Zach Herchen

I know it’s not hard for a computer controlled piano, but this is pretty awesome.

Found on Reddit. Video on YouTube.

Above is a piece called Years by Bartholomäus Traubeck. From his project page:

A tree’s year rings are analysed for their strength, thickness and rate of growth. This data serves as basis for a generative process that outputs piano music. It is mapped to a scale which is again defined by the overall appearance of the wood (ranging from dark to light and from strong texture to light texture). The foundation for the music is certainly found in the defined ruleset of programming and hardware setup, but the data acquired from every tree interprets this ruleset very differently.

There’s some great info about it on the Creative Applications Network website.

Shoutout to Boing Boing where I first saw the video.

I just came across this article via Fark.com:

So, what does a rock band have to do with deaf people? Many may assume that there is absolutely no relationship. Deaf people cannot hear anything. Music is something you hear. But, that’s not completely true. If music was only something to hear, you’d never buy a concert ticket. Deaf people experience music through sign language. Some signers have become artists themselves. It is obviously different than the audible experience, but to the deaf, it is enriching. ABC News recently aired a story on this very issue.

The video above is Paul Raci a Foo Fighters song in ASL. Video from YouTube.

It’s been too long since I post something fun, so here’s people playing jazz for cows.

Video from YouTube.

Video from YouTube.

From YouTube:

New York by New York threw an indie-rock-trivia event last night, and it was the first time host Zach Galifianakis had left Other Music in days, so intense was his preparation! Somehow, he found time to start a talk show and interview indie-rock impresario Michael Showalter.

Produced by Drillteam Media. Written by Zach Galifianakis and Michael Showalter. Video by Jonah Green.

I met up with my friend (and talented opera singer) Charity Tillemann-Dick today and realized that I never blogged about her double lung transplant story. It’s truly amazing that she has recovered and returned to singing.

Also, if you haven’t heard of TED, it’s an incredible yearly conference with several side conferences now. Check out other videos. Be amazed.

Video is from TEDMED 2010.

From the YouTube page:

Robert Schneider (The Apples in stereo singer/producer) practices using the Teletron, a modified Mattel MindFlex toy that uses EEG sensors, to play a Moog analog synth with his thoughts.

I want one!

Video from YouTube.

Boing Boing had a neat post last month about Papa Sangre, a video game with no video. Instead of video, the game generates binaural audio on the fly.

From the Papa Sangre website:

Papa Sangre is a video game with no video. It’s a first-person thriller, done entirely in audio by an award-winning team of game designers, musicians, sound designers and developers. We’ve created an entire world using the first ever real-time 3D audio engine implemented on a handheld device. Which was BLOODY HARD.