyavailable on most synthesizers, reallyeasy to use and inexpensive. If you havenot tried pizzicato strings or a solo oboesound in even your most traditional bal-let class – you and your dancers have alot to look forward to.

Frequently modern keyboardshave the capability of splitting, withvariable split points that allow differentinstruments or sounds in different partsof the keyboard, making, for example, aduet of upright bass in the left hand andjazz guitar in the right hand possible allat once. So not only are there more sin-gle sounds to choose, but the endlesscombinations of sounds, the possible or-

chestrations are wonderful. Now key-board players can almost instantly soundlike they play all the instruments in theworld. OK, maybe not instantly. Somesimplification, alteration or eliminationof normal left hand piano work is re-quired to get a good and convincing ac-cordion or guitar or bassoon.

Another great feature of somesynthesizers, including the TechnicsDigital Ensemble SX-PR900 which isabout a decade old and in both of ourmain studios, is to allow you to ‘mix’ twosounds – not on separate parts of thekeyboard, but actually intertwining theirwaveforms,where each keyplays both in-struments to-gether. For ex-ample, the ma-rimba/harp mixhas the attackand hol lowovertones of themarimba but ithas the sustainand decay ofthe harp, creat-ing an amazingand uniquesound. Sinceyou can gener-ally control thevolume of each instrument’s influencein the blend, the variety and subtlety ofcombinations is astounding.

This is also an example of howimproving technology generally in-creases interesting features, because ear-lier versions of the Technics Digital En-semble did not have this capability.Texas Woman’s University has two ofthese earlier versions, which are now instudios with a slightly lower priority.

2. Choosing or Creating a RhythmThe second step in my use of

technology in dance class is choosingand adjusting the rhythm. While we allhave our own internal library, or mem-

With many of the

classroom triples I

sequence my own

rhythms on the fly,

which has a slightly

steeper learning curve

than choosing a pre-

set, especially when

you consider how fast

you may have to cre-

ate one.

50

ory, of ‘preset’ rhythms, technology af-fords us a rather expansive array of al-ternatives. Many of these rhythm presetsare geared toward ‘commercial’ music(pop, rock, funk, Latin, jazz, house, bigband, easy listening, classical etc.) andconsequently have about ten times moreduple meters than triple meters, evenincluding the compounded triples. Con-sequently, with many of the classroomtriples I sequence my own rhythms on

the fly, which hasa slightly steeperlearning curvethan choosing apreset, especiallywhen you con-sider how fastyou may have tocreate one. Ofcourse, you cancreate and storesequences in ad-vance. Sequenc-ing complexr h y t h m s o rrhythmic chang-es can be diffi-cult, probably re-quiring time out-side class. Fre-quently, however,rhythmic proper-

ties like adjusting or altering the tempo,are as simple as a tap feature, which al-lows you to tap the tempo on some keyand the synthesizer adjusts everything toyour tap rate.

For me, the main value in thesepreset rhythms is for movement acrossthe floor at the end of class when multi-ple ‘voices’ and increased energy arecalled upon. Or sometimes when an in-structor really wants some continuousrhythm for an extraordinary length oftime – like over fifteen minutes – andyou know in advance that this may hap-pen. Many synthesizers have multiplevariations of each specific rhythm, whichcan be changed instantly. Using theserhythmic variations to demarcate

phrases or sections of the music canhave a dramatic effect on the rhythmicperception and reaction in the dancers.

Some of the drum parts are wellconceived as a foundation for improvisa-tion – like the standard jazz and rockkits. When I am working with studentdrummers in class, frequently I will letthem briefly hear the preset as a possibletemplate, or trigger the rhythm andhave them superimpose their playingthen dial back the preset volume. In acircumstance like this, I use the technol-ogy as a teaching resource and use thepreset rhythms or parts of the rhythmsas examples of musical ideas that I andmy student musicians can copy or em-bellish. Since I have student musicianswho play a variety of instruments, someof these presets and the chamber ac-companiment patterns that go withthem can be useful for suggesting anelectric guitar part, a sax part or a flutepart.

