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Telematics - Day 10 (21 Aug 21)

Today was the last day of the internship. I was kinda better from what happened yesterday and I wanted to celebrate the last day of this Telematics internship with the rest!

We began with some general reflections made on the whole then each of us shared about our personal experiences. I was reflecting alot about what happened the previous day during the performance and one thing that impacted me was the advice that Matthias that gave. Matthias told me during one of the days that sometimes how I could contribute was by not playing - in essence, perhaps sometimes in the overall sound, it could help with not having my piano part contributing, creating a different texture and combined sound

I was thinking about the technical difficulty that resulted in me not sounding and others hearing me clearly. Perhaps the technical difficulty happened for the reason that sometimes I should not be heard and this is precisely the way I can contribute too.

This was precisely what I shared during the reflection during the last day. I also shared how I learnt much during this collaboration - adaptive listening, finding freedom within a set of bound rules, and truly collaborating with other art disciplines, not just music but with visuals and dance. I hardly had the opportunity to collaborate with visual artists and this widened my interdisciplinary experience.

At the end there was an ‘open mic’ session where everyone could unmute on Sonobus and contribute. It started of with the idea of only contributing one at a time and if someone else unmutes, the person would interrupt your playing and he/she takes over the mic in the end. However, we soon just started unmuting and joining in the fun. It was a truly enjoyable and fun open mic session where we all contributed at different times.

On the whole, these 10 days were an eye-opening experience for me where I learnt a lot and made many new friends/connections. I’ve learnt a lot of collaborative work and interdisciplinary skills and I will never forget this internship experience! :)

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Telematics - Day 9 (20 Aug 21)

Today was the day we presented our piece! The logistical set up was rather extensive as I heard that the audio had to be routed from the source (group’s sound), to Dirk’s computer (Zoom), then to the respective school’s system where the audio will be mixed again.

When it was my group’s turn, we did the usual set-up, Siu Hei gave the planned introduction and told the audience they could move around the space to experience our performance from different perspectives. When we begin, I noticed that there was a lag in the signal - it took half a second for a signal to show in Sonobus after a pressed a key. I tried to troubleshoot the issue however I had already started playing, hence I just hoped that my group and the audience could hear my playing.

During the performance, I noticed that Siskin came in with some awkwardness and not really in sync when I started. I suspected something was up. I could hear that when I played with Niran, we weren’t in sync at times and there was always some lack of flow and continuity. As a result, we couldn’t get to the climatic part that we rehearsed the day before. I noticed Siskin did not really follow my music as she danced.

After the performance, I felt quite disappointed and sad, not being able to achieve the same performance I wanted and rehearsed the day before. I texted my group mates on Discord and they added that they could only hear me intermittently and not all the time. This was when I knew the bug on my side was an issue. However, my group still said the performance was good and that my piano part still could be hear at times and it was good as well.

While I was frustrated, sad and disappointed, others did try to comfort and assure me. Niran said that the performance was still good and that there is always next time. Siskin also said that it’s alright and I don’t need to get upset. Afiq even mentioned that his sound got disconnected halfway during his performance.

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Telematics - Day 8 (19 Aug 21)

As I had to be in school today, Dirk has kindly booked B2-29 to have today’s session in. Shout out to Yi Wei who helped me set up my wired connection to Lasalle’s network!

I personally felt today’s run through was the best we ever had. We had full strength today again and we were all very familiar with what we had to do. Setting up in the room took some time for me as I had to connect the room’s keyboard to my AI and manage other logistical issues. Nevertheless, I eventually managed to be connected to my group on Zoom and Sonobus.

I really enjoyed today’s run through/improv as we were all familiar with what our roles were and what the group’s task on a whole was. I really enjoyed my interaction with Siskin’s dancing along with the light effects she made with her lamp. As mentioned yesterday, I was paired with Siskin such that she would turn on the lamp and begin her movements when I come in (according to the staggered entries planned).

I had a great time improvising with Niran as well! During CME classes Niran and I would often team up in a sense to improv together and we did so during this run through. At one point in our piece which was the climax, the musical synergy between the both of us was really great! We both were doing a circle of 5th progression where I was playing lots of arpeggios up and down the register while he improvised a heart-wrenching melody.

