Tan Dun: Internet Symphony "Eroica"

A few weeks ago, in our Leeds Met VC's daily reflection he pointed to the project Internet Symphony, where composer Tan Dun invited musicians to upload a video of themselves playing an instrument as part of a virtual performance of that symphony, with the instrumentalists participating through their video. I found that idea very interesting and planned to do my own contribution there, using computer instruments and synthesizers for this performance. This would not be eligible for the competition, as they only want solo instruments. But I could always extract a solo instrument from the whole score.

The deadline for submissions was this Wednesday. I had somehow thought that it would be Friday, 30.1. but since my entry would not be eligible anyway, it did not matter. And today in the morning I completed the MIDI rendition and recorded a few videos. Stitched them together, not a really creative or original video... I tried to record myself when editing, but that proved not feasible, as I made many "typos" and mistakes on the music keyboard. So I only recorded the PC screen, with different parts of info showing. Surely one could have done a better job...

Well, here it is, my first music video:

In Newcastle

This Thursday an event took place in Newcastle, organised by the Yorkshire Universities organisation: we visited the Technology Centre of Procter and Gamble, to see how they deal with innovation and academic relations.

I drove up with the car. It was foggy, but the visibility was quite good - several 100 m, and traffic was ok. It took me about 2 1/2 hours each way. The landscape along the motorway looked very mysterious, the bare trees disappearing in the fog.

Event: IgniteNorth

On Thursday evening, the first IgniteNorth event took place at the Old Broadcasting House in Leeds. Short presentations (nl more than 5 minutes each) were given by speakers from a wide variety of tehcnology backgrounds - very interesting!

Travel: Vorarlberg - Student PhD Conformation Vivas

On Sunday, I left for a short travel to Austria: The Leeds Met International Faculty has PhD students in Austria who have enrolled in the new "European PhD" program. In this program, their thesis will be supervised by people from both the UK and their home country. My contribuytion to this supervision is to provide "German language", as these students can write their thesis in their mother language.

Unfortunately the hotel had no internet, so I was not able to send updates However, I have tried something new: TwitPic which allows to send pictures to Twitter. On the left side of this blog here is an automatically updatd list of the latest pictures. I learned about TwitPic after the reports on the news about last week's airplane water landing in NY.

The travel was ok. I went with KLM from Leeds through Amsterdam, then further on to Zurich. The train ride to Dornbirn was easy: a fast train (EC) to Bregenz, then a local train to Dornbirn. On the way back it was more complicated: There were many small segments, as at the time when I wanted to be at the airport, no direct train was scheduled. The fastest route to Zurich Airport (Kloten) goes close to Lake Konstanz. But I chose a more southern route: through Buchs and Sargans. I had hoped to see a few nice mountains in snow. However, it rained on Tuesday, and the clouds were hanging very low, so I had no mountain visibility. But the ride was still enjoyable: very scenic railway along the Walensee and the Zurichsee.

Our Leeds Met VC, Prof. Simon Lee, resigns

Today in the daily reflection of our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Simon Lee, he placed a news bomb in the last sentence of the first paragraph: "... I have decided, as the chair of governors, Ninian Watt, announces today, that this is to be my last academic year here." I was hired here at Leeds Met under his leadership, and I will surely miss him. He has brought great momentum and dynamism to the university and has initiated the transformation of Leeds Met into Leeds Carnegie University. His departure now feels like the end of an era.

I wish him very well in whatever new endeavour he will be engaged in!

(It is very interesting to see the kind of anonymous backstabbing that some members of staff display in their replies to the Times Higher Education article on this...)

Happy New Year 2009!

The new year is already a few days old... I started the year off with a cold. On 1. January my voice was completely gone, probably an effect from the quite chilly weather. I had spent the christmas holidays with my family in Germany, but came back before the New Year.

Now I had to skip the first few days of work, due to slight temperature. I even went to the GP (for non-UK people: this is the General Practitioner, my "Hausarzt") who recommended me to get a good rest and avoid making other people sick.

But tomorrow, Thursday, I will go back to work. I had many plans for things to be done during those days off, but I was unfortunately unable to do them. Maybe I will find some time during the ntext months.

To all of you who read this blog: best wishes for a happy, healthy, and successful New Year 2009!

Leeds Met has "buzz" (Times Higher Education)

I just found this article in the online Times Higher Education magazine. It describes that Leeds Met has the most buzz about it, when it comes to web blogs and reviews. I wonder if my own blog here with my occasional reporting about Leeds Met has a little bit contributed to this... (well, actually Leeds Met is tops not in blogs but in news coverage, whereas the blog coverage is topped by Sheffield Hallam).

Leeds Met becomes Leeds Carnegie University

As announced today in our Vice-Chancellor's daily reflection, Leeds Metropolitan University will change its name to Leeds Carnegie University probably by the beginning of the next academic year.

Travel Back

We leave early in the morning, after breakfast. The car brings us directly to the airport in Ahmadabad. On the way we can for the last time "enjoy" the low sense of risk that traffic participants show...



The check-in goes quite fast. Brian has to unpack his suitcase at the X-ray check, but no problems otherwise. The airline rushes us somehow, no time even for strolling around at the airport (there is actually nothing to stroll around...), we are quickly hurdled into the bus to the plane. Then the flight takes off 30 minutes earlier than scheduled! That never happened to me before.

In Dubai I go to the Burger King, and have a large salad - and a meaty juicy burger. The first meat after almost 2 weeks!

The last flight leg goes by without any problems. I have a brief nap, then I watch a couple of movies. Landing in Manchester ok. It is dark and cold. We just miss the 19:22 train to Leeds, so we will take the next one in an hour. Brian takes the route through Sheffield to Doncaster, as this will bring him home earlier.

A big adventure is over. I have now actually been in India!

Last Evening Dinner, and Folk Dance Performances

We are all going out for dinner to one of the restaurants, and we invite our hosts who have made our stay there in Vallabh Vidyanagar so smooth and pleasant. Afterwards some of us go to the area where the West Indian Youth Festival Competition has been taken place since Monday (when there was this procession in the streets). This is located on a large open sports ground, covered by a marquee tent. Traditional Indian music can be heard from outside. We walk into the tent, and see immediately colleagues from the university. Also Kanu Patel is there, as he was involved in the organisation of this whole event, and he points us to seats in the very first row. Behind us are probably 1000 young people, listening and applauding the performances that are ongoing at the stage. We sit down and watch a bit. The speakers are very close, and the sound makes everything vibrate. Kanu offers me a seat in the centre, wher eI have a better view for taking video and pictures. The different groups who are competing in this dance competition wear colorful costumes and perform several different dances. They also provide the music for their dance, with the musicians in the background playing while in the foreground the dancers show their performance.





We leave before midnight, shortly before the whole show ends.