Interferences

What would happen if we ask a pianist to improvise by constraining them to use only four keys of the piano? Would that necessarily hinder the expressivity, communication and, ultimately, the aesthetic value of the resulting musical piece? Like in everyday games, the adding of constraints sets the ground rules with which the players can make use of their skills to cope with, cooperate, compete, or interfere with other agents (either human or not). The result of constraints can be destructive or constructive.

In this game-like co-composed piece, Rosa and Teo try to explore new ludic interactions between the human (Rosa) and machine (the Disklavier) performers. In Interferences the Disklavier continuously challenges the performer, sometimes as a playful “tickle”, sometimes as an intentional sabotaging of what the pianist is trying to build. For example, at some point the Disklavier forbids the performer to repeat patterns in their improvisation by keeping the keys pressed, so the performer can’t use those keys for a while. At some other point of the piece, the performer is asked to play a scored arpeggio, but every single key of that arpeggio is pressed, so no sound is coming out of them. Gradually, though, the Disklavier unlocks some keys to concede interspersed and unexpected sounds to the player.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsa5_9lm...