Bach, Cello Suite No. 1, 1st mvt. (showing bowing)

[papibuddy]

I think it's a lovely piece and I do like the bow movement. I think it is visually stunning, if you kind of let your eyes go, or relax you can see the strings of the cello, I know it's just an illusion but it's way cool.

[sehnsto]

Although this is one of my favorite visualizations the performance is not good.. at least for my taste,

Its too slow. Yo-Yo Ma perfected it.

[JuanDVene]

@sehnsto this is the actual tempo that Bach intended.

[TheVailTom]

What a beautiful performance! It really makes takes the score, which looks simple if you take an initial look at it, and shows what a masterpiece it is. The bowings are fascinating -- there could be an entire (long) course about bowing practices and traditions and your way of representing them would be a necessary feature of that series! Thanks VERY much for posting this.

[AntuQum]

What i like - whole melody is here - yes. New object - the bow. But, i would have to agree that bow movements make it harder to focus - very hard. Idea is good but needed to be reformulated, probably bow has to be static in general and only inside can change - making it easier for the eyes to focus on dynamics of geometry rather then actual bow movement.

[alexspil]

excellent animation!!!!!!!!

[hiroka29]

Evangelion!!

[jamma246]

Wonderful, thank you so much for this (and all your other videos).

[BlueBlueFeelin]

not to sound like a posh know-it-all, but this version seems to have wrung all drama out of the original piece and then tossed out the dried remains

[izzyjamm4]

This is SUPER cool!

[sunriselg]

Reminds me of an ikea advertisment

[msumungo]

Still, would You lose the bow in visuals if really honestly requested? In another version maybe?

I see the point though why the bow is displayed like this.

[smalin]

@msumungo There are many versions of this, with and without the bow.  See the link in "Show more."

[marylong17]

I've just watch all the videos, so now my head is full of beauty, sound and colors! I'm gonna go to sleep and have beautiful dreams!

All this is beautiful!

[TheFaquarel]

@marylong17 Sounds like you take some drugs, but i feel the same, so its ok ^^

[TuriyaSurya]

so great, this principle of "UNFOLDING" .... Bach must be proud of you :)

[deserteacher]

@TuriyaSurya Yes, I agree. Bach would love this.

[monkeypaw09]

beautiful i might have this played at my wedding

[bleger814]

My favorite Bach. I'm crying. Thank you. Seriously.

[MrProfessorDonut]

I wish I could make my cello sound like that :\

[marcos77233]

tan bello! xD

[Nicookr]

I hate the bow.... because it doesn't even go with the music. So, either I'm retarded, or the bow movement is bullshit.

[smalin]

@Nicookr Paternoster's bowing is quite unusual --- which is one of the reasons I wanted to show it. So, you're not retarded, but you're mistaking his irregular bowing as being something wrong with the video.

[Nicookr]

@smalin oh, thanks. For some reason it bothered me quite a bit =P

[NimbleTurtle13]

@smalin He is using the anna magdalena manucript bowings to certain extent although most of it is just quite weird. But what makes this performance somewhat poor is his random volume changes and tempo changes. And this is also quite a slow performance.

[JonnyJones324]

@Nicookr If you've ever seen how a violin is played, they can play multipul notes in a single stroke, so it's not the fact of either of your comments, it's the fact most people don't understand how the violin works.

[Nicookr]

@JonnyJones324 pssst, its not a violin. And I know you can play more than one note with a single stroke...

[monkeypaw09]

@Nicookr haha viocello hahah

[JonnyJones324]

@Nicookr Ecuse me, Cello, I was thinking violin for some reason, but same thing applies

[sehnsto]

I'm impressed with the idea of showing the bowing, very clever.

[SerNicx901]

Great Job!!! Thanks!

[WoundedEgo]

"Showing Bowing" rhymes, actually...

[rabitjimmy]

Awesome, dude !

[happysun995]

this is a life saver i absolutly could not find anything to help the kid im baby sitting relax and calm down a fliped this on an he sat down and just litened to it its like a child tamer im very happy you posted this thank you

[WoundedEgo]

@happysun995 Bach has that effect on me also!

[travelGranCanaria]

qué belleza!

[JanusKramer]

Interesting setup with this one. The execution of the piece is not the best and dragged out at times, but excellent for illustration.

