|
Tuesday, June 20, 2000
Sound Lab uses technology to teach
by John Zebrowski
Seattle Times staff reporter
There's a serious intimidation factor in music. Scores reach for their air guitars when Jimi Hendrix plays the solo on "Little Wing." But the act is homage, not imitation. Mortals can't reach such heights. So why bother?
But what if a person who knew nothing about the guitar could sound like a god, if even for a few moments? What would happen then?
"It's what we're hoping to find out," said Andrea Weatherhead, leader of the crew behind Sound Lab. "The goal is to shorten the distance between people and their idols, so that a person will be able to learn a Jimi Hendrix lick and say, 'Wow, I can do that.' "
You see, it's really the Empowerment Music Project. Through novel applications of the latest technology, the builders of Paul Allen's $240 million playground hope to make musicians of us all. The belief, as expressed by many at EMP, is that music teaches creativity and cooperation, that it makes better people. Sound Lab is central to this.
After paying tribute in the Hendrix gallery or Northwest Passage, the museumgoer walks into Sound Lab, a wonderland of instruments and music. There are guitars and keyboards, bass and drum sets, even mixing boards and turntables. It's all there - and it's all hooked into a computer system that will teach even the greenest novice a chord or two.
The brain behind the system is a program called MIDI, used in recording studios for the past 15 years. By modifying the code, programmers were able to create new uses for it, launching a virtual music teacher.
Step up to one of several stations, equipped with instruments around an axis. Play alone or jam - the area is designed to support both. Not sure how to make a guitar sing? The computer will show you. Think you're as good as Jimmy Page? The computer will let you show your stuff.
There are also 12 pods, soundproof rooms that allow 10 minutes of intensive playing. Multiple players can jam, or mix music, even play with the Drum Robot, an EMP innovation that uses compressed air to bang the skins for you. Add a DJ wing to teach anyone to be a mixmaster, a dance floor with lessons, and the weird hippielike drum circle that lights up in the center of everything.
And it's all foolproof. Take the "On Stage" space, a light and smoke-filled room that will allow people to mimic the experience of playing before a live audience. With thousands of screaming fans on a screen in front of them (filmed at a Yes concert in Los Angeles) and a wall of speakers behind, they'll get to perform "Wild Thing" and get a poster made of the whole thing. It's the ultimate karaoke experience. Only you play the instruments, too. But be not afraid. Weatherhead and her crew developed instruments that literally can't go wrong.
"We mapped out all the wrong notes," said Reek Havoc, an engineer and drum-machine pioneer. "Even if you know nothing about how to play, it doesn't matter.
"Just get the rhythm right."
|
