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<td><p><em>On this moment, I'm working on more information about the most
recent developments on the field of percussion and rhythms. Please come
back soon here for more information.</em><br></p></td>
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<td><h1>Song accompaniment </h1></td>
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<td><p>Music (generally a piano) is quite common for improvisers nowadays.
Most improvising actors and theatresports™ players started out
rather shy about singing on stage. But now it seems that everybody
likes to sing during improv. Most of the time that is a good thing
because it can really brighten up the show.
<br>
<br>
Generally there is a pianist who can improvise along musically and his
or hers task is to support the players in their improvised song. It is
better to avoid unexpected mood or tempo changes in this music so the
actor/singer (not always a professionally schooled singer) is not faced
with too much musical surprises. A clear structure of alternating
couplets and refrains and a distinct build up near the end make it a
lot more easy to follow along. 'Anything goes' might be the rule as
long as things are kept pleasant for the audience of course.
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<td><h1>Music building the ambiance or soundscape </h1></td>
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<td><p>The use of music to build ambiance or underline emotion is
commonplace in scripted plays and motion pictures. The impact of the
soundtrack is not to be underestimated. To test this you only have to
turn off the sound while watching your favorite movie. Most of these
movies or theatrical productions have music specifically composed for
them. <br>
<br>
The main function of music during an improvisation performance is
to sing along and possibly create a song on the fly. 'Live' musicians
seem the only answer because it must be musically possible to improvise
along and anticipate on the actors on stage. Trying to use prerecorded
music confronts us with a few practical problems. For instance: <em>How to
find the most applicable song in a few seconds?</em> And probably even more
substantial: <em>How to improvise along with refrains, couplets while
constructing the correct overall length of the song in real time?</em> Very
practical problems that can only be solved once some kind of
interactive control over the soundtrack (while it is playing and used!)
becomes possible.
<br>
<br>
Unfortunately these problems seem so specific to improvisation that
there are no useful technical solutions to this problem to date. So
there you have it: A real challenge for ImproMedia!
<br>
<br>
Recent experiments with musical underscores, suspension music and
'cliff hangers' of fixed length (the ImproSoap by Improcentrum the
Netherlands) where very succesful and inspiring. So exciting that the
need for special software to have more interactive control over the
music is already in the making!
At this moment, this software is in a very experimental stage but the
future might bring more exciting possibilities.</p></td>
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<td><h1>Would it be possible to use recorded music for improvised songs? </h1></td>
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<td><p><em>ImproMedia is investigating how to use prerecorded music, or musical fragments for improvisation performances.
</em><br><br>
The interactive requirements described above make it seem that
prerecorded music can't be made very useful for improvisation. The
drawbacks are even more apparent when the music is to be used to
accompany improvised songs. Music played from tape or from a lap top
computer is too static because the length and positions of refrain and
couplets are fixed and can't be varied as circumstances might dictate.
<br><br>We think this is a shame because prerecorded underscores and
production music can bring an improvised performance to a complete new
professional level. A level that may even be a complete new starting
point for new styles of improvisation if only these technical barriers
could be taken away. <br><br>
ImproMedia accepts this challenge! Started as a hobby project, special
software is being developed that should make a more interactive
approach to music possible. The programs are not yet fully bug free and
operational but in our spare time we're trying to push the borders of
audio pioneering so to say. Unfortunately we've not found another
dicipline that faces the same problems and found a workable solution
for it yet. Up to a point some of the interactive requirements are met
in the computer game industry but is seems that our quality
requirements and interactive wishes are too much apart. <br><br>
The solution might lay in cutting the music up in multiple logical
fragments (i.e. intro, refrain, bridge, fill-in, extro, etc) that may
be interactively played as a sequence. A bit like laying the bricks of
the road in front of the car that is driving it. Quite a challenge. We
will bring you up to date when technical developments unfold, so come
back soon!
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