CalArts Owner of both a computer and a drum set at age eight, Kapur went on to earn an undergraduate degree at Princeton University and a PhD from the University of Victoria. It was during his time at Princeton that his “mentor for life,” Perry Cook, revealed to him how computers and electronic components could transform a simple everyday object, like a coffee cup, into a musical instrument. Concurrently with his studies in tabla, sitar, and traditional Western music theory and practice, Kapur’s music tech work allowed him to “use computers in a live performance setting — that is, without staring into a laptop! — and create completely new sounds; to make the computer itself a part of my instruments.” Following his doctorate, The Herb Alpert School of Music was the perfect place for Kapur to land. The Institute already boasted a well-developed Program in Music Technology and a rich history of developing new arts technologies—including electronic music synthesizers (Serge Tcherepnin), video synthesizers (Nam June Paik and Shuya Abe), software for multimedia performance (Mark Coniglio), software for learning (Morton Subotnick), advanced signal processing (Tom Erbe), musical interfaces with the human nervous system (David Rosenboom), and live long-distance tele-presence performance (the Center for Experiments in Art, Information and Technology [ceait]). CalArts, moreover, was home to two of the great contemporary masters of Indian music, tabla player Swapan Chaudhuri and sarodist Aashish Khan, with whom Kapur continues his classical Indian music practice. Finally, the eclectic and immensely vibrant world music community at CalArts offered new roads down which the idea of computerassisted instruments could travel and new possibilities for exploring music forms and traditions from all around the globe. Meason Wiley (bfa 09), Music Tech: iid’s post-graduate assistant, started studying in the program during its transition to the current set-up. “Ajay was behind the shift from most Music Tech: iid students using the laptop as their primary instrument to having them build instruments to interface with their computers instead. I came to CalArts to learn more about audio production and sound design, and I am leaving with many more career skills than I had ever imagined. The students believe that they own this program, and it’s not unusual to see them working 18-hour days on their instruments.”
The KarmetiK Machine Orchestra performed at redcat in January.
THE WORLD MUSIC COMMUNITY AT CALARTS OFFERS NEW ROADS DOWN WHICH THE IDEA OF COMPUTER-ASSISTED INSTRUMENTS CAN TRAVEL IN EXPLORING FORMS AND TRADITIONS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE.
This year alone, faculty and students from Music Tech: iid are presenting five papers at the nime (New Interfaces for Musical Expression) conference and two papers at the icmc (International Computer Music Conference)—an extraordinary showing for a music school with only some 260 students. In his three years at CalArts, Kapur has mentored dozens of bfa students, and sent three on to full-ride graduate programs at UC Santa Cruz and the New Zealand School of Music. Other graduates are now working for Google and Nokia, Kapur says, “on ‘creative engineering’—that’s what they call it. And these companies love our students because not only are they creative and know how to do engineering, they come up with new solutions for problems. We’re preparing them for the future while they are helping shape that future.” The Program in Music Technology: Intelligence, Interaction and Design has now developed a Master of Fine Arts (mfa) curriculum. Pending approval by the National Association of Schools of Music (nasm), the mfa program expects to enroll its first students in the fall of 2011.
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To see a video about the KarmetiK Machine Orchestra and the making of its instruments, go to: blog.calarts.edu/2010/01/26/the-karmetik-machine-orchestra-at-redcat.