Bill Alves's Videos (The Visual Music Village) - The Visual Music Village

aleph

2013-01-03T18:03:03.446Z

Visual music by Bill Alves. www.billalves.com
http://www.iotacenter.org/store/videos/alves_dvd
Aleph was inspired largely by the geometric patterns of Islamic art, an art derived from the same proportions and numerical symbolism as the tuning systems of the ancient Greeks and Byzantines. In this music I have adopted similar just intonation systems, as well as intricate and slowly transforming patterns of pitches and timbres. Writers such as Keith Critchlow have connected the arithmetic symbolism of this art to the Arabic language and alphabet, the first letter of which, aleph, is a single vertical stroke. This stroke represents the descent of light, the "creative ray which initiates existence." From this simple division follows the expansion into creation, and the connection of all people to the cosmological rhythms of number and pattern.
Please note that this is a reduced quality version and should never be used for a public screening or performance. If you are interested in screening the work, please contact me.

Static Cling

2012-07-26T18:18:56.959Z

Visual music by Bill Alves. billalves.com
iotacenter.org/store/videos/alves_dvd
Static Cling was inspired by the resonant patterns that emerge from the chaos of our world, like the patterns one can see in interstation tuning. The soundtrack is derived entirely from the sounds of the nightly ritual chaos of local news broadcasts, much as the animation is created from patterns of visual resonance. In this way beats, harmonies, and visual designs converge on the same Pythagorean relationships.
Please note that this is a reduced quality version and should never be used for a public screening or performance. If you are interested in screening the work, please contact me.

Bill Alves: Breath of the Compassionate

2011-10-17T22:20:25.394Z

Visual music by Bill Alves. www.billalves.com
http://www.iotacenter.org/store/videos/alves_dvd
Breath of the Compassionate (2009) is named for a type of pattern in Arabic geometric abstract art in which adjacent tiles alternately expand and contract into one another. This sense of visual inhalation and exhalation is known as the “breath of the compassionate” after the teachings of Ibn al‘Arabi, who named this universal principle of creation, joining the elements of fire, air, water, and earth. The music, for just intonation gamelan instruments and electronics, was composed in tandem with the images.
Please note that this is a reduced quality version and should never be used for a public screening or performance. If you are interested in screening the work, please contact me.