The Heart Chamber Orchestra - HCO - is an audiovisual performance where musicians control a computer composition and visualisation environment with their heartbeats. The musical score is generated in real time by the musicians' heartbeats. They read and play this score from a computer screen placed in front of them.
HCO forms a structure where music literally "comes from the heart". It's an interesting approach to generative classical music, and creates some musically interesting results. For more details, and the videos, read on.......
How does it work?
The musicians are equipped with ECG (electrocardiogram) sensors. A computer monitors and analyzes the state of their hearts in real time, and the acquired information is used to compose a musical score with the aid of computer software. It is a living score dependent on the state of the hearts. While the musicians are playing, their heartbeats influence and change the composition, and vice versa. The musicians and the electronic composition are linked via the hearts in a circular motion - a feedback structure. The emerging music evolves entirely during the performance.
The resulting music is the expression of this process and of an organism forming itself from the circular interplay of the individual musicians and the machine. Check out these performances:
For more details about the HCO's concepts and project, check out their website.
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