Electrifying Opera, Amplifying Agency. Artistic results. reflection and public presentations (PhD)

Kristin Norderval

Exposition of PhD research for PhD fellow at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Academy of Opera, Kristin Norderval. This artistic research project examines the artistic, technical, and pedagogical challenges of developing a performer-controlled interactive technology for real-time vocal processing of the operatic voice. As a classically trained singer-composer, I have explored ways to merge the compositional aspects of transforming electronic sound with the performative aspects of embodied singing. I set out to design, develop, and test a prototype for an interactive vocal processing system using sampling and audio processing methods. The aim was to foreground and accommodate an unamplified operatic voice interacting with the room's acoustics and the extended disembodied voices of the same performer. The iterative prototyping explored the performer's relationship to the acoustic space, the relationship between the embodied acoustic voice and disembodied processed voice(s), and the relationship to memory and time. One of the core challenges was to design a system that would accommodate mobility and allow interaction based on auditory and haptic cues rather than visual. In other words, a system allowing the singer to control their sonic output without standing behind a laptop. I wished to highlight and amplify the performer's agency with a system that would enable nuanced and variable vocal processing, be robust, teachable, and suitable for use in various settings: solo performances, various types and sizes of ensembles, and opera. This entailed mediating different needs, training, and working methods of both electronic music and opera practitioners. One key finding was that even simple audio processing could achieve complex musical results. The audio processes used were primarily combinations of feedback and delay lines. However, performers could get complex musical results quickly through continuous gestural control and the ability to route signals to four channels. This complexity sometimes led to surprising results, eliciting improvisatory responses also from singers without musical improvisation experience. The project has resulted in numerous vocal solo, chamber, and operatic performances in Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the United States. The research contributes to developing emerging technologies for live electronic vocal processing in opera, developing the improvisational performance skills needed to engage with those technologies, and exploring alternatives for sound diffusion conducive to working with unamplified operatic voices.

KRISTIN NORDERVAL

Electrifying Opera, Amplifying Agency:

Designing a performer-controlled interactive audio system for opera singers

HOME / REFLECTIONS | MAPPING & PROTOTYPING | SPACE & SPEAKERS | PRESENTATIONS | ARTISTIC RESULTS

MAPPING AND PROTOTYPING

Mapping is deciding what functions a controller should control, and testing it through prototyping. The videos here range from the earliest prototyping trials with a wireless HotHand MIDI ring and a single channel looper in Max/MSP, to a rehearsal with a later prototype using Genki Wave MIDI rings to control multiple parameters in 4 channels together with a MUGIC controller used for spectral freeze and spatialization. The trio with Jan-Bas Bollen and Peter Van Bergen demonstrates the complexity and challenges of performing with multiple gestural controllers, each controlling a different custom built patch in Max/MSP. The two solos document different strategies for interaction with the EVII (Expanded Vocal Improvising Instrument). A conductor-like approach, (gesture controls the sonic results) and a task approach (the sound is generated by the movements of the task, in this case playing Long String Instruments.) An audio recording of an improvisation with Miguel Frasconi demonstrates possible compositional strategies that the current mapping in the EVII affords.

MuseumNacht, Studio Loos, Den Haag, NL 02.10.2022 / Constraints - Improvising Trio with three gestural controllers (excerpt)

Kristin Norderval (Genki Wave Rings), Jan-Bas Bollen (LEAP), Peter Van Bergen (Mi.MU glove)

MuseumNacht, Studio Loos, Den Haag, NL 02.10.2022

FIrst use of optional pitch shift parameter (at 5´20")

Oslo National Academy of Art, Main Stage 09.04.23

rehearsal, processing & playing the Long String Instruments

Prototyping in 2019: testing the HotHand wireless MIDI ring with Helena Schuback. The HotHand controls a patch in Max/MSP that samples into a single buffer. Roll triggers the start of sampling and controls sample length. Tilt controls feedback percentage.

Norwalk-3 - Miguel Frasconi & Kristin Norderval

Duo improvisation recorded in Norwalk, CT, USA, Dec 29, 2022.
Kristin Norderval: voice & gesture-controlled laptop,
Miguel Frasconi: glass & analog electronics

In this improvisation I started sampling with the volume down on the channel I was sampling into. Bringing the volume up a minute later, revealed the surprise. I also worked with long samples as structural elements. The soundfile is below.

Click to hear:

Prototyping in 2022: Amanda Schoofs and ETHOS percussion.

Genki Wave MIDI rings control multiple parameters for vocal processing. The MUGIC motion sensor is mapped to spectral freeze and spatialization

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Kristin Norderval - Electrifying Opera, Amplifying Agency. Artistic results. reflection and public presentations (PhD) - 2023