The Michigan years

COMMA DESTROYER INTERACTIVE TUNER 2.0 SOFTWARE

This is software I wrote at the request of saxophone

professor Donald Sinta and wind conductor H. Robert Reynolds

as a training tool for conductors and students to visualize the "beating"

effect of out of tune notes. The software generates intervals and

chords randomly out of tune for students to adjust by ear and then test

against a reference. Further versions will implement listening to

a live instrument and giving feedback through additional source code written

in MSP. As well, several historical temperament presets will be implemented

to provide an aural reference for students.

TUNING WITH FIFTHS - A CD BASED INTONATION

IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM - (Vol. 1 and 2)

This is a CD I produced based on research I conducted

with Profs. James Tapia and Donald Sinta of the Univ. of Michigan.

We wanted a system that students could free them from the computer and

take into the practice room. Students play simple melodies, arpeggios,

drone tones and scales against 37 tracks of just-intoned fifths ranging

from E-flat 1 - E-flat 4. The reference timbre is a modified triangle

wave that models the harmonic structure of most wind instrument timbres

generated from my Comma Destroyer software. When a student practices

their note against a pure root and a fifth, the beats are easier to hear

and fix. Volume 1 has only perfect fifths, while the upcoming Volume

2 has seconds, thirds, fourths, sixths and sevenths in major, minor, augmented

and dimnisnished forms for advanced practice. The CD will soon be

packaged with an Intonation Handbook for Wind Instrumentalists

that I am currently writing.

The current price is US$20 (includes shipping

in the US) and there are discounts for bulk orders. Email sruthman@umich.edu

for more information or to order.

TUNING AND TEMPERAMENT FROM PYTHAGORAS TO

PARTCH: A BRIEF HISTORY, MUSICAL EXAMPLES AND EXCERCISES TO IMPROVE INTONATION

This is a lecture/presentation that I give to

each of the major performing ensembles and conducting classes each year

at the University of Michigan. I have also given modifications of

this lecture to the Michigan Music Educators' Conference and the regional

Conductor's Guild conference.

INTONATION HANDBOOK FOR WIND INSTRUMENTALISTS

This is a comprehensive handbook for wind instrumentalists

that I am currently in the process of writing. This

handbook will include chapters on the intonational tendencies of the major

wind instruments, provide historical information on the evolution of tuning

and temperament, performance practice of music conceived in various tunings/temperaments,

and discuss outside factors that affect intonation such as humidity, warm

up, and performance with piano, strings and fixed pitch percussion.

HAND HELD JUST INTONATION TUNER

In the prototype stage is a hand held just intonation

tuner that I've designed. This product combines all the features

of my tuning software and audio CD into a portable intonation/ear training

tool that a student can take anywhere. The specs are below.

Just Intonation Tuner Specifications:

Handheld tuner/tone generator capable of producing

up to 8 polyphonic tones.

User modifiable tone/timbre.

Playback of selected tones, intervals and chords

in a pure temperament.

User selectable tuning base key area.

Range of pitch reproduction 5-7 octaves

Rang of pitch interpretation 5-7 octaves

Display ?50 to +50 cents from equal temperament.

Input and output audio jacks.

Built in speaker/microphone.

LCD display to show exactly how many cents sharp

or flat from Equal temperament.

In Pure mode, user selects key area and

tries to make LCD read "0" based on a user defined key area.

Headphone option where user may listen to tones,

chords or intervals through headphones and have played pitch register on

the device.

Handheld Intonation/Ear Training Device:

Handheld device that outputs up to 8 discrete,

user selectable or preprogrammed frequencies.

Selection from a storage bank of scales, chords,

and intervals.

Device plays selected pitches randomly

out of tune and tutors user..

User turns up to 8 fine tuning knobs to bring

selected pitches "in tune" and beatless through pure temperament.

LCD visual reference for each tone.

Button to check reference pitches.

Device also plays preprogrammed and user chosen

chords, scales and intervals "in tune" and beatless based on

user selectable base key.

Built in speaker and audio out jack.

Électronic Performance Interfaces

EZ I/O

- The Key to my Projects

http://www.ezio.com

The EZ I/O

is a sensor interface board for use with PC, Mac, SGI, and UNIX platforms.