Siu Hei also suggested involving the audience in our piece especially those physically present at Tokyo and Zurich’s side. He also wanted to encourage the audience to participate by typing in the chat box what their emotions/feelings/thoughts might be at any point during the piece. Those physically present could feel free to find any spot in the room to sit at to fully experience the piece. They could walk around where everything is flexible and fluid just like water. We decided that the audience should have the freedom and liberty to move about and be wherever they want during the performance.

I had a very enjoyable time today although the aircon in B2-29 was blasting at me, it was in my opinion, one of the best sessions I’ve had with my group!

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Telematics - Day 7 (18 Aug 21)

Today’s session started with our group eventually performing our piece. Siu Hei actually gave some suggestions for each aspect of our performance. He suggested how we could further explore the theme of ‘loneliness’ and ‘separation’. He suggested the dances show points of connection visually during the performance, but appear to be unsuccessful. Each dancer could be paired with one musician so when more dances get onto the ‘stage’, the audience can understand when the music gets more complex with more layers. He also suggested that the audience could move around the space, in the case for Kyoto and Zurich to fully experience the performance from different point of views. The audience could also type in the Zoom chat box to reflect their feelings towards the piece.

I agreed with Siu Hei and added in how when Siskin turned on the lamp, it could act as a shift in mood and how the sense of connection could be the climax of the piece, only to drop back to loneliness. I suggested that the 3 dancers/actors could stagger their entries. Miza suggested that the dancers/actors could play with the distance between themselves and the camera to signify the desire to leave the loneliness and connect to others beyond us.

After performing, I felt our performance did manage to encapsulate some of the above ideas. The following feedback was given:

- How can music come closer to the movements of dancers?

- How can the music play a more active role of leading as well, instead of following the dancers

- How can the dancers connect more with each other also?

Looking back, I was very impressed at how Siu Hei and Giulia had to shift to different venues, but they still made use of the space and props/equipment they could find in the room to produce the same visuals. Over the past few days, they had to move to 2 different smaller rooms, and even be outdoors during one meeting, where Siu Hei decided to use his phone as the screen as he walked around his school which provided the visuals. I was very impressed by their commitment to the piece and their flexibility.

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Telematics - Day 6 (17 Aug 21)

Today was the day where the 3 groups had to present our ideas. My group continued to rehearse what was planned yesterday and we also had Niranjan on board with us from today onwards. Having the flute sounds from Niranjan truly opened up another sound word and texture. With him as the lead instrument now, I had a great time improvising with him, acting as accompaniment below his lines and imitating his lines in a call-and-response manner at times.

When it came to the last hour for presentation, our group did not manage to present as there wasn’t enough time. We watched the other group’s performances and were told to present tomorrow.

One group’s presentation that I enjoyed was group 2′s presentation. Their group’s idea involved Peter being the conductor for the group, employing some soundpainting techniques as well as some cues on his own to direct and shape the piece. One thing I really enjoyed was the resulting visual and sound effect produced. Peter told us to arrange him at the center of our Zoom screen with the musicians and actors at specific positions around him. The group also arranged their Zoom tiles in the same orientation. How he conducted was by pointing at the musicians to play and I found this being a very creative and clever idea. The group also involved visual effects and shown below and I was very attracted to the visual effects of the colours, lighthings combined, on a whole.

Some feedback from the lecturers were:

Mattias being very inspired by the performances we put up, how we from the various disciplines found a way to work together and how different disciplines combined, with the use of visual art, even Adobe Photoshop used as an element of narrative, along with music and acting.

In Improvisation, it is important to come up with your own language together as a group.

Benjamin also mentioned that boundaries gave rise to more creative potential.

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Telematics - Day 5 (16 Aug 21)

Today we started out process of working on an improvisatory piece that we will be perform on Friday. As mentioned by the lecturers earlier, this week-long task would be self-driven. The only instruction given to us was to come to together and discuss what and how we could contribute. The rest of the task - theme, narrative, length, mood, will be decided by us.

As my group was rather awkward yesterday as no one really took on the role to lead and consolidate ideas, I decided to do so today. For our group, we decided to just improvise with what we have and proceed from there. Knowing how each member could roughly contribute in terms of sound, movement, actions, we started the improv off being similar to yesterday’s mini-performance.

