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(The Presence of) Pressure

(2026) for Woodwind Sensing for Interactive Environments (WooSIE) flute, Max/MSP, and processing/samples

Performed by Paulo Bortolussi

In life, pressure can be a dissonance. Like music, dissonance is an imbalance that makes us look forward in time to when that is resolved. In this work the opening dissonances gradually accumulate and thicken before bursting into rapid, energetic gestures. These materials dissipate, transitioning into layered gestures consisting of looped melodic and noise components. As the noise components accumulate, additional melodic material bursts out of the dissonance, rising through the flute’s register to finally arrive at the climax of the pressure.

Abstract
This work, for flute and Max/MSP, uses a professional flute converted to a hyper-flute through the addition of a WooSIE system (Woodwind Sensors for Interactive Environments). This is an outcome of my Tracking and Smart Textiles Environments (TaSTE) project and was influenced by the work of other music technicians such as Palacio-Quintin. One aim of WooSIE is to inexpensively provide for the generation of digital data without a performer having to give up refined technique and performance skills developed on their preferred instrument, and without making serious modifications to their instrument. With this WooSIE five FSR sensors are mounted on 3D-printed removable plugs in the open-hole flute keys, and a clip-on wireless system sends the keyed pressure data to laptop software. The performer is able to use combinations of keys and key pressure thresholds to trigger samples, increment through sections of a piece, control VSTs and audio processing, and start and stop loop recording/playback.

Ecdysis (film version)

(2023) for dancer with light spine
Concept and Artistic Direction: Daniel O’Shea, Lukáš Hyrman and Emmalena Fredriksson
Director: Daniel O’Shea
Director of Photography: Lukáš Hyrman
Choreography and Performance: Emmalena Fredriksson
Music Composition: Filip Górecki
Costume Design: Alaia Hamer
Spine lighting, code, wifi, and programming: Bob Pritchard and Daniel Tsui
Costume and Make-Up Assistants: Hayley Gawthrop, Desirée James and Myah McCarthy
Thank You to Andrew Van Hassel, Kiran Bhumber and Daisy Thompson and everyone who made this project possible.

Doshite?

(2021) for piano, Sleeve-Hand Responsive User Garment (SHRUG), audio/video, and Max/MSP

Commissioned by Megumi Masaki.

In 1942 thousands of Japanese-Canadian citizens were removed from the West Coast of Canada and interned in camps in British Columbia and elsewhere. These people were no threat to Canada's war efforts, yet despite the police and military saying that there was no issue, politicians reacted to some public opinions and removed these Canadians using the War Measures Act. The disruption to these citizens' lives was severe, long-lasting, and immoral. In 1988 the Canadian government finally apologized for these wrongs, established redress payments, and repealed the War Measures Act which was used against the Japanese-Canadians.

Performed by Megumi Masaki at the UBC Chan Centre for the Performing Arts

Synapses

(2021) for oboe, dancer with light spine, Max/MSP, audio tracks.
David Owen: oboe;
Emmalena Fredriksson: dance/choreography;
Bob Pritchard: music;
Bob Pritchard/Daniel Tsui: spine and wifi;
Alaia Hamer: costumes

Commissioned by Turning Point Ensemble and TPE oboist David Owen, this work explores the interaction of two beings discovering each other. The interaction becomes more and more energized, and at the end we are left not knowing how things will continue.

This piece demonstrates some of the work by the Tracking and Smart Textiles Environment (TaSTE) project.

Produced by Turning Point Ensemble for 1+1+1… project

Touch the Voice/From a distance

(2021) Networked interactive performance between Vancouver, Oslo, California.

How do we respond to separation, to isolation, not just from each other, but from our natural environments and other life forms? How can we communicate with gestures that previously involved touch? Touch the Voice (from a Distance)shows the interaction of three artists who were formerly physically together but now connect at a distance using networked gesture tracking and Max/MSP/Jitter. Using the KiCASS system to generate data from her movements, a dancer in the United States manipulates samples of her voice in Oslo, while controlling video processing in Vancouver. The six nature video clips are international in content, reflecting the separation from each other and from our environments.

