AMTS Essay Plan

Uncategorised 3 Minutes

 

Essay Title

Effects of gestural computer music instrument design on performance: How does the application of Sensory Percussion effect the approach and technique used to create an expressive performance on a traditional instrument?

(2)(Spencer, 2018)

 

Motivations

My interests as a drummer centre on concepts of hybrid drumming, encouraging my work to focus on creativity within experimental and electronic music coinciding with drum performance. My essay aims are to delve into the uses of technology alongside drumming and specific tools used to encourage expressivity with the instrument.

(1)(Spencer, 2018)

 

Research Methods

I believe it would be beneficial to ask a selection of known SP artist’s specific questions relating to their use of the tool and how it has effected their playing, providing focused information regarding SP.

As this topic is close to my musical passions I feel it would be beneficial to carry out a user experiment myself and provide my own opinions on the tool.

(2)(Spencer, 2018)

 

Research Questions

After researching some sources relating to different aspects of my topic, I drafted some questions that would help me focus my research and keep a consistent analytical approach within my essay.

  • SP focuses on being a tool made to ‘remap’ an acoustic drum. With the ability to be personalised by individual users, how does this effect how an experienced player reacts psychologically and musically to the instrument?

 

  • To what extent is the SP software written for the computer to be given musical capabilities? How is the input device used to exploit these capabilities to create musical structure and modify sound?

 

  • How efficiently does SP transmit the users musical expression, and how much does this rely on the users ability/experience with the tool?

 

  • How far does the application of SP support a view that expression within a performance relies on structure? Does a lack of relationship between these factors create a performance with decreased listenable quality?

 

Research Sources

I have listed some initial sources I have read and intend to use in my essay that express varied opinions, from both psychological, musicological and technical approaches.

  • Performance on Sensor-based Instruments (Tanaka, 2000)
    • Descriptive paper discussing the intervention required from a performer with the creation of sensor based gestural instruments, not analytical.
  • Making Motion Musical (Winkler, 1995)
    • Analytical paper discussing how interactive performance systems can be used to go beyond a one-to-one relationship of performer and sound, verging on being outdated.
  • Effort and Expression (Ryan, 1992)
    • Paper analysing the relationship between musical expression and the effort supplying it, biased view towards comparison of computer and traditional music performance.
  •  The Importance of Parameter Mapping (Hunt, Wanderley and Paradis, 2003)
    • Descriptive paper considering progression of parameter mapping, includes examples and case studies, fairly outdated.
  • Gesture in Performance (Visi, Schramm and Miranda, 2014)
    •  Recent paper considering performance gesture in relation to instrument mapping and the effect on audience and performer.
  • Five facets of musical expression (Juslin, 2003)
    •  Analytical paper focusing on psychological affects of musical performance on performer and listener, limited view to musical performance.
  • Music Performance (Palmer, 1997)
    •   Outdated paper discussing relationship between musical structure and expression, analytical and self critical.

Structure

I plan for my essay structure to be fairly straightforward including introduction, description, analysis and conclusion sections. Throughout my essay I will use chaptered headings to maintain a clear narrative and structure.

  

Planning

Currently I am using research questions and listing sources/quotes relative to each question. I am also using Trello online project management to set project deadlines. The main part of my project that I’m currently planning is the interviews and experiments.

 

Bibliography

  • (1) Spencer, T. (2018). Advanced Music Tech Studies – Week 1: Initial Ideas and Interests. [Blog] Tim Spencer Music Tech Studies. Available at: https://wordpress.com/post/timmusicstudies.tech.blog/11 [Accessed 29 Oct. 2018].
  • (2) Spencer, T. (2018). Advanced Music Tech Studies – Week 2: Sensory Percussion and Design of Music Production Tools. [Blog] Tim Spencer Music Tech Studies. Available at: https://wordpress.com/post/timmusicstudies.tech.blog/14 [Accessed 29 Oct. 2018].
  • Tanaka, A. (2000). Musical Performance Practice on Sensor-based Instruments. Trends in Gestural Control of Music, 13, pp.389-405.
  • Winkler, T. (1995). Making Motion Musical: Gesture Mapping Strategies for Interactive Computer Music. In: International Computer Music Conference.
  • Ryan, J. (1992). Effort and Expression. In: International Computer Music Conference.
  • Hunt, A., Wanderley, M. and Paradis, M. (2003). The Importance of Parameter Mapping in Electronic Instrument Design. Journal of New Music Research, 32(4), pp.429-440.
  • Visi, F., Schramm, R. and Miranda, E. (2014). Gesture in performance with traditional musical instruments and electronics. In: International Workshop on Movement and Computing.
  • Juslin, P. (2003). Five facets of musical expression: a psychologist’s perspective on music performance. Psychology of Music, 31(3), pp.273-302.
  • Palmer, C. (1997). Music Performance. Annual Review of Psychology, 48, pp.115-138.
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