Scientists at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver have invented gloves that sing when you move your hands.

The musical mittens generate a computerised voice that replicates the sound of real vocal chords with every gesture. Yet – because the movements inside our larynxes are much more refined – the noise produced sounds remarkably like the Star Wars villain Darth Vader.

The inventors are confident the system could one day be simplified to help people with speech problems communicate.
But right now, it is enormously complicated and takes about 100 hours to play the extensive range of sounds that it is capable of.

Sidney Fels, who led their development, told New Scientist: ‘It’s very hard, it’s like trying to do your email while talking on the phone.’ Continue reading

Turbulence Commission: You Don’t Know Me by Liangjie Xia [Needs Software Download]:

You are not always who other people think you are; you even hear your own voice in a different way. By recording and manipulating a recording of your voice with You Don’t Know Me, you will be able to restore your real voice and share with people how you hear yourself. This is a unique task that nobody else in the world can do. You Don’t Know Me provides a toolset and an online voice gallery. We are looking forward to hearing your true voice.

You Don’t Know Me is a 2010 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. for its Turbulence web site. It was supported by the Jerome Foundation. Continue reading

Trimpin premieres The Gurs Zyklus at Stanford University’s Memorial Auditorium on May 9, 2011 as part of Stanford Lively Arts’ 2010-11 Season.

The Gurs Zyklus (Gurs Cycle) is a performance that combines instrumental and vocal music, sculpture, and spoken word. In some ways, it is a culmination of many aspects of Trimpin’s career and personal biography, drawing together elements of his childhood in Germany, his artistic practice as an instrument-maker and the history of the internment camp at Gurs, near the Spanish-French border. Born in Istein, Germany (now Efringen-Kirchen) in 1951, Trimpin was haunted by the camp at Gurs, where Jews from Istein were interned during World War II. As an adult, he worked with composer Conlon Nancarrow, who revealed that he had been held at Gurs during the Spanish Civil War. Continue reading

Occulto Fest :: A two day festival. A series of sound performances. A video screening. A workshop :: March 12-13, 2011 :: Ausland, Lychener Straße 60, 10437 Berlin ::

At the end of the 1970s Sam Wagstaff put together an extensive collection of photos taken between 1870 and the 1930s, including Mumler’s ghost portraits, Kirlian’s experiments, Darget’s “thoughts photographic pictures” and other pioneering photographer’s works attempting to demonstrate the reality of certain supernatural phenomena. These pictures, beside the historical and ethnographic interest, are strongly suggestive abstract pieces, and Wagstaff explained that the he had collected them to satisfy his own desire to contemplate and explore the “pleasure to see, as when we see people dancing from a window.” Continue reading

Object Lessons! – an evening of extraordinary audio visual performances :: Saturday, November 20, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. :: @ Secret Project Robot, 210 Kent Avenue @ the corner of Metropolitan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY :: Created by David Linton, Lesley Flanigan, Marcia Bassett, Maria Chavez, David First, Jon Giles, Shelley Burgon :: $10 ::

In tacit compliance with the Flickering Fingers of Fate Friends of the Creepy TriAngle proudly presents:
* Lesley Flanigan – 9:00-9:30: speaker feedback instruments + voice performance

**Naval Cassidy – “instant cinema” performance – 9:45-10:15

***”MERCE” Maria Chavez & Shelley Burgon -10:30-11:00: Turntable / Harp & electronics duet with live visuals by Thomas Dexter. Continue reading

Vital Vox: A Vocal Festival :: November 11, 12, 13, 2010 at 8:30 p.m. :: at Issue Project Room (at the Old American Can Factory), 232 3rd Street, 3rd fl., Brooklyn, NY 11215 :: Tickets: $10

Vital Vox: A Vocal Festival explores the myriad power of the human voice in its solo and ensemble forms across a multitude of genres. This three day festival November 11, 12, and 13, 2010 at the ISSUE Project Room, will celebrate composer-performers in the vocal arts who stretch and expand the voice in new and original ways, continuing a strong contemporary tradition developed in the US.

On November 11: Jen Shyu, Nat Baldwin, Sabrina Lastman and Chris Mann
On November 12: Corey Dargel, Samita Sinha, C. Spencer Yeh and Joan La Barbara
On November 13: Lori Cotler with Glen Velez, Audrey Chen, Sasha Bogdanowitsch and Magic Names Continue reading

Pamela Z: Baggage Allowance :: September 16-18, 2010; 8:00 pm :: The Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street, New York, NY.

San Francisco-based artist Pamela Z presents her latest solo performance for voice, electronics, and interactive video that considers “baggage” in all its literal and metaphorical permutations. She is best-known for her signature style of experimental performance works that meld sampling technologies and live electronic processing with operatic bel canto and extended vocal techniques.

Drawing from her own extensive traveling as well as other travelers’ experiences, this new work contends with the ball-and-chain-ness of dragging one’s belongings all over the world. Through manipulation of layers of visual and sonic material through various custom controls and devices live on stage, Baggage Allowance scans and inventories the objects (and memories) we all cart around with us.

Choir to sing the ‘code of life’ by Pallab Ghosh, Science correspondent, BBC News [Computer generated image of DNA sequences (Science Photo Library) The similarity between written music and DNA sequences inspired the author]

Scientists and composers have produced a new choral work in which performers sing parts of their own genetic code.

Human DNA is made up of just four different chemical compounds, which gave musician Andrew Morley the idea of assigning a note to each of them.

The new piece, Allele, will be performed by the New London Chamber Choir at the Royal Society of Medicine on 13 July.

Each of the 40-strong choir has also had his or her own DNA decoded. More >>

Lesley Flanigan: Talk and Seminar :: June 11, 2010; 6:30 – 8:30 pm:: Digital Arts Studios (DAS), 37-39 Queen Street, Belfast.

“Utilizing some of the most groundbreaking extended vocal techniques and original hardware instrument designs in the new generation of New York City’s improvisers, Lesley Flanigan’s work pushes through sheets of gorgeous shimmering sound into a sublime resonant feedback loop. With a background in sculpture, her work creates a kind of sonic terrain which encapsulates and envelopes the human voice (as well as the listener’s inner ear).”

Preceding her talk Lesley will be available for an afternoon seminar. Beginning at 2pm the seminar will form a peer-critique with participants presenting their work to the group. Spaces are limited to five and must be booked in advance from DAS. There is a charge of £10 (£5 concession) for each participant. Contact DAS for further information and bookings. In association with Bbeyond and Delawab

In celebration of World Oceans Day and Jacques Cousteau’s 100th birthday anniversary, Ocean Voices by Halsey Burgund and Wallace J. Nichols :: June 3, 2010; 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm :: California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA.

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