However, sometimes mechanicalrhythm drives everybody crazy, eventhough it can be excellent training foryou, for the dancers and for the instruc-tors. While a digitally controlled rhythminstantly eliminates any questions (orpossible conflicts) about slowing downor speeding up the counts or music,ironically it may be important to in-crease your use of nuanced phrasing andrhythms when you are not using thesemechanical rhythms, or in the parts youimprovise over them. This idea that youmay want to ‘compensate’ in some ways– increasing or altering some qualities ofmusic in your acoustic accompanimentto offset some of the ‘weaknesses’ of theapplication of current technology shouldbe carefully considered, especially ifteaching or training are part of yourgoals as a dance musician.

There are ways of adding nuanceto sequences, like not quantizing or us-ing real-time loops. There are ways ofaltering the tempo manually to soundlike rallentando or other rhythmic prac-tices. But there is a point of diminishing

This idea that you

may want to ‘com-

pensate’ in some

ways – increasing

or altering some

qualities of music

in your acoustic

accompaniment to

offset some of the

‘weaknesses’ of the

application of

current technology

– should be care-

fully considered.

51

returns, where concentrating on usingthe technology or making the technol-ogy seem less synthetic can actually in-terrupt your creative process and yourprimary function as a good accompanist.

3. Using Accompaniment PresetsThe third step in my use of tech-

nology is choosing the method ofrhythmic presentation and representa-tion. Many synthesizers have chamberaccompaniment patterns that includethe percussion part, a bass part, and twoor three other instruments in the ac-companiment – like guitar, piano, andsaxophone. These ‘accompaniment’ partschange considerably with each rhythmand even within the simple variations ofone rhythm. For example,while all four of the polkarhythms use the same clunkytuba line as the bass instru-ment, two of eight reggaerhythms use two bass playerssimultaneously and there arethree or four distinct reggaealternatives. But even the polkatuba can be useful for creatinga ‘Tom Waits’ or ‘Brave Combo’sound.

Some synthesizers allowyou to ‘remix’ this accompa-niment by changing the volume of theparts or eliminating them. This meanssometimes you can eliminate the drumsand just use the guitar and bass parts orjust the preset vibraphone accompani-ment of some jazz rhythm, or, as I men-tioned, just the clunky tuba from thepolka. In an extended exercise, some-times I will start by muting all the partsexcept the bass pattern of a rhythm andsubsequently ‘add’ or ‘unmute’ the otherpreset accompaniment parts, the percus-sion, guitar, etc. as the exercise developsand repeats phrases – all while I am im-provising over the rhythm with one ofmy hands. This adds a unique texturaldevelopment to the accompaniment thatsubtly urges the dancers to increase thescope and dynamics of their movement.

Some creative ideas, like this one devel-oped from technological possibilities,have turned around and influenced myacoustic ideas for making dance music!

Though many of the accompa-niment presets give you a large andcomprehensive sound that may seembalky or unwieldy, do not disregardthem wholesale. By looking inside thesechamber accompaniments you might besurprised at how many of the single in-strument accompaniment patterns thatthey contain are functional even outsidethe original realm of the rhythm theyrepresent. For instance, the guitar ac-companiment in a standard funk or jazzrhythm might be perfect for tendus andreally impart a completely different mu-

sical sense than funk or jazz,especially with creative im-provisation over that part. Orthe saxophone accompani-ment in a soul rhythm canprovide the foundation fortrying out some sounds youmight rarely have considered,like the overdrive electricguitar.

Just because themanufacturer and all theirmusic consultants thoughtmusicians would use the

technology this way or that way doesn’tmean you have to limit yourself to thosealternatives. Unfortunately, those manu-facturers and consultants rarely considerwhat we dance musicians might need orhow we might use some feature – be-cause we are rare birds, even amongmusicians. I love creatively using thetechnology in these ‘unintended’ ways.

Though the learning curve onsome of these features might seemsteep, like becoming familiar enoughwith each accompaniment pattern thatyou know which ones have good rhythmguitar parts, it really depends on yourclassroom situation and your relation-ship with the instructors and dancers.Even if you just listened to and investi-gated one accompaniment pattern every

Creative ideas, like

this one developed

from technological

possibilities, have

turned around and

influenced my acous-

tic ideas for making

dance music!

52

class, discreetly fiddling with it at a verylow volume – in the course of fifteenweeks, with ten or fifteen classes a week,you would have covered most of them.Coming to an understanding with thedance instructors that you are not beingimpolite by quietly fiddling, but are try-ing to make new, unique and compel-ling work based on their movement isimportant. And if they hear those re-sults, most potential problems areeliminated. Learning how to do thiswithout being distracting requires sensi-tivity and a continually and genuinelyclear display of your desire to make thebest music for the dancers that you can.

4. Altering WaveformsThe fourth step in my use of

technology is altering the waveforms byadding the effects of flanging or distor-tion, or changing the ‘space’ of the

sound by addingreverb or delay. Onthe Technics it ispossible to pre-cisely control thepercentage ofwaveform altera-tion for each effect– from zero to onehundred. In manyways this is like anadvanced applica-tion of choosinginstruments andsounds or instru-mental articula-tion. Most of thesestandard waveform

alterations were created by the fabulouselectric guitar players of the last threegenerations and they are just fun to use,especially if the class needs to rock out.If you haven’t heard a moderatelyflanged French horn with a weak singledelay and rich dark reverb – try it. Itcould inspire you to make music younever considered.

Lately I have been mixing alteredwaveforms with their originals using the

mix of two instruments/sounds method Idiscussed earlier. This mix of originaland altered waveform is a unison andisn’t a unison all at once. Because youcan vary the mix by changing the vol-ume of both the original and alteredsound in the mix and also by changingthe amount or intensity of waveform al-teration in the altered sound, this createsa nearly infinite array of variation foreach individual instrument or sound.These ‘ghostly’ unison sounds have analmost ineffable effect on my creativity.

5. Improvisation Over Your ChoicesThe fifth step in my use of tech-

nology is the reason for becoming famil-iar with the first four steps – improvisingwith your hands and feet and heart andmind free. With the ‘minimum re-quirements’ of a decent piece of danceaccompaniment already fulfilled by us-ing the technology adroitly in the firstthree or four ways, you can play and goin some directions you never thoughtpossible in dance class. You can relate todifferent aspects of the movement di-rectly or indirectly or abstractly or con-cretely, or change the way you relateevery 32 counts.

I find it very interesting when Iattach my first choices of sound, rhythmand presentation closely with themovement, to close my eyes and indi-rectly relate to the movement by impro-vising with the music I just created, thenopen my eyes and directly attach myimprovisation to the movement, whichcreates a completely different feeling. Orby doing the opposite and starting theexercise with my directly related im-provisation and adding abstractly relatedsounds or rhythms or accompanimentfragments after the dancers have ‘incor-porated’ the movement. These subtlechanges can create a remarkable andrich classroom dynamic. For me, tech-nology has clearly increased the varietyand quantity of ways I can relate themusic in each dance exercise to themovement.

Lately I have been

mixing altered

waveforms with

their originals

using the mix of

two instruments.

These ‘ghostly’

unison sounds

have an almost

ineffable effect on

my creativity.

53

Occasionally I will trigger anewly created keyboard accompanimentand actually leave the keyboard to gofind another instrument to improvisewith – like adding acoustic sounds; cym-bals, a simple pennywhistle melody, aconga track, some acoustic guitar orBrazilian whistles. You have to remainfairly close though, because you gener-ally need to turn the synthesizer or se-quencer off in a timely fashion. Ajammed on/off switch is a hystericalnightmare!!! …but things like that occa-sionally happen when you add a layer ofcomplexity to what you once did.