Xinying would come in first with some pads sounds on her keyboard, along with some arpeggiator effects. After she has set the mood and the key, I would come in moments later with simple accompaniment in the same range as her. Knowing that Ezekiel is the solo instrument, I decided to give him space in the higher register. However, I did not hear him enter as the lead instrument, so there were times I took on that role instead. While the music went on, Syaz, Siskin, Siu Hei and Giulia decided to improvise with acting, dancing and visuals respectively. Siu Hei had the idea of having projecting what his phone could capture, something from his point of view, onto a screen or surface. I personally found that very interesting. Siskin suggested a brilliant idea of using a lamp and placing her phone in a position where it could capture the shadows of her hands, blocking out the lights, something like how shadow puppets work. The effect was splendid and very beautiful

The result was a very soothing and calming piece, along with many visuals, movements light effects. What we did that day truly lifted my mood and was very therapeutic indeed. I must say that it made me realise an interest in me that I’ve always had. Since young, I found myself very drawn to lighting and visual effects - chandeliers, effects of light passing through various mediums, light displays, even ceiling lights in furniture shops that had cool effects to them. From today’s experience, it tapped on this interest I had in light and its effects, which brought back memories and was cathartic in its way. I truly enjoyed our first improv together.

^ A photo of us in the midst of setting up for a rehearsal.

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Telematics - Day 4

We were allocated to different and bigger groups today. Our ask today was to collectively come up with a structure, or set of instructions, or a score that another group will perform. Also, Japan was hit with heavy rain storms and a landslide, evacuation alerts were sent out to some areas in Kyoto. Since Seika is located in the mountains, the students from Seika Uni faced potential danger and the students joined in the session form their homes, without their instruments. Hoping the situation is better on their end of the globe! D:

My group today included, Siskin, Xinying, Ezekiel, Siu Hei, Syaz and Guilia. For the preparation of our score, Siu Hei suggested using a platform called Miro. It was a very interactive and interesting platform where all of us could draw, type and insert pictures/gifs/videos into that blank canvas. Somehow, someone started the discussion with a chicken and from then on, our entire score was about chickens and we started adding memes and jokes onto that score. Our contributions to this score were half fun and half deliberate as we wanted to throw in fun aspects and see how the group performing would interpret it. This planning stage was very amusing.

Below is an image of our score:

The group that performed our score was Afiq’s group and boy, did they really have fun and brought out the various parts of our score.

Our group performed the following score:

We were quite confused as to how we could approach it as it was very vague, save the several short lines that didn’t really make much sense haha! During this section our group was rather quiet and awkward as no one really led the discussion. However, all of us initiated small ideas and the rest of us followed along, and the culmination of this became our decided plan! I was very impressed with how Siu Hei thought of transferring each short line from the score on to his zoom frame with effects. It solved the issue of having to show that part of the score as well us for us to refer to it. We decided that we will do free improv where we will listen out to each other to match the mood. The mood will change every phrase. During our ‘dry-run’ in our group, we just went ahead and improv-ed all the way. This made our performance very spontaneous. Since our score was about money, we all used the score as our virtual background and we used the sunglasses filter. Someone from the group also tried taking a money note and bringing it into the zoom frame, little did we expect the filter to superimpose on the note’s face. As a result this became the ‘outro’ of our song.

Although our group was rather quiet, I’m glad how we all we willing to take in ideas and expand on them, also how flexible we were and open to others’ suggestions. It was an interesting time working on this task.

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Telematics - Day 3

Today was the first day we got allocated to smaller groups to work on a task. The task assigned to us today was to come up with a narrative that involves a crescendo to a climax. The exact point of the climax can be decided within the group. I was grouped with Afiq (yay), Syaz and Peter.

It was a very pleasant and interesting experience to work with Syaz and Peter, 2 members whom I’ve met for the first time. Syaz was very friendly and she really liked the music that Afiq and I made when we played together on Day 2. I did not expect to work with Peter but he was a really friendly chap who never fails to have a smile on his face.

