My name is Beau Sievers. I'm a composer, improviser, programmer, writer and music cognition researcher. I'm interested in how the act of listening changes the way we hear; not only on a referential, symbolic or narrative level, but also in the structure and function of our bodies and brains. I want to make music that engenders perceptual transformation, music which plays with our senses of time, space, and movement.

As a researcher, I'm pursuing questions about this transformative process. How and why does the perception of music interface with our understanding of time, space, and motion? How does perception change with the allocation of attention? What can we learn about emotion and the brain from the eliciting power of music? Further, how did our musical capacities evolve, and do they serve an evolutionary function?

I am currently a Masters candidate in the Electro-Acoustic Music program at Dartmouth College, where I am collaborating with Thalia Wheatley and Larry Polansky on a study of the relationship between music and biological motion.

Interested in any of this stuff? Want to know more? Contact me and follow me on Twitter.

Curve and Lattice

A blog about sound, cognition and difficult music. Many of my composition and research interests are explored in here.

The Amateur Gentleman's Introduction to the Principles of Music Synthesis

A fittingly titled introduction to the principles of music synthesis, with copious illustrations and examples in PureData. Written in late 2006.

Compositions

• Grammar space, 2009. Networked grammar processing and sonification software. With Michael Chinen.
• Spatial network for percussion, 2009. Percussion with electronic score.
• For assisted cellist, 2009. Cello with electronic score.
• Foxtrots, 2009. For any number of couples and any collection of instruments.
• Young Astronomer, 2008. Fixed digital media.
• Bird Thief, 2008. Percussion and electronics.
• For Three Laptops, 2007.
• Nostalgia in Times Square, 2006. Fixed digital media. Upright bass (Parker Barnes), electric guitar (Eli CP), and electronics.
• Feedback Etude #2, 2006. Fixed digital media. Sony MXP-3000, Ashly SC-66A, Otari MTR-10, and Lexicon PCM41.
• Feedback Etude #1, 2006. Fixed digital media. Instrumentation same as above.

Selected Performances

• August 18, 2009. Solo improvisation at ICMC 2009 in Montreal, Canada.
• July 23, 2009. Spatial network for percussion; performed by Nuno Aroso for SMC 2009 at Casa da Musica in Porto, Portugal.
• May 7, 2009. For assisted cellist; performed by Alex Waterman for The Way To Go Out at the Spheris Gallery in Hanover, NH.
• May 5, 2009. Spatial network for percussion; performed by Doug Perkins at the Dartmouth Festival of New Musics in Hanover, NH.
• Grammar space, with Michael Chinen. At Ear Warmers, The Hopkins Center, Hanover NH.
• Tetherball by Larry Polansky; guitar; for The Way To Go Out at the Spheris Gallery in Hanover, NH.
• February 8, 2009. 3 mvmts for gtr by Chris Peck; guitar. At Ear Warmers, The Hopkins Center, Hanover NH.
• November 20, 2008. For 1, 2, or 3 People by Christian Wolff; percussion; For The Way To Go Out at the Spheris Gallery in Hanover, NH.
• October, 30, 2008. Duo with Chris Peck for The Way To Go Out at the Spheris Gallery in Hanover, NH.
• May 3, 2008. Duo with Will Guthrie at the Dartmouth Festival of New Musics.
• February 21, 2008. For Three Laptops; performed by Michael Chinen, Carmen Caruso, and myself for The Way To Go Out at the Spheris Gallery, Hanover, NH.
• January 24, 2008. Eine Kleine Gamelan Computer Music by Daniel Goode; electronics; for The Way To Go Out at the Spheris Gallery in Hanover, NH.
• November 2, 2007. CONDUCTION® No. 167, Samson Occom by Butch Morris; electronics; Dartmouth College.
• April 29, 2007. Rime and Glaze by Olivia Block; percussion; world premiere at the Berklee College of Music.

Khmer Passages

In 2005 I was commissioned by Cambodian Living Arts to produce and engineer an album of traditional Khmer music, along with Yun Theara and Parker Barnes. Right now only available in Cambodia, hopefully it'll be on the internet soon.

The Khmer Fusion Project

While working with Studio CLA in Phnom Penh in 2003-04, Parker Barnes, Eli CP, Ben Lerer, myself and numerous insanely talented Khmer musicians recorded a fusion album. Here's a San Francisco Chronicle Magazine article about the project. And here's the All About Jazz review.

Rock and roll

I play drums with Pineapple Island Tribesmen. When I lived in Boston, I also played with ...and people and crocodiles...

Purple Morcellator

A loop slicer for live improvised performance.

Download OS X application. Download Max/MSP patch. Watch screencast.

Metropolis

A polyrhythmic metronome.

Download OS X application. Download Max/MSP patch. Watch screencast.

Cambodian Living Arts

I worked with Cambodian Living Arts to design and build a site which would keep donors and other interested parties abreast of CLA activities, as well as showcase selections from their media archive. The site is driven by a custom content management system built with Ruby on Rails.