[azurenscens]

pure bliss. this is the song i expect to hear if i ever play a perfect game of pool, find a girl i want to marry, or meet my creator.

[rodolfogordo]

esse ficou doido heim viadu....

[Staudinka]

Really nice work. How long did it take you to make this?

[NightwishTheBest1]

I'm perfectly aware of your feelings towards the feedback and not seeking for it, I just can't help it, I truly thank you for uploading such masterpieces, I'm in love with every single melody within your channel, I've been suscribed to you for quite some time now. Again, thanks a lot for uploading this, I'm indeed sorry to what my generation has done to music even though it's not my fault, I am 16, but I've learned to appreciate what is the real art and what is not.

[smalin]

@NightwishTheBest1 You don't have to apologize, either for thanking me or for the musical tastes of your generation. It was no different in past generations. In every age, most of the art that is created does not survive. It's not fair to compare the music that has stood the test of time for hundreds of years with the latest thing by today's popular entertainers.

[nelsonthekinger]

@smalin wise Judgment, agree.

[qurub]

I'd like to inform you that this red bouncing thing in the middle is kind of annoying for me.

[smalin]

@qurub For every type of animation I do, there are people who don't like it, for reasons I'm fully aware of (I'm more critical of my work than almost anybody). I don't post my videos to get feedback, and I don't take the audience reaction to previous videos into account when I make a new video. Rather, I make videos to please myself, I post them so that other people who enjoy and/or benefit from them can watch them.

[Solushed]

Have you considered an interpretation of this piece by Rostropovich? Would be awesome if you did.

[smalin]

@Solushed I'd rather work on a different piece next.

[JanusKramer]

@smalin Are you a strictly classical kinda guy?

[smalin]

@JanusKramer No, but it's what I know best.

[ProducShuns]

@smalin what other types of music do you like?

[smalin]

@ProducShuns Ragtime, jazz, country, blues, dixieland, rock-and-roll ...

[ProducShuns]

@smalin do you like the beatles? revolver is probably my favourite album of all time

[Juan9610]

Simply Impressing!!

[WoundedEgo]

Wow...



[WoundedEgo]

A-W-E-sommmme!



[nannymac47]

I liked this recording as it is different w/o being less musical... although, Mr. Paternoster does take liberties. At least he doesn't steamroll through the thing like Rostropovich. My favorite performance is by Misha Maisky sp.? Very well preformed, very masculine and still giving everything to the music itself. Thanks again.

[ssw166]

I like the ending. After the music ended, I mean. Especially the dot com. Of course everything else was great too. ;)

[MJFpryt]

I love all the different styles you are using now :) How do you think of so many new kinds of animation styles?

[smalin]

@MJFpryt I have no idea.

[highlanderdurp]

@smalin do you make money from these vids?

[smalin]

@highlanderdurp I collect ad revenue from them, yes.

[Samwiseo00o]

This is amazing. I wish I had a winamp visualiser that would do this.

[n3uro42]

Thanks for posting this, JSB is one of my favorite all time rockers. Pipe organ far better though,. Hmm must look up Beethoven elise.

[eldiagrama]

I like this one, is more subtle.. My favorite is rostropovich. :)

[ssw166]

Brilliant idea, to show bowing. It's just a little disorientating because the bow goes horizontally versus in the animation, where it's vertical. Perhaps try it with the score going diagonally from top left to bottom right and the bow going back and forth from bottom left to top right and vice versa? Or don't mind me. I don't do aesthetics.

[smalin]

@ssw166 What I've decided is that (especially for this piece), bow direction (which this visualization wastes a lot of the viewer's attention on) is much less important than bow changes --- or, rather, showing which notes are played together in one bow (slurred). If you look at the 2011oct27c experiment (follow the link under "Show more"), you'll see something I think works better (still far from ideal, but easier to anticipate and thus understand the bowings).

[nannymac47]

@ssw166 It's different on the cello too. Fingers up and down, bow back and. Same as smalins representation only in reverse, no?

[TheMonk909]

I have to admit this is a master piece and the animation is great, but I didn't like the performance. I have listened to cellists performing better this piece.

Maybe it's not fault of the cellist, maybe it's because of the microphone used in here. Well, whatever it was I didn't like it.

[816bigbear]

I prefer Yo Yo Ma's interpretation, however this one is quite nice :D

[gsarci2011]

liked it...but I wanted to see it in rolling-bar animation...

