Week 1 _ First Experiments with Strudel
✦ Sketch
- Fisrt Experiment Sketch
- What was your creative intention?
Firstly, after learning about Strudel in the first class, I believe it is very suitable for making electronic music. Therefore, I searched for many reference music pieces on music software to see how to write beautiful music using simple rhythm patterns (convenient for coding).
After determining the most basic drum set, bass, and melody, I began to try self-learning some effects and visual effects through the official website’s tutorials. Thanks to my previous experience with songwriting, understanding the effects is not too difficult for me, but I still want to praise the tutorials on the official website. I have used many official samples to improve my music piece.
- What was one technical challenge that was particularly fun or difficult, how did you approach or explore it?
I think the most difficult part is how to write a rhythm that both meets my expectations and is simple code. Because my mind is filled with the form of staff notation, it can be seen that my code is actually very complex, almost just a transcription of staff notation, and its aesthetics may not be very good.
“<[[f#1@3 f#2] [f#1 [<f#2 e2> <e2 f#2>]]]*2 [[[d2@3 d3] [d2 [d3 c#3]]] [[b1@3 b2] [b1 [b2 c#3]]]]>
As you can see, I used a lot of “[]” to group the notes, and I wondered whether there is an easier way to make this rhythmic pattern.
✦ Reading Reflection
Introduction to Live Coding
- In your own sentences, what are 2-3 concepts or ideas that stood out to you?
I really like one sentence writing in the chapter: “Language comes alive through the body, through communication with others, and through writing systems.” When thinking about live-coding performance before, I didn’t really get the specificity of it. After reading this chapter, I suddenly got that live-coding is a new way of communication between the performer and the audience. With a new way of showing the making process of arts and music, audiences’ reactions to it become part of the performance too.
- Share one question or critique that emerged for you while reading. This could be something you’d like to discuss further in class, or an idea you’d like to challenge.
Just like the chapter said, live-coding is actually a process of making music. Because I have some foundational knowledge of songwriting, the process of coding music is easy (right now) for me. However, how can we guarantee the live-coding music is approachable for everyone? Even if they have no experience in making music?