Piano and technology

Technology is a huge part of our everyday lives thus it seems only fitting to incorporate it in one’s artistic expression.

Technology in music can refer to any number of things including electronic instruments and synthesisers, tapes, sound processing and manipulation, circuit bending and many more. I became fascinated with the possibilities of electronic music and sound manipulation ever since I moved to the Netherlands in 2008 and feel there is a beautiful (and ugly!) array of sounds to explore and music to make combining the two.

Piano with live electronics

My Master’s thesis was on the art of performing on Piano with Live Electronics, focusing on the development of classical pianistic traditions and techniques and expression through gesture in this medium. I have worked on a number of pieces in this subgenre from works for processed piano to works where the computer “improvises” alongside. Some videos below.

“Subito Piano” by Jorrit Tamminga (extract)

Wheel of Fortune by Orm Finnendahl

Piano and live coding

From working on pieces for piano and live electronics my interest in Piano and Live Coding came about. The primary differences between the two are that here the coder(s) is as equal a performer as the pianist and the improvisatory nature of Live Coding often leads to less conventional means of notation, if at all. Currently, this is one of my main interests and I am involved in a number of projects. Find out more here.

Off<>zz Soundcloud

Bilbo Offzing (Off<>zz)

Other electronics

I have also performed with ‘other’ electronics both playing a work for piano and tape/soundtrack or improvising with electronic musicians. For me the biggest challenge with the latter is that electronic musicians come from a different background and have contrasting aesthetical ideas about music but this makes the collaborations always even more exciting. Below a video of an improvisation with Tijs Ham and Akim Moiseenkov from the Oorsprong Curator series (Amsterdam)