Music – a living matter
Have you ever wondered how nature manifests itself in well constructed patterns? Is there a code or a secret plan behind?
Do water crystal of frost, a termite 'cathedral' mound, the spontaneous order in a heavy populated city and a flock of birds have something in common? – They do! They all show a well formed behavior of single performers, without a conductor! From early stages of human thought, mankind was looking for keys to understanding such phenomena.
'Emergence' in philosophy and science is the study of the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Simulating such systems, aided by analytical tools is one of the ways in which, the tracing and understanding of these processes are enabled. But, 'emergent systems' do not only show a high degree of functionality but also an incredible beauty. What if such procedure was used for the creation of musical patterns?
Composer Igal Myrtenbaum created a set of oscillators influencing each other ‘spontaneously’. The resulting, ‘live’ textures are at the core of a project entitled "The Sleepwalkers" and has since grown arms in different directions. In Music – a Living Matter the composer talks about the paths that led to the creation of the system and the music, shedding new light on old time hardcore musical issues.
Analog Networks
In the last two decades there are repeated calls, by music educators, for updating and innovating music teaching (Bowman, 2002)
Analog Networks tells the story of a qualitative case study aimed at describing and characterizing an innovative constructivist method of developing musicality and musicianship that was implemented in a 92 hours “ear training” preparation course for candidates to a music teacher training college.
The study is based on 24 hours of documented observations and transcribed ongoing discussions between the researchers, before, during and after the course. Data was undergone a thematic and critical discourse analysis (Kupferberg, Vardi- Rath and Shimoni, 2009).
Data analysis portrayed a method that is based on constantly making and improvising music in a small group, where theory and notation is directly linked to ongoing performance and music is repeatedly contextualized in day today lives.
Musical principles and orders are explained via the usage of several metaphorical systems such as human interactions, problem solving etc. Thus music becomes embedded in the cognitive, the social as well as the physiological dimensions of consciousness.
The method was discussed in terms of constructivist and connectivist theories of learning and their implications to developing musicality and musicianship.
The study, as well as developing the method was done in partnership with Dr. Sara Shimoni.
Growing, Taming and Chance
Logic will get you from A to B
Imagination will take you everywhere
(A. Einstein)
Moving between natural phenomena, culture, creativity and determinism and using engaging visuals, Growing, Taming and Chance revolves around questioning rule vs. choice. Through the understanding of how different sounds are formed, what is a sound spectra and how can it help us understand social-life or politics, this talk takes the listeners on a journey that is informative as well as entertaining, and will shed a fresh light on the difference between the rules we set and the many ways we bend them.