6. AmplificationThe sixth step in my use of tech-

nology is about delivery. Our mainmodern dance studio now has four am-plifiers. A Roland Micro Cube amplifier,a small Fender R.A.D. guitar amplifier, aCrate KX-50 amplifier with two inputs;one attached to a Roland XP-50 synthe-sizer (I station it on the right hand sideof the Technics so I am boxed in on oneside and yes, sometimes I try to play twosynthesizers at once, wishing I was JoeZawinul.) The Crate is also ready for anyother electric instruments (guitar, bass,Roland Handsonic) that my student mu-sicians or I bring to the studio. We alsohave an Anchor Audio MPA 5000 ampli-fier on a stand attached to the Technicskeyboard, which also has its own set ofbuilt-in speakers. Arranging and chang-ing the position and direction of theseamplifiers in the space alters the sonicenvironment and also allows us to usethem for different functions. SometimesI point them at the wall right behind themusicians and get indirect and reflectivesound. Sometimes when we have a stu-dent drummer at the kit, he needs toreally hear the synthetic bass or therhythmic pattern, so the Anchor Audiobecomes a monitor. Sometimes whenthe dancers are crossing the floor diago-nally a speaker in the corner pushesthem in ways they like to be pushed!

Having amplifiers, a microphone

and other pieces of music technology inthe dance studio attracts musicians, likehaving a good drum kit or an excellentset of hand drums… if you are interestedin doing that. Currently, there are manyquality mid-sized and large amplifiersavailable that have built-in syntheticsound alteration features, saving the costof a series of separate effects.

Of course you must be carefulabout feedback if you are using micro-phones or acoustic/electric pick-ups. Re-cently, how-ever, I was ac-tually able tocontrol thefeedback like asecond voice(thank you JimiHendrix) whileplaying an am-plified harmon-ica solo alteredthrough theRoland Cubewhose output I attached to the Crateamplifier. Though it was originally anaccident (I got too close to the Cratewith the harmonica and microphone,) Iam working on adding it to my reper-tory.

You should also be careful usingany amplifier in the extreme range of itscapabilities, which distorts the soundwith a muddy or opaque result. Also,sometimes I have to remind myself thatjust because I have amplifiers, it doesn’tmean I should disregard the wide vari-ety of dynamic possibilities I want to usein making dance class music.

ConclusionThe happy result of these tech-

nologies is that now even more musi-cians of all sorts (singers, wind players,guitarists etc.) are creating remarkablesounds both in the classroom and on thestage. However, when I became a dedi-cated dance musician nearly thirty yearsago, pianists dominated dance accompa-niment (like most of the 20th century)

With technology and

its applications, that is

changing. Pianists

must now become ca-

pable of manipulating

synthesizers and using

technology.

54

and the percentage of ‘other’ musicianswas very low. Most of the others werepercussionists. Our Guild is dominatedby pianists. Being a decent pianist withan understanding and appreciation ofdance was about all it took to find plentyof work.

With technology and its applica-tions, that is changing. Pianists mustnow become capable of manipulatingsynthesizers and using technology. It iswonderful fun and actually not nearly asdifficult as becoming a decent pianist.Already it seems clear to me that themajority of private dance studios nolonger have pianos. If youwant to play the piano, youmay need to bring one –and it is best if you can justcarry it. While the numberof pianos in dance studiosdeclines, we all must urgedancers to still continue us-ing live music and to investin the technology for theirstudios that increases thevariety of musical possibili-ties, the technology thatalso includes the widest va-riety of musicians. Whatstudios need are excellentamplifiers that the dancerscan use as part of their performancesound system, but are also available forclassroom musicians to plug into. Whatstudios need are synthesizers with fabu-lous piano sounds and the best possiblepiano feel, but a huge palette of othersounds and functions.

The bright side is that very soonmany or all the features I described onthe Technics may become available onsynthesizers that cost hundreds of dol-lars, not thousands of dollars.