At the start, we did face some slight issue - not all of us being on the same page. However, I’m glad that we all were open-minded and we could agree on a final chosen idea and storyline and for the narrative. Our narrative involved a car-crash, but played backwards, i.e., aftermath, followed by the crash itself, followed by the incidents leading up to the crash. I suggested that Afiq and I could play ‘I Will Survive’ at the start, during the aftermath, to give a contradiction to ending up in a crash. Peter had many bottles, pans, and containers which provided the non-pitched sound effects. Syaz was the main character involved in the car crash. We also decided to use virtual backgrounds, Afiq and I having a fire and sky background respectively while Syaz had a car interior background to make it seem as if she was really in the car.

The end result was very amusing and fun to watch and perform. I enjoyed the time spent working with the other 3 and am glad I’ve forged a bond with Syaz and Peter, as well as to get to know Afiq better. Syaz also mentioned in the sharing portion after the performance, how there was a sense of trust between Afiq and I. During our rehearsal and performance, both of us could not hear each other clearly due to some technical issue. However, we trust each other’s tempo and according to Syaz and Peter, it sounded perfect!! :) Really glad about this too!

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Telematics - Day 2

We were tasked to be in 2 groups and improvise as a whole group together. I must say for my group, we were all pretty shy to play out and, except for Niran who took the lead role in our group with his refreshing flute sounds. It was a nice experience but as what one of the lecturers mentioned: we could afford to not be too polite the next time we play, in the sense where we could be more daring in bringing across different sounds and showing different styles.

[samuelneo21757]

Telematics - DAY 1

Today marks the first day of the Telematics, Shared Campus internship! This internship involves students from Lasalle, Zurich and Seiko University (Kyoto). I was looking forward to this internship as it’s about improvisation and what more, I’m getting the opportunity to collaborate with students from overseas!!

Improvisation has always been a thing in me since young - started out in church improvising as I played for choir and eventually now for worship services as well. I truly hope to be able to work with students that share the same passion and put together a piece/presentation that showcases our interests and abilities.

We were asked to introduce someone else, based on what we could find out from watching their introductory portraits. I was very encouraged by the portrait by Yuri and Laura. 

Yuri mentioned how she has never improvised on the piano before and this was her first time, and it was there where she found the attraction of improvisation! She also mentioned how she plays from her heart, which is something not very common to find in musicians - how often do we genuinely play from our heart, or are we distracted by other things, notes, technicals, voicing, etc.? Laura also did a simple demonstration of dropping different coloured inks into water and watching them mix and combined. She likened this to how improvisation is really the experimenting of different things, combining them and getting a different end result each time, something I truly resonate with as well. Hope to be able to work with them!!

Here’s a photo of my set-up that I will be using for the entire internship. 

I decided to use my digital piano as it will ensure a clean sound and the ability to record anytime I want, regardless of what is going on in the background. It’s hooked up to the mixer and fed into Logic Pro. The signal is routed out from Logic via Blackhole 16ch to Sonobus, the application where we will be making music together. My Macbook is also directly connected to my router as a stable and direct internet connection was required.

Here’s another photo of the Zoom meeting for Day 1!

Signing off ~

Sam

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Final Reflections on this Project

A photo we took where I invited Estelle and Jamie to watch my performance during the Piano Voyage 2021 concert.

Overall, this project was an enjoyable experience and I felt that the three of us approached it at a fairly high level of inter-discipline. I appreciated how we were doing our best to look past our own disciplines adopting a viewpoint of how our three disciplines are considered as art. Many of our discussions and ideas were very inclusive as we always ensured that each of our industries would benefit from our plans and solutions. I felt that it was important to establish this inter-disciplinary perspective right at the start as everything else would be looked at through this lens.

The presentation on the actual day went well and our IP classmates liked our ideas very much. I felt that the three of us brought across the main issue, our respective problems faced and the chosen solution with its limitations very effectively.

I am fortunate to have Estelle and Jamie as my IP group and am grateful for the hard work and ideas that they have contributed to this project. Meeting both of them helped shed new light and perspectives on other disciplines and industries that come under the term - arts. I appreciate the many conversations and discussions that we had and will be sure to keep in touch with them, even after this project is over.

