Sitting at a dinner table where nobody speaks your language can be frightening. Trying to stay engaged in the foreign social scene can be a difficult task when everybody speaks Italian and you’re trying to process a million words with the pathetic tourist vocab you learned on the plane ride over. Luckily, during my two months in Venice, I had my portable paint brush to relate to the people around me. I have found that my loyal iPhone helps me stay in the game when otherwise I would be tapping my fingers waiting for something to happen. In this case, not knowing the Italian language, the Brushes app helped me stay confident by giving me the universal language of colors and shapes. Brushes made me feel productive and “part of the group,” which is a state of mind most of us need to feel happy.

Brushes is an art tool for the iPhone. Using the multi-touch screen and a finger, I was able to paint portraits of my new acquaintances and share them. The paintings have stories, ones that I will remember forever.

The process of meeting strangers in the foreign land was simple: walk up to a group of friendly looking people, pull out the iPhone, launch Brushes, and paint. Eventually, someone might notice my subtle glances across the screen and become curious in what I was doing. Or, if nobody seemed to realize what I was doing, I would flip the phone around to reveal the finished painting. With a grin on my face, I would wait for their reaction. I found that the responses were almost always positive, sometimes leading to further conversations, drinks, private parties, free dinners, and even romance!

Once such story involved a very wealthy Italian business man who happened to be the subject of one of my paintings. We were in one of the many small coffee shops in Venice. After showing the man a finished portrait of himself, he invited me out to dinner, at his expense, for the next three nights.

I also met my girlfriend Marija by using Brushes to break the ice. I asked her if I could paint her and she responded with delight. I knew she was the one for me.

The Brushes app has helped me relate to the environment around me in ways that I would have never imagined. All of the paintings I created in Venice were intimate conversations with my subjects whether they realized it or not. The simple dialogue of translating what I was seeing outside into the painting inside was so potent that I am still able to remember each and every moment I experienced during these dialogues.

Some of the paintings took seconds to start and finish while others took an hour or more. I found that the Brushes app was particularly absorbing on train rides around Europe, the bar and nightlife scene, and moments of downtime. The internet connectivity of the iPhone allowed me to send the paintings instantly, via email, to the person being painted, which was fulfilling for me. I was also impressed with the export feature which allows each and every brush stroke to be replayed in chronological order, producing beautiful animations of the whole process.

My two month stay in Venice was absolutely amazing and the Brushes app and the iPhone helped me document my experience and connect with the locals in ways that were comfortable for me as an artist. If you’re like me, you usually have a pen and paper in your bag, but sometimes, when you need them most, they are no where to be found! Not true with my cell phone. Somehow, that little gadget always stays close. I have to admit, the iPhone and Brushes duo seem like the perfect match for me.

The article above was written for VeryTogether.com.

Post from: The Odd Musical Instrument Collection

Post from: The Odd Musical Instrument Collection

From Kyle’s post:

I created this instrument to experiment in the combination of the organic sound qualities of a didgeridoo with the advanced signal processing capabilities of modern computer programming and sound synthesis. This custom built didgeridoo features externally mounted modules that allow the performer to process and manipulate the sound of the instrument in real time. All control data is transmitted wirelessly via blue tooth and is controlling several audio processes created in a custom-built software environment.

Bravo Kyle for such elegant form and innovation! I’m sure your instrument will inspire many. Kyle has posted enhanced didgeridoo details on his website. Thanks for uploading your video to the media portal and sharing it with the world!

Post from: The Odd Musical Instrument Collection

Created with the popular iPhone application, “Brushes,” these individual representations of life indicate a true understanding of the context of human existence. Translating, using what tools we have, can change the world and make those around us smile.

The work above is a product of an ongoing creative partnership between Tyler White, Fabio Carrera, Venice 2.0, and the Santa Fe Complex.

Post from: The Odd Musical Instrument Collection

Oddstruments has just received it’s first video upload! The video “Voyage” has been uploaded by our first user, Pronoblem. I am absolutely delighted! Also, new audios have been uploaded by users Phil_Mantione and jamesbrody – “White pink regular and unknown” and “ZAZON” respectively. I am especially impressedwith the quality of media that has been uploaded by our users thus far!

Post from: The Odd Musical Instrument Collection

What would your world be without sound? Would the absence of all sounds (the incessant bustle of cars – the delicate buzz of flies over a bubbling river) change your emotional state of being? Can we understand our world more completely if we remove sound, all the while noticing the differential in our realities? I propose, for one day, we remove sound from our lives. We will wear earplugs, earbuds, earmuffs, or similitudes to create a vacuum in our perceptions to be analyzed emotionally and intellectually. If this does not work, we will try something else.

