The Heart Chamber Orchestra

Written By: evan on June 4, 2010 One Comment

The Heart Chamber Orchestra explores the use of heartbeats as a source of music data. Many people have tried similar things in the past, but it’s rare to see an ensemble of this size using this sort of data-mining.

The musicians are equipped with ECG (electrocardiogram) sensors. A computer monitors and analyzes the state of these 12 hearts in real time. 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.