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Future Opportunities

If granted opportunities in the future where our group's idea could be tested and implemented, our group thought of the following actions to take:

- We could do a pilot of the scheme in selected neighbourhoods before expanding to other parts of Singapore such as private estate areas, or even other countries. Some examples are the bigger heartlands areas such as Bukit Batok, Yishun, Hougang and Bedok

- Our plan could supplement Singapore's arts education where we have the ability to cater to the interests of all generations by providing a variety of content for various disciplines.

Hence, there would be greater vibrancy and increased support in local arts scene and creative industries.

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Reflections on our Plan

Our group did acknowledge some limitations in our chosen idea:

 - The structure of some public housing in Singapore might not be that ideal and suited for big projected projections due to space constraints. The way some blocks are arranged might also result in some apartments not having a clear view of the projections.

 - It might be hard to have projections in landed property such as condominiums as it would require much more clearance with authorities. Certain private housing areas also may not be supportive of having projections. This would result in these areas not being included in this scheme.

 - Some residents may not appreciate the projections and it may come as a form of light pollution and a disturbance to them.

 - Singapore’s censorship laws may restrict certain media from being aired due to cater to the ratings for each age group; media rated R21 might not be allowed to air as those under 21 would have viewing access to that media.

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Preparing our Presentation

We each had some aspects of the presentation to do - Estelle handling the designing and mock-ups while Jamie doing up the slide designs and write-ups. Jamie suggested that I could compose some music as a background track to accompany the slides that presented our chosen plan. After much consideration on my part, I felt that playing music only during that section of the presentation would seem rather abrupt and distracting. Furthermore, the presentation was through Zoom and it would be harder to control the volume of the music while speaking over it.

Reflection:

This probably was the part where the project became slightly less inter-disciplinary as our presentation did not require much aspects of music that I could contribute.

As a result, I decided to help both Estelle and Jamie out with their parts. I did have some background on design and presentations hence I could find images and graphics for the mock up. I also helped out with some elaborations and suggested ideas for the slide designs. I was relieved that I could manage to contribute something to the slide preparations.

There was one small aspect where I could contribute some music to the presentation. In the mock up, I suggested having a non-static visual where the projections would show various performances, exhibitions and media. I contributed a short 5-second excerpt of an orchestral performance and came up with a video to inserted into the mock-up. Although not a huge aspect, I was glad I could offer something from my own discipline.

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Program Schedule

The community can find out what is been aired during the week via the electronic displays found in lifts.

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Mock-up of the Sky Projections

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Creative Process - Part II

Having identified current measures to better showcase the arts and bring it to the community, our group decided on the following plan. Project Art at Heart was then conceived and it involves a three-prong approach:

Sky projections

Similarly to that shown in the American television series ‘The Good Place’ on Netflix, our group found the inspiration to implement sky projections as the main aspect for our plan. There will be drones that project performances, exhibitions, shows and arts in the sky. Each neighbourhood will have 2-3 sets of drones that project at different areas within the neighbourhood.

In the event of another lockdown, the arts is now brought to the doorstep of the community and residents can enjoy arts in the comfort of their living rooms. All they have to do is to look out of their windows to enjoy the projections. Residents can also engage in discussions based on the current art that is being shown which would increase interest levels.

The Good Place, Netflix

Considerations:

- We originally thought of projecting on a physical screen but felt that it would involve too much logistics to do so. A physical screen would also not be effective on days with bad weather. - In collaboration with MCI and Govtech, we decided that audio from only selected streams will be played out by the drones as not everyone would want to tune in to the what is being aired via the projections.

Mobile App

As mentioned that only select streams will have the audio played out by the drones, the audio for the rest of the projections can be accessed via an app.

Streams from previous days can also be watched via the app on mobile devices if they were missed.

Considerations:

- We initially thought of implementing Virtual Reality (VR) into our app. However, we realised that it might defeat the purpose of the projections as the community might tune in via VR and would not want to view the streams via the projections. The residents will unlikely engage in discussions with each other if they were to be confined by themselves in VR.

Community Interaction

The app will also include classes/courses that the public can subscribe to. Interactive activities will be aired along with the streams and these activities can be supplemented by an array of Subscription plans.

Subscription plans are courses where the community can subscribe to. Relevant materials for the courses will be delivered to recipient’s homes.