The Bucket System

Summary

A systems work for inter-musician signalling in an ensemble of improvisers. As it shapes the interactions between musicians, a particular kind of interplay emerges.

Supported by

The Bucket System is a result of a collaboration with American improviser, composer and improviser Gino Robair, which was realized through a series of guest residencies at the Academy of Music and Drama. These residencies were financed by a special internal department grant fori international collaboration. The participation of Palle Dahlstedt and Per Anders Nilsson was financed within the research project Creative Performance, funded by the Swedish Research Council. The Bucket System is part of a series of ensemble improvisation works developed within this research project, under the sub-heading Computer-Mediated Interaction Models.

Description of project

The Bucket System is a new work centered around a computer-mediated ensemble improvisation system. It comes out of a tradition of structured free ensemble improvisation practices, a.k.a comprovisation1 in addition to influences from experimental and avant-garde music practices of the post World War 2 period. The Bucket System is a signalling system between musicians, based on a set of Keith McMillen QuNeo:s controllers as both input and output interfaces together with custom software implemented in Pure Data. It allows for a new kind of on-stage compositional/ improvisation interaction within a group of acoustic or electronic musicians. The system is designed for four or more experienced improvisers, acoustic or electronic, including the three authors, and one or more selected from other experienced improvised musicians present at NIME or featured by the organizers. Duration is variable, preferably in shorter movements with different musicians and system configurations. Please see attached PDF for a more extensive project description.

Type of work

Konsert - del av projekt; An open work for four improvisers and live electronics

Published in

Live performance within the concert series Lindblads Ande, 3:e våningen, Sockerbruket 9, Göteborg, Sweden. The work was also performed October 10th, 2014 at Artisten.