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Tangible Scores: Shaping the Inherent Instrument Score Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression Tangible Scores: Shaping the Inherent Instrument Score Enrique Tomás Martin Kaltenbrunner Interface Culture Lab Interface Culture Lab Kunstuniversität Linz Kunstuniversität Linz Kollegiumgasse 2,4010 Linz, Austria Kollegiumgasse 2,4010 Linz, Austria [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT very moment of a performance, interacting with the instru- Tangible Scores are a new paradigm for musical instrument ment and usually following some prior musical plan. For design with a physical configuration inspired by graphic Chadabe [5] this practice transforms the act of composi- scores. In this paper we will focus on the design aspects tion into an interactive process that depends deeply on the of this new interface as well as on some of the related tech- system response. In these cases, the musical result can be nical details. Creating an intuitive, modular and expres- completely different at every instance of a performance. sive instrument for textural music was the primary driving In this diversity of approaches to the problem of compos- force. Following these criteria, we literally incorporated a ing for new digital instruments, the traditional relations be- musical score onto the surface of the instrument as a way tween composer, composition and performer are mediated of continuously controlling several parameters of the sound by the composed nature of the instrument. In this paper synthesis. Tangible Scores are played with both hands and we describe first the inherent compositional aspects of our they can adopt multiple physical forms. Complex and ex- digital instruments and their influence on the musical prac- pressive sound textures can be easily played over a variety tice. Later, we extend the concept of inherent score to the of timbres, enabling precise control in a natural manner. physical layer of the interface, proposing a new family of instruments called Tangible Scores. Keywords NIME, Scores, Notation, Composition, Tangible Interface, Acoustic Interface. 1. INTRODUCTION During the development process of a new digital instrument it is necessary to define an a priori set of musical applica- tions and practices where performers can use it. This will determine many characteristics of the musical interface e.g. its gestural vocabulary, functionalities, ergonomics, visual aspect, etc. Many NIMEs are not limited to a particular musical prac- tice although some types of music will be more difficult to be played than others. For example, playing a classical music piece with a Reactable [10] can be quite tedious indepen- Figure 1: Playing a Tangible Score. dently from the difficulty of the score. Other NIMEs are designed to constrain the playable musical elements at mul- tiple levels. Max Mathews' Radio Baton [14] uses a com- 2. INHERENT INSTRUMENT SCORE plementary program called Conductor to automatize the 2.1 Composers and Digital Instruments selection of notes on a predefined score. Laurie Spiegel's Music Mouse [7] allowed only to interact with the ranges Composing for digital music instruments can be quite chal- of change on the selection of frequencies. In both cases, lenging. The decoupling between interface and the synthe- the instruments require a predefined musical score. There- sized sound influences the whole process of composition. fore a NIME designer often also tends to develop a notation During the age of traditional acoustic musical instruments, system for the new digital instrument and its performance the role of a composer was the encoding of musical ideas into practice. standard musical notations. Reading those scores, players Frequently we see performers who don't use scores be- were able to decode the notation into physical movements, cause they prefer to improvise the composition during the allowing the same music to be played with different instru- ments. But after the conception of electronic musical in- struments, a composition often was not finished until the Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for relation between sound and gesture was defined. And the personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are definition of that relation can become a very complex pro- not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies cess. bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to For the comprehension of this problem it is important to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific understand the origins of our contemporary practice with permission and/or a fee. NIME’14, June 30 – July 03, 2014, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. digital instruments. Nowadays composers are generally used Copyright remains with the author(s). to deal with gesture-based music. Many compositions after 609 Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression the 50s and 60s were increasingly understood as describing ated from the inherent scores that can be found in the struc- gestural information for the performer, rather than being tural elements of a particular electronic configuration. This notations of pitch organized in time [13]. We can say that concept carries an extraordinary rendition: the acceptance during this period, the traditional notation system lost its that an electronic instrument is an entity that can display predominant position since it was not able to embrace and itself without the need of a composer or a composition. reflect the new ideas of composers. The same problem later Tudor's aesthetic of "composing inside electronics" antici- applied to the case of the more recent graphic scores, which pated the concepts found withing the contemporary practice often provided a rather subjective musical notation system. of circuit bending, DIY builders and sound hackers. But A graphic score is often generated from the need of a no- more importantly, he founded the principles of a new musi- tation of sonic-facts that the performer will recreate in his cal practice that was continued up to the contemporary use imagination, an approach that anticipates the process of of digital instruments and interfaces. Like in Bandoneon!, composing for electronic musical instruments. we should understand our contemporary digital music in- But notably the last revolution in transforming the role struments as a more or less complex set of circuitry, soft- of a score was achieved through the use of electronic cir- ware, logics and spatial relationships, exposing an inherent cuits in musical language. Alvin Lucier [12] explains how score that configures its nature, the source of inspiration for within many of the works produced by the Sonic Arts Union performing with them. "there were no scores to follow; the scores were inherent in John Fulleman, a frequent collaborator of John Cage, at- the circuitry". Lucier describes the suppression of notation tributes Tudor an "ability to assert just enough control over in its traditional form, where printed symbolic or graphic the equipment to get through a concert". The same method- scores leave the stage to a new kind of inherent score. Cir- ology of composition can be advised to the composers of cuits are configured in a specific way for their artistic use, digital instruments. Navigating along the field of charac- containing enough structural elements to be used in a mu- teristics one could read from the instrument, not only as sical situation. The role of the composer, at an equidistant a mere catalog of potentials or affordances, but as an in- point among designers, composers and performers, starts herent score, that defines the sonic and musical possibilities with the configuration of the technