Russian Artist directs a 12 Robot Orchestra

Yes you read the headline right, Russian artist and composer Dmitry Morozov has been working on his robotic endeavors for several years and has now come up with a 12 piece Robot Orchestra that he personally conducts. The project is called Nayral-Ro and the "musical" sounds are derived from scientific algorithms. The robots performances are then controlled by hand movements made through a motion controller.

The result of this technological wonder is not exactly what you were hoping for, at least not yet. For anyone that remembers dial-up internet from the 1990's, you'll definitely recall the sounds your modem made when connecting you to the internet. The combined result of the this robot orchestra sounds a lot more like a Modem Symphony than a musical piece. What Dmitry Morozov has created so far is an elegant way to direct and conduct a dozen machines playing what I'll call "bits and bytes" music. While it's not exactly pleasing to the ear, it is a step towards eventually being able to have a human conduct multiple robot musicians performing a musical piece we'll recognize and perhaps someday enjoy.

We originally came across Dimitry and his Nayral-Ro project in thie article: Muse.org - Russian-Artist-Conducts-a-Robot-Orchestra/. Check it out and you'll be able to listen to the sounds of his latest creation.

The obvious question now is, are we ready for a robot orchestra? Are we ready to have human musicians replaced by machines?? I hope the answer is a resounding no, however I fear the future on this topic has already been written. I'm all for technological advances, but when it comes to expressing human feelings through music and art, I don't see how machines however well programmed can compete with the human heart and soul. We'll check back in from time to time on advances in this field and we'll see where it's going. Hopefully they will find a way to retain the human element in futuristic machine performances of music.

Wow I can't believe it was 12 days from my last blog post, we are really slacking :) Actually we've been working very hard on our Keep Music Alive Mission and looking for stories for our upcoming book "88+ Ways Music Can Change Your Life". If you'd like to learn more about mission and how you can contribute a story or quote for the book please visit www.lovesongs.com/KeepMusicAlive. Have a great day and we'll be back soon - sooner than 12 days this time :)

Music, Love & Laughter

Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

What happens when 350 Musicians meet for the very first time?

Even better: What happens when 350 Musicians meet for the first time and play a new song that's just been written? That's exactly what happened last month as part of Make Music New York.

Held every year on the Summer Solstice June 21st, The Make Music New York event was held this year for the 8th time and National Public Radio (NPR) has a really cool twist to it. This year and two years ago they commissioned a new musical piece to be written and invited any musician brave enough to learn the piece and try it out in public together with hundreds of musicians for the first time together to come and join in. Come and join in they did, over 350 strong. Marching bands, student musicians, Brazilian and African ensembles and even drum lines from professional sports teams. There were even a few violin players in the crowd who after hearing this majestic piece may have struggled to hear their instrument.

Here's the preview video of "100+ BPM" posted right after the event:

To get the full effect and learn more about the composer and volunteers you need to visit the NPR page here AND also see and hear the complete song & video of all the different participants. Its just amazing how strong, triumphant and crisp the performance is considering these guys and gals have never all performed together and its a NEW song - Simply amazing - Please check it out here: "100+ BPM - Full song & video by Field Recordings @ NPR.com"

Make Music History

The Make Music yearly events in America are based on France’s “Fête de la Musique”, a national musical holiday inaugurated in 1982. Ever since, the festival has become an international phenomenon, celebrated on the same day in more than 726 cities in 108 countries, including Germany, Italy, Greece, Russia, Lebanon, Ivory Coast, Australia, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Canada, and Japan.

In North America, June 21st celebrations now include Make Music Chicago, Make Music Denver, Make Music Los Angeles, Make Music Madison (WI), Make Music New York, Make Music Philly, Make Music Portland (ME), and Make Music Vancouver.

Music, Love & Laughter,

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com
p.s. KEEP MUSIC ALIVE Day #2 - Visit our first post from Tuesday July 1st for more information about our mission