As some of you will know I’m involved at present in a couple of research projects at the Open University.
Me in the motion capture suit!
One of these has been looking at bowing technique using motion capture technology. A couple of times now I’ve worn a motion capture suit, with a variety of sensors on it, in order for a computer software program to track and record a variety of bow movements. This research is being conducted by Janet van der Linden of the OU computing department, along with various colleagues including Erwin Schoonderwaldt, who has recently finished a Doctoral Thesis on the mechanics and acoustics of violin bowing!
At one recent session we were able to record my bowing movements in a variety of short musical excerpts. The data gained can then be analysed in a variety of ways, but certainly the most immediately striking is to view it in video form, with a stick figure representing the player (me in this case!) and drawn lines to show the movements made at the hand and at the elbow. Here’s a sample video. You have to imagine that you’re viewing me from above! I may at some stage try to synchronise the music clip I was playing with it, but in the meantime you can try to guess from the shapes what it is: There’s a free copy of my “Ascension” CD waiting for the first person who can work out what the piece is!
I’m fascinated by the shapes it reveals. If you’d like to see some other similar videos and visualisations done by Erwin with other players, and using a somewhat different motion capture setup, please click here.
This will be a great opportunity to hear some of my most recent looping pieces and will also include two duos with my wife Brenda: My looped two electric violin version of Coldplay’s “Fix You”, and the second ever performance of “Duo Economique” by Graaf (a contemporary of Mozart. This is an incredible and hilarious work for 2 players, each with a bow, but playing only one violin! Not to be missed, it caused a sensation at it’s first outing in May.
I’ll also be playing looped and non-looped music by The Beatles, Telemann, Nirvana, Andrew Keeling (a beautiful looped piece he wrote for me called “You Cut The String”), Bach and Yes. So; my usual eclectic mix! Plus there’ll probably be some minimalist stuff, a bit of improvisation and undoubtedly the lovely “Folketone fra Sunnmore”, a traditional Norwegian tune which gets me doing the longest loops in any piece I currently play – nearly 1 minute long.
It’s a fairly small venue seating 80, and the ticket price includes an excellent buffet supper during the interval. There will also be a paid bar available. Currently there are only about 30 tickets left so book now! You can book tickets (a bargain at £12.50 each to include supper) direct from me in person or by phone, or online from my shop site (click here for a direct link). I hope to see you there.
If you can’t make it, don’t despair: The whole concert is being filmed!
Those of you who follow me on Twitter will have heard about my exploits with a motion capture suit last week! Hopefully I’ll have some photos and video of that experience soon for the blog…….
