Event Details
X AVANT New Music Festival
Saturday Oct. 24
A NEW WAY OF HEARING: MUSIC AND AUDITORY RESEARCH
Co-presented with Array and SMART Lab
Location: The Music Gallery
Matinee: Doors 2pm, concert 3pm
Tickets $20 regular, $15 member + senior, $12 student
A New Way of Hearing presents contemporary repertoire performed by members of the acclaimed Array Ensemble in collaboration with the Science of Music, Auditory Research and Technology (SMART) Lab based at Ryerson University. The experimental research involved in this event focuses on a newly developed device called the emoti-chair, which was developed at the SMART lab and the Centre for Learning Technologies at Ryerson University.
The emoti-chair is a sensory substitution technology designed to provide greater access to music for all people. This is accomplished by converting sound into vibrotactile information dispersed across the back of the chair. The basic design presents discrete bands of frequency as independent points of vibration. Deaf listeners experience structural and emotional aspects of music in a manner that resembles the experience of hearing listeners. The experience for hearing listeners can best be described as sensorially immersive.
There will be six chairs at the concert. We hope that many of the audience members will be able to spend some time in the chairs, both in listening to live performances by the Array Ensemble, and recordings.
The program includes a world premiere of a work for solo percussion, composed and performed by Array Ensemble percussionist Rick Sacks, as well as three compositions closely associated with Array. Array Ensemble members will perform Standing by Jo Kondo, La Vie de Boheme by Michael J. Baker, and Claude Vivier’s Pour Violon et Clarinette.
