ASCENT

Formation | Maya Verlaak

Performed by Karin Jakobsson (piano)

Notes from the composer:

‘My compositional process started by asking an untrained singer to sing each note of a given scale. She was asked to sing each note until it was correct, and because she never had any music lessons, she experienced a very long but interesting process until reaching the correct notes. I recorded her (long) process and implanted the process in a self-build computer application. In the performance of Formation the pianist is required to route each recorded sung pitch closer to the target pitch. This task is accomplished by performing chords written in a maze-structured game-score and in interaction with the self-build computer application: The computer-microphone analyses the played chord and makes the sound of the voice travel through a maze. When the pianist has not quickly enough placed the voice in the correct tuned position, the computer will complain with the word “No”. The maze is structured in relation to the process of the untrained singer and the game will therefore make it equally difficult for the professional pianist the reach the goal of tuning the voice.’