"Presents a range of design approaches for developing motion-controlled digital musical instruments that reflect performer perspectives and felt experience"--
Mainsbridge, a composer, performer of improvised live electronic music, and lecturer in music in Australia, examines how gestural systems influence live performer actions, from digital musical instruments and sound installations to dance-music interfaces, and how they impact the motivations and perceptions of musicians. She interviewed artists who use their bodies to control sound with motion-sensing technologies in live electronic music and describes their approaches. She discusses gestural musical instrument design, then the approaches of Laetitia Sonami, Atau Tanaka, Pamela Z, Julie Wilson-Bokowiec, Lauren Sarah Hayes, Bent Leather Band, Mark Coniglio, and Garth Paine. She ends with discussion of the intersection between performance and design and the effects of long-term engagement with gestural systems on performer agency and identity. Annotation ©2022 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
Body as Instrument explores how musicians interact with movement-controlled performance systems, producing sounds imbued with their individual physical signature. Using motion tracking technology, performers can translate physical actions into sonic processes, creating or adapting novel gestural systems that transcend the structures and constraints of conventional musical instruments. Interviews with influential artists in the field, Laetitia Sonami, Atau Tanaka, Pamela Z, Julie Wilson-Bokowiec, Lauren Sarah Hayes, Mark Coniglio, Garth Paine and The Bent Leather Band expose the transformational impact of motion sensors on musicians' body awareness and abilities. Coupled with reflection on author-composed works, the book analyses how the body as instrument metaphor informs relationships between performers, their bodies and self-designed instruments. It also examines the role of experiential design strategies in developing robust and nuanced gestural systems that mirror a performer's movement habits, preferences and skills, inspiring new physical forms of musical communication and diverse musical repertoire.