It provides the user with an easy and cost effective way to create interactions

between a computer and the environment with the use of attached devices.

It communicates with the computer via serial communications and also has

a USB option in development. I worked with Art Professor Michael

Rodemer, the developer of the EZ I/O, on developing a software interface

for music through Opcode's Max. Since writing the Max external people

at the U of M and beyond have been able to trigger samples depending on

how far away your hand is from a source of light... or having the timing

of a strobe change based on how fast the people around a motion sensor

are moving. Below are several projects of mine where I've used the

EZ I/O or related microcontroller technology.

Click

here for Max software page

Hoop Dances/Cage Dances:

Klang-tone

Wrenchophones:

Gypsy Pond

Music I, II, & III:

Carillon

Dances:

Selected Lecture:

"Using the EZ

I/O, Max and Sensing Technologies for Interactive Art and Music." Burg

Giebechenstein Hochschule fur Kunst, Halle, Germany.

In conjunction

with the Digital Music Ensemble's performance in the Summer of 1999 at

the AREALE '99 Festival in Germany, the ensemble spent a week in residence

at the Burg Giebechenstein Hochschule fur Kunst in Halle, Germany.

I spent the week giving presentations and workshops on how to use the EZ

I/O and sensing technologies for musical and artistic applications using

Max and MIDI.

|

Professional|

Academic

| Computer/Software Experience

| Installations/Interactive Art | Collaborations

| Compositions | Software

| Lectures/Demonstrations |

Professional:

1999 - MIDI Technology Consultant/Developer,

Present Innovations Fm7, La Pocatiere, PQ,

Canada

http://www.kamouraska.com/musique/fm7

or http://www.midipartner.com

Work including design/programming of alternate MIDI

controllers and product research and development.

1997 - Music Technology Software

Developer,

Present Freelance work and work for hire

for NIQ,Inc.

http://www.niq.com

1997 Technical Assistant

for the University of Michigan Summer

Music Programs.

1997 - 1998 Technical Consultant and Counselor,

Univ. of Michigan Summer Music Technology Camp.

1996 - 1998 Technical Assistant for the Michigan Music Educatorsí

Technology Conference.

1994 - Finale Music Notation Copyist

Present

Academic:

Winter 2000 Assistant Engineer/Intern, Solid Sound Recording

Studio, Ann Arbor, MI.

http://www.worldclasstapes.com.

Summer 1999 AREALE '99 Kunstpflug Festival, Linthe, Germany.

Performances of original works with new sensor integrated

instruments: the Wrench-o-phone

and Klang-tone.

Fall 1998 Technical Assistant and Performance Coordinator,

ICMC 98

International Computer Music Conference , Ann Arbor,

Michigan.

1997 - Digital

Music Ensemble

Present University of Michigan.

1996 - 1998 Undergraduate Research Assistant

Research on the music of Frank Zappa with the Associate Dean for

Graduate Studies James Borders at the University of Michigan

School of Music. Duties include: Research, Academic Writing, Web

Authoring, Music Copying and Musical Analysis. Research published

in

the book Expression

in Pop-Rock Music : A Collection of Critical and Analytical Essays

(Studies

in Contemporary Music and Culture, V. 2.

Computer

and Software Proficiency:

PC, Macintosh and UNIX, Macromedia Director, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe

PageMaker, HTML, Javascript, C, C++, LISP, MIDI, Common Music, Csound,

Opcode Max,

Cycling '74 MSP, Studio Vision Pro, Digidesign ProTools, Sadie, Finale,

Sound Edit 16, and Microsoft Office.

Installations:

1998 Dis-Connect!;

with Mike Chiaburu and Christopher

Peck. Canterbury House Multimedia Show, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

1998 Heavy Metal;

with Brendan Rauss.

Canterbury House Multimedia Show, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

1997 Fire!!!!;

with John Burkwall.

Fourth Avenue Gallery New Genres Show, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Collaborations

and Interactive Music Performances:

1999 Trio

for Wrench-O-Phones No. 1; with Prof. Stephen Rush,

Prof. Michael Rodemer and Christopher Peck.

