4 Diskla ie P eludes
OMAR COSTA HAMIDO, h ps://oma cos ahamido.com, Po ugal
Addi ional Key Wo ds and Ph ases: QAC, Music, Diskla ie , Imp o isa ion, Quan um Compu ing
ACM Re e ence Fo ma :
Fig. 1. S ill ame o Diskla ie P elude #4.
1 PROGRAM NOTES
4 Diskla ie P eludes is one o he main wo ks in The Gedanken Room (2021). This is a wo k ha explo es he implica ions
o Quan um Compu ing o Music composi ion, bo h concep ually and p ac ically. I s 4 pa s explo e he use o he
Diskla ie bo h as an inpu and ou pu in e ace o building Quan um Ci cui s and e ie ing i s measu emen s, in a
li e in e ac i e mul imedia en i onmen wi h which li e pe o me s in e ac . The cinema og aphic na a i e add esses
u opian/dys opian issues in human-machine in e ac ion.
2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION
2.1 The Con ex
The wo k 4 Diskla ie P eludes is a c ea i e music and mul imedia explo a ion o he implica ions o Quan um Compu ing
(QC) o Music composi ion and pe o mance. I s 4 pa s a e in eg a ed in o The Gedanken Room ilm- eci al [
4
],
p emie ed in 2021, ha add esses QC and Music, d awing each piece as a hough expe imen inside a bo de -less da k
oom.
This c ea i e wo k eme ges in he con ex o he la ge esea ch p ojec i led Ad en u es in Quan umland [
3
], whe e
we can ind a e iew o di e en a emp s o an in eg a ion o QC in c ea i e p ac ice. The cu en app oach, known
Licensed unde a C ea i e Commons A ibu ion-NonComme cial-NoDe i a i es 4.0 In e na ional License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Copy igh emains wi h
he au ho (s).
Oma Cos a Hamido. 2023. 4 Diskla ie P eludes. 1, 1 (May 2023), 4 pages.
Music P oceedings o he In e na ional Con e ence on New In e aces o Musical Exp ession
NIME’23, May 31-June 2, 2023, Mexico Ci y, Mexico
2 Oma Cos a Hamido
as Quan um-compu ing Aided Composi ion (QAC), ocuses on using QC in mos ly eal ime in e ac i e scena ios in
a icula ion wi h li e (human) pe o me s [6].
The 4 Diskla ie P eludes we e also composed in di ec e e ence o Russian pe o me -compose Alexande Sc iabin
(1872-1915). His music and cha ac e is ic ha monic explo a ions pe mea e he 4 p eludes, as well as his mul imedia and
mul i-disciplina y cu iosi y. I is known ha Sc iabin explo ed colo s and ligh in his c ea i e wo k and, inciden ally,
ha he also el he needed o lea n abou physics and quan um mechanics [1, p. 135].
The e y i s ou no es played, C4 Bb4 F#4 and D5, deno e he essence o he mos iconic ha monic ai o Sc iabin’s
music: he mys ic cho d. These ou no es allow one o cons uc all he a ian s o he mys ic cho d since, in he
de i ed dominan a icula ion, C4 and F#4, as onic and #4, ade places, while Bb4 as he b7 will gi e us he majo hi d,
and D5 as he 9 will gi e us he #5, which is pa o he whole- one-mys ic a ian [2, p. 30].
2.2 The Technology
In each P elude he Diskla ie is connec ed o a compu e unning di e en combina ions o cus om so wa e de ices
ha bo h ead and ac i a e he keys and pedals o he ins umen . A his poin , he connec ion wi h QC is no only
concep ual bu also p ac ical. 4 Diskla ie P eludes is one he i s wo ks making use o The QAC Toolki , a so wa e
package ha allows musicians and a is s o build, un, and simula e quan um ci cui s [
5
]. QC is used in he gene a ion
and ans o ma ion o MIDI no e e en s, o clips, ha a e sen o he Diskla ie , ia he MIDI in e ace. Mo e de ailed
in o ma ion can be seen in [3].
Fig. 2. S ill ame o Diskla ie P elude #1.
2.3 The Na a i e
The i s P elude is se as a s udy session. The pe o mance s a s by p og essi ely explo ing an ha monic space ha is
cons uc ed wi h he help o a p og am con olling he Diskla ie esponse o keys p essed. By he end, a simula ed
4 Diskla ie P eludes 3
quan um ci cui decides which no es o play on he Diskla ie while he pe o me c ea es a minimalis accompanimen
on he ly.
