From October 24 – November 2, 2010, I joined the STEIM orientation workshop #106 in Amsterdam. Coming to STEIM I was mainly interested how I could get rid of “looking at the computer screen while playing live music with the computer”. As I have been playing around with alternative input devices (Wii, Arduino boards with light sensors,…) for some time I was interested how to develop meaningful mappings between input and output and how to find an personal musical language using the computer. Also, I was wondering if I would encounter a nice existing technology which would allow me to easily combine saxophone playing with computer playing without the need to switch between the both.
Luckily, the workshop addressed all of my original interests and I enjoyed great lectures and demonstrations by the artist and STEIM staff. However, my personal highlight of the workshop was to meet and improvise with the other course participants (Erik Spanger, Matt Wakefield and Abdullah Benabdallah). Exchanging experiences, opinions and of course jamming together added a nice “active” component to the theoretical parts of the workshop. The common improvisation on Friday afternoon was especially fruitful. Feel free to have a look…