[rwexelblat]

The animation -- as many have said -- is great. The performance -- as many have said -- is pedestrian and unexciting. I didn't actually know it was possible for a skilled cellist to make this piece sound so dull.

[smalin]

@rwexelblat That's odd; I find this performance very expressive and interesting; more than most.

[0722lilian]

@smalin i feel the same as you do. Though Yo Yo Ma's version is my favourite, I still found this one interesting, especially when I am watching the actual visual "movement" of his performance :)

[krynski1]

@rwexelblat I think your perception speaks more of your outlook at music than the performance as such. Although I would not consider it as is my favorite interpretation, it ranks among the very fine and sensitive I have heard on the web. As a basis for this video display, I personally find it to be most appropriate in its display of acoustical and performance qualities.

[C0urante]

I only wish Mr. Paternoster played in tune...

[smalin]

@C0urante I'm surprised you'd say that about Paternoster's playing. Have you listened to Casals, Rostropovich, Ma, and Maisky's performances? To me, his intonation seems at least as good as theirs.

[C0urante]

@smalin I've listened to each of the performers you mentioned, not to mention about a dozen or two more. Casals and Rostropovich are understandable exceptions, seeing as neither made full recordings of the Suites until their sixties, and I've generally made it a point to comment on the intonation of Ma's Bach whenever I can--it simply irks me that such a famous cellist can make such a low-quality recording with rampantly bad tone and intonation. Maisky, however... perhaps it's the distance of

[C0urante]

@C0urante the microphone from his cello (as compared with what sounds like much closer mic placement on Paternoster), but I'd say that he makes much fewer, and generally less severe, errors with regards to intonation.

[smalin]

@C0urante Well, I guess it's a matter of opinion, then. For me, it's just the opposite.

[potpourri360]

Is that the bow?

[flyholes]

l am a old bassoonist 40 years in la fenice orchestra in venezia italy and i want thank you for this your performance wonderful concept .......is a fresh shower for my mind !!! maxxx

[VernTBone]

I love the work you've done and all of the animations, but the vertical red thing is pretty distracting.

[smalin]

@VernTBone Agreed. I'm still working on finding a better way to show bowing.

[miguelercolino]

I think the problem is actually that you always show the same amount of bow, as if the whole bow would be used at each stroke. Maybe if you could relate the intensity (volume) with the amount of bow, it could help you to show better the bowing.

Nice idea... It could open new ways to understand bowings in general.

Keep going!

[smalin]

@miguelercolino The problem is: I don't know how much bow he's using. You can play quietly with a lot of bow if you don't use much pressure.

[miflinti]

@smalin But it's a great typographic idea to drop it in the end between musanim and com. On the whole it's a great (and big) video. I looked it on my 30" Monitor :-)) The Music performance is very good too. Don't stop making such things!

Best wishes

Michael

[smalin]

@miflinti There's always the question about where to put the musanim logo ... if the video itself suggests a place, I usually take the suggestion.

[ysto4nik]

annoying red thing, and white connections between notes are ugly, old visualisations were much better

[XnaugahydeX]

I enjoyed the other version of this video much more. why was it taken down?

[smalin]

@XnaugahydeX This is what I decided would be the "final" version. Other versions (both preliminary experiments and follow-ons) are posted in my spillover/archive channels. They're listed in the "Show more" section.

[XArcane]

Not saying the concept as it is isn't fantastic, I enjoyed it greatly, it just seems some are saying they are having issues paying attention to the notes.

[XArcane]

Maybe you could use a colour change to highlight the notes as they're being played, since the bowing does take a lot of your attention away from the notes. I don't know if that would be too much information on screen but perhaps it would help.

[smalin]

@XArcane You might want to look at the 2011oct25 version (in the list under "More info").

[geiroffenberg]

very nice indeed! I prefere a more straightforward recording, maybe it even would look nicer for this app?

[Wachetpower]

I know there is always some refuge in your channel, good sir.

[borderlineretarded]

cool beans

[smalin]

@ashrice13 All of the cello suites and several other recordings by Paternoster are available at the Magnatune site.

[PokemonCompositions]

oh god please put this in the next release on MAMplayer and please please please tell me that you're going to release another!!

