Blind Date is a structured improvisation created and performed by composer Scott L. Miller and pianist Taavi Kerikmäe. Blind Date features Miller’s approach to using Kyma and ecosystemic programming to transform the piano into a self-contained sonic ecosystem. Kerikmäe uses a custom designed system built by Igor Zubkov. The “system” uses electromagnets and drivers to convert electronic signals into physical sound by activating the  metal (strings) and wood (soundboard) of the piano. The piano becomes the source of all sound heard and is where the ecosystems and free agents (Miller and Kerikmäe) converge in a complex and dynamic sonic environment, a truly unique approach to music making.

“In ecosystemic works, I model the behavior of objects from the environment in electronic sound,” Miller explains. “This creates interactive sonic ecosystems that facilitate collaboration—with other musicians, with physical instruments, and even with the performance space itself.”

Miller uses Kyma to compose a structure of feedback loops of data and sounds. Data are reacted to and manipulated by the electromagnetically prepared piano, sounds are captured by microphones, recaptured by the Kyma program, and fed back out into the space via the piano after passing through the Zubkov “system.” The composition is unique to the space as a sonic ecosystem—every object contributes to the created sound, with a benefit of serendipity.

Kerikmäe’s Zubkov “system” is tempered by the physical limits of the piano itself. It is possible to exceed the limits of the piano materials to respond, crashing the balance of the piano ecosystem. In performance, Kerikmäe’s electromagnetically prepared piano functions as percussion, transducer, signal processor, filter, and piano. Miller constantly adjusts the parameters in Kyma, balancing and disrupting in equal measure the ecosystem of sound.

The title Blind Date was coined by Kerikmäe when Miller explained the nature of his relationship to the incoming data; as a performer, Kerikmäe would not know what the feedback processes would be putting into his system to deal with. He engages with the signals in real-time, perhaps with an idea of what might be present, but ultimately blind to the details until they are converted into sound by the piano. The result in performance is Miller and Kerikmäe function as sonic gardeners, cultivating and coaxing the ecosystem to produce the sonic results they want, at least in a general sense.