Luca

Guidarini
Università degli Studi di Pavia, Cremona – Dipartimento di Musicologia e Beni Culturali
Conservatorio “G. Nicolini”, Piacenza – Dipartimento di musica e nuove tecnologie
luca.guidarini@gmail.com +39 3383684289 Via Volturno 10/A, 26100 Cremona, Italy

An allegory of nothing in particular

(an exploration of what goes missing when looking for a meaning)
For five amplified instruments with conductor, feedback systems, and machine-learning algorithms

1. Short presentation

An allegory of nothing in particular (an exploration of what goes missing when looking for a
meaning), for piano, bass flute with DigitAize sensors, clarinet (also bass clarinet), viola with
DigitAize sensors, double bass, conductor with Xth-sense biosensors, feedback systems and live
electronics, is a piece that explores the particular musical cases in which a conceptual
nothingness acquires a sense of meaningfulness in its aesthetic representation. The title and
the concept of this piece are derived by the book An Anthropology of Noting in Particular, by
Martin Demant Frederiksen. In An allegory of nothing in particular, the instrumental and
technical apparatus becomes one single self-communicating machine, that changes its inner
sonic behavior depending on the physical gestures of the conductor (whose act as a performer,
between the musicians), the movements of the DigitAize instruments, and the timbral situation
of the piece. Four feedback systems are put in communication by the machine learning
algorithms, and their behavior is then orchestrated by the ensemble. Those feedback-based
instruments consist of the flute and the clarinet (creating a feedback inside the mouth of the
performers and the body of the instruments), and on the viola and on double bass (creating a
feedback with the f-hole resonances of the instruments). One layer of the electronic sounds is,
then, an AI-based manipulation of organological features of acoustic instruments, mediated by
the physical gestures of the performers; the second layer of the electronics consists of the
gestures of the conductor, amplified in their muscular movements with the Xth-sense
biosensors, and manipulated though the machine-learning system.

2. Tech rider

- Laptop (MacBookPro intel i9 w/Max8)

- 2x DPA-like microphones
- 2x Lavallier microphones
- 2x Transducers
- 2x mini speakers
- 2x Xth-sense biosensors
- DigitAize viola
- DigitAize bass flute
- Transducers amplifier
- Mini speakers amplifiers
- Instruments microphones (akg414 or similar)
- Mixer (w/sound interface)
- PA (at least 2.1)

The composer will provide to the Laptop, Xth-sense sensors, DPA and lavallier microphones,
Transducers, mini speakers and their amplifiers.
3. hardware routing