Xiao Xiao, Magnetic Resonator Piano, 2011. Photo: Andy Ryan. Magnetic Resonator Piano, Xiao Xiao, 2011. Photo: Andy Ryan. Marcus Thompson performs Barry Vercoe’s Synapse, 2011. Photo: Andy Ryan. Marcus Thompson performs Barry Vercoe's Synapse, 2011. Photo: Andy Ryan. Cellist Peter Gregson performs Tod Machover’s Spheres & Splinters, 2011. Photo: Andy Ryan. Cellist Peter Gregson, performs Tod Machover's "Spheres & Splinters," 2011. Photo: Andy Ryan.

Celebrating 50 Years of Music and Technology at MIT

February 5, 2011 / 9:00am – 10:00pm

MIT Media Lab E14

A full day and evening at MIT’s new Media Lab Complex celebrated the Institute’s unique tradition and future plans at the convergence of music, science and engineering. Curated by Professors Joseph Paradiso and Tod Machover, this lively event wove together discussions, demonstrations and performances to showcase the astounding variety of “future music” work at MIT, from audio innovations to synthetic performers, from sensors and interfaces to theories of musical mind and emotion, from hypercellos for Yo-Yo Ma to GuitarHero. Participants included Max Mathews (called “the father of computer music”), Miller Puckette (inventor of MAX/MSP), Eran Egozy (co-founder of Harmonix), Emeritus Professors Marvin Minsky and Barry Vercoe, and many others. It even included an imaginative concert featuring surprising, stimulating music by Machover, Makan, Rowe, Ziporyn and others.

Program

Keynote with Max Mathews, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University.

The Dawn of Digital Music at MIT in the 1960s. Prof. Joe Paradiso, Moderator; Peter Sampson, Wayne Slawson and Chris Strangio.

The MIT Experimental Music Studio and Live Computer Performance. Barry Vercoe, MIT, and Miller Puckette, UCSD, inventor of MAX/MSP.

Music, Emotion and Health. Prof. Tod Machover, moderator; Robert Rowe (NYU), Mary Farbood (NYU), Adam Boulanger (MIT Media Lab), Gottfried Schlaug (Harvard Medical School).

Music, Mind and Meaning. Prof. Marvin Minsky in “musical” conversation with Teresa Marrin, Mary Farbood and Mike Hawley.

Music, Emotion and Health. Prof. Tod Machover, moderator; Robert Rowe (NYU), Mary Farbood (NYU), Adam Boulanger (MIT Media Lab), Gottfried Schlaug (Harvard Medical School).

From Prototypes to the Populace: MIT Spinoffs in Music and Technology. Scott Kirsner, Boston Globe, moderator; Eran Egozy (co-founder of Harmonx and co-inventor of Guitar Hero), Brian Whitman (Echo Nest), Mark Ethier (iZotope).

Demos, installations, performances

Andrew McPherson (Drexel University), Magnetic Resonator Piano

Joseph Paradiso (MIT Media Lab) Mammoth Modular Synthesizer

Minsky MUSE Synthesizer, the only working model of 1960s automated composition generating machine

Rob Morris (MIT Media Lab), iPhone Guitar

Harmonix-Rock Band 3 with new Fender Squier and Mustang Guitar Controllers

Miller Puckette (UCSD), latest and greatest MAX/MSP and pd extensions/demos

Adam Boulanger (MIT Media Lab), Musica Early Detection System for Alzheimer’s disease

Echo Nest demo

iZotope demo

Sourcetone demo

Concert

Berry Vercoe, Synapse (1976) for amplified viola and prerecorded electronics

Richard Boulanger/Vercoe, Synaptogenesis (Synapse remix, 2011) for live electronics

Keeril Makan, Zones d’Accord (2002) for cello solo, acoustic based on electronics

Peter Whincop, Asyndenton (2011) for live electronics

Evan Ziporyn, Belle Labs (2006) for violin, bass clarinet and Heliphon, from Ensemble Robot

Robert Rowe, Cigar Smoke (2004) for clarinet and interactive electronics

Mary Farbood, Gray Light (2011) for piano, composed with Hyperscore software

Tod Machover, Spheres and Splinters (2010) for hypercello and interactive visuals

Tod Machover Tod Machover, Chair of the FAST Steering Committee

Co-curator of Music Machines Exploration and Celebration

February 5, 2011 Professor of Music and Media at MIT Media Lab since its founding in 1985, Tod Machover has been described as “America’s Most Wired Composer” by the Los Angeles Times. His music, which includes several operas in addition to Death and the Powers, has been acclaimed for breaking traditional artistic and cultural boundaries, offering a unique and innovative synthesis of acoustic and electronic sound. Machover is the inventor of many new technologies for music, most notably his hyperinstruments, which use smart computers to augment musical expression and creativity. He has designed these instruments for some of the world’s greatest musicians, from Yo-Yo Ma to Prince, as well as for the general public and for children. His latest opera, Death and the Powers, will receive its U.S. premiere March 18 – 25 at Boston’s Cutler Majestic Theater, presented by the American Repertory Theater.