Performances throughout Germany with Wrench-o-phones: a new

electronic instrument built out of PVC pipe elbows,

integrated

PIC controllers, sensors and sound chips. For various

pieces, different samples are loaded in the memory and

through embedded sensors, switches and by turning a wrench

on one end, samples are morphed, mixed and output through

built-in speakers or via external amplification.

1999 Hoop

Dances; with Prof. Michael Rodemer and Prof. Stephen

Rush.

This pieces utilized an adaptation of the octaphonic end pin

morph apparatus and performance control systems I designed for

Cage Dances. Performed in October 1999 as part of the

annual Dresden Days festival in Dresden, Germany.

1999 Klang-tone;

A percussion instrument inspired by composer Harry Partch

built out of copper tubing, twine, hammer handles, glass

bottles and industrial scrap metal tuned in a metric tuning

system of my design.

1998 Cage

Dances;

A piece conceived from the article, "The Long Boom" from

Wired, June 1998, for dancer wearing an integrated sensor

suit controlling melody, an IR/ultrasonic space "cage"

within which the dancer moved controlling lighting effects

and a string bass player improvising with the dancer's

"melody" and performing with an octaphonic end pin morph

apparatus which panned the sound of the bass between 8

speakers surrounding the audience based on the playerís

movements.

1998 Antiphony,

with Greg Laman and Mark Kirschenmann.

A piece for interactive amplified/processed brass trio,

performed at the 1998 International Computer Music

Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

1998 The Long Boom;

with the Digital Music Ensemble, Univ. of

Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

1997 - 1999 Gypsy

Pond Music I,II and III. with the Digital Music

Ensemble, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

An evolving interactive multimedia piece that is presented

each year on the School of Music pond.

1997 Carillon

Dances, with dancer Rubin Orneals.

In this piece the Engineering Diag at the University of

Michigan was fitted with a matrix of pressure sensors

(FSRís) embedded in the grass and the dancer's and

audience's movements controlled bell sequences in the new

midi controllable Lurie Carillon.

Compositions:

1999 Blues for

Stanley, for electronic tape.

1996 Shards,

for Orchestra.

Performed in March 1996 by the Kansas City Symphony.

Music

Software:

1998 Comma

Destroyer Interactive Tuner.

An advanced intonation training tool for the Macintosh

(Windows version forthcoming) for conductors and serious

music students. Developed in consultation with Wind

Conductors H. Robert Reynolds and James Tapia.

1997 JI Synth.

An intonation training application for the Macintosh based

on the pedagogy and methods of Saxophonist Donald Sinta.

1997 EZ I/O MIDI

Electronic Music Interface Object

Developed for the MAX/MSP MIDI programming environment as

control software for NIQís EZ I/O multimedia sensor

interface.

http://www.ezio.com.

Lectures/Demonstrations:

2000 "Using Music

Technology to Improve the Intonation of High

School Music Students"

Michigan Music Educators' Technology Conference, Ann Arbor,

Michigan.

1999 "Using the

EZ I/O, Max and Sensing Technologies for

Interactive Art and Music.".

Burg Giebechenstein Hochschule fur Kunst, Halle, Germany.

1998 - "Tuning and Temperament

from Pythagoras to Partch: A Brief

Present History, Musical Examples,

and Exercises to Improve

Intonation".

2000 Conductors' Guild Regional Workshop, University of Michigan

Symphony and Concert Bands and Conducting classes.

1998 - "Using the EZ I/O as

a Means for Controlling Musical

Present Parameters through MIDI"

, Multimedia 442, Interactive Art

229, and Computer Music Programming 451 classes at the

University of Michigan.

1998 "Melding

Music, Art, and Interactivity"

IMMEDIA Digital Hybrid Art Show, University of Michigan

Media Union, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

1997 "Expanding

the Interactive Possibilities of Your Music

Technology Lab with the EZ I/O"

Michigan Music Educators' Technology Conference -- Ann

Arbor, Michigan.

