Saturday 10 May 2008

Saturday: Link Round-Up

My electric metronome, inherited from my father and probably older than I am, finally died this year. I keep hoping I'll be able to resurrect it with a magnifying glass and a soldering iron, but honestly? I don't have the time, and ought to just buy a new one. I'm quite taken with this little device but need to decide whether it would be incredibly useful, or whether I'd just lose it. Meanwhile there is this online metronome, which Miss Music Nerd linked to, but most of the time I don't bring my computer along when I go to practise (too much to carry). What would actually be ideal is something similar made to run on my phone. It's about the only Java application I'd be willing to pay for. Any takers?

In reading about the use of EVS at the National Performing Arts Convention in Denver, I started to think about how electronic voting systems could be used to create collaborative, audience-influenced music in real time or very near to it. The score would end up being something like a choose-your-own-adventure book, with not every path taken in every performance.

In a similar vein, CC Blog points at the Twitter Compilation Album. It basically does what it says on the tin. Listening to it is a little like listening as someone else flips through channels on a television or radio; there are some interesting textures and sounds but as soon as something grabs my attention and I want to hear more, it changes. Hm. Of course, it's possible I'm completely missing the point by not understanding Japanese.

In other news I've gleaned from Creative Commons, Magnatune has announced a subscription service. A DRM-free subscription service, that is. Long may it last, says I!

Erin of Fugue State writes positively about I Found My Horn, which I now very much want to read.

Other books I want to read:


Why yes, I am just a big hippie really. Why do you ask?

1 comment:

Miss Music Nerd said...

I'm not quite cool or rich enough to own one myself, but a few months ago I sat next to a guy who has an iPhone. He had a tiny piano app as well as a metronome.

We were playing piano in Terry Riley's "In C," and the metronome was important because I had to start the piece, and all the percussionists were giving me dirty looks for not getting the tempo right. :P

~Miss Music Nerd :)