Bach, Preludio, Partita in E Major, Lara St. John, solo violin

First movement (preludio) of J. S. Bach's E major partita for solo violin, BWV 1006, performed by Lara St. John, with an animated graphical score.
FAQ

Q: Where can I hear the rest of this album?
A: Here (on Magnatune, where I licensed this recording):

Q: Could you please do a video of ______?
A: Please read this:

Rachmaninoff included this movement in his transcription of this Bach partita; here's my video of his suite:

This is one video in a series of experiments described here:

[smalin]

@eldiagrama The pitches come from MIDI (which I export from a notation program, after entering the notes), the dynamics come from the audio, and the synchronization I do by hand.

[konradswart]

Everybody is talking about the music. There are virtually no people who talk about the wonderful choices you made in making the video.

Let me rectify this. Your video that accompanies this piece is remarkable, and very well done. The range of different kinds of video's you make to accompany music is astonishing!

As you know, I myself are trying to make graphics to accompany music. Therefore I am very aware of how difficult they are to make, and how remarkable your work is. It is a great inspiration for me, and has led me to a path of investigation to see what can be done, what can't be done, and what is the best choice. Of course, compared to you I am even less than a beginner.

In this particular video, to accompany the piece with just this video is a very creative, but still well thought out achievement.

Again, well done!

[adamiotime]

My absolute favourite style of visualisation you've created. It's perfect for this music.

[Kalkipikaia]

This is amazing. What a beautiful way to experience the structure of the music.

[edgarme]

I haven't seen all your videos, but I've seen around 50 and this is my favorite one so far. Thanks, Smalin, please don't die. Never.

[smalin]

@johngillbuckman I did some experiments with that (see the log under About this video...), but I found that to follow the melodic line put a lot of constraints on what else you could do at the same time. The most effective, I think, was to use connected (vs. separate) to show phrasing (groups of notes in one bow stroke), and not to bother with bow direction (which I decided was more important to the player than to the listener).

[KKIcons]

My 13 year old wanted you to know that she liked it a lot. Thanks!

[smalin]

@duchdog1 Yes, the width of the calligraphy is derived from the loudness of the audio track.

[dadhdj]

@smalin I showed this to my slightly hearing impaired friend, and he really wanted to compliment you on your program. He said that the thickness of the lines in relation to the volume really helped him truly "hear" the piece and let him enjoy the music a thousand times more. Thank you so much for your great work!

[Curante]

@smalin You earned it. This is the best one you've made yet and I am glad to be able to reap the fruit of your labors as a member of the audience. May your creations never end!

[DaydreamX]

This is one of your best visualisations. It's like every note blooms into a field of music.

[smalin]

@RicSantiagoBrasil The line loops the note when the direction changes between down and up.

[smalin]

@pedanticmofo I've done animations without scrolling, but when I show the flow of time in some direction, I pick right-to-left (instead of left-to-right) as a convention; it takes practice to learn to watch my scores, and doing it backwards wouldn't add anything and would make it harder. I don't do top to bottom or bottom to top (usually) because what I show has more range time-wise than pitch-wise. If there was something I was trying to do for which changing direction helped, I would.

[smalin]

Depending on how you look at it, you might say it's totally automated. I mean, the animation is totally driven from the data --- the score (for the pitches) and the audio (for the dynamics). But the software to do the "automated" process was written by hand.

[smalin]

@Voxezi The color indicates the pitch class of the note.

[smalin]

@xValeify After I finish a video, I usually watch it a few times, looking for errors I'd overlooked, or things that I might do better, or trying to get ideas for what kind of project to do next ... and then I stop and upload it to YouTube. But when I finished making this, I found myself watching it over and over --- long after there was any reason to --- giggling with delight.

[chopinopno]

This is incredible, everything about it: the music, the visual aesthetics, the beautiful engineering behind this software and its concepts. Kudos to you for creating something that maps together auditory and visual information and displays it with such emergent beauty.

[smalin]

@bettythepumpkin It's not for sale (at the moment).

[Hazelrat]

I'm surprised I missed this upload. Smalin, I absolutely love this version. It's so hypnotizing, and the animation really flows with the music. Been a lot of progress in the last couple months, looking forward to whatever you put out next.

[SaintsLacrosse]

So immensely fantastic, also a good depiction of what hard work, dedication, and skill can do. Truly a brilliant solo, viewed in a way that helps visual learners (like myself) see how difficult some of these incredible violin solos actually are. 10/10 would watch again.