Last spring I was spellbound by aduo – a singer, Sarah Alexander, and awind player, Gabriel Lit – both recentgraduates from the music program atthe University of North Texas. Eachbrought a Shure SM-58 Beta microphoneand a small array of effects and loop

generators into our dance classes atTexas Woman’s University, which theyplugged into our amplifiers. Actually,Gabe brought his own AER AcousticDomino Amplifier. Sarah had her mi-crophone attached to a Digitech Studio200 and a Kaoss Pad mixed through aBehringer Euro Rack 602A mixer. Gabehad his microphone attached to a LineSix Delay then to his AER amplifier.Gabe brought his bass clarinet, a varietyof flutes including a Quena, multipleocarinas, Korean temple bells, singingbowls, rattles and shakers. Gabe loopedand layered sounds and Sarah processed

and looped sounds. As aduet they covered manyof the possible techno-logical treatments of asingle melodic or percus-sive line.

I was so impressedwith their creative scopeand the sensitivity of theirintertwining technologywith their acoustic in-struments, that this sum-mer, while recuperatingfrom reconstruct iveshoulder surgery, Ibought the Boss RC-20loop generator. Until now

I have only created loops on the se-quencing features of the keyboard syn-thesizers or drum machines I have used.I bought an Ibanez acoustic/electric gui-tar which I can plug into the loop gen-erator and any effects, producing a vari-ety of guitar sounds from a densely elec-tric rock sound, to a clean jazz sound ora mellow acoustic sound. Until now Ihave mostly used the nylon string guitarin class. I also bought a very cheap set ofharmonicas (Hohner Piedmont Blueswith a case) – which I mention becausetechnology has increased the ways I canuse my collection of acoustic instru-ments too, like Gabe and Sarah. In thiscase I can play harmonica duets andtrios using loops – or as I previouslymentioned play an electric and altered

What studios need are

excellent amplifiers that the

dancers can use as part of

their performance sound

system. What studios need

are synthesizers with

fabulous piano sounds and

the best possible piano feel,

but a huge palette of other

sounds and functions.

55

harmonica sound sometimes even usingfeedback.

I also bought a Roland Hand-sonic HPD10 percussion synthesizer,which has a circular pad with multipletriggers that you can play with your fin-gers, hands or sticks. Playing it feelsmuch more like you are playing an ac-tual drum than playing the syntheticpercussion on the keyboard feels. I stilluse the keyboard for melodic percussionand for adding any percussion to pre-setrhythms, but for exercises that suggestsolo percussion, I prefer the Handsonic.Improving technology has continuallyincreased the variety and styles of trig-gering instruments other than the guitaror keyboard. Using the Handsonic en-ables me to follow my doctor’s ordersnot to play a lot of hand percussion rightnow because I can set the sensitivity onthe Handsonic pad to play it with myfingers. It still offers good percussionsounds in the classroom and a bit of thefeel of playing – though I sorely missthe vigor of actually playing percussion.

Technology can aidrecuperation.

Currentlyvery inexpensivesmall practice am-plifiers (like theRoland MicroCube) are availablewhich have multi-ple sound altera-tion features builtin with individualcontrols, so you canmanipulate thesound as part of theamplification. Al-

though their dynamic range, what Iwould call good amplification, is re-stricted, their best feature is becomingfamiliar with sound alteration on the fly.I bought one of these too. With a cheapmicrophone, a loop generator and a mi-cro cube amplifier you may createsmiles in dance class that won’t soondisappear.

This fall, Jennifer Keller, a mod-ern dancer from Slippery Rock Univer-sity, performed at Texas Woman’s Uni-versity with a remote headset micro-phone whose sound was then processedthrough a pre-programmed Lexicon ef-fects generator which we plugged intoour mixing board. She was accompany-ing herself with her amplified and al-tered breath. Because I was running thesound in our studio performance space,she allowed me to creatively add a com-bination of effects (pong delay andflanging), which were available on theLexicon, to part of her dance. She alsoallowed me to fade out the amplifiedand altered sound to reveal just thenatural acoustic sound of her manipu-lated breathing.

Earlier the same day in part ofher master class, I accompanied thedancers with a microphone using ampli-fied, phased and delayed phonetic wordsounds – all with the quietness of whis-pering. The next day after Jennifer’s per-formance I too was breathing into themicrophone. However, I was glad sheintroduced the amplified breathing ideato the faculty and students.

