Robert van Heumen Composer Improvisor Laptop-Instrumentalist Sound-Designer
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Moving On Second

Moving On Second (2015, variable length)

An algorithmic* composition by Robert van Heumen for Sauer Organ and SuperCollider**

'Moving On Second' follows a 4-chord progression derived from the aria 'In Deine Hände' from the J.S. Bach cantata 'Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit', by accident pitched one semi tone up from the original. For every chord two semi-random notes are chosen for both the Sauer organ and the SuperCollider software to play. Other semi-randomized parameters include pitch bend, length and timing of the notes and playback of samples. The Sauer Orgen is controlled by the computer through the MIDI protocol. No player is involved. It was premiered on June 3 2015 during Orgelpark's symposium 'Bending Baroque'. The goal with this composition was to demonstrate the fascinating sound world one get achieve when combining acoustic pipes of an organ with 'digital pipes' of the computer: a hybrid electro-acoustic organ. More information in Robert van Heumen's essay in the Orgelpark Research Paper #5/1: The New Baroque Organ.



'Moving On Second' is inspired by John Zorn’s Redbird and Mike Ink’s Polka Trax.





Below a version for SuperCollider and Tubes, recorded at STEIM on March 31 2016:




If you like this, you might also like The First Law of Kipple.

(*) Algorithmic composition is the technique of using algorithms to create music. Algorithms (or, at the very least, formal sets of rules) have been used to compose music for centuries; the procedures used to plot voice-leading in Western counterpoint, for example, can often be reduced to algorithmic determinacy. The term is usually reserved, however, for the use of formal procedures to make music without human intervention, either through the introduction of chance procedures or the use of computers." (Wikipedia)
(**) SuperCollider is a sound programming language.
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