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Selected Lectures and Cources |
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The History and Aesthetics of Electroacoustic Music
=annual course=
Basic annual lecture course on music, technology and composition. Includes the overview of history, aesthetics, acoustics, psychoacoustics, techniques and practical aproaches of electroacoustic music and interactive arts.
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Nonlinear History
=12 hours=
Reflecting on history and evolution of music and technology we often consider it as a natural progress, both, unwavering and endless.
However trying to “zoom” and analyze the history in details, we often find the sequences of closely related concepts and inventions, which appear as a sort of genetic progression, in fact, having no causal relationship, being developed by individuals, completely isolated from each other, often almost forgotten. The linear view on the history can't explain these facts as well as their relations with the known history and most recent cultural trends and ideas.
In this lecture series, partialy based on my own historical archives, I make overview of almost forgotten history, proto-ideas and proto-instruments, historical treasures, genius foreseeing and prescience, which has outstrip their time.
My intention - to analyse the complex dynamics and relationships of the early concepts and ideas, to
give good examples of real creativity, to explore how to get out of the "cultural fractal" of contemporary culture, i.e. out of cliches and stamps, libraries and data bases, back to the nature of sound and roots of creativity.
> Francis Bacon's New Atlantis (1624);
> Russian Futurism, Nikolai Kulbin and the concept of Free Music (1907-1916);
> Italian Futurism, Luigi Russolo and the concept of Art of Noise (1916);
> Walter Ruttmann and the concept of Cinema for Ears (1930);
> Nikola Tesla and idea of resonance (1910-1920-s);
> Leon Theremin: overview of main inventions (1919-1960-s)
> Leon Theremin’s eavesdropping systems and the art of vibrations (since 1945);
> Leon Theremin: Music and Gesture (1930-s);
> Body movement and gestural control over sound;
> Nikolai Bernshtein and concept of Alive Motion (1930-1950-s);
> Alexei Gastev, his concepts, poems and projects (1920-s);
> Arseny Avraamov and the Symphony of Factory Sirens (1920-s);
> Arseny Avraamov and Ultrachromatic Music (1910-s);
> Avraamov, Scholpo, Tsihanovsky and invention of Painted Sound techniques (1929);
> Paper Sound: Nikolay Voinov and his Nivotone instrument (1931);
> Evgeny Scholpo and his Variophone instrument (1930);
> Arseny Avraamov and his Welttonsystem (1930);
> Boris Yankovsky and his Vibroexponator instrument (1932);
> Boris Yankovsky’s “syntones” and spectral mutations in early 30-s (1932-1939);
> Evgeny Murzin and ANS synthesizer - proto-Metasynth in 30-50-s.
> Historical parallels: computer music and spectral mutations (1980-s);
> Acoustical paradoxes. Reasearch and music by Jean Claud Risset (1960-80-s);
> Works by Paul Demarinis (1990-2000-s);
> Don Garnett and sounds of space from the University of Iowa.
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Forgotten Future.
Selected archeologies of art and technology in Russia 1907-2007
=10 hours=
This lecture series is mainly based on facts from my historical archives.
I make overview of almost unknown history of Russian inventions and early creative concepts, proto-ideas and proto-instruments similar to the most recent cultural and technological innovations, historical treasures, foreseeing and prescience, which has outstrip their time.
> Russian Futurism, Nikolai Kulbin and the concept of Free Music (1907-1916);
> Leon Theremin: Music and Gesture. Overview of main inventions (1919-1960-s);
> Body movement and gestural control over sound;
> Nikolai Bernshtein and concept of Alive Motion (1930-1940-s);
> Alexei Gastev, his concepts, poems and projects (1920-s);
> Arseny Avraamov and the Symphony of Factory Sirens (1920-s);
> Arseny Avraamov and Ultrachromatic Music (1916+);
> Avraamov, Scholpo, Tsihanovsky and invention of Painted Sound techniques (1929);
> Paper Sound: Nikolay Voinov and his Nivotone instrument (1931);
> Evgeny Scholpo and his Variophone instrument (1930);
> Arseny Avraamov and his Welttonsystem (1930);
> Boris Yankovsky and his Vibroexponator instrument (1932);
> Boris Yankovsky’s “syntones” and spectral mutations in early 30-s (1932-1939);
> Evgeny Murzin and ANS synthesizer - proto-Metasynth in 30-50-s (1936-1958);
> Leon Theremin’s eavesdropping systems and the art of vibrations (since 1945).
