Soundpainting is most often a horseshoe of people with a "soundpainter" standing in the middle. The main painter is armed with many signals that he or she can use. Examples include signals for: continuation, short notes, loud notes, long notes, solo, resting and cutoff. The more complicated and inherently more crazy signals include: laughing, just voice, stutter, polka in C, scooping, switching instruments etc.. Many times soundpainting involves elements of dance and speech as well. Soundpainting is hilarious and fun and also a great way to ease into improvisation while still having a structured environment.
The reason I bring this up is because a soundpainting may make a good addition to the DePauw School of Music, depending on interest of course. I guess it's just on more way to experience music.
So, watch any of these sound painting videos and tell me what you think :).
P.S sometimes soundpainting sounds hideous.
The last video is trippy as fuck! I'm a fan.
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DeleteThis is so great! I love that this is a sort of structured improv/unstructured conducted music. The last video is definitely my fave; it incorporates so many different sounds/actions. Most of the time you really have no idea what is going on. The accordion one is fun too, despite the fact that it is a little painful to listen to.
ReplyDeleteWow. Some of those were kind of bad sounding...but the Walter Thompson one sounded amazing!!!! I just can't really fathom how a group can improvise and come up with a melody on the spot without having any pre-practice and still sound really good. Just so cool.
ReplyDeleteThe second video was my favorite. It's really interesting to see what we do in class on a more grand scale. I hadn't thought about what it would sound like with other instruments besides the drums we use. Thanks for sharing this Sarah.
ReplyDeleteOh man, when I clicked on the first video I hadn't noticed that my volume for my headphones were at its max so when the first dissonant sound came out I actually almost fell out of my chair. What a dreadfully unpleasant sound! The second one was also just as equally as terrible from my opinion, but I really enjoyed how the musicians were so alert to what the "painter" was painting with their movements and signs in both videos. I really really enjoyed the third video, it seemed to at least have a tad bit of structure and was definitely more pleasing to the ear than the previous two videos were. I enjoyed how in the third video, there was a constant moving bass which gave the sound painting at least some slight structure. I giggled when the vocalists would have the gibber gabber conversations because it was just so random (not that the rest of the video wasn't, but this really stood out for me). In general, all groups seemed to have a great communication skills between the "painter" and their fellow musicians.
ReplyDeleteSoundpainting.....is interesting. Some of those sounds were sketchy. I like how the conductor throws his arms towards the ensemble. It really does look like he is painting in way. I can't say if I would actually attend a concert of this, but I do find it interesting to listen to.
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