CMC projects

projects

	The following is a brief overview of the variety of projects being conducted by staff and students at the CMC. See also our separate listing of software development at the center.

	Wind Chimes	a study using microcontrollers by Brian Jacobs. Wind Chimes is a superimposition of two stochastic systems, a traditional set of wind chimes, and an electronic set, that produces an aggregate set of chimes that are way cooler than normal wind chimes.
	Robotic Sculpture Light Motive	A robotic sculpture created by David Birchfield comprised of five "organisms" that communicate with each other via an array of light sensors.
	Intelligent Dance Agent	Michael Prerau's Intelligent Dance Agent is learning how to track and analyze the movement of dancers. Check out his application of this in his robotic spotlight thing.
	Microtonal Music --> MIDI	An online tool created by Chris Bailey that will convert a given score into a standard MIDI file. It works for scores written in any tuning system (such as just intonation, equal division of the octave, or arbitrary sets of frequencies) and includes online tutorials.
	Genetic Algorithms and Music	David Birchfield has created an application for dynamically generated music and visual representation using genetic algorithms. Michael Prerau has also published research on genetic algorithms and music based on work he's done at the CMC.
	Monologue	A narrative of music and thought through realtime sound processing, improvised voice and dance. Choreography by Megan Metcalf and sound by Brian House.
	Interactions	A interactive installation by David Birchfield, premiered at the Lincoln Center Festival in the summer of 2000.
	SuperG PolarBears	Web-based works by Greg Martin.
	Neural Network Model of Tonal Music Perception	A neural network based model of tonal music perception created by David Birchfield. The application takes pitch-classes as inputs from the user and through the use of a neural network architecture determines which chords and keys are represented, and makes predictions about upcoming musical events based on what it has 'heard' in the past.
	Sonic Rehabilitation	CMC-affiliated researchers Thanassis Rikakis, Dan Trueman and R. Luke DuBois joined forces with Claude Ghez and Maria-Felice Ghilardi from Columbia's Center for Neurobiology and Behavior to determine whether auditory signals can help patients who lack proprioception (the ability to sense the position and movement of a part of the body). For a full discussion of the results of the first two pilot studies please see the paper given at ICAD 2000.
	Data Sonification	A number of graduate students in the Music Department have been involved in developing new ways to visualize and manipulate digital audio data. See demonstrative work by Doug Geers, Emily Laugesen and Johnathan F. Lee.
	J.P. Morgan Kids Digital Dance and Sound Project	The CMC brings music technology to children and their teachers. A collaborative project of Ballet Frankfurt, Lego, mak.frankfurt, Paul Kaiser, and the CMC. Sponsored by J.P. Morgan. Participation of local school children organized with the collaboration of the Creative Arts Laboratory of Columbia University's Teachers College and its city wide artists-in-residence program for schools.
	Sonic Glossary	The Sonic Glossary is an innovative teaching tool for music appreciation. This project was initiated by Columbia Musicologist Ian Bent, with research by faculty and graduate students from the Department of Music and technical assistance from AcIS and the CMC.
	Style Modeling	Brad Garton, together with Matthew Suttor, has developed a suite of programs that recreate the performance characteristics of different musical cultures (i.e. Irish flute playing, or Greek gaida performance, or heavy-metal guitar soloing). These programs have been used to demonstrate "new educational possibilities" for network use -- the stylistic performance rules can be used to teach aspects of performance as well as cultural understanding.
	Renaissance Music Modeling	Columbia Musicologist Leeman Perkins and CMC Director Brad Garton have been working to construct a database and constructive grammar in order to similate the creative output of selected Renaissance composers. The ultimate goal is to use the finished grammar as an analytic tool to assist in identifying elements of a particular composer's style, but the project has had a significant pedagogical aspect as well, for both students of historical musicology and computer music.
	Music Cognition	Fred Lerdahl has been working with graduate students in various seminars to develop models of musical understanding, drawing on his music-theoretic work on rhythmic and event hierarchies and on his theory of pitch space. The ability to create sophisticated computer models implementing aspects of the cognitive theories is central to the continuation of this ground-breaking work. This project represents an optimal interweaving of research and pedagogy, as the exploration of how we hear music informs students in both the structure of music and in the methodology used in the investigation.
	Hardware Development	In addition to developing our own software, we have recently been active building our own hardware to facilitate different kinds of physical interaction with digital sound. See Dan Trueman's BoSSA project, Douglas Repetto's hack of a PC1600, and our new Human-Computer Interfacing Module.
	Alternative Voices for Electronic Sound	While at the CMC, Dan Trueman experimented with multi-channel spherical speaker arrays in an effort to create new kinds of electronic chamber music and to broaden the acoustic possibilities offered by current realtime signal processing and synthesis techniques. This award-winning work has been conducted in collaboration with researchers and musicians at Princeton and R.P.I.
	Digitization Projects	During the past several years, the CMC has put its combination of well-maintained equipment (analog and digital) and well-trained personnel to good use in doing archive and preservation work. The CMC has successfully completed a number of archive projects, earning a well-deserved reputation as one of the few places available with both the correct equipment and trained expertise to do critical archival work. Current and recently completed archive and preservation projects include: Composer's Forum Concert Archive; Columbia University Music Department Concert Archive; Cornell University Concert Archive; European Archive of Spoken Yiddish; Columbia University EMC Tape Archive.