TROUBLEAT

T'LEEDSDATAMILL:

OOMPAH.PY
BIGDATAMEETSBIGBRASS
Nicholas H.Tollervey / @ntoll
Simon Davy / @bloodearnest

AGENDA
Oompah.huh..? (Nicholas & Simon)
Data analysis. (Simon)
Musical mischief. (Nicholas)
Questions. (You)
Performance! (Enderby Brass Band)

OOMPAH.HUH..?

"WETELLSTORIES..."

LDMHACKDAY
Can we tell an engaging story about Leeds with data?

http://leedsdatamill.org/dataset/leeds-city-centre-footfalldata

CRAZYIDEA#1
Turn the footfall data into music.

CRAZYIDEA#2

CRAZYIDEA#2
What musical genre epitomizes Leeds?

Our aim was to write Python scripts that turned raw footfall
data into music for brass band called "Rhythm of the City".
And so, oompah.pywas ironically checked into Github.

DATAANALYSIS
MUNGING

EXCEL+MESSYDATA=AARGH!

Please use CSV

Tuesday
name
|
median | min
histogram
max|
------------------------------------------------------------------------00:00
:
33.0 ms [ 1.0
___ _ __ _ _ _ 3
82.0]
01:00
:
30.0 ms [ 4.0
________ __ _____ ___ 39
7.0]
02:00
:
28.0 ms [ 5.0
____ __ _ ____ _ 3
21.0]
03:00
:
23.0 ms [ 5.0
_______
_ ____ __ 26
4.0]
04:00
:
12.0 ms [ 2.0
______ __ _
___ __ 180.
0]
05:00
:
17.0 ms [ 1.0
___ ____ __
__ __ 186
.0]
06:00
:
64.0 ms [ 6.0
_
_ ___ 163.0]
07:00
: 205.0 ms [ 5.0 ___ ___ _ _ _
___
_ 405.0]
08:00
: 470.0 ms [ 12.0 _ __ ___ _
_
___ 745.0]
09:00
: 554.0 ms [ 14.0 _____ _
_____
_ 1096.0]
10:00
: 931.0 ms [ 24.0 __ _
_
____ ___
_ 1970.0]
11:00
: 1357.0 ms [ 0.0 _
_ _____
______ 2
478.0]
12:00
: 1823.0 ms [ 56.0 ___ _ __ _
________
_ 56
52.0]

TIMETRAVELFTW
WEEK = {}
WEND = {}
for f in glob.glob('*.csv'):
voice = f.split('.')[0].lower().replace(' ', '_')
WEEK[voice] = defaultdict(list)
WEND[voice] = defaultdict(list)
with open(f) as fp:
for row in csv.DictReader(fp):
t = row['Hour']
d = row['WeekDay']
if d.lower() in ('saturday', 'sunday'):
data = WEND
else:
data = WEEK
data[voice][t].append(int(row['Count']))

PITCH
def pitch(data, scale):
"""Generate notes from the scale driven by the data."""
index = 0
for d in data:
index = (index + d) % len(scale)
yield scale[index]

DURATION
def rhythm(data, mn, mx):
"""Produce note durations from provided patterns,
based on mean intensity
"""
i = threshold(data)
pattern = patterns[i]
# use the data to chose which pattern,
# so the process is deterministic
index = 0
for d in data:
index = (index + d) % len(pattern)
for duration in pattern[index]:
yield duration
yield None # indicates a bar has been produced

VOICEOFTHESTREET
def voice(data, scale, mn, mx, length=8):
"""Generate a voice from the data, combining pitch and rhythm"""
bars = 0
note_iter = pitch(data, scale)
for duration in rhythm(data, mn, mx):
if duration is None:
bars += 1
yield '|'
if bars == length:
raise StopIteration()
elif duration[0] == 'r':
yield duration
else:
note = next(note_iter)
if '%s' in duration:
# more complex templated duration (e.g. tuplets)
yield duration % note
else:
yield "%s%s" % (note, duration)

MUSICAL
MISCHIEF

BLOOPS!

0:00

Charles E.Ives

Music affects because of the effects of sound.

Music engages us to listen.
Music, in some sense, tells a story in sound (there is a
discernable narrative).

CANWEREVEALTHESTORY
OFTHEDATATHROUGH
MUSIC?

ELEMENTSOFMUSIC

ELEMENTSOFMUSIC
Pitch: how high or low a note sounds.
Rhythm: a sequence of different durations.
Melody = Pitch + Rhythm.
Timbre: the quality of a sound (e.g. the difference
between a flute and violin).
Dynamics: loudness.
Key: the set of available pitches.
Harmony: how pitches sound together as polyphony.
Texture: how the harmony is "voiced".
Etc, etc...

AMUSICALMAPPING
The ingredients for generating "Rhythm of the City".
Each instrument group in the band represents a specific
area of the city. Ergo, cameras/locations are
differentiated by timbre.
The amount of footfall in a location changes the intensity
of dynamics and rhythm (more footfall = louder / busier
melodies).
Use "nice" sounding pentatonic keys.
Time of day is indicated by key.
Each hour of the day is represented by an eight bar
fragment.
Tubular bells sound out the hours every eight bars.

THERESULT!

DOESITWORK..?

IT'STUBATIME!

1am, 7am, 12 noon