Butch Rovan: Teaching at Brown University, 2004-2011

MU2230: Composing for Real-Time Systems

This seminar explores the use of interactive systems from the point of view of the programmer & performer. Using improvisation as a starting point, the course explores the aesthetics and philosophy of performance, focusing on the design of real-time systems that enhance the relation between action and event. The immediacy of improvised performance ultimately offers a perspective on the actions implied in composition itself. Systems designed for the individual performer become the basis for a large-scale real-time composition.

Two concerts highlight different approaches to the topic: the first features performances by students in the class, while the second features a concert of student compositions for a guest performer + real-time electronics.

Alex Dupuis: Ramus, an interactive audiovisual work for solo performer.
Performed by Ulrich Maiss.

 

Alex Kruckman: Eccentric Cello Oracle, for cello and interactive sound and image.
Performed by Ulrich Maiss.

 

Mark Cetilia: Points in a Field with Moving Breath, for solo percussion and electronics.
Performed by Fred Kennedy.

 

Dylan Nelson: On Rhetoric, for solo percussion and electronics.
Performed by Fred Kennedy.

 

Jacob Richman: Go Down! You Blood Red Roses, for solo percussion and electronics.
Performed by Fred Kennedy.