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Music and Data Visualization, part 3

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With our Voyager: Interstellar Music and Science event coming up on April 26, we’re celebrating music and science all month long! And what better way to do so than with another music and data visualization/sonification post? Below are four fascinating science-based visualizations and sonifications that utilize classical music in incredible ways. So cool!

1. NeuroKnitting
Jenn came across this fantastic video awhile back. Brainwave activity of a person listening to a selection from Bach’s Goldberg Variations is tracked, recorded, and then visualized in the form of a wearable scarf. What a fantastic idea!

On why music instead of another sound sample was used:
“Because music is one of the most powerful mood inducers, provoking immediate affective reactions that can be deduced by looking at human physiology, as in the case of brain cortical activity.”

NeuroKnitting from varvara on Vimeo.

 
2. Solar Wind Sonification
solar wind sonification

True, the sound of solar wind realized as music is not a common consideration. But the result is incredible! The music in the video below was created from satellite-captured solar wind data. Thanks to composer Robert Alexander, we can listen to a representation of outer space!

 
3. What does 24hz look like?
24hz

Brusspup shows us that it is pretty easy to see what 24hz looks like. Definitely a fun DIY project! How many frequencies can you visualize?

 
4. Crystallized Sound

crystalized sound

Artist Tokujin Yoshioka created a stunning art installation based on growing crystals as influenced by musical vibrations. Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake was the catalyst for one of the pieces in his exhibition. Read more about Tokujin Yoshioka_Crystallize here.

Do you have favorite works of musical data visualization and sonification? We’d love to include them in our next post!

Music and Data Visualization, part 2

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We’re back by popular demand with more music and data visualization! From an aural portrayal of climate change to classical masterpieces depicted with bar graphs, this latest selection of music and data is full of creativity and beauty.

1. Classical Masterworks as Bar Graphs

classical music visualized
We shared one of these with you last year as part of our blog post celebrating Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring‘s 100th birthday. Time for more! Via Musanim’s YouTube channel, watch a wide selection of classical works visualized with bars and dots to help you see patterns in the music as it plays. Very enchanting, and a great way to hear musical details you may not have recognized before–even for pieces you have heard many times.

 

2. From Carla: Anna Reinbold’s Symphonic Complexities

Symphonic Complexities
Designer Anna Reinbold visualized the number of keys used in a selection of famous symphonic works. Fascinating! Learn more here.
3. From Jenn: The Classical Music Universe
the classical music universe
Click anywhere on the map and see the influence and connections of various classical composers. Wow! Play with the Classical Music Universe constellation here.

4. A Song of Our Warming Planet
Song of Our Warming Planet
Daniel Crawford’s “A Song of Our Warming Planet” gives us new way to internalize the changes in global temperature over time. Instead of reading a chart, we can easily understand environmental changes simply by listening to the patterns depicted in the piece.

If you missed part 1 of the Music and Data Visualization series, see it here! Share your favorite music and data combo with us and we’ll add it to a future post!

Music and Data Visualization, part 1

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We’re a bunch of nerds over here at Salon97, and we love to “nerd out” on all sorts of great content and ideas. From musical discovery (classical and beyond!) to consuming various other forms of arts and culture, to reading articles and books on virtually any topic under the sun, we’ll devour just about anything you send our way. So, it’s little surprise that we love infographics. It’s even less surprising that we love, LOVE seeing data visualized through and about music. What could be cooler than that?!

Luckily for web surfers the world over, there is a bunch of data visualization in music out there. This is our first installment of some of our favorite bits of musical data:

1. From Jenn: Narratives 2.0
Beethoven's Fifth
“Narrative 2.0 visualises music. The music was segmented in single channels. The channels are shown fanlike and the lines move from the center away with the time. The angle of the line changes according to the frequency of the channel, while the frequency reaching a high level, the channel becomes highlighted by orange. The visualisation should not necessarily return exact informations, even if the arrangement and uniformity of the music canbe read. The purpose was to create even more an aesthetically responding visualisation with the music as an artist.” More here.

2. From Carla: Brain Pickings’ Synesthesia Spotlight

In addition to Estaban Diacono’s visualization of Olafur Arnalds’ music, the post features Stephen Malinowski and Michal Levy’s work. All great stuff! See the post here.

3. The Composer’ Political Compass
Composer Political Compass
This one is pretty self-explanatory! See the original post here.

4. From Kevin: Visualizing a Drummer’s Movements

Polish audio-visual artist Bartek Szlachcic has created many visualizations, and Portrait of a Ghost Drummer is just one of them. See more of his work here.

Do you have a favorite piece of musical data visualization? Please share! We’ll include it in a future post.

Happy 100th, Rite of Spring!

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stravinsky cartoon

May 29, 2013 marks the centenary of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Whether you love it or hate it, Rite of Spring paved the path of classical music in the 21st century. It’s a roller coaster ride of a piece, so if you are unfamiliar with it, today is a great day to give it a try!  (That image above is a hat tip to Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, by the way. Another must!)

People the world over are celebrating the occasion, so we’ve compiled a a few resources to help you immerse yourself in a little Rite of Spring Blitz.

First up, our latest podcast! It’s only four minutes and change and is full of Rite of Spring and Stravinsky Trivia.

Upon logging back in to add in a YouTube video of an animated score of the piece (which I forgot to include the first time), I see that Stephen has added links in the comments section below, too! Thanks, Stephen! Here’s part 1:

If your interest is piqued and you’re ready to hear more of this intriguing work, here’s an anniversary box set complete with 38 Rite of Spring recordings. Yes, 38!!

Oh, but you want to listen live? There’s a station for that! Q2 Music is doing an on-air Stravinsky Festival in honor of the Rite of Spring centenary.

And if it was really the trivia you wanted more of, here is NPR’s cocktail party guide to Stravinsky. Awesome!

How are you celebrating Stravinsky and The Rite of Spring today? Let us know!

Classical Bowl: 2013 Super Bowl (Classical) Ads Wrap-Up

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Last year we were blessed with copious amounts of classical music in Super Bowl commercials. It was also our first year live-tweeting classical happenings during The Big Game, so of course we expected a similar amount of classical awesome during this year’s festivities.

While the game was incredibly exciting, there was almost no classical music present in the mostly-lackluster commercial set. Good thing there were other fun things happening during the game (like, uh, *the game*), because, wow. Was a mandate that the ads be largely uninteresting? I digress…

The Definitive 2013
Classical Bowl/Super Bowl Ad Wrap-up:

Coke Chase 2013

We can always depend on Coca Cola for a good classical Super Bowl ad! Thank you, Coca Cola, for not letting us down this year either. You guys rock. Featured in this commercial are Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Saint-Saens’ Danse Bacchanale. Two incredible pieces of music.

Doritos “Fashionista Daddy”

Doritos was one of the other classically-reliable brands from 2012. Though more under-stated this year, they delivered again! Featured at the beginning of this commercial is Schubert’s Scherzo in b flat minor, performed on flute instead of piano.

Hyundai “Stuck”

No, the music here doesn’t sound classical at all, does it? Fair enough. This piece is from Carter Burwell’s score for the film “Raising Arizona”, so we’re including it anyway.

That’s a wrap! What is your favorite Classical Bowl commercial?