Unburying, from Liminals, Emerging: into the microtonal prepared piano by matt A choboter

My research stems from the curiosity of moving beyond the fixed pitches of western tuning and into a sound continuum of extended sound possibilities. I ask questions like: can an acoustic grand piano be completely sonically-reimagined? why should western ears continue to be so accustomed to only one tuning system? In contrast, can “pure sounds” meet ethnically diverse microtonal tuning constellations? Can a newly invented tuning system dialogue with magnetic preparations to evoke timbral effects from Balinese Gamelan or Indian classical music? Collectively, how can this new instrument merge with spatialization and electronics to create embodied experiences for audiences? And how can all these elements be harnessed within a liminal psychological narrative?

Unburying, from Liminals, Emerging (map)

Introduction

Why Question Equal Temperament and the Acoustic Piano?

The Microtonal Prepared Piano

iii. magnetic pickup rig

Three Musical Contexts

i. postcards of nostalgia

ii. buried language

iii. juniper fuse

Collaborations

An interdisciplinary project, my collaborators have included piano tuner Carsten Holmlund, electronic engineer Francesco Bigoni, programmer Domenico Villani and producer Simon Mariegaard.

I collaborated with Piano tuner Carsten Holmlund in creating the Microtonal Prepared Piano. It was important to carefully map my tuning system into Carsten’s tuning software - the Reyburn CyberTuner. We relied on our own ears in marking the “perfect ratios” - just intonations - based on their “perfect” or non-beating acoustical properties. In meshing the perfect ratios with the Gamelan pentatonic mode we partly relied on a reference tuning provided by Pianoteq software.

Researching spatialization, I’ve collaborated with Francesco Bigoni and Domenico Villani in creating both a prototype magnetic pickup rig (definition) as well as MAX patch (definition) for controlling spatial movements of 4-8 sound sources.

My most essential and fruitful collaboration has been with producer, Simon Mariegaard. We’ve worked together in the areas of mixing, production, transducer research and re-amping.

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