[smalin]

@PokemonCompositions Sorry, it's not likely to be in a MAMPlayer (if I ever manage to make another), because it requires data that most people wouldn't have or be able to make easily: bowings for the piece, a dynamics track. The basic MAMPlayer makes the displays based on MIDI files, and that's probably how it will stay until I develop some kind of "pro" version that incorporates the more esoteric features I experiment with ... a lot of work.

[PokemonCompositions]

@smalin I use Sibelius, so I ALWAYS work with those kind of MIDI parameters...

But, it's okay, I'm sure I'll be able to cope with the current version... breaks my heart to see all the fancy stuff unreleased, though :(

[RainyViolinCat]

what program do you use for doing that?? I love it! It shows the music drawings perfectly :D

[smalin]

@RainyViolinCat Just a little something I wrote.  ;-)

[franielee38]

I like it!!!!

[CoryI]

I love that visual of the notes unfolding from one side to the other.

[recklessroges]

I am almost certain that there is _no_ ONE way to do it. There will always be people who want the bowing, (like me) and those that do not. Just as there are those that seem to have to conduct the orchestra with their head despite being in the audience and those that have to sit perfectly still to enjoy good music like this. Thank you for all the work that you seem to put into your art, (and for sharing it with us.)

[Gabrellus]

@smalin to be honest I think you should move the "bow" to the lower 1/3 of the video, and make it horizontal, just as the original instrument is. This way you can still get the image of the bow moving back and forth and feel the flow of the music, without sacrificing the complexity in the melody line you originally had.

[smalin]

@Gabrellus I don't think that would be as good, because you'd have to divide you attention between two places on the screen.

[Gabrellus]

@smalin Hm, I thought about that, but when seeing a performance isnt it more than just the finger movements on the neck of the Cello? The bow hand moves independently yet also is just as vital to create the sound. You could equate the neck to your melody line. Just an idea anyways :) I love all of your work.

[smalin]

@Gabrellus Sure, but that's part of the problem of watching somebody play the cello, too. I was trying to make it clearer by putting everything in one place. I think that depicting the bow so literally is sub-optimal because our eyes are attracted to motion (especially changing motion). I'm trying to figure out a way to compress all the information into something more compact so that the structurally important parts (pitch relationships, dynamics) aren't overwhelmed by the bow motion.

[sidthemyth]

@smalin the map of notes is a great idea; the vibration is nice, the bow should be more subtle though.

thx

good stuff anyway

[fualfalo]

I am very grateful for your videos, and I really appreciate your work. However, as a violin player, I have to agree with the rest of the opinions here, the bowing is a little distracting. Again, I am grateful for your work, it's incredible.

[smalin]

@fualfalo I tend to agree with you. However, if you read the comments on all eight versions, you'll see that some people prefer it this way. My sense is that there's a way to do this kind of thing that would be better, and that I haven't found it yet.

[CamButler]

I like the work that you do and I really enjoy how you interact with the thousands who watch your videos. I'd hope that some of our feedback has influenced your own creative process as much as these videos have helped to inspire us and change the way we think about music.

[smalin]

@CamButler The feedback from YouTube viewers is gratifying and encouraging and I love most of it. It's very rare that I get a new idea from a viewer, since the things people are likely to think of on first seeing my videos are things I've thought of myself long ago (I've been working on this for about thirty years). Sometimes I get an idea from studying the work of other animators, but mostly my inspiration comes from the music and new ideas come from experimenting with the visual materials.

[brycedavis98]

Great idea, love your videos

[compaq1275]

The bow is a cool idea, but I like the dots by themselves a little better. The bow is distracting. Good job anyway.

[smalin]

@compaq1275 I tend to agree with you. In this version, the dynamics are shown six different ways, and it still doesn't seem adequate. I think I'm on the wrong track ...

[MrWhite2222]

@compaq1275 I do agree overall the bow is distracting, but I really do enjoy being able to tell what is going on with the bow. Maybe if it didn't move...

[smalin]

@MrWhite2222 Yes, that's something I've been considering. Bow motion might me shown as something contained within the note tracks, for example. You have to consider what's essential about bowing: the changes of direction (which result in articulations), the amount of motion (related to dynamics), where on the bow you are (e.g. notes near the frog can be firmer), etc. It might be possible to decompose bow motion into elements that were more atomic, and depict them individually.