The second P elude is p eceded by an in e lude whe e he pe o me can be seen asking a machine abou Heisenbe g’s
Unce ain y P inciple. The machine hen e- ells he s o y o Heisenbe g disco e ing he way elec ons beha e in he
a om, as a icula ed by Ca lo Ro elli [
8
] - an episode ha led o a i s o m o quan um mechanics. The second P elude
plays p ecisely wi h a depic ion o ha .
I is in e es ing o no e ha while Diskla ie P elude #2 is he only piece wi hou a li e human pe o me on s age,
he music played by he Diskla ie includes a sec ion o human ansc ibed pe o mance. He e again in di ec e e ence
o Alexande Sc iabin, who was eco ded by some o he ea ly playe -piano machines ( he p edecesso o he mode n
Diskla ie ) - he Hup eld Phonola and he Wel e-Mignon [7].
Diskla ie P elude #3 includes he pa icipa ion o a dance and an ac ing ole. In i , we can see he dance being
ac i a ed by he ac o coming in o he scene wea ing a lab coa . The semi-mechanical mo emen s o he dance , going
back and o h, ep esen bo h "pa icles and i ual pa icles" ( he heme o his P elude) as well as he cons ains
imposed by he con olling, all seeing ligh . This piece is also o e ing a s ong c i ique o mode n socie y and i s ela ion
wi h echnology. In pa icula , i c i iques he blind belie ha social media and i ual eali y a e inhe en ly posi i e
o indi iduals and socie y, and help o connec people wi hou signi ican downsides.
The las P elude is a due o Diskla ie and saxophone. The Diskla ie is playing and ansposing whole- one-mys ic
cho ds while he saxophone playe is imp o ising, ying o an icipa e and espond o he imposed ha monic changes.
In his way, i comple es he o e all mo emen whe e P eludes inc ease melodically in he numbe o no es while
educing he numbe o possible ha monic combina ions. Visually oo, he e is an unce ain y ela ion being exp essed
he e be ween he dance ’s exac posi ion and mo emen , whe e he mo emen is exp essed by he ligh colo change a
he same ime ha he exac posi ion emains in isible/unknown.
Fig. 3. S ill ame o Diskla ie P elude #2.
4 Oma Cos a Hamido
Fig. 4. S ill ame o Diskla ie P elude #3.
3 MEDIA LINKS
•Video: h ps://www.you ube.com/wa ch? =YW0q ONZF6c
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like o hank he close collabo a o s in his p ojec o helping me b ing his ision o li e: G an Speich, G.
Blake Ha ison-Lane, and Waeli Wang! This wo k is pa o a la ge c ea i e and esea ch p ojec ha has ecei ed
suppo om he FCT Fundação pa a a Ciência e a Tecnologia, UCI Clai e T e o School o he A s, and IBM.
REFERENCES
[1] Faubion Bowe s. 1973. The new Sc iabin; enigma and answe s. S Ma in’s P ess, New Yo k.
[2]
Be sylynn Dunn Goldwi e. 1984. Ha monic e olu ion in he piano poems o Alexande Sc iabin. Ph.D. Disse a ion. Thesis DMA–Uni e si y o Texas
a Aus in.
[3] Oma Cos a Hamido. 2021. Ad en u es in Quan umland. Ph.D. Disse a ion. UC I ine. h ps://eschola ship.o g/uc/i em/93c1 8 x
[4] Oma Cos a Hamido. 2021. The Gedanken Room. h ps://www.imdb.com/ i le/ 14443510/ IMDb ID: 14443510 e en -loca ion: USA.
[5] Oma Cos a Hamido. 2021. The QAC Toolki . h ps://www.quan umland.a /qac
[6]
Oma Cos a Hamido. 2022. QAC: Quan um-Compu ing Aided Composi ion. In Quan um Compu e Music: Founda ions, Me hods and Ad anced
Concep s, Edua do Reck Mi anda (Ed.). Sp inge , Cham, Swi ze land, 159–195. h ps://doi.o g/10.1007/978-3-031-13909-3_8
[7] Ana ole Leikin. 2011. The pe o ming s yle o Alexande Sc iabin. Ashga e Pub, Fa nham ;.
[8] Ca lo Ro elli. 2016. Reali y is no wha i seems: he jou ney o quan um g a i y ( i s ame ican edi ion. ed.). Ri e head Books, New Yo k.
