from pocket to stage, music in the key of iphone - touch screen guitar

Claire Kane Miller and Miguel hefder
Palo Alto, California, 2009—
When the director of the chamber ensemble Ge Wang came out and asked them to turn off their mobile phones, the audience was silent.
Seven other musicians dressed in black sat together.
The conductor raised his hand.
The low hum appeared as if the chamber was playing in tune.
Then the musicians began to swing their arms in a wide circle to create the ups and downs of electronic sounds.
The Stanford mobile phone band's performance on Thursday used the most unusual instrument: the Apple iphone was amplified by a speaker attached to a small fingerless glove.
Sometimes the sound is extraordinary.
Sometimes they imitate traffic on rain spots, birds, or highways.
Two performers blew into a mobile phone in a piece to stir up a virtual wind Bell.
On the other hand, the instrument expresses the personality according to the pitch, volume and frequency of the notes played --
It seems that musicians are playing and admonishing each other.
The audience did not obey the instructions and took out their iphone and ipod to record the performance.
Since the birth of the iPhone, the application of imitation instruments has occupied the top of the download list.
But the Stanford mobile band, it's avant-garde.
Avant-garde works and electronic performances of popular songs like Led Zeppelin's "Ladder to Heaven" are trying to push fourdecade-
The old field of computer music.
While computer music composers have spent hours programming mega-mainframes to compose individual sounds, advances in hardware and software have brought powerful and simple features --to-
Use Music tools on PCs and now use music tools on smartphones.
Wang Ge, assistant professor of music, led two people. year-
The old Stanford group says the iPhone may be the first instrument
Electronic or acoustic
Millions of people will carry it in their pockets.
"I can't bring a guitar, piano or cello wherever I go, but I do have an iPhone all the time," he said . ".
Professor Wang said he wanted to democratize the music creation process so that anyone with a mobile phone could become a musician.
"Part of my philosophy is that people are born with creativity," he said . "
"It's not just people who think they are artists.
In order to achieve this goal, he
A software company, Smule, has been set up to produce applications that turn the iphone into a simple instrument.
While consumer apps are not as complex as the Stanford orchestra's Custom Products, users have been fascinated by them.
The most popular Smule app, Ocarina, turns the iPhone into a flute-like instrument by blowing a microphone, touching a virtual finger hole, and tilting the phone.
Another Smule application imitates the long number.
The two programs cost 99 cents each and have been downloaded about 2 million times.
Other software companies have joined the trend.
For example, MooCowMusic has made apps that sound like traditional instruments like pianists, guitarists, organ players, and bassist.
Using a program called Bloom, which is partially created by musician and producer Brian Eno, users can click on their phone to create circular drone sounds and become music pieces.
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Stephen trentochi teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and plays bass at the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The question is whether the iPhone instrument can influence the audience from the heart like the vibration of the traditional musical instruments in the concert hall.
Advertising "The reaction of a traditional instrument is so subtle to the action and sensitivity of playing it, so it can express a lot," he said, "much more than what makes sound electronically, also more touching. ".
Professor Wang, who is still playing the guitar he learned in middle school, admitted that "there is nothing better than the cello in playing the cello.
Still, he wants his band.
It makes musical instruments, creates music and performs
The tools of the future will be invented.
While the Ocarina app is very simple and can be played easily by anyone, the Stanford orchestra is working on the potential of more sophisticated iPhone instruments and breaking through the limits of the types of music that can be made with them.
Play an instrument called "non"
Gamelan, musicians tilt their phones to create the sound of drums or bells and surround the audience, making them feel like they're in the middle of the digital age --Age drum ring
Another device uses the iPhone's touch screen.
Musicians tap different parts of the screen to create something similar to piano or R2-
D2 robot in Star Wars.
"Cell phones are in other bands across the country.
A cell phone band at the University of Michigan led by a colleague
The founder of the Stanford group will perform on Wednesday. And a big-
In a recent performance in New York, the band jazz group John Hollenbeck used a smartphone as an instrument.
Paul Lansky said: "It is too early to make any judgment on this suit. a composer and music professor at Princeton University is a pioneer in the field of computer music, but the field has recently been abandoned and has turned to traditional instruments.
"You can play wonderful music with rubber bands and bad music with Stradivarius violin.
Professor Wang said that in the future, any group of people will play music together. no matter where they are, they can form a music ensemble.
Users of Smule's Ocarina software can already listen to others anywhere in the world at the same time.
Professor Wang spoke with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra about the joint performances of traditional instruments and iPhone instruments, and he hopes to one day hold a concert with musicians and amateurs from all over the world, play their iphone at the same time.
He said the ads "hold concerts anytime, anywhere ". “Let’s jam.
"On Saturday, an article about the growing use of iPhones and other smartphones as musical instruments gave an incomplete name to jazz groups that recently used smartphones in New York performances.
It is a large ensemble of John holenbeck, not a large ensemble.
A version of this article was printed on page A1 of the New York edition on December 5, 2009 with the title: from pocket to stage, music in iPhone keys.
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