> Historical parallels (1907-2007).
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Proto-Tools: Painted Sound techniques in 1930-s
=5 hours=
This lecture series is mainly based on unpublished facts from Smirnov's historical archive.
> Painted Sound - proto-digital tools of 30-s;
> Avraamov, Scholpo, Tsihanovsky and invention of Painted Sound techniques (1929);
> Paper Sound: Nikolay Voinov and his Nivotone instrument (1931);
> Evgeny Scholpo and his Variophone instrument (1930);
> Arseny Avraamov and his Welttonsystem (1930);
> Boris Yankovsky and his Vibroexponator instrument (1932);
> Boris Yankovsky’s “syntones” and spectral mutations in early 30-s (1932-1939);
> Evgeny Murzin and ANS synthesizer - proto-Metasynth in 30-50-s (1936-1958);
> Historical parallels: works by Walter Ruttmann and Oscar Fischinger (1928-1930-s);
> Painted and Graphical Sound in recent developments. |
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Leon Theremin and his inventions
=5 hours=
The goal of lecture series is to represent wide spectrum of Leon Theremin's inventions, not just well known theremin. It is based in part on Smirnov's reconstruction of several lost or unavailable devices, including the famous "Buran" eavesdropping system, capable to monitor the sounds by means of the detection of the vibration of windows.
> Leon Theremin (1896-1993);
> Invention of the theremin - 1-st commercialy available electronic musical instrument (1919-1920);
> Leon Theremin's TV system "Dalnovidenie" (1925);
> Music and Colour experiments (1923-30-s);
> Music and Gesture: invention of the terpsitone (1932);
> Body movement and gestural control over sound;
> Sound and Rhythm: invention of the rhythmicon (1932);
> Overview of other important inventions: harmonium, polyphonic theremin, spectral analysis tools, audio thermal delay lines, time stretching devices, audio compression tools, piano testers, monitoring of piano pedalisation, noise reduction and restoration systems (1920-1960-s);
> Leon Theremin’s eavesdropping systems and the art of vibrations (since 1945).
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Good Vibrations lecture series
=8 hours=
As usual these lectures accompany workshops on theremin sensors and "eavesdropping".
The goal of lecture series is to inspire participants to develop unusual ideas by representing wide spectrum of inventions, unique ideas and concepts by different scientists, artists and inventors. As a result, we will get some amount of unknown history, learn how to create sound by means of wind and air flow, flame, water, body movement and gesture, light, paper, wax, clay, graphics and painting, electromagnetic fields, space radiation etc.
> The basics of musical acoustics. Sound wave and spectrum;
> Psychoacoustics and paradoxes of perception;
> Ecological aproaches in composition and analysis;
> Rudolf Koenig and his acoustic instruments and tools (1860-s);
> William Du Bois Duddell and the Singing Arc(1899);
> Nikola Tesla and idea of resonance (1910-20-s);
> Leon Theremin: overview of main inventions (1919-1960-s);
> Leon Theremin’s eavesdropping systems and the art of vibrations (since 1945);
> Musical applications of eavesdropping techniques;
> Alexei Gastev, his concepts, poems and projects (1920);
> Arseny Avraamov and the Symphony of Factory Sirens (1920-s);
> Music and Colour experiments (since 1910-s);
> Painted Sound and related developments and inventions (1929-1930-s);
> Evgeny Murzin and ANS synthesizer - proto-Metasynth in 30-50-s. (1936-1960-s);
> Concepts and works by James Tenney and Alvin Luciere (1960-2000-s);
> Acoustical paradoxes. Reasearch and music by Jean Claud Risset (1960-80-s);
> Yanis Xenakis and Stochastic Music;
> Paul Demarinis and his works (1990-2000-s);
> Don Garnett and sounds of space from
the University of Iowa.
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Musical Applications of Eavesdropping Techniques
=5 hours=
In these lectures, which accompany a specialist audio workshop, I introduce research by Leon Theremin into small scale vibrations of objects using laser monitoring systems, thermo- delays, interferometers, and other sensors as well as different approaches to measuring and monitoring variations in the vibrations of sound waves, light beams, temperature, air flows, mechanical vibrations to produce unusual feedbacks, cross-media interferences and interactions which can be used in musical composition, performance and installations.
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