WYPYM - Were you a part of your mother?

WYPYM - Were you a part of your mother? CHIARA PERCIVATI, Royal Conservatoire Antwerp, University of Antwerp, Belgium CLAUDIO PANARIELLO, Independent researcher, Italy Additional Key Words and Phrases: Augmented instruments, Feedback systems, Co-creativity, Music Human-Computer Interaction, Performance ACM Reference Format: 1 PROGRAM NOTES “WYPYM - Were you a part of your mother?” is a performance for augmented bass clarinet and feedback system. The feedback-augmented bass clarinet—a NIME instrument previously created by the two authors—consists of a miniature microphone placed inside the instrument’s body and a speaker cone placed on its bell. The software implementation, written in SuperCollider, is based on a network of feedback delay lines fed by the sound from the internal microphone of the bass clarinet. The input undergoes self-regulating mechanisms using adaptive criteria and is then sent to the speaker cone on the instrument’s bell, re-entering the microphone. As such, the input is shaped by the instrument itself. The augmented bass clarinet and feedback system become a single unity that shapes itself over time. WYPYM is a musical exploration of this singular unity and of the relationship between the performer on the augmented bass clarinet and the feedback system. Both the performer and the feedback system are in a constant state of adaptation, navigating between different regions of precarious balance. 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION This project is a long–term collaboration between the two authors, respectively a clarinetist and a composer. The collaboration started in 2020 as part of the project Different Tubes 1 , aimed at investigating clarinet preparation, in its widest sense, through collaborative practice. The project evolved into realizing a DIY (Do It Yourself) augmented bass clarinet based on feedback, and exploring its potentialities through the performance of “WYPYM – Were you a part of your mother?”, a music piece developed especially for this augmented instrument. The augmented bass clarinet consists of a miniature microphone placed inside the body of the instrument and a speaker cone placed on its bell (see Fig. 1). The software implementation is written in SuperCollider 2 and it is based on a network of feedback delay lines fed by the sound incoming from the microphone placed in the body of the bass clarinet. The input is processed undergoing self-regulating mechanisms using adaptive criteria and sent to the speaker cone 1https://www.ap-arts.be/en/research/different-tubes 2https://supercollider.github.io/ Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Copyright remains with the author(s). Chiara Percivati and Claudio Panariello. 2024. WYPYM - Were you a part of your mother?. 1, 1 (September 2024), 5 pages. Music Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression NIME’24, 4–6 September, 2024, Utrecht, The Netherlands 2 Percivati and Panariello Fig. 1. The first prototype of the feedback augmented bass clarinet. placed on the instrument’s bell, thus re–entering into the microphone. As such, the input is shaped by the instrument itself. The augmented bass clarinet and feedback system thus become one single unity, that shapes itself over time. Since its presentation to the NIME community (see [ 2 ]), the instrument has undergone improvements, both in terms of hardware and software. Regarding hardware and instrument design, after experimenting with different neck extensions realized through CAD and 3D printing—enabling the insertion of our first microphone into the instrument body and a more refined tuning of the instrument, as shown in Fig. 2—we decided to focus on the use of an internal microphone 3 to capture the bass clarinet sound (see Fig. 3). This not only ultimately addressed previous issues with tuning, but also enhanced the playability of the feedback-augmented bass clarinet, aligning it more closely with traditional performance practices. Consequently, this augmented instrument is potentially approachable by a larger number of performers. Improvements in the software, such as in-depth control of the audio routing and a feedback calibration routine, have addressed issues related to the freedom and playability of the system that the authors experienced while working on the previous model. A new version of the GUI, which provides the performer with access to these features, is shown in Fig. 4. 2.1 The performance: ”WYPYM - Were you a part of your mother?” ”WYPYM - Were you a part of your mother?” is the name given to the piece performed with the feedback-augmented bass clarinet. The title is a nod to the paper with the same name [ 1 ], in which the author discusses if a mammalian embryo/fetus is a part of the gestating organism, or merely contained within or surrounded by it. This topic, apart from 3We used the intraMic: http://www.vigamusictools.fr/docs/intraMic_Manual_EN.pdf WYPYM - Were you a part of your mother? 3 Fig. 2. Close-up of the 3D-printed neck extension, enabling the insertion of our first microphone into the instrument body and allowing for a more refined tuning of the instrument. Fig. 3. The current prototype, using an internal microphone. 4 Percivati and Panariello Fig. 4. Screenshot of the GUI (developed in SuperCollider) that is shown to the performer. The first part of the interface enables the performer to have full control over the audio routing (without the need to code in SuperCollider). The second part of the interface gives control over the performance. all of its biological and physiological considerations, resonated immediately with our project: what is the relationship between the augmented bass clarinet and its performer? Where do we set the border between the sound produced by feedback and its interaction with the environment? And finally: who is actually part of this environment? ”WYPYM” attempts to tackle these questions from an artistic perspective, representing a music exploration of the relationship between the performer on the augmented bass clarinet and the feedback system. The speaker cone establishes the first loop of feedback with the microphone placed within the body of the instrument. The performer manipulates and modifies this initial feedback loop while playing. Conversely, the performer is also heavily influenced by the sounds sent back into the instrument by the speaker cone. Both the performer and feedback system are in a state of constant adaptation, moving between different regions of precarious balance. In so saying, the collaboration between the performer on the augmented bass clarinet and the feedback system is integral to the creation of the final outcome. The performer’s actions and the system’s responses are inextricably linked, to the point that it becomes impossible to separate the performer from the computational system. The performer and the system co-create the final performance, with both playing equally important roles in shaping the outcome, highlighting the unique nature of this type of performance, where the traditional distinctions between performer and instrument, and between performer and composer, are blurred. WYPYM - Were you a part of your mother? 5 3 PERFORMANCE NOTES The performance could take place in both Tivoli Vredenburg and other local Utrecht stages. If it is performed in a larger space, such as Tivoli Vredenburg, the piece will require amplification to be fully appreciated. Materials that we will bring ourselves: •laptop with SuperCollider, to run the patch; •intraMic; •speaker cone 5”; •amplifier for the cone; •cables. We kindly request NIME to provide the following materials and props: •2 cardioid microphones, with stands; •cables (for the mics); • sound interface, compatible with: MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017) Processor 1,8 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 with mini display port; •mixer; •2 speakers; •multiple socket. Props and furniture: •piano chair; •music stand. 4 MEDIA LINKS •Audio, full score, and SuperCollider patch are available at the following link: http://tinyurl.com/yeynyysn ETHICAL STANDARDS This work was carried out under the research programs ”Different Tubes” of the University of Antwerp/ARIA and ”Digital Tubes” of the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. REFERENCES [1] Elselijn Kingma. 2019. Were You a Part of Your Mother? Mind 128, 511 (July 2019), 609–646. [2] Claudio Panariello and Chiara Percivati. 2023. “WYPYM”: A Study for Feedback-Augmented Bass Clarinet. In Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression.