The main teapot function...

I have been thinking about a way of involving the teapot in the main sound making part of the project and have decided to use another LDR which will, when the teapots lid is lifted, will apply an audio effect to whichever teacups buffer is playing. I think a relatively subtle reverb or delay could work well with the more the lid is lifted the more the reverb affects the sound recorded in the teacup. This way the user can control two parameters at once, by lifting the lid of the teacup which will choose the sample to playback, the amount of the teacups effect that is being used and also how much of the teapots effect is being heard also. I think this will make the experience more interactive and engaging and will go some way to enabling the user to really 'play' the teaset as an instrument.

Documenting the final piece

Having had talks with a lecturer of mine, I've decided to produce a DVD documenting the full process of the project, start to finish. I think it should include as much as possible about the project and be well enough produced in itself to be interesting to watch without using the final tea set.

Things I want to include on the DVD are:

This Blog, tracking the idea development

Nicely shot footage of the end product in its environment

Footage of it in use

A collection of good quality still photographs of the piece

The Max/Msp patch used for the project

Full instruction on how to do it for yourself

Recordings of music it has produced

More to come I think....

A performance within a performance?

The notions of the 'Chado' (Japanese tea ceremony or 'way of the tea') being a performance in itself is something I'm reading about at the moment. I'm looking for ways to explore this concept within the framework of my installation, perhaps promoting questions about the idea of the music people create using the tea set being a performance within a performance, and what sort of significance that has.

Idea's of the tea room itself being a stage of sorts, with the whole performance only viewable to the select few who are actually involved are also conceptual area's I'm looking at exploring sonically in the piece.