Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 32
COURTESY MARGARET GUTHMAN NEW INSTRUMENT COMPETITION
At the 2019 Margaret Guthman New Instrument Competition are, from
left, overall winner Keith Groover; judge Ge Wang, an associate professor
at Stanford University; judge Pamela Z, a composer and musician; judge
Roger Linn, a musical inventor; and Alice Barbe of Atlanta, who earned
the Judges' Award for Most Promising Musical Instrument Inventor for
her Biot-Savharp.
TC
OM
PE TI
TION
Alon Ilsar of Sydney, Australia,
took home People's Choice
Awards for Best Performance
and Best Instrument for his
AirSticks in 2019. It also tied
for third place overall. The
competition's website
describes AirSticks as
combining "the physicality of
drumming with the unlimited
possibilities of computer music. ...
It morphs 3D space around the user
into a playable area."
Lend an ear
Already, more than 100 creators have
applied to be part of this year's competition that
culminates on March 7 with a free event at Tech's
Ferst Center for the Arts. (The competition also
will be streamed online at guthman.gatech.edu/
livestream.) There, the public will see and hear the
finalists' work. And it's possible that some of the
creations won't be electronic.
"We've had winners who developed purely
acoustic instruments," says Gil Weinberg, director of
Tech's Center for Music Technology, who has helped
direct the competition since it became a musical
instrument showcase. "Two years ago someone from
Iran brought a very complicated instrument with
strings that was big and beautiful, and it won second
place. Sometimes technology can make things dif-
32
Georgia Magazine
January 2020
ST
RU
M
EN
thing. I have
about 110 preorders so far, and I
expect to sell them for
$130 to $140."
ARG
COURTESY M
ARE
TG
UT
HM
AN
NE
W
IN
ficult by offering too much freedom."
But Weinberg points out that technology also
gives musicians the ability to think beyond the
confines of a physical instrument.
"For instance, technology allows you to make
sound just by moving your body," he says.
A winning entry must also serve a purpose,
Groover says.
"You don't have to re-create the wheel. In my
case, it was very hard for classical instruments to slide
from one note to another, so that became a keystone
of my design process," he says. "But price is another
consideration if you want to get something adopted in
the world. It pays to be realistic about who's going to
play it and how much they'll pay for it."
H.M. Cauley is an Atlanta-based freelance writer.
http://guthman.gatech.edu/livestream
http://guthman.gatech.edu/livestream
Georgia Magazine - January 2020
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - January 2020
Contents
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - Intro
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - Cover1
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - Cover2
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - Contents
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 4
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 5
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 6
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 7
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 8
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 9
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 10
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 11
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 12
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 13
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 14
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 15
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 16
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 17
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 18
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 19
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 20
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 21
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 22
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 22A
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 22B
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 22C
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 22D
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 23
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 24
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 25
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 26
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 27
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 28
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 29
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 30
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 31
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 32
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 33
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 34
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 35
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 36
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 37
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 38
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 39
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 40
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 41
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - 42
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - Cover3
Georgia Magazine - January 2020 - Cover4
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