Making Up Instruments

Lepri, Giacomo; McPherson, Andrew

doi:10.1145/3322276.3322353

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…The proposition that technology is a non-neutral mediator of human cognition has deep roots in philosophy (Ihde 1990; Verbeek 2005), and a practical mechanism for this influence can be seen by the extent to which musical instrument creation is not an abstract goal-directed exercise but rather one that explores and responds to the opportunities and constraints of the tools (Magnusson 2010; Newton and Marshall 2011; Lepri and McPherson 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Only then would they think about the gestures that the sensors could be used for.’ In Andersen’s ‘magic machines’ creative ideation workshops with musicians, materials with acoustic properties (e.g., elastic bands) are deliberately excluded to avoid easy or obvious associations (Andersen and Wakkary 2019). Building on this workshop methodology, Lepri and McPherson (2019) found that designing fictional instruments with non-functional materials brought the aesthetic priorities of the individual designer into sharper focus, though even non-functional materials cannot be a neutral medium for ideation.…”

Section: Idiomaticity and Influencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The design of any new technology is situated in a social and material context, and the design will respond to values and ideas embedded in the tools (Suchman 1987). Designers of new digital instruments will likely be influenced not only by their own pre-existing aesthetic values (Lepri and McPherson 2019) but by the assumptions and conveniences of the software and hardware they use to create their instruments. Each computer music language will come with its own distinctive outlook.…”

Section: Values Of Computer Music Languagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Idiomatic Patterns and Aesthetic Influence in Computer Music Languages

McPherson

Tahiroğlu²

2020

Org. Sound

Self Cite

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It is widely accepted that acoustic and digital musical instruments shape the cognitive processes of the performer on both embodied and conceptual levels, ultimately influencing the structure and aesthetics of the resulting performance. In this article we examine the ways in which computer music languages might similarly influence the aesthetic decisions of the digital music practitioner, even when those languages are designed for generality and theoretically capable of implementing any sound-producing process. We examine the basis for querying the non-neutrality of tools with a particular focus on the concept of idiomaticity: patterns of instruments or languages which are particularly easy or natural to execute in comparison to others. We then present correspondence with the developers of several major music programming languages and a survey of digital musical instrument creators examining the relationship between idiomatic patterns of the language and the characteristics of the resulting instruments and pieces. In an open-ended creative domain, asserting causal relationships is difficult and potentially inappropriate, but we find a complex interplay between language, instrument, piece and performance that suggests that the creator of the music programming language should be considered one party to a creative conversation that occurs each time a new instrument is designed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Idiomaticity and Influencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Values Of Computer Music Languagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Idiomatic Patterns and Aesthetic Influence in Computer Music Languages

McPherson

Tahiroğlu²

2020

Org. Sound

Self Cite

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“…musicians, demonstrated through the use of design fiction exercise incorporating participants from a range of musical communities [3]. They report three categories, one being practice-oriented values, which foreground and extend traditional instrument practice.…”

Section: Recent Work By Lepri and Mcpherson Also Underscores The Diversity Of Values Held Bymentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Timbre-Based Control of a Parametric Synthesizer

Gregorio

Kim

Nime 2021

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Musical audio synthesis often requires systems-level knowledge and uniquely analytical approaches to music making, thus a number of machine learning systems have been proposed to replace traditional parameter spaces with more intuitive control spaces based on spatial arrangement of sonic qualities. Some prior evaluations of simplified control spaces have shown increased user efficacy via quantitative metrics in sound design tasks, and some indicate that simplification may lower barriers to entry to synthesis. However, the level and nature of the appeal of simplified interfaces to synthesists merits investigation, particularly in relation to the type of task, prior expertise, and aesthetic values. Toward addressing these unknowns, this work investigates user experience in a sample of 20 musicians with varying degrees of synthesis expertise, and uses a one-week, at-home, multi-task evaluation of a novel instrument presenting a simplified mode of control alongside the full parameter space.We find that our participants generally give primacy to parameter space and seek understanding of parameter-sound relationships, yet most do report finding some creative utility in timbre-space control for discovery of sounds, timbral transposition, and expressive modulations of parameters. Although we find some articulations of particular aesthetic values, relationships to user experience remain difficult to characterize generally.

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“…There are, of course, a number of factors at play when considering the prominence of the material-oriented approach. Lepri and McPherson [2] found that material-oriented approaches to design correlate with backgrounds in improvisation and experimental music. The experimental and improvisatory contexts within which this workshop was situated act as external constraints that also significantly influence a participant's decision to adopt the material-oriented approach.…”

Section: Creative Agency In Percussionist-conceived Dmismentioning

confidence: 99%

On Parallel Performance Practices: Some Observations on Personalizing DMIs as Percussionists

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Digital musical instrument (DMI) design and performance is primarily practiced by those with backgrounds in music technology and human-computer interaction.Research on these topics is rarely led by performers, much less by those without backgrounds in technology. In this study, we explore DMI design and performance from the perspective of a singular community of classically-trained percussionists. We use a practiced-based methodology informed by our skillset as percussionists to study how instrumental skills and sensibilities can be incorporated into the personalization of, and performance with, DMIs. We introduced a simple and adaptable digital musical instrument, built using the Arduino Uno, that individuals (percussionists) could personalize and extend in order to improvise, compose and create music (études). Our analysis maps parallel percussion practices emerging from the resultant DMI compositions and performances by examining the functionality of each Arduino instrument through the lens of material-oriented and communication-oriented approaches to interactivity.

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Making Up Instruments

Cited by 12 publications

References 61 publications

Idiomatic Patterns and Aesthetic Influence in Computer Music Languages

Idiomatic Patterns and Aesthetic Influence in Computer Music Languages

Evaluation of Timbre-Based Control of a Parametric Synthesizer

On Parallel Performance Practices: Some Observations on Personalizing DMIs as Percussionists

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