As technology continues to influ-ence a greater and greater amount ofthe music around us, it also provides usthe opportunity to creatively use it in thedance class. I am hoping that by the endof the semester I will be permanentlyusing one of our old mixing boards inthe dance studio to facilitate the increas-ing amount of technological alternativesand combinations my student musiciansand I want to use.

Though I know I will always feeldissatisfied if I don’t have some quietand intimate acoustic moments in class(like my classical guitar or even simplythe unadulterated synthetic grand pianosound on the Technics,) especially in re-flective and internally directed dancemoments, I realize that I must also pre-sent some sound and energy and richtextural complexity that transcends anyof the acoustic instruments I play or any

The ease of col-

lecting, and the

remarkable size

of the collection

that an iPod

affords are

fantastic – but I

certainly do not

want to be

replaced by one.

56

of the acoustic music that I alone couldplay – even with foot stomping tambou-rines and ankle bells. I feel compelled toinclude some music that embraces thevariety, complexity and energy availablethrough technology. Incorporating andembracing this is rejuvenating my play-ing.

And I believe that I’d better em-brace it or soon I may find I am replacedby the instructor’s iPod plugged into thestudio’s sound system, which is toughcompetition. Lately I have noticed thatthe iPod is the musical alternative mostcommonly used in the teaching experi-ences of more and more of our graduatestudents when they arrive – especiallythe experienced teachers. I have also no-ticed that the percentage of under-graduate students who have danced tolive music either in the classroom or inperformance is continually decreasingand may now be in the low single digits.Most students have rarely had live musicin any of their classes – even their balletclasses.

Consequently, I believe I need todemonstrate to all of them that live mu-sic is more inventive, more collaborativeand responsive to the needs and changesthat happen in class, more fun, and asignificant part of the learning envi-

ronment – a partthat is superior totheir iPod and themusic they loveand know the most,which they cannow carry aroundwith them all thetime and use anyway they want to.Add the fact thatmore and more of

these students have music editing pro-grams on their personal computers, oreven on the University’s computers,which enables them to even alter themusic they love and know the most toperfectly fit any use they have for it –like rehearsing, dancing, teaching and

even performing and it becomes verytough competition indeed!

The ease of collecting and trans-porting music and the remarkable sizeof the collection that an iPod affords arefantastic, especially in conjunction witha burgeoning music library on the com-puter. I may buy one soon, but I cer-tainly do not want to be replaced by one.

This fall, when classes were start-ing, I went shopping to replace somebroken cheap portable sound systemsused for rehearsals and theory classes inthe studios. Before I finalized the pur-chase I asked many of the dancers whatthey wanted in a sound system. Theyimmediately mentioned that an externalinput for their iPod was the first mini-mum requirement for anything new. Inmy experience that represents a signifi-cant shift from what dancers had previ-ously primarily demanded from a soundsystem - like significant volume, ease offunction, a pause feature, the ability toplay multiple sources (cassette, CD-R,CD-RW or mp3 ) or a great remote con-trol. Now, they have the music in handand they simply need a way to project itin their dancing environments.

If we do not creatively use theadvantages and variety that technologyprovides for making dance music, thenwe are destined to be replaced by it.

Keith Fleming is a dance musician atTexas Woman’s University.KFmusic@Verizon.net orKFleming@TWU.EDU and also at:940-898-2094 or 918 N.Bell Ave. Apt. B,Denton, Texas, 76209

If we do not

creatively use the

advantages that

technology

provides … then

we are destined to

be replaced by it.

You can hear examples of some ofthe sounds described in this articleon the CD enclosed with this journal.(The CD list is found on the lastpage.)

57

On Dance ClassAccompaniment withthe Computer

By Chris Peck

BackgroundMy interest in collaboration with

dance has developed in parallel with myinterest in electro-acoustic improvisedmusic, so there has never been a ques-tion of how to integrate technology.Computers, samplers, and speakers were

my tools ofchoice from thestart. The firsttime I sat in on adance class Ibrought two CDplayers, a reverbbox, and a micro-phone. I play afew “real” in-struments too (Igrew up playingflute and guitar)but these have

only more recently begun to factor backinto my work.