Seshen: dancer, video images;
Bernt Waerstad: audio;
Bob Pritchard: video processing, media mix

This work is one of several that have arisen from the Tracking and Smart Textiles Enviroment (TaSTE) project which deals with ways of interacting with and responding to sound and image in performance using gesture tracking.

In this particular work, we have flipped our original paradigm from pre-COVID times where the three of us came together in one space to collaborate on a piece. Instead, as a response to COVID, this performance takes place in real time with each of us separated by thousands of miles on two continents, linked through ZeroTier. We use the KiCASS system to generate data by tracking target points on the dancer in the United States, and the resulting data is fed to two other locations (in Norway and Canada) to control audio and video respectively using Max/MSP/Jitter.

The dancer is able to hear and see how her movements control the media, and she is able to respond to and interact with the manner in which the audio evolves. The visual processing is under direct control of the dancer, except for cueing the three pairs of video clips (chosen by the dancer) in the three sections of the piece.

Welcome To Paradise excerpt

(2020) for soprano, Vocal Interactive Synthesis Environment (VoISE), and Max/MSP

Mia Harris, soprano/actor;
Bob Pritchard, music/soundscape/code;
Gita Harris, choreography;
Mia Harris, Gita Harris, costuming;
Bob Pritchard, Daniel Tsui, speech interface;
Daniel Tsui, lighting/wifi;
Alexandra Goodall, Danielle Savage, sculptures.

Three "beings/voices" in one body, with the left hand triggering phonemes, the right hand controlling articulatory vowel synthesis, and the real voice being processed using gesture data in performance. Audio reactive/responsive and programmed on-body lighting. Created as part of the Tracking and Smart Textiles Environment (TaSTE) research project at the University of British Columbia.

Development test in Penticton Art Gallery.
Sculptures: Migration Parade: Holon by Alexandra Goodall and Danielle Savage

The Vocal Interactive Synthesis Environment (VoISE) uses the UBC-Vancouver-developed Kinect-Controlled Artistic Sensing System (KiCASS) to track hand locations and postures. The resulting data is used to control Neil Thapen's Pink Trombone, a 2-D articulatory synthesis system, and to trigger phonemes gathered as part of the Determining Regional Accents With Literature (DRAWL) project, a UBC-Vancouver study of the Okanagan Valley accent.

Ecdysis (on stage)

(2020) for dancer, programmable light spine, sound track.
Emmalena Fredriksson, choreographer/dancer; Filip Górecki, music;
Alaia Hamer, costume;
Kayla Gardiner, lighting;
Bob Pritchard/Daniel Tsui, costume lighting/wifi.

I have suckled the wolf's lip of anger and I have used it for illumination, laughter, protection, fire in places where there was no light, no food, no sisters, no quarter.
- Audre Lorde

A cyborg awakens, explores the environment, and transforms the character.

Cheap Loops

(2019) For four dancers, Max/MSP, and TASTE project Colour Tracking software.

In this piece software tracks the dancers, each of whom controls their own rhythm tracks. How close a dancer is to the KiCASS camera at the front of the stage controls how loud their track is.

Dancers: Samantha Krystal, Kayla Price, Gemma Tomasky, Hanna Van Inwegen.
Choreography: Emmalena Fredriksson.
Orbbec-KiCASS software redesign: Ian Lavery.
Music, TASTE project director: Bob Pritchard

Touch the Voice!

(2019) for RUBS dancer/vocalizer, real-time processing, and Max/MSP.

RUBS Dancer/actor: Seshen;
Electronics: Bernt Waerstad;
RUBS code: Bob Pritchard

Seshen and Bernt Isak Wærstad have been exploring free improvisation through live maniupulation of the human voice for several years. In 2019, they started a collaboration with Bob Pritchard and Kiran Bhumber (University of British Columbia) working with their RUBS (Responsive User Body Suite) touch based sensor suite. This video is the result after spending a week together in Vancouver exploring gestural augmentation and new modes of interaction using both the RUBS and various machine learning techniques.

Transmute

(2019) for RUBS performer/clarinetist, sound samples/clips, real time processing.
Kiran Bhumber: RUBS performer
Bob Pritchard: Max/MSP processing
Premiere at Vancouver Art Gallery FUSE 2019. Transmute explores cultural memory and loss through an interactive performance with the Responsive User Body Suit. The Responsive User Body Suit project is developing body-worn instruments that use e-textiles for sensors. The suits are used by dancers and musicians, who are able to control audio and video processing by touching and stroking the fabric sensors. By doing this they create data that is then used to control Max/MSP/Jitter patches in performance.

T(w)o Nearly Touch: You

(2018) For two RUBS dancers, samples/processing, Max/MSP.
Emmalena Fredriksson, Zian Kwan: RUBS dancers;
Bob Pritchard: RUBS, music, Max/MSP code

This work (using triggered and scrubbable RUBS) is the first of the Tracking And Smart Textiles Environment (TASTE) project, which combines Responsive User Body Suits (RUBS) -- developed by B. Pritchard and K. Bhumber -- with the Kinect-Controlled Artistic Sensing System (KiCASS) developed at the UBC ICICS Sound Studio. Premiere at NIME 2018, Virginia.

Grab 'Em

(2017) Short film
Theresa Lei, Bob Pritchard

Grab 'Em was created as a response to misogynist statements and attitudes that came to light during the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. The use of female voices emphasizes the content out of its original context, while the models' hands show the aggression of the proposed actions as stated in the original text, and the need for protection, privacy, and respect.

The Memory of Your Touch [rehearsal excerpt]

(2017) For solo flute, sound clips, and Responsive User Body Suit (RUBS).
Margaret Lancaster.: performer;
B.Pritchard, K. Bhumber: Responsive User Body Suit.

This work was commissioned by Margaret Lancaster for performance at the New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) 2017 conference in Copenhagen. The suit makes use of fabric sensors to control and process audio files. Responsive User Body Suit (RUBS) developed by B. Pritchard and K. Bhumber.

Time Clips, Primitive

(1993) Film version 2015
Bob Pritchard: Music, video
Jane Coop: piano

The original work for solo piano was commissioned Jane Coop in 1993. In 2014 she asked Bob Pritchard to create an interactive video to go with the piece. The premiere of the video version took place on April 17, 2015 as part of Jane Coops Ironworks Sessions, in Gastown, Vancouver, B.C.

During the planning and writing of this piece I spent several hours listening to her playing in concert, on CD, and in broadcast. I am quite struck by her ability to combine a crystalline sound with strong emotion, and this impression played an important part in the formation of the work. Like many of my works, this piece is concerned with my perception of time and memory. Here, a sparse, sustained line represents time's continuum, while rapid rhythmic gestures symbolize our awareness of the present. We might consider memories ("time clips") as a pulling forward or folding of time's continuum, and we hear this in the piece as the two types of gestures are opposed, combined, and merged, and then dissipated.

The term "primitive" refers to the basic building blocks of a language. If we believe that in living our lives we create an individual language, then our experiences and their memories can be some of the primitives that define and develop that language. There is a connection to Eadweard Muybridge's Motion Studies in this: through his research Muybridge was able to slow down, disect, and better understand human and animal movement. In effect, he was isolating movement primitives. Today, movement primitives are used by AI and robotic controllers to generate complex physical movement.

final scenes, Rebirth

(2013) for alto flute and Max/MSP/Jitter
Commissioned by/commandée par Chenoa Anderson
with the assistance of the New Brunswick Arts Board/
avec l'aide du Conseil des arts du Nouveau-Brunswick
Music: Bob Pritchard;
Alto flute: Chenoa Anderson

Rebirth is a solo work joining the alto flute and performer in an interactive/responsive audio visual environment. Within this environment the flautist and the computer respond to materials presented and controlled by each other while performing predetermined sonic and visual materials as laid out in the score and Max/MSP/Jitter software.
The software “listens” to the voice and alto flute and makes certain decisions about diffusing multichannel sound and processing and presenting the prerecorded audio tracks. The performer controls the pacing of the piece through the performance of the scored material, but also controls processing and some of the diffusion of audio and visual materials through gestures using a wrist-mounted accelerometer. The data generated by the accelerometer is wirelessly transmitted to the computer where it triggers and controls the processing and diffusion of sound and visual materials through the software written expressly for this work.
The result is that the flautist controls not just the acoustic voice and flute materials, but also the pacing and cuing of electroacoustic sound and the processing of digital images. Thus, each performance consists of a blend of sound, visuals, and movement, and each performance is slightly different from previous presentations due to the changes in audio and video processing and to the performance decisions made by the performer and by the software.

Michael?

(2011) for three Digital Ventriloquized Actors (DiVAs)
Marguerite Witvoet, Erica Anderson, Naithan Bosse: DiVAs:
Sid Fels, Bob Pritchard: software;
Meryn Cadell: libretto;
Nicolas D'Alessandro, Johnty Wang: hardware/software support:
Jimmy Tate: lighting and direction:
Helene Day-Fraser: Costume, set design.

Connections, lost connections, crossed connections, and loss. Voices. Statements. Grieving the loss, for the loss, for the lost, for the self, for the lost self. Understanding. Stating. Voicing. The inner voice. The lost voice. (programme note by M. Cadell)

Michael? is a work for three performers using cybergloves to control formant speech synthesizers. The location of the right hand in space in front of the performer controls the pitch and vowels, and the hand postures control the creation of consonants. Plosives are generated by the left hand.

In Michael? we hear the synthetic and real voices explore Cadell's text, gradually coming together in a wall of sound, a mourning, before resolving.

What Does a Body Know?

(2009) for Digital Ventriloquized Actor (DIVA) and sound clips.
Bob Pritchard: music, post-production:
Marguerite Witvoet: DiVA:
Sid Fels, Bob Pritchard: software;
Meryn Cadell: libretto;
Sid Fels, Cam Hassall, Johnty Wang: hardware/software support:
Jimmy Tait:
Itai Erdal: lighting;
direction:
Helene Day-Fraser: Costume, set design.
Zoe Macdougal: videography:

What Does A Body Know? is the first complete work written for Digital Ventriloquized Actor (DiVA) and sound files. This performance environment allows the user to create synthetic speech using cybergloves and position trackers to control a formant speech synthesizer.

What Does A Body Know? was premiered by Marguerite Witvoet in Kyoto, Japan in January 2009 with the full premiere occuring in Kitchener-Waterloo at the 2009 Open Ears Festival.

The gloves and tracker worn by the DIVA allow her to control a speech synthesizer to form words. The right hand height controls pitch, the right hand configurations form consonants, and the left hand triggers voiced and unvoiced stop consonants. A foot switch controls the volume.

Time and Place

(2009) Short film
Bob Pritchard: music,images;
Kathryn Ricketts: dancer:
Lynn Fels: consultant;
Soundtrack: Bob Pritchard, Escape My Soul (1996)
Kathryn Cernauskas, bass flute

Time and Space arose out of a series of explorations dealing with artography. Kathryn Ricketts, Lynn Fels and I worked on a variety of pieces, exploring the use of technology and sensors with improvisatory dance and sound. While working on one piece we did a photoshoot involving one of the characters or "Lugs" that Kathryn has developed in her own work over the years. Following the shoot, as I worked with and processed the images I came to realize that the individual and the suitcase created their own counterpoint of character, and I developed the video having the two play against each other, supporting and opposing the two.