The Harmonizer
Different voices singing in harmony can create beautiful melodies not possible in solo performances.
The Harmonizer is the name we’ve given to the two person interaction that happens at the base of the sculpture.
Our project is about rebuilding a social fabric frayed by isolation and fear. We are using the activity of singing together in harmony to bridge the gap between diverse peoples and to create meaningful connections. The sculpture brings two participants together and engages them in a tonal call-and-response, guiding them with lights and sounds towards singing notes in harmony. They face each other, hear each others’ voices and vocalize notes together. The sculpture detects harmonies and responds by opening its heart, targeting a celestial object, and beaming a message of hope.
The sculpture plays a cappella singing and sound samples from singing traditions throughout the world to both celebrate the diversity of the human voice and also to show the connections we create through singing together. A culturally diverse soundtrack will reach a wider audience and more effectively communicate the sculpture’s goal of building connections.
Why is “Singing in Harmony” important to this project?
Two people can be very different by ethnicity, culture, race, gender, age, language, body size, politics, religion, orientation or life experiences, to name a few. Some factors affect how a person speaks and how they sing. For example, try as they might, a large male and a petite female may not be able to sing the same notes, because their voice boxes are physically different sizes and so produce different vocal ranges. However, they can sing beautifully together, not by trying to sing the same note, but by singing different notes… in harmony.
Harmonic singing sounds beautiful because of differences in the two voices. Harmonization occurs when two singers are voicing different notes within an octave, often separated by an interval that’s pleasing to the ear. When men and women sing together, they often do so an octave apart, and while not a true harmony, the two singers are working closely to create a beautiful outcome.
When singing together, harmonics and overtones allow singers to create a sound that is far greater than the sum of its parts. For example, choral groups are composed of voices in many ranges (soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone, etc.) and vocal timbres (the instrument or singer’s distinctive sound). When singers align in a chord, the overtones are amplified, creating a sound that transcends the score.
Singers also have widely different timbres, which when combined in contrast are wonderful. Think of the rich, gravelly baritone of Louis Armstrong paired with the clear and bright soprano of Ella Fitzgerald. Both are beautiful alone, but together they are magical to audiences worldwide. We are united by the emotions that come through singing in harmony. We may not understand the language, the culture, the religion or the history behind the music, but hearing the song brings tears of joy.
The Harmonizer
We are building a hardware/software system to detect harmonization in two voices. Called “The Harmonizer,” this system is the project’s chief technical challenge… and it should be fun to build :)
As for requirements, the sculpture will:
Play different scales and intervals and record which ones create matches
Play examples of harmonization in the call-and-response, musical note + two voices in harmony
Two singers can match the note, or harmonize on a common interval (e.g., C and E), or voice stacked notes an octave apart. (The important aspect is that they are trying to sing together!)
Require several matches to fire the laser.
Display a progress indicator as energy in the system (roots to blossom… about 5m distance) maybe with lights under the shell.
Learn from experiences on the playa, collecting and replaying high quality matches.
Will have hundreds of pre-recorded harmonized samples
Play a cappella singing as its waiting soundtrack. Tracks would be non-verbal, multi-cultural, very soft, slow moving, etherial.
Be available to host a choral singing event.
Be available to host a dance party with a “disco mode.”
We will write software to solve a particular problem: are two voices in harmony? If so, how strong?
The Harmonizer Subsystem must:
Detect presence of both participants.
Pickup voiced audio from each participant, mix both channels and play it to both parties, modulated for safe volume of both listeners.
Individually pickup each voice and process it to detect primary notes.
Process both audio streams to detect matching or harmonized notes.
Report notes back to controller with a quality score.
Record audio samples for storage and later playback.