Sum and Difference

The musical project Sum and Difference combines acoustic research from the French national Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music (IRCAM) for recording and understanding a synthetic physical model of the ancient Chinese instrument, the sheng, with Stanford research in audio spatialization and ethically composing for traditional instruments and electronics.  The title is in reference to the psychoacoustic phenomena of sum and difference tones that are artificially perceived in addition to the two real tones that are sounded at the same time.  The intent of the project is to make live and understandable these ghost tones as if the listener’s ears occupied the prime position of the sheng player herself through electronic synthesis.  The project will culminate in a presentation at GMEM - Centre National de Création Musicale (Groupe de Musique Expérimental de Marseille) and a Radio France - France Musique broadcast « Création Mondiale » by Anne Montaron.