Radio Baton

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Max Mathews next to the Radio Baton equipment

The Radio Baton (dt. About radio baton ) is an electronic control device for musical instruments. It consists of one or two sticks that are moved in the air over a mat. With the help of the instrument developed by Max Mathews in 1987 , previously programmed pieces of music can be played and various parameters (speed, volume, phrasing, but also by inserting pauses, etc.) can be changed during the performance by the radio baton.

Each stick has a small copper-clad transmitter at its tip, which sends out a signal at a frequency of 50 kHz or 55 kHz. In the base there are five copper plates that function as an antenna . The device is always informed about the position of the sticks in three-dimensional space via the changing electrical capacitance in the antenna / transmitter electrical field and can translate position and movement into commands for the output device. Mathews wrote a program, the Conductor Program , to operate the instrument, but it can also be combined with other software. Mathews sees the radio baton as a direct descendant of the theremin . In terms of both the technical implementation and the way of playing, he was inspired by the touchless theremin, performances with the radio baton are reminiscent of theremin play. The instrument is a further development of the radio drum that can only be moved sensibly on two levels.

Although technically more advanced than radio drums, the radio baton found less acceptance in the music world, according to statements by conductors, among other things because the space for movement is limited to the field above the surface, which is both unusual and impractical for traditional conductors to move around with to communicate with other musicians. Composers who have composed for Radio Baton include Joane Carey and Dexter Morrill and Richard Boulanger . In 1991 Max Mathews (Radio Baton) and Natalia Theremin (Theremin) performed a joint performance in Moscow, where they performed a Rachmaninoff piece, with Theremin playing the vocal part on the Theremin, and Mathews the piano part with the help of the Radio Baton .

In 2001 Andrew Schloss and Peter Driessen developed a mechanism that forwards the baton data directly to a computer and thus enables radio baton percussion with significantly higher responsiveness and freedom of movement.

literature

  • Max V. Mathews: The Radio Baton and Conductor Program, or: Pitch, the Most Important and Least Expressive Part of Music. In: Computer Music Journal. Vol. 15, No. 4 = Dream Machines for Computer Music: In Honor of John R. Pierce's 80th Birthday. Winter, 1991, ISSN  0148-9267 , pp. 37-46.
  • Max V. Mathews: The Radio Baton Conductor Score File. In: Eleanor Selfridge-Field (Ed.): Beyond MIDI. The handbook of musical codes. MIT Press, Cambridge MA et al. a. 1997, ISBN 0-262-19394-9 , pp. 153-162.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ A b Eduardo R. Miranda, Marcelo M. Wanderley: New digital musical instruments. Control and interaction beyond the keyboard (= Computer Music and Digital Audio Series. Vol. 21). AR Editions, Middleton WI 2006, ISBN 0-89579-585-X , p. 39.
  2. ↑ Tim Crawford, Lorna Gibson (Ed.): Modern methods for musicology: prospects, proposals, and realities. Ashgate Publishing, Farnham et al. a. 2009, ISBN 978-0-7546-7302-6 , p. 108.
  3. ^ A b Albert Glinsky: Theremin. Ether music and espionage. University of Illinois Press, Urbana IL et al. a. 2000, ISBN 0-252-02582-2 , p. 330.
  4. ^ A b Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner: Women composers and music technology in the United States. Crossing the line. Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot et al. a. 2006, ISBN 0-7546-0461-6 .
  5. ^ Rolf Inge Godøy (Ed.): Musical Gestures. Sound, Movement, and Meaning. Taylor & Francis, Hoboken NJ 2009, ISBN 978-0-203-86341-1 , p. 275.
  6. ↑ Michael Boyd: Dexter Morrill: Music for Stanford. In: Computer Music Journal. Vol. 32, No. 3, ISSN  0148-9267 , pp. 108-110, doi : 10.1162 / comj.2008.32.3.108 (review).
  7. ^ CSSounds: Boulanger .