Co-Design of Musical Haptic Wearables for Electronic Music Performer's Communication

Abstract

Communication between performers is a fundamental aspect in music performance. A large number of electronic music instruments based on tangible and screen-based interfaces require a focused visual attention from performers while they are controlled. In certain stage and artistic configurations, this may be an obstacle to face-to-face creative interactions between coperformers and their collaborators. To address these issues, we adopted a user-centered design methodology to develop a novel class of IoT devices that we term Musical Haptic Wearables for performers. We conducted a co-design workshop with ten electronic musicians using focus-group discussions and the bootlegging technique. This workshop identified numerous creative communication issues between performers in electronic music practice and prepared mock-up prototypes. We then developed three chest-, foot-and arm-worn haptic wearables respectively for co-performer, performer-conductor, and performer-sound engineer interactions. The wearables were assessed with 25 participants using a mixed methods approach. High accuracies (70-100%) were obtained for musical actions expected after instructions wirelessly communicated via tactile signals. The results provide evidence that musical haptic wearables can be an effective medium of communication in the context of electronic music performances. Further challenges were identified regarding size and placement of the devices on the body, interferences with concurrent vibrations generated by music signals, limitations on the range of creative controls, and a required training curve.

Musical Haptic Wearables for Synchronisation of Visually-impaired Performers: a Co-design Approach

“…To create a demonstration of interfaces that could provide vibrotactile cues useful to direct visually-impaired musicians during their practices, we let participants experience various MHWs that were developed in previous research (reported in [29] and [32]). These consisted in a belt equipped with four motors (see Figure 2a), a single self-contained armband equipped with two motors and two buttons (see Figure 2b), and a pair of armbands both equipped with two motors (see Figure 2c).…”

“…The advent of embedded and networking technologies has set the stage for the creation of new wearable devices for creative communication in musical contexts by leveraging the tactile channel. Recently, the Musical Haptic Wearables (MHWs) for performers have been proposed as instances of a wider family of Musical Things [29] within the Internet of Musical Things (IoMusT) paradigm [30]. Such a class of wearable devices targeting music performers encompasses haptic stimulation, gesture tracking, and wireless connectivity features.…”

Chimera

“…In "The Elements of Fashion Style," Vaccaro et al [61] highlight language differences across fashion that frustrate users searching for outfit combinations. Recent wearables-related taxonomies span trends in design use and aesthetic experience [40], co-experience support [39], body placement zones [59], gestures [58], ergonomic comfort and wearability [25,67], virtual and in-person interactions [9,17], and privacy and user interactions [43,47].…”

An ubiquitous smart guitar system for collaborative musical practice

“…Various use cases were implemented, which leverage the smart qualities of the instrument. These include the programming of the instrument via applications for smartphones and desktop computer, as well as the wireless control of devices enabling multimodal performances such as screens displaying visuals, smartphones, and tactile devices used by the audience (Turchet & Barthet, 2019).…”