Selected Music Compositions

Blues for Stanley (Kubrick):

This

piece was composed as the final project for my Digital Sound Synthesis

class at Michigan. For years, I had admired Stanley Kubrick's use

of music in his films and after hearing of his passing, I wanted to write

an elegy. I used 3 sampled sources as core material for the piece:

a cadenza from a Mozart horn concerto and the themes to two 1970Çs TV shows:

Barney Miller and Sanford and Son. In MSP, I pieced

together various self-authored code as well as borrowed granular synthesis

code from people around the Internet. I morphed, convolved, stretched

and compressed the 3 samples and arranged the final product in ProTools.

I tried to imitate Ligeti-esque ethereal textures, that pervade several

of Kubrick's films, as well as capture some of the ironies between source

material and the end result while keeping a "bluesy" feel in tribute to

the great director.

(Audio CD enclosed)

Shards:

I wrote

this piece for full orchestra during my senior year of high school.

I had been studying composition with Prof. James Mobberley of the University

of Missouri-Kansas City. He was composer-in-residence at the Kansas

City Symphony and proposed that the Symphony do a concert that included

student works. I was then asked if I would write a piece for the

them and of course I agreed. This was a tremendous learning experience

that not only honed my Finale chops, but gave me an opportunity, especially

as a high school senior, that all composers dream of. So over

the next 2 months I honed my shattered variations on a simple theme and

on March 5th and 9th, Shards was performed by the Kansas City Symphony.

(Score enclosed)

The Music and Instruments

of Harry Partch

A Corporeal

performance through digital emulation, modeling and reconstruction:

Barstow:

8 Hitchhiker Inscriptions from Alongside a Highway in Barstow, California.

Why

perform Barstow?

(See the performance

on the enclosed video)

The class was introduced to the

myth

and concept of the Labyrinth with readings from Ovid and anonymous Middle

English texts (labyrinthian epic poems). The class also discussed subjective

points of resonance within the myth, in an attempt

to deepen the meaning of the myth as well as examine itís metaphorical

power and significance. The class was then asked to make an artwork, utilizing

the School of Music pond as a Canvas/Soundboard/Theatre.

A remote controlled boat carrying

a flashlight is guided through a wooden labyrinth floating upon the pond.

At four points throughout the labyrinth are totems. These totems have photosensors

attached to them that, when triggered by the flashlight from the boat,

add a unique sample to the ambient background music. The finale to the

piece is the central totem, the Minotaur. Three showings of the piece took

place at the University of Michigan School of Music Pond on Wednesday and

Thursday, October 28th and 29th. The final showing was on the evening of

the 29th, with the addition of candles floating on the labyrinth, glowsticks

and Day-Glo paint for the boat, and members of the Creative Arts Orchestra

performing live near the pond.

Ambient sound layer from the

piece.

.AIFF Audio

(2.09MB)

Education:

Fall 1996 - University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

Present Pursuing a self-designed

French Horn

Performance and Music Technology Bachelor of Music

degree through the Artist and Scholar Honors Program.

Expected Graduation: 5/00

Summer 1995 University of the South, Sewanee,

Tennessee.

Summer college music credit.

1994 - 1995 University of Missouri -Kansas City.

College academic credit during high school.

1994 - 1996 Paseo Academy of the Fine and Performing

Arts,

Kansas City, Missouri.

Diploma, Summa Cum Laude.

Academic,

Professional and Community Service:

1999 - Director

of Performance and Composition,

Present International Wind

Synthesis Association

http://www.windsynth.org.

1998 - President,

Present Univ. of Michigan

School of Music Student Government.

1998 - Vice-President

and Past-Secretary,

Present Epsilon Chapter,

Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity

1998 - Volunteer

Horn Instructor,

Present Sinfonia Lesson

Outreach Program.

1998 - Student

Panelist,

Present University of Michigan

Student Conflict Intervention

Council.

Awards/Honors:

* Artist and Scholars Honors Program,

University of Michigan .

* School of Music Merit Scholarship,

University of Michigan

* University Scholarship,

University of Michigan

* University of Michigan Club of Kansas City Scholarship,

University of Michigan

* Arnold Scholarship,

University of Michigan

* Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Scholarship,

University of Michigan

* Dean's List,

School of Engineering, University of Michigan

* Class Honors,

School of Music, University of Michigan

* 29 Most Promising Kansas Citians Under 30 Award,

Kansas City Magazine

* Valedictorian,

Paseo Academy of the Fine and Performing Arts