Michel Waisvisz
Encyclopedia
Michel Waisvisz was a Dutch
composer
, performer and inventor of experimental electronic musical instruments. He has been the artistic director of STEIM
in Amsterdam since 1981, where he collaborated with musicians and artists from all over the world.
. He has been a member of Amsterdam's Electric Music Theatre scene of the 1970s , performing intensively and raising critical voices against the upcoming high-tech culture. .
He co-founded and organised the first sound festival in Holland:The Claxon Sound Festival.
Waisvisz had a passionate dedication to a physical, bodily approach to electronic music which he has expressed in the use and presentation of his many developments of hardware and software instruments. From his point of view electronic music is created in direct musical interaction with individual technology, allowing for instant travels into sound through improvisation. This multidimensionality in electronic musical practice has been summed up in the expression of Touch in an essay together with Joel Ryan and Sally Jane Norman in 1998.
TapePuller (1970): an instrument to play seated, pulling a tape with both feet over the tapehead, thus using the recording medium in a performative manner.
CrackleBox
(1974): a portable instrument with batteries and a built-in speaker. The oscillator is played by the direct touch of the fingers on the exposed contacts of the circuit. The player's skin becomes part of the circuit.
CrackleSynth (1974): Michel Waisvisz' individual synthesizer. After bending a VCS3 Synth (the "Putney") in the early 70s to play it with a touchable "crackle" surface, this three voiced instrument became Michel Waisvisz' synthesizer development. It has 12 keys with tuning knobs combined with three crackle-patches.
The Hands
(1984): One year after the MIDI standard had been introduced, Waisvisz built the first experimental interface making use of sensor data converted into MIDI. The two wooden frames attached to both hands let him play music with hand and arm movements, tilting gestures, and fingered playing. Converting analog sensor data into digital musical data has become a major issue at STEIM in the 1990s, introducing the mini computer The SensorLab.
Software for the Mac, processing live audio input, or data from the memory in a most versatile way.
Converting sensor data into musical data today can be done by every laptop computer.
The Energetica Project (since 2005)
"Energetica" is Waisvisz' vision of electricity provided for electronic instruments by the effort of the player him/ herself, theoretically developed in the last years of his life. As he has always fought pre-configurations and built-in directions in technology, the subjection to the communal power supplies.
Michel Waisvisz' collaborations include performances with Maarten Altena, Laurie Anderson
, Tarek Atoui, Frank Baldé, Lodewijk de Boer, Willem Breuker
, Peter Brötzmann
, Najib Cheradi, John Cameron
(Claw Boys Claw
), Truus de Groot, Gunter Hampel
, Paul Hubweber, Shelley Hirsch
, Mazen Kerbaj, Steve Lacy
, Misha Mengelberg
, Patrizia van Roessel, Joel Ryan, Christine Sehnoaui, Fausto Senese, Shusaku
, Laetitia Sonami, DJ sniff, DJ Spooky
, Richard Teitelbaum
, Moniek Toebosch, Jan St. Werner, Frans Zwartjes.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, performer and inventor of experimental electronic musical instruments. He has been the artistic director of STEIM
STEIM
STEIM is a center for research and development of new musical instruments in the electronic performing arts, located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Electronic music in STEIM's context is always strongly related to the physical and direct actions of a musician...
in Amsterdam since 1981, where he collaborated with musicians and artists from all over the world.
Biography
His involvement with STEIM goes back until 1969, when it had been co-founded by his mentor and friend Dick RaaymakersDick Raaymakers
Dick Raaymakers is a Dutch composer, theater maker and theorist. He is known as a pioneer in the field of electronic music and tape music but he has also realized numerous music theater pieces and has published many theoretical essays.-Biography:Raaymakers studied the piano at the Royal...
. He has been a member of Amsterdam's Electric Music Theatre scene of the 1970s , performing intensively and raising critical voices against the upcoming high-tech culture. .
He co-founded and organised the first sound festival in Holland:The Claxon Sound Festival.
Waisvisz had a passionate dedication to a physical, bodily approach to electronic music which he has expressed in the use and presentation of his many developments of hardware and software instruments. From his point of view electronic music is created in direct musical interaction with individual technology, allowing for instant travels into sound through improvisation. This multidimensionality in electronic musical practice has been summed up in the expression of Touch in an essay together with Joel Ryan and Sally Jane Norman in 1998.
Musical instruments
Hardware Instruments:TapePuller (1970): an instrument to play seated, pulling a tape with both feet over the tapehead, thus using the recording medium in a performative manner.
CrackleBox
Kraakdoos
The Kraakdoos is a custom made battery-powered noise-making electronic device.It is a small box with six metal contacts on top, which when pressed by fingers will generate all manner of unusual sounds and tones...
(1974): a portable instrument with batteries and a built-in speaker. The oscillator is played by the direct touch of the fingers on the exposed contacts of the circuit. The player's skin becomes part of the circuit.
