<leaf piece <leaf piece concept
Accelerated version of the accompaniment video for Leaf Piece (15x performance tempo, above). Each flower represents a key center related to Eb major/Ab lydian, and their sizes are scaled to reflect the ratio between Eb (the first flower) and the key center’s tonic pitch (in order of appearance; Eb, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F, G, Ab). The flowers’ “bloom time” is also scaled to reflect these ratios. Note that the flowers (crocuses, courtesy of Roger P. Hangarter) have six petals and a central pistil, an apt metaphorical representation of a diatonic key center with a tonic pitch (the pistil) and six other scale degrees (the petals).
The max/msp/jitter program for Leaf Piece (below) is designed to provide maximum freedom for the improviser to explore a predetermined series of tonal areas while supplying a simple set of accompanying triadic drones and narrative video.
The triad drones, triads in various inversions but always triggered in 1-5-3 order timed to reflect the rational relationship of the triad (4:5:6 for major triads, 6:5:4 for minor), are time scaled then sent to a reason synthesizer
(below center and right) in the triad_noteout subpatchers (below left) in the blue area of the patcher. For expressiveness and nuance each pitch of the triad is manipulated differently and semi randomly using line and ctlout objects.
The video processing part of the program is in the pink section of the patch. Here each successive movie’s size, position, and rate of playback are controlled via the flower subpatchers (below).
First a metro object, scaled using information from the main coll object, advances the movie frame by frame. Then another metro is activated which controls a drunk object that animates the movie.
The composition’s timing and pitch cues are stored in a coll object in the green area of the patcher. These cues are used to control both the drones and the video. When timing cues are reached information from the fiddle~ object is compared to a pitch class from the coll object.
When the expected pitch class is “heard” by fiddle~ a new section begins, and a new line of data from the main coll object is sent to the audio and video subpatchers.
