Composer includes audience

Composer-in-Residence Chris Brown presented his unique style of electronic performance to Oberlin audiences last night, where the atmosphere on the stage of Warner Concert Hall was playful and inviting. Audience members were invited to take an active role in the performance of Brown's pieces and in some cases even their composition.

There were four computers set up in the four corners of the stage, each connected to a speaker creating a quadraphonic sound environment. Every piece on the program had its own unique sound; some were wildly cacophonous and some were hauntingly ambient. One piece had been recently programmed during Brown's residency. Most of these pieces were programmed using a piece of music software called Max, which allows composers to set up complex, interactive musical situations.

The fun of this concert was that Brown was able to create a situation where these interactions seemed quite simple. The interface between the computer and the audience was easy enough to understand so that a simple click of the mouse would make interesting changes in the texture of the overall piece. In the final piece, four microphones were connected to the computers which then translated the sound of the human voice into electronic music.

The four corners of the stage were constantly vibrating with fascinating sounds. Some of the audience experimented with the computers while others sat in the middle of the stage admiring the combination of the four different speakers. The results of the audience's playfulness were always surprising. After the third composition, "Muka Wha?," Brown remarked, "that was the best performance of "Muka Wha?" I've ever heard". It isn't very often that an audience can show a composer nuances of his own music that even he had never imagined.