CrackleSynth (1974): Michel Waisvisz' individual synthesizer. After bending a VCS3 Synth (the "Putney") in the early 70s to play it with a touchable "crackle" surface, this three voiced instrument became Michel Waisvisz' synthesizer development. It has 12 keys with tuning knobs combined with three crackle-patches.
The Hands
The Hands
The Hands is a stage name for the Latin percussionist "Lee Canales" and also a name of a movie in 2006 Argentinean-Italian film directed by Alejandro Doria. Doria and Juan Bautista Stagnaro wrote the screenplay...
(1984): One year after the MIDI standard had been introduced, Waisvisz built the first experimental interface making use of sensor data converted into MIDI. The two wooden frames attached to both hands let him play music with hand and arm movements, tilting gestures, and fingered playing. Converting analog sensor data into digital musical data has become a major issue at STEIM in the 1990s, introducing the mini computer The SensorLab.
Software instruments
He has also worked on the creation of software instruments, developed with STEIM's programmer Frank Baldé:- LiSa (Live-Sampling Instrument, since 1995)
Software for the Mac, processing live audio input, or data from the memory in a most versatile way.
- JunXion (Sensor-to-Midi Matrix, since 2002):
Converting sensor data into musical data today can be done by every laptop computer.
The Energetica Project (since 2005)
"Energetica" is Waisvisz' vision of electricity provided for electronic instruments by the effort of the player him/ herself, theoretically developed in the last years of his life. As he has always fought pre-configurations and built-in directions in technology, the subjection to the communal power supplies.
Michel Waisvisz' collaborations include performances with Maarten Altena, Laurie Anderson
Laurie Anderson
Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson is an American experimental performance artist, composer and musician who plays violin and keyboards and sings in a variety of experimental music and art rock styles. Initially trained as a sculptor, Anderson did her first performance-art piece in the late 1960s...
, Tarek Atoui, Frank Baldé, Lodewijk de Boer, Willem Breuker
Willem Breuker
Willem Breuker was a Dutch jazz bandleader, composer, arranger, saxophonist, and bass clarinetist....
, Peter Brötzmann
Peter Brötzmann
Peter Brötzmann is a German artist and free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.Brötzmann is among the most important European free jazz musicians. His rough, lyrical timbre is easily recognized on his many recordings.-Early life:...
, Najib Cheradi, John Cameron
John Cameron
-Life and academic career:Cameron was born at Glasgow and received his early education in his native city. After having taught Greek in the university for twelve months, he removed to Bordeaux, where he was soon appointed a regent in the college of Bergerac. He did not remain long at Bordeaux, but...
(Claw Boys Claw
Claw Boys Claw
Claw Boys Claw are a Dutch rock and roll band, formed in Amsterdam. The core members of the band are Peter Te Bos and John Cameron . The band released eight full-length albums between 1983 and 1997...
), Truus de Groot, Gunter Hampel
Gunter Hampel
Gunter Hampel is a German jazz vibraphonist, clarinettist, saxophonist, flautist, pianist and composer born in Göttingen, Germany, perhaps best-known for his album "The 8th of July 1969" that included fellow musicians Anthony Braxton, Willem Breuker and Jeanne Lee...
, Paul Hubweber, Shelley Hirsch
Shelley Hirsch
Shelley Hirsch is a singer, performer, and composer. Central to Hirsch's work are her versatile vocal abilities, which are often enmeshed in a kaleidoscope of electronic music and sound effects....
, Mazen Kerbaj, Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy
Steve Lacy , born Steven Norman Lackritz in New York City, was a jazz saxophonist and composer recognized as one of the important players of soprano saxophone....
, Misha Mengelberg
Misha Mengelberg
Misha Mengelberg is a Dutch jazz pianist and composer. He won the Gaudeamus International Composers Award in 1961.-Biography:...
, Patrizia van Roessel, Joel Ryan, Christine Sehnoaui, Fausto Senese, Shusaku
Shusaku
Shusaku can refer to:* Shusaku * Honinbo Shusaku, professional Go player* Chiba Shusaku Narimasa, swordsman* Shusaku Endo, author...
, Laetitia Sonami, DJ sniff, DJ Spooky
DJ Spooky
Paul D. Miller , known by his stage name DJ Spooky, That Subliminal Kid, is a Washington DC-born electronic and experimental hip hop musician whose work is often called by critics or his fans as "illbient" or "trip hop". He is a turntablist, a producer, a philosopher, and an author...
, Richard Teitelbaum
Richard Teitelbaum
Richard Teitelbaum is an American composer, keyboardist, and improvisor. Born in New York, he is a former student of Allen Forte, Mel Powell, and Luigi Nono. He is best known for his live electronic music and synthesizer performance. For example, he brought the first moog synthesizer to Europe...
, Moniek Toebosch, Jan St. Werner, Frans Zwartjes.
External links
- http://www.crackle.org/ - text and image archive for Michel Waisvisz
- Waisvisz at CHI 2005
- FMP releases