I came to class accompanimentthrough my collaborations with choreo-graphers. While I was a student at theUniversity of Michigan under the men-torship of Stephen Rush I began makingpieces with student choreographers, andI had made at least one half evening andone full evening dance score before I somuch as set foot in a technique class.My class accompaniment practice grewout of an interest in deepening my un-derstanding of the field, of educatingmyself to be a better collaborator.

Most of my class accompanimentexperience has been as a member of themusic faculty at American Dance Festi-val so I've had experience playing for awide variety of teachers. I have also ac-

companied at the University of Michi-gan, the Joffrey Midwest Work-shop, andaround New York City and elsewhere forDavid Dorfman, Jennifer Nugent, JohnJasperse and others, often as a compo-nent of touring or collaborative residen-cies.

TechniqueMy hardware setup for accompa-

nying dance classes is:- A modest Macintosh Laptop (not thenewest or the fastest)- A 16-Fader MIDI Controller (DoepferPocket Fader)- A powered speaker (JBL Eon 10”)

As far as I know I am the onlymusician at ADF who can fit all of theirgear on a bicycle, and I’m quite machoabout it. I use a ratchet tie-down to keepthe speaker on the back rack. The restcan fit in a backpack. Who can affordgasoline on the dance musician’s budgetanyway?

On the software end I use a set ofcustom-built Max/MSP patches for sam-ple playback, manipulation, and process-ing driven by a flexible pattern se-quencer. (If you’re not familiar with theMax/MSP programming environment,check out cycling74.com.) UsingMax/MSP has saved me from the head-ache of building the software entirelyfrom scratch (i.e. writing my own devicedrivers, interface elements, and DSPcode), while still providing enoughflexibility to evolve the instrument overtime as my experience and needschange. My process of developing astrategy for playing dance classes hasbeen intertwined with an iterative soft-ware design process where I am both thesole developer and the sole user: jottingdown notes on the limitations of mypatches during class, then later modify-ing the software to expand or modify itsfunctionality. I’ve also gone throughperiods of abstaining from softwaremodification, keeping the instrumentstable so I can actually learn to play it.

As far as I know I

am the only

musician at ADF

who can fit all of

their gear on a

bicycle, and I’m

quite macho about

it.

58

My process of

developing a

strategy for

playing dance

classes has

been inter-

twined with an

iterative soft-

ware design

process where

I am both the

sole developer

and the sole

user.

The instrument I’ve arrived at ismore or less a souped-up drum machinewith lots of strange configuration op-tions and an interface designed to buildup layered rhythm/melody/harmony/texture patterns quickly from scratchrather than working from presets (seeScreenshot 1: “Patterns”). Compared to astandard drum machine or pattern se-quencer that you may have seen, it isless user-friendly but offers much moreflexible routing of control informationand real time, raw, low-level access to itsinternal workings. Many of the optionswould look familiar if you have everused a sampler, such as setting the enve-lope of a drum sound (see Screenshot 2:“Samples” p. 59), but others, such as se-quencing the playback speeds of a set ofasynchronous layered loops (see Screen-shot 3: “Loops” p. 60), might look quiteodd.

The instrument has evolved to supportenough of the right kinds of control toplay a dance class, such as being able toquickly build up rhythms in response toan exercise, quickly set and adjust tem-pos to stay in sync, etc, while keepingenough chaos and weirdness in the mixthat the end result stays interesting.There is a tension between the agile con-trol necessary to respond to the class andthe complexity necessary to allow inter-esting musical textures to emerge.

AestheticsThis way of working presents manychallenges with fulfilling the "basic re-quirements" of traditional dance classaccompaniment, but I have found thatthese challenges lead to aestheticallyinteresting results. My interest as acomposer for dance is to create musicthat works in counterpoint with or even

Screenshot 1: Patterns

Screenshot 1: Patterns

59

against the dance rather than in a purelysupportive role, and I find that the lap-top is an ideal tool for applying this ap-proach to the class situation. (This is notto say that I come into a class with acompletely antagonistic attitude towardssupporting the dance material more lit-erally or propelling the energy of theclass with rhythmic drive. I do thesethings too.)

