與Dr. Geoffrey Wright的一次主修課，曾經被巴爾的摩太陽日報報導，沒想到篇幅還蠻大，也挺詳盡的。有很多台灣學生曾經拿過他的大班課。老師昨天退休了，祝福老師身體健康萬事如意福如東海壽比南山，投資賺大錢。從此仙居涼爽，不被世事所煩擾。
It is just after 2 p.m. when Wright realizes he is late to a piano lesson. Wright's student, Wan-ching Li, is preparing for an important recital, and today's session will be used to polish her technique.
Wright swoops into the classroom, says a quick "hello," then stops short -- and plops onto the floor. From there, he cranes his neck, and peers up at the belly of a baby grand.
The piano is brand-new and has been equipped with a small box with ports for cables: a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), standard equipment in the music profession, used to transfer sound data from musical instruments to computers. Wright grins like a boy with a new train: "This is cool."
Li is warming up, her fingers lightly touching the keys as she plays scales, then chords. As have most Peabody students, she has been involved with music nearly all her life: She began piano lessons at age 3, studied organ and composition in college, then worked as a production assistant at a recording company. Now 29, Li has come to Baltimore from Taipei, Taiwan, because she wants to create art that combines music and technology.
She begins playing "Caution to the Wind," a piece written in 1987 by James Mobberley for piano and tape-recorded accompaniment. The composition is delightful and raucous; at one point, Li karate chops the piano and, at another, she slams the keyboard cover.
The piece also demands machine-like precision.
Each stroke of Li's fingers must coincide perfectly with the music made by her inanimate partner, which plays on no matter what. "It is really hard to synchronize with the tape," she says later. "I have to put a stopwatch on top of the piano and watch it as I count seconds to make sure I am completely accurate. It doesn't allow me much freedom."
But at the recital, Li will play a second piece that illustrates what she and others mean when they talk about increasingly responsive interactions between man and computer.
The composition is called "Duet for 1 Pianist," and was written by Jean-Claude Risset for piano -- and computer. Playing duets with a computer is different from being accompanied by a tape
recorder. Information about each piano key Li touches, and the force with which it is struck, is transmitted by the MIDI to a computer. Based upon how and what Li plays, the computer decides which notes to play and how and when to play them. "With a computer, I can play in real time. I don't need to follow a recording."
She plays: Her small hands flying up and down the keyboard, her notes by turns full and rich, light and clear. The computer plays: Its synthesizer producing crescendos and trills that complement her music.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1998-05-31-1998151109-story.html?fbclid=IwAR1OquRLjPpnitb69hluxk44CTojA6aHrvL9bEoK0uSJSbXPA5bG9hpu2bM
