Abstract
In this article we discuss how the act of perceiving a digital object as a musical instrument can be considered as directly proportional to the amount (and quality) of time invested in its development and refinement to suit individual needs rather than generic ones. In that regard, the purpose-free approach to the design of generic controllers contrasts with a view of personalised tools developed and continuously redefined by the artist to fulfil artistic and musical needs. In doing so, the time invested relates to the artist/designer’s perseverance in a never-ending process of subjectification of the digital instrument identity. The discussion provided in the article is supported by a case study on one of the pioneers and developers of digital musical instruments: Michael Waisvisz (1949–2008) and his work on The Hands (first exhibited in 1984—last performance dated 2008). We argue that this almost 30-year long and engaged process of development and experimentation can be seen as a model, through which we can allow other musical devices to evolve from controllers of digital musical matter to instruments that may provide integrated and embodied possibilities for musical expression.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Incidentally, the interchangeable and confusing way in which both terms of instrument and controller are used is evident from the very first paper published in the first proceedings of this: Principles for Designing Computer Music Controllers by Perry Cook and dated 2001.
- 2.
In personal communication with Kristina Andersen.
References
Cance, C., Genevois, H., & Dubois, D. (2009). What is instrumentality in new digital musical devices? A Contribution from Cognitive Linguistics and Psychology. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00430397. Accessed April 15, 2016.
Cook, P. (2001). Principles for designing computer music controllers. In Proceedings of the NIME Workshop at CHI 2001, Seattle, Washington, April 1–2, 2001.
Cook, P. (2004). Remutualizing the musical instrument: Co-design of synthesis algorithms and controllers. Journal for New Music Research, 33(3), 315–320.
Dobrian, C., & Koppelman, D. (2006). The ‘E’ in NIME: Musical expression with new computer interfaces. In N. Schnell, F. Bevilacqua, M. J. Lyons, & A. Tanaka (Eds.), NIME ‘06: Proceedings of the 2006 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. Paris.
Gibson, J. J. (1977). The theory of affordances. In R. Shaw & J. Bransford (Eds.), Perceiving, Acting, and Knowing: Toward an Ecological Psychology (p. 127). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Jordá, S. (2004). Digital instruments and players: Part I—Efficiency and apprenticeship. In M. J. Lyons (Ed.), NIME ‘04: Proceedings of the 2004 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan.
Norman, S. J., Waisvisz, M., & Ryan, J. (1998). Touchstone. Catalogue to the first STEIM Touch-Exhibition. Amsterdam.
Ryan, J., & Andersen, K. (2014). 821 Words and 20 Images. In No Patent Pending, Self-Made Performative Media (3 ed., pp. 1–10). MER. Ghent: Paper Kunsthalle, Ghent.
Torre, G., Andersen, K., & Baldé, F. (2016). The Hands: The making of a digital musical instrument. Computer Music Journal, 40(2), 1–13.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Torre, G., Andersen, K. (2017). Instrumentality, Time and Perseverance. In: Bovermann, T., de Campo, A., Egermann, H., Hardjowirogo, SI., Weinzierl, S. (eds) Musical Instruments in the 21st Century. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2951-6_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2951-6_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-2950-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-2951-6
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)