Post from: The Odd Musical Instrument Collection

I like what I see so far and I hope the creator over at Vulpestruments continues to experiment with homemade instruments.

Post from: The Odd Musical Instrument Collection

Interestingly, each cell has conditions of existence: “Every cell has a unique DNA. Only the ones that are musical fit enough survives. If the surroundings doesn’t meet up to its conditions – too noisy, too quiet or no distinct pulse – the cell dies and is reborn with a new, hopefully better, set of DNA.”

Since the cells communicate exclusively with audio, the experiment is scalable to any size. Visit the Bacterial Orchestra website.

Post from: The Odd Musical Instrument Collection

To happiness,

Tyler

Post from: The Odd Musical Instrument Collection

Did you know that playing the digeridoo has been proven to help breathing problems such as obstructive sleep apnea?

Post from: The Odd Musical Instrument Collection

The mbira is classified as a “lamellophone” which is the term used for all fixed-at-one-end vibrating tongue instruments (e.g. your cactus).

Does your cactus have what it takes to be a lamellophone? Give it a whirl but be careful as I hear they can be surly and quite sharp when confronted for answers.

Post from: The Odd Musical Instrument Collection

Sulk no more! Not all of Orlando’s paintings are heavyhearted. Orlando creates “musical paintings” where the music is birthed from the painting itself, serving a bilingual phenomenon for the patron’s consumption.

[See post to listen to audio]

I was fortunate enough to spend an afternoon with Orlando at his Santa Fe studio discussing his artwork. Orlando usually paints within a narrow color spectrum, only varying from the core by several degrees. His reasoning being that there are less contrasting colors for the eye and brain to “work out,” therefore creating robust and encompassing flavors that are pleasantly harmonious. Orlando wondered if the same concept could be applied to the construction of music. Would the notes hold together like color?

Orlando took his query to the canvas by composing his music visually, based on colors, shapes, and sizes. Each of Orlando’s colorful notes are made up of five qualities.

Color corresponds to pitch, shape is loudness, size is duration, over-bars and under-bars are sharps and flats respectively. Position, along with the other variables, are determined by chance: the roll of a die and the plucking of a card. These notes were then stretched and embellished into listenable art via the musical production pipeline of composer Paul William Simons.

Without the code on the backside, the painting’s auditory reconstruction would be impossible:

Orlando is currently working on a series of paintings representing the accomplishments of several physicists, scientists, and prominent thinkers (Einstein, Archimedes, Schrödinger, Gamow, and others). Check out Orlando’s website for more paintings.

Thank you Orlando for making the world a more interesting place to explore!

Post from: The Odd Musical Instrument Collection

The Oddstrument Collection presents Andrew’s odd instrument improvisation utilizing the sonic properties of a plastic cup (liquid removed) resonator and an elastic band (stretched).

Post from: The Odd Musical Instrument Collection

American Public Media has produced a playable-online collection of Harry Partch musical instrument inventions for your extreme enjoyment!

Some of my favorite instruments (that you can play by clicking the links) include the ever so versatile “Spoils of War” and the bamboo hive that is “The Boo.” Play the instruments first, then read about who this eccentric fellow was…

Harry Partch was an American instrument inventor, innovator, and composer who is known for his valuable contributions to the advancement of music theory and his original thinking regarding the relationship between music and speech. “Partch invented and constructed instruments that could underscore the intoning voice.” Wikipedia

Harry was an obscure figure. During the Great Depression, Harry spent 10 homeless years wandering the country on trains and hitchhiking, often transcribing the overheard pitches of strangers’ conversations in music notation in his journal. Harry Partch’s musical instruments can be classified as aesthetically captivating sculptures, full-body workout machines, and versatile tool boxes for creating incredibly original sound. Besides designing more than 23 new musical instruments, Harry is known for writing music using the notes from his 43-tone-scale rather than the standard 12-tone-scale used in Western music.

Photos from the Harry Partch Information Center

Post from: The Odd Musical Instrument Collection

The data is sent through a Max patch which processes the sound and “uses physics formulas to simulate air flow, creating a pumping effect” to play a virtual harmonica. Watch the “Sonic Banana” Harmonica video and visit Eric Singer’s website for some more interesting experiments!

Post from: The Odd Musical Instrument Collection