[artvandelay13]

This is really interesting! Especially to someone like me, to whom most string instruments are completely foreign. Instruments that I've never played always interest me...

Also, that's awesome that you worked on Biophilia! I haven't seen many of the videos as I don't have any app-ready devices :( but what I have seen is pretty amazing. As a long-time fan of Bjork, I am jealous...

[LedKenji666]

can i suggest that you make sure we know on wich strings wich note is played so we can visualize the logic behind the bowing better?

[smalin]

@LedKenji666 I've done that in other videos (guitar). I haven't figured out a good way to show everything at once for cello (pitch, dynamics, bow direction/motion/pressure/posi­tion, hand position, string, etc.). As a composer, I'm more interested in revealing the structure of the piece than technical details about the performance; this was a bit of a diversion. I wanted to show dynamics, and adding the bow was a way to intensify that, so I figured "hey, might as well show the bow direction."

[getzen700]

This is awesome! Your videos sometimes seem hypnotic

[guyboy625]

With this kind of piece I find it important to visualize intervals.

[smalin]

@guyboy625 In a way that's facilitated by this video, or in some other way?

[guyboy625]

@smalin I think maybe like in this video you could color the connection bars by interval.

[pqvimana]

Simply awesome!!! Super Channel!!!

[RectumPilum]

This inspired Steve Hackett to writing Horizons =P

[rriverstone1]

MUCH more interesting with bow strokes! YAY

[pedroca2424]

Again... nice video! :)

[MidoriFan10]

Wow this is really interesting.

[MozasFury]

very very nice, is there a reason that you stopped uploading new animations until recently?

[smalin]

@MozasFury I was side-tracked by working on Björk's Biophilia project.

[M000tube]

@smalin is that an app?

[smalin]

@M000tube Biophilia is a lot of things; I contributed a video component to the app and videos to the concerts.

[defspeed11]

@smalin You made that app? Awesome.

[smalin]

@defspeed11 For each of the ten songs in the app, there are several things you can do: play a game designed specifically for that song, watch one of my animations, play the music while looking at a scrolling score (in more or less conventional notation), or read an essay. I only did the animation part.

[MozasFury]

@smalin as far as excuses go, thats up there.

[Aleksandarart]

nice:)

[mrsandmanxj9]

nice idea, but i hope you continue to make videos with the same look as the older ones

[smalin]

@mrsandmanxj9 Don't worry; this kind of visualization doesn't work for more complicated music. I am doing the last movement of Beethoven's 9th symphony soon; it will be in the standard bar-graph notation.

[jmdb1994]

@smalin Yeah! :D Can't wait!

[mrsandmanxj9]

@smalin great i love Beethoven's 9th, and thank you very much for your comment

[rumilization]

i listen to this song, and life stands still. for those 3 minutes 16 seconds, i don't have to worry about anything.

[trissinata]

i love the new bow movement thingy, AMAZING!

[Proxima256]

Awesome! This gives a lot of insight into the phrasing, favorited :)

[javitr91]

how did you figure out the bow movement? Do you happen to know personally or is it encoded into the midi, and if so, was it recorded in realtime or added after?

[smalin]

@javitr91 The data the animation is based on comes from three places: a score file (which I constructed in Sibelius, and which has information about the bowing, which I got from Vito and added), a timing file (which I constructed by listening to the recording), and a dynamics file (which I generated in Matlab using the audio).

[Xenocide31337]

This is really very good! The only thing is I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that down-bows are depicted as going up, unless I'm wrong about that...

[smalin]

@Xenocide31337 The up-bows are going up (starts on an up-bow).

[Xenocide31337]

@smalin Oh okay. It sounds different for some notes but I can hear it now.

[smalin]

@Xenocide31337 Vito sent me a scan of his score with the bowings marked, but cautioned me that they might not exactly match the recording (since he tended to change them spontaneously during any given performance). So, it's a possible bowing, and probably matches in most places, but not guaranteed to be what you're hearing.

[thec00kiem0nst3r]

Wow.

[SirSebastianWang]

Animations and cartoons are one thing...but with this, we can truly see music. Thank you again, Stephen.

[bachaddict]

Wow, that's really becoming visible music!

[88coldsummer]

You capture everything...turning music into something to watch. Fantastic Job :)

[MyTube22T]

Awesome work. Thanks.

[Zimboltor]

nice