True, this works better for someteachers rather than others. My ap-proach is best suited to situations whereit is possible to develop a relationshipwith the teacher over time. Beyond that,I wouldn’t generalize about whether mystyle of accompaniment is appropriatefor a certain genre of dance. The successhas more to do with the open-mindedness of the teacher to

working with a musician as a collabora-tor rather than a servant. And if ateacher is locked in to the idea of hear-ing a piano in their class there is littlechance that I will ever be able to makethem happy. I have decided to acceptthis as a limitation of my practice.

I believe openness to difficult,troublesome, or unfamiliar music can begood for both the teacher and the stu-dents, and I am happy to be an ambas-sador for this cause. The possibilities ofthe computer make for a great set ofwrenches to throw in the conventionalworks. Conversely, the computer is wellsuited to creating extremely minimal,simple, regular textures (drones, loops)that provide open-ended atmosphere forsubtle situations. With some work, I’vebeen

My interest

as a com-

poser for

dance is to

create music

that works in

counterpoint

with or even

against the

dance rather

than in a

purely sup-

portive role…

Screenshot 2: Samples

60

able to find enough varieties of flexiblerhythmic options that fill the commonsupportive roles well, too.

Chris Peck is a Michigan-born composerwho lives in Brooklyn, NY where hecomposes for many current choreogra-phers. He has accompanied danceclasses at American Dance Festival, Uni-versity of Michigan, the Joffrey MidwestWorkshop, and studios around New YorkCity.http://www.intermittentmusic.com

Screenshot 3: Loops

I believe open-

ness to difficult,

troublesome, or

unfamiliar music

can be good for

both the teacher

and the student...

You can hear examples of some ofthe sounds described in this articleon the CD enclosed with this jour-nal. (The CD list is found on thelast page.)

61

CD to Accompany the Journal Music and Dance

1. Babz 120 BPM in 4/4 2:152. Hop 120 BPM in 4/4 1:553. Static Stretch 92BPM in 4/4 6:03

1, 2, 3, created and performed by Neil Dunn

4. IGMID 1 – Looped Harmonica/ Scat Overdub 84 BPM in 2/4 2:435. IGMID 2 – Little Band Jazz 123 BPM in 4/4 3:226. IGMID 3 – “How We Fly” Keith Fleming & John Osburn* 104 BPM in 4/4 3:567. IGMID 4 – Adagio for Pizzicato Strings and English Horns 73 BPM in 4/4 5:00

4, 5, 6, 7, created and performed by Keith Fleming with John Osburn*

8. A Delerium Of Swallows 120 BPM in 2/4 4:039. Indigo Maria 120 BPM in 3/4 4:16 with Jeffrey Gaeto, keyboard flute10. Jitter 133 BPM in 4/4 3:51

8, 9, 10, created and performed by Jon Scoville

11. george 120 BPM in 4/4 3:0612. lost_in_your_eyes (unmetered) 4:2413. takerslip 108 BPM in 4/4 3:06

11, 12, 13, created and performed by Chris Peck

14. Here it Comes 112 BPM in 3/4 1:4915. All Four 120 BPM in 4/4 4:5016. DuckSoup 76 BPM in 5/4 3:36

14, 15, 16, created and performed by Robert Kaplan

*John Osburn is a student and musician/apprentice of Keith Fleming in the Dance Department at TexasWoman’s University. He is featured playing the drums and the Roland Handsonic HPD10.

This CD is made as a demonstration of the techniques discussed in the articles of thejournal Music and Dance. Each of the authors made three examples that show some of thesounds and techniques that they discussed in their articles, with the idea that it would makethe technical discussions come alive musically.

We have put this CD together, as well, as a gift for dancers and dance teachers in thedance community. The musicians who made these pieces have put them into the public do-main for use in dance classes or dance performances free of charge. Acknowledging in classthe use of these pieces and their composers and the International Guild of Musicians inDance is appreciated. If these pieces are used in public performance kindly notify the com-poser and give proper credit in the program. Enjoy their use!