擊樂實驗室

Program Overview

Sounds originating from the material world can comfort our senses, but sounds from beyond this world can help us find our true selves. “Sounds from beyond this world” refers to the feeling and the melody we experience after we process and internalize the music we hear. The guidance garnered from music can be analogous to the images of divination gleaned from Tarot cards. At times, they can provide us with the inner guidance we need, giving us the strength and clarity to follow the answer and direction that we sense from our hearts.

Some have said that music is worth a thousand words. Taking inspiration from this vision, we endeavor to recount the melodic sounds of the Tarot using the sounds of percussion instruments as a medium and leveraging its diverse characteristics—from soft to strong—in synergy with a chorus of other instruments.

Healing is the theme—and mission—of this experiment. Only by fully accepting ourselves and listening to the inner voice in the depths of our hearts can we be truly healed. Combining the art of Tarot with the resonance of music, we hope that through the mystic tapestry woven by the intangible, euphonious notes, those present will experience a rare moment of silence amidst their busy and bustling daily lives, a moment where they can pause and take in who they are, gazing at the person deep inside.

Program Overview

Physical contact, burst of sound
Drops of perspiration in the arena cry out the very essence of life

The premise of this performance involves four musicians and four professional wrestlers in an arena making music.

Beginning from the sounds reverberating in the arena, this group of performers sets off to explore new possibilities. Their art can be divided according to the various stages of wrestling: training (analysis of actions and movements), stage entrance (introducing the wrestlers), and competition. In each of these stages, the performers endeavor to try different combinations of performance styles.

The four percussionists are given the task of interpreting the unique characteristics of the four wrestlers in the arena and then displaying their personal style as music through their percussion performance. The percussion instruments give the characters a brand-new take and interpretation. The professional wrestlers also challenge the steady rhythmic nature of percussion music through their emotions and the sounds they make, ultimately overcoming and even breaking down the conventions of wrestling and the linear format of wrestling competitions and musical performances. Instead, as these musicians and athletes interact, their performance depends on the sounds created by others and their synergy.

Program Overview

Multipulse is composed of a group of percussion enthusiasts from the National Chung Cheng University. While they are not music majors, music is their passion. With backgrounds in disciplines such as the sciences, engineering, and liberal arts, this group of students came together because of music. Passionate about music and full of dreams, they hope to create change and the meaning of life through music.

Put forth by psychologist Carl Rogers, the phenomenon field is a psychology concept explaining that the world we know originates from our subjective experience. Deriving its inspiration from this concept, this project emphasizes that our experiences and our behaviors in this world interact through a stimulation and feedback loop. Simulating this feedback loop, this performance uses a combination of sound created using a variety of devices and objects, motion capture technology, and digital music, while seeking to exhibit our subjective experience through music.

This show is conducted via an interactive single performer model. The venue is the stage, and the audience are participants as well as performers. All the feelings, experiences, and actions are chosen freely and thus all unique. On this stage, there is no such thing as a good or bad performance. Join us and experience a novel yet interactive musical performance!

Program Overview

What is a prophecy? Do you believe in fate? Are you traversing the boundary between reality and dreams?

Whether it is a prophecy or your inner voice, by hearing and believing, you begin to have expectations, imaginations, and perhaps even begin to clear up doubts about life. Yet, could this be a kind of limitation in and of itself?

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a young man who was passionate about music and wanted to use the melodic sounds of his music to communicate with the world; he wanted everyone to hear the sound of his “inner voice.” Just like most people, he soon encountered difficulties and obstacles. Just to survive in the big city, he had to work extremely hard; the daily cost of living alone was so burdensome that he found it hard to carry on. Gradually, he forgot what he wanted to say to the world. He could no longer find or sound out his inner voice…

Through the performance “Mogic-The Prophet” the Phonon Percussion Ensemble strives to answer questions about life and ignite the stage with fireworks through a performance featuring percussion and magic. Through an entire year of deliberating, brainstorming, working together, and experiencing failure, the ensemble explored the possibilities of fusing these two types of artistic performances together. Humorous and exquisite, this performance is bound to be a feast for your eyes and ears!

Program Overview

"ReDefine" is an interactive performance based on machine learning. It uses the Max/MSP program as a control system and turns Midi signals into CV (voltage control) to automatically strike and drum objects, thereby creating an organic musical interface. At the same time, this interface also trains percussion instrument systems on how to recognize parameters such as pitch, tone, texture, and more. The system then uses the collected data to develop further possibilities for live performances, including collaborations with actual musicians.

About Machine Learning

Through machine learning and training, we facilitate interactions between percussionists and the interface system to showcase the dual effect of “Human x Machine” in the performance. Machine learning involves more than giving single, unconditional commands; it is a result of decisions based on data analysis. This type of learning is a kind of response based on experience, and as such, the results are often beyond our expectation. During the performance, changes occur organically and the process is variable and random.

Integrating performers into the machine learning interface and the instantaneous musical signal algorithms, this performance endeavors to present a brand-new sound and visual experience for both the audience and the performers. When the machine becomes a partner to the artists and provides visual and auditory feedback during the act, it adds an impromptu nature to the music, providing rich variations while showcasing an original language unique to the performers and creators.