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  rob godman <r.godman@herts.ac.uk>
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Rob Godman is a composer, sound designer and programmer. He has a passionate interest in how sound behaves acoustically and has developed a number of techniques for controlling and building 'virtual spaces' for use within live performance.

Rob has received performances from artists such as the Philip Mead, Siobhan Davies Dance Company, The BBC Singers, Evelyn Glennie, Andrew Sparling, Gemini and the early music ensemble QuintEssential. He had works performed in the UK, USA, Canada and Spain last year.

A frequent collaborator, Rob produced the music and sound design for the interactive installation and website The Dark (Braunarts, Culture Online). Solid/Ephemeral Cube (a collaboration with glassmaker Colin Reid) was short-listed for The Bombay Sapphire Prize and toured a variety of galleries around the UK in 2003.

Future plans include a new large scale commission for Philip Mead exploring the interaction between pianist, sound-projectionist and programming and a research project with designer Lydia Sharman (Concordia, Montreal), examining the intrinsic relationship between musical and visual form, the premise being to isolate intervals of Vitruvian harmonics and use them to generate patterns on a Chladni plate.

Rob is a Senior Lecturer in Music Technology at the University of Hertfordshire.

Research plans

Much of Rob's current research focuses on the use of electronics within live performance. The issue of communication between performers is of paramount importance. Is it possible to analyse how human beings relate in musical performance and, if so, can this analysis form the numbers that are so useful to us in any programming language (going much further than the traditional if/then/else format of decision-making)? This research will also focus on software and hardware tools to assist with the communication.

Rob has undertaken a significant period of research into the Roman architect Vitruvius and the concept of bronze resonating vessels being place in theatres. As well as the paper written on this research 'The enigma of Vitruvian resonating vases and the relevance of the concept for today' and digital reconstructions, Rob is exploring the possibility of creating physical models of the vases.

In 2006, Rob will take on a role of PhD adviser for a student pursuing research into real-time signal processing in Coventry University. He is an external examiner for part of the MA programme in the music department at de Montfort University, Leicester.

Supervisory interests:
  • Acoustic Composition
  • EA Composition
  • Spatialization
  • Max/MSP programming for composers and technologists

RESEARCH OUTCOMES AND PERFORMANCES

Inside the Eye of Silence (installation)
Collaboration with Vivienne Spiteri (harpsichord)
2 rue des Chatelaines Meudon Paris, France, November 2005

The Dress
Philip Mead and Rob Godman Recital, Anglia Ruskin

Halo - for piano and responsive electronics
University, Cambridge, November 2005

Solid (live version)

The Dress
Rob Godman, Harvest Moon Symposium, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada September 2005

Crossing Borders (version for Radio)
Deep Wireless, New Adventures in Sound Art, The Drake Hotel, Toronto, Canada, May 2005

The Dress(for Mishelle Entwistle)
Rob Godman, Mayfest, University of Hertfordshire, May 2005

Hymn (10 days lost forever) for E-flat Clarinet and Pre-recorded Audio (quad version with joystick spatialization) Andrew Sparling, Mayfest, University of Hertfordshire, May 2005

The Dark (installation and website)
Braunarts/Culture Online Commission
(plus further UK venues throughout 2004/2005)
The Dana Centre, London March 2004

Solid/Ephemeral Cube (installation)
(Gloucestershire Digital Arts Forum Commission
- ACE funded new version)
Collaboration with Colin Reid (glassmaker)

The Bombay Sapphire Prize, The Geffrye Gallery, London
September 2003 to August 2004 (plus further UK venues)

Inside the Eye of Silence (installation)
En Red O 2003, Centre de Cultura
Contemporània de Barcelona, Dec. 2003

Audio Installation and 4 Drones
(Year of the Artist award and DA2 commission)
Re. Projects, Stroud Valley Arts Space, Stroud, Glos., 20th to 22nd June 2003

Crossing Borders (version for Radio)
The Houyhnhnm Tales, Resonance FM 104.4FM in London and www.resonancefm.com worldwide, 19th February 2003

Inside the Eye of Silence (installation)
(New Adventures in Sound Art Commission)
Collaboration with Vivienne Spiteri (harpsichord), Sign-Waves, New Adventures in Sound Art, The Chemistry Building, Toronto Island, Canada August 2002

Solid/Ephemeral Cube (installation)
(Gloucestershire Digital Arts Forum Commission)
Collaboration with Colin Reid (glassmaker) instigated by Simon Ryder, Prema Arts Centre, Uley, Glos July 2002

Hymn (10 days lost forever) for E-flat Clarinet and Pre-recorded Audio<
(Kate Romano Commission)
Kate Romano, University College Chichester, 6th Dec.2001

UPIC Samples
En Red O 2001, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Spain 5th Dec. 2001

Crossing Borders (Audio Installation) (Lighthouse Commission)
The Lighthouse, Wolverhampton, 27th July to 4th Sept 2001

Take me to the Magic Square (with a poem by Alyson Hallett)
Bristol Community Festival, Hengrove Park, Bristol, 15th July 2001

Audio Installation
(Year of the Artist award and DA2 commission)
The Folk Museum, Gloucester (EyePoppers) 14th July to 11th Aug 2001

Audio Installation
(Year of the Artist award and DA2 commission)
Music without Walls Conference, de Montfort University, Leicester, 21st to 23rd June 2001

...so where did it all go?
A Public Auction of Private Art Works (Nina Pope), Kimbolton School 17th to 24th June, 2001

Four Drones
On the Level, Art Shape, Double Reynolds Warehouse, Gloucester Docks, Gloucester 23rd May to 6th June 2001

Vitruvian Drone
The sonic stratosphere, KSER 90.7 FM, Seattle, U.S.A. March 14, 2001

Vitruvian Drone
Inner Space - a weekly radio program for sound art and droning / drifting soundscapes. 100,5 FM Radio Student, Zagreb, Croatia. Feb. 2001

Vitruvian Drone and B63 Harmonic Drone
Virtual Concert Hall KAJX, Aspen, Roaring Fork Public Radio, USA 30th December 2000

eye speak (audio CDR)
En Red O 2000-Electric Songs. Mirador, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Spain 11th to 13th December 2000

Audio Installation
(Year of the Artist award and DA2 commission)
Prema Arts Centre, Uley, Glos 29th Oct to 9th Dec 2000

Audio Installation(Lighthouse Commission)
The Lighthouse, Wolverhampton, 23rd Oct to 20th Dec 2000

Audio Installation
Empty Space (Independent Artist Network, Bristol), Templar House, Bristol 20th Oct to 22nd Oct 2000

The birds of bird island (concept by Janice Kerbel)
(Arnolfini and @Bristol commission)
A work that depicts a fictitious island's endemic bird (and song). Digital sound design constructing a 'hybrid' hummingbird.
Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol, 18 June to 6 August 2000

Sound Editor (includes extract from Fly Wheel Fantasy)
Installation for Braunarts for a permanent exhibition at Digitopolis Floor, The Wellcome Wing, The Science Museum London June 2000 onwards

Cycle Sound System (Sustrains Commission)
An installation for 15 Mile Festival (Sustrains, Cycle West), Staple Hill Tunnel, Bristol 24th June 2000

Fly Wheel Fantasy (audio CD)
Electroacoustic Music Concert, Recital Hall, UCSC, Santa Cruz, CA, U.S.A. 9th May 2000

Eye Propose (York Early Music Foundation Commission)
The QuintEssential Sackbut and Cornett Ensemble, National Centre for Early Music, York, 9th April 2000

Nova Sound System (@Bristol Commission)
An installation for the opening of the new @Bristol Car Park, Bristol March 2000