Origami : a sponge duet

Posted on November 16, 2014 by marierm

Origami is a piece for two sponges. My acolyte for this work is Myriam Bleau. We composed the piece together in jam sessions that spanned over a 3-4 month period. We filmed most of our sessions and then watched them in order to find the most interesting bits.

We both use the exact same instrument, which means that both sponges and their corresponding SuperCollider programs are identical.

Performing “Origami” at NIME 2014 (excerpts).

The long version of Origami performed at Université de Montréal on January 30, 2014.

A sponge performance caught on video

Posted on October 28, 2013 by marierm

I had a very good time playing at the Talent Show of the Physics department. They also made this nice video.

Performance at Akousma Festival in Montreal

Posted on October 10, 2012 by marierm

My next sponge performance will be in Montreal at the Usine C on October 24, 2012 at 20:00. The set will also include acousmatic pieces by Émilie Payeur and Maxime Corbeil-Perron, as well as performances by minibloc (Anne-Françoise Jacques and Nicolas Dion) and Martin Tétreault (with his fellow turn-tablists).

More info and the full program of the Akousma Festival can be found here: akousma.ca.

Building New Sponges

Posted on February 29, 2012 by marierm

I am currently building three new and improved sponges. The most notable difference between these sponges (version 2012) and the old one (2011) is the amount and position of the buttons. There are now ten buttons: five for each hand.

Other changes include:

The sensibility of the accelerometers can be switched between 1.5g and 6g (it used to be hardwired to 1.5g).
It is thinner (it used to be 7cm thick, it is now 3.5cm).
It is sturdier.
It is shinier.

Of these three sponges, one will become my instrument and the two others will go to the IDMIL and the iACT. Let me know if you want your own!

New Sponge Performance Video

Posted on December 18, 2011 by marierm

A new version of Clarinet (Albino Butterfly) is available on Vimeo. It was recorded on November 3rd, 2011 at the Schullich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal. It is (of course) performed on the sponge.

Thanks to Sylvain Pohu, Heather Roche, Pierre-Alexandre Tremblay, Julien Boissinot and Harold Kilianski for making this event happen. Special thanks to Krista Martynes who played the clarinet samples used in this piece.

Now Online!

Posted on April 5, 2011 by marierm

This site is finally online. It is not yet packed with billions of interesting pages, but I plan on adding new things regularly.

At this point, the sponge is the main focus, but music (for the sponge) will soon become the central topic.

Martin Marier

Making music with the sponge

Author Archives: marierm