‘What may have happened...’

augmenting the sense of sharing in a decentralized improvisation

Research by Johan van Kreij • Institute of Sonology

Introduction

The origin of this research lies in rethinking the setting in which two groups of musicians in two different locations are involved in an improvisation. Having seen and heard documentation of such sessions, it occurred to me that something was missing. Generally speaking, an important aspect in the dynamics of an improvisation is how communication among musicians is taking place, and how it is continuously changing, rapidly, without hindrance. Such communication is a vital aspect for the musicians themselves, as well as for the audience.

Despite some technological enhancements to the described setting would be proposed—mostly in the form of high bandwidth connections for audio and video—this lack of communication was an apparent and somewhat disturbing feature. It led to imagining the opening of additional channels of communication, beyond the typical audible and visual. The type of communication over such channels wasn’t evident at that moment and something that needed to be researched. It was obvious however that these channels had to be opened deploying easily accessible technology, such as smartphones. This would allow any musician to personally connect to another—or a few others—freely; that is, based on volition.

It became clear that his research was going to focus on creating just such a software which would provide such options. The way I imagined this software to work, or the benchmark that I set, was that it should allow dynamically to create connections among musicians in an improvisation even when being in different physical spaces. And this should happen just in such a way as can be experienced in a regular improvisation, where through musical activity a mix of agreement, opposition, acknowledgement, confirmation, friction, etcetera, can be sensed.

A graphical representation of this situation may look like the above image. At one point in an improvisation, musicians may experience being in a joint activity with one or some others—as indicated by the colors—as a dynamic organizational element within the larger context. And this element could consist of musical contributions across the spaces—two in this example. And musicians may be aware of other such elements proposed by others.

Thinking through the situation, it occurred to me that recordings of such improvisations may exhibit elements or features that happened, which not at all may have been clear to all or any participants while it occurred. Or, if one musician would give importance to one such specific element or feature, others could experience the meaning of such an element in a very different manner, not alone due to the fact that signals travel across the internet. Shortly said, the divergence in experiencing of what actually happened—the activity in which everyone was involved—would even be greater than that in a regular improvisation, about which opinions can deviate greatly between those who participated, or attended.

This led me to choosing as the title of the research “What May Have Happened”. Moreover, it was clear that making recordings in the various spaces was going to be important. On the one hand simply for documenting and evaluating this research, on the other hand, combined recordings would produce a different type of artifact altogether; a report of something that never really happened. And this opened artistic possibilities. Improvisations would be imaginable where participants would (voluntarily or out of necessity) have to close the channels for audio and video, but would still be able to join in something collectively based on the alternative channels of communication. Only the combined recordings would then for the first time shed light on ‘what may have happened’.

There was one specific experience in the process of starting this research that is worth mentioning. German Greiner, at that moment a student in the one year course offered by the Institute of Sonology, one day shared a software that he had created, with the name Distant Touch. With the use of a mobile device this software could be activated in an internet browser once pointed to this web page. The software made it possible to create simple sounds by moving a finger over the screen. Horizontal and vertical position were mapped to pitch and timbre. The experience was enhanced with visuals, showing the position and activity of touch.

The unique characteristic of the software, was that one user/musician was paired with another one, creating a situation in which two persons—unacquainted, in different locations, invisible to each other—would get involved in a joint activity. This was possible because the software provided in being able to hear and see the other persons activity, in addition to the sounds oneself made. As soon as someone would leave, another person in the waiting room would be assigned to become a partner.

The extraordinary of this experience was that during some of the session in which both partners were willing to spend a bit of time to get acquainted to each other—both moving a finger over the screen—the relationship between them developed and deepened, at a rather intimate level. It was at the same time exciting as well as a bit eerie. This software, although musically speaking rather limited, was successful to the extent that in this situation, technology allowed for a novice experience; two persons being in touch from both sides of a piece of glass.

next: Research Steps