GA-MA: Decoding & Visualizing Andean Flute Players Techniques

In 2017, we co-founded GA-MA, a music research team directed by french Anthropologist Xavier Bellenger (RIP 2020) and colleagues of Argentina, France, and Perú, developing and applying new technologies for studying traditional flute music of the Andes. In 2018 and 2019 we travelled for a year through many andean communities developing new recording techniques. We developed a tool for recording fingerings and air pressure used by traditional flute players, using capacitive sensors and air flow sensors feeding an electronic interface called DIGINOTATOR -built by Franck Morisseau in France- that translates signals into a computer. Recently I wrote a patch in MAX/MSP and Max4Live (trial version) that helped us to decode, visualize and analyze the data recorded. This allowed us to safeguard and reproduce ancient playing techniques that are already disappearing, and reproduce them for next generations of musicians and researchers.

Mariano Rosales
Co-Founder GA-MA
gamoctono@gmail.com