Violinist Mari Kimura augments her string music with a digital partner
Making computers more interactive for 21st-century string players
“There’s a big difference between ‘following’ and ‘playing together’ and we’re working on playing together with a computer program,” violinist and acoustics pioneer Mari Kimura says. Though perhaps best known for exploring the sonic and compositional possibilities of subharmonics, Kimura is also tilling fresh ground with interactive computer systems. The results of her efforts are innovative hardware and software that are creating an ever-greater level of interactivity between musician and machine.
Four years ago, Kimura began collaborating with IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique), the noted French institute for science and music founded by modernist composer Pierre Boulez, on its Augmented Violin system. The system’s sensors, which are similar to those used in a Nintendo Wii controller, interact with a program designed to react instantaneously to her playing dynamics, technique, and desire to alter her sound.
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