Research workshop with Viktoria Nikolova

In my recent artistic research I have been examining the artistic, technical, physical and pedagogical challenges that classically trained opera singers face when using interactive voice processing technologies. I am particularly interested in the relationship of the performer to the acoustic space, the relationship between the embodied acoustic voice and processed voice(s), and the relationship of the performer to memory and time when improvising. One of the core challenges has been to design and develop an interactive performer-controlled vocal processing system that accommodates mobility and allows the choice making of the performer to be based on auditory and haptic cues rather than visual ones. In other words, a system that allows the singer to control his or her own sonic output without needing to stand behind a laptop.

In this stage of my research I will teach Viktoria Nikolova the use of the current prototype for performer controlled live processing that I have developed using Genki Wave rings to control a MAX patch.  I will observe how Viktoria´s use of the system varies from my own and what her responses are to the aleatoric surprises that the system generates as an improvisatory partner. This research will inform my approaches to improvisation, composition and interactive instrument design.