Guest Speaker: Hallvardur Asgeirsson

We have a guest talk from music composer Hallvardur Asgeirsson this Friday at midday in the MRL. 

The Vardiphone is an electro acoustic instrument. It uses self-oscillation to amplify the formant peaks of complex and simple shaped cavities. It uses resonant frequencies of cavities for possibilities of pitch and sonic material. Closely linked to instrument making is the invention of the performer, which has his viewpoint from the restraints and possibilities of his own instrument. The main drive behind the exploration of instrument making is the thought of restraints in performance and compositional possibilities. The resonating body of the instrument is not used for amplification (as in acoustic instruments) but rather as an interface and for sound production. The resonating cavities control what pitches are to sound and become a part of the interface of the instrument.

The above is a very basic and known method to color sound and similar to, for example, Jimi Hendrix ramming his Fender Stratocaster into the amplifier stack at woodstock or a guitarist using innovative gadgets such as the E-bow to feedback the strings magnetically. Halldorophones are unique for including a system for electro-acoustically feedbacking the strings and for having accurate controls to facilitate control and connectivity. As a next step, I would like to use a brain sensor as an input to modulate the Vardiphone. In this way it's possible to play a duet with the brainwaves.