The Musical
Plant is a virtual life that resides in a PC and
accepts signals from a MIDI control devices such
as a keyboard. This is a mysterious device that
when you play any song on the electronic piano,
a different song is generated and played back
based on that song. When you start playing, a
virtual plant displayed on the monitor will
start to grow.
The shape of the plant is
not fixed, but reflects what you played at the
time. A certain rule is assigned between the
notes on the scale and the direction in which
the branches grow. When the player hits one key
on an electronic piano, a branch is added to the
plant. Furthermore, if you hit two keys at the
same time, two branches will grow at the same
time. The plant grows as it receives MIDI
signals, and it takes a shape that is determined
by the characteristics of the input. The shape
thus becomes a reflection of the MIDI input.
Some MIDI songs will generate complex shapes
while others will generate relatively simple
shapes according to the musical form of the MIDI
song.
Before the player begins
to input a MIDI signal, the primitive plant with
a stem is at the center of the PC display. As
signals are input, branches are added to the
plant. Each MIDI note generates a branch of the
plant. The angle of each branch is determined by
the musical context of the note. Plant
characteristics such as branch angle and length
are changed with respect to MIDI parameters such
as note number and note intervals.
After a while after the
performance stops (input of the MIDI signal
stops), the plants will be redrawn and the
playback of song will begin. Each branches being
redrawn creates a series of sounds.There are two
redrawing configurations : one that draws from
the outer branches (horizontal reversing) and
one that draws from the inner branches (vertical
reversing.When a branch is drawn, the sound
assigned to the branch is played, but this sound
is not the same as the sound when the branch was
generated. It is converted according to certain
rules.The sound intervals are derived from the
notes that made the branch.
In a pattern where
branches are drawn from the outside, the same
sound as when the branch was generated is
played, so the music played during the drawing
process is a reverse playback of the original
music. In the pattern where branches are drawn
from the base of the plant, the time flow is the
same, but the sound produced when redrawing is
the original pitch reversed. For example, if the
pitch of a major chord is flipped, it becomes a
minor chord. This is because a chord made by
stacking a minor third and a major third is
converted into a chord made by stacking a major
third and a minor third. As for the entire song,
songs in a major key are converted into songs in
a minor key, and songs in a minor key are
converted into songs in a major key, so bright
music is played back as gloomy music, and gloomy
music becomes bright music.
Horizontal reversing, in
this sense, means that the order of redrawing -
proceeds from the first (innermost) branch to
the last (outermost) branch. Further, the sound
of a redrawing branch has the same interval as
the note that formed the branch. Therefore, the
collection of these sounds essentially reverses
the original sounds.
Vertical reversing means
that redrawing proceeds in the same order as in
creation, but the sound of each redrawing branch
reverses the interval of the original note. That
is, when the interval is reversed, higher notes
become lower notes. Also, when reversing is
applied, minor chords become major chords since
the relation of notes is reversed.
The musical plant analogy
provides a way to visualize the composition and
decomposition processes. For example similar
MIDI songs will tend to generate similar plant
shapes. The music plant analogy also aids in
determining the essential elements of a "good
tune". Many well-known songs also sound good
when played in reverse order. In either
configuration, the more musical the original
performance, the more musical the music returned
when redrawing. If you play randomly, the music
returned when redrawing will also sound random.
Concept
(1)
Visualize Sound structure.
(2) Illustrates the fact that reverse music
still holds some texture of original tune.