Live performers via internet

Hello everyone. My senior recital (for music composition) is coming up in about a month, and I was wondering if any users of this forum would be interested in helping out with playing one of my pieces.

At the beginning of this semester I decided to go out on a limb and write something that was a little bit more unique than my other pieces to have played on my senior recital. The result was a piece for eight pianos. None of these pianos would be in the concert hall (of course!); all of them would be elsewhere, e.g. downstairs, across town, across the country, on the other side of the world, etc., and through the use of microphones and Skype, their sounds would reach the audience that is in the concert hall here at my university. My initial plan was to find university students to play each of the parts on pianos that are in the practice rooms, but I had concerns about having enough wireless bandwidth for all of the laptop computers that would need to be employed. That will still serve as a backup plan if what I suggest here does not work out.

If any of you would be interested in playing such a piece, please reply to this thread. None of the piano parts are very difficult, so you shouldn't need to worry about that too much. Here are the things that you would be required to have to play this piece:

1. An acoustic piano, grand or upright (NO ELECTRIC KEYBOARDS)

2. A microphone, quality doesn't matter too much

3. An internet connection that can handle a Skype video conference of 3 people

4. A webcam

5. A commitment to being punctual

If you can meet the above criteria and are still interested, then here's the nitty-gritty of how this performance will work. Four Skype video conferences will be taking place during this piece. There will be two pianists and myself participating in each conference. Each of these conferences will be held on its own laptop computer that I will have in the concert hall. The audio output from each computer will be sent first to a mixing board and then to four speakers in the hall, forming a quadraphonic sound field.

The piece does not have normal notation. The intent of the piece was use the lag from Skype as an aleatoric element. I will be giving cues in the form of cue cards that each of my laptops' webcams will have full view of. When you see a cue change, you will either begin playing a certain pattern (notated normally), continue playing what you were playing before the cue change (notated by an arrow), or stop playing what you were playing before the cue change (notated by a measure with a whole rest).

Presently, I am unsure as to whether or not each performer will be able to hear all the elements of the piece as it is being performed, since that would require more sound routing and cause potential problems with feedback. I would be sure to provide all of you with a recording afterwards, regardless. Also presently, each performer is intended to have a copy of the entire score, so rather than spend a lot on shipping, I would send you a PDF and you would have to go to your local Kinkos and print it off (it's on 11x17 paper).

The recital is on May 7th at 4:30pm Mountain Time, so you would need to be available on Skype at least an hour beforehand ready for sound test. A dress rehearsal will be scheduled towards the end of April. If enough of you are interested, I may also recruit a couple of extra players to act as understudies in the event that something happens to another performer shortly before the performance.

Again, please respond if you are interested. It would really cool to have eight people from eight different parts of the country/world playing this piece on my concert.

EDIT: It just occurred to me that since I determined that giving the audience a video feed was not a feasible option, there isn't really a need for performers to have a webcam. You just need to see me for cues. I won't really need to see you.

EDIT 2: The date and time of my recital has changed. It is now on Sunday May 8th at 1:00pm. Also, I have finished writing the piece and the performance notes for it. It is called Metaskype. I've attached a few pages of the score for the general public to look at as well as the performance notes. I will send the full score to anyone who is interested in performing the piece.

Metaskype Example.pdf

Metaskype Performance Notes.pdf

Presently, I am unsure as to whether or not each performer will be able to hear all the elements of the piece as it is being performed, since that would require more sound routing and cause potential problems with feedback.

If every off-site performer wore headphones in order to listen then I think you could avoid the problem of feedback. I love this idea and YC is a great website to find people who are willing to help. I can't play piano to save my life and don't have access to an acoustic one on the weekends, but hopefully some others will offer assistance.

Send me the piece, I'll give it a shot.

Send me the piece, I'll give it a shot.

I intend to finish writing the piece today. After that I just need to put some performance notes together (which I may do today if I'm feeling really on the ball). Once that's done I'll send it your way. :)

Anyone else?

This idea piques my interest, but I'm busy at that time on that day. I'd love to see the finished score though. I'm so curious now!

I may possibly be able to do this. I'll have to double check to make sure I'm not busy that day, but I'll get back to you when I know for sure.

This is a great idea. :D

I updated the post with my new recital date and attached a copy of the performance notes and a few pages from the score for people to have a look at. If you decide that you want to play on the piece, I'll email you the full score.

Also, PMs have been sent to Morgri and miss congeniality.

If I removed the "no electric keyboards" restriction, would anyone else be interested? I think it would be really cool to have at least a couple of people from elsewhere in the country joining in on the piece.

These are the only dates and times you would need to be available:

Rehearsal: Saturday April 30th 9:00am - ? Mountain Time

Recital: Sunday May 8th 1:00pm - 2:00pm Mountain Time

Very little, if any, outside practice will be necessary. You'll just need to have some patience while we work out kinks during the rehearsal.

I like the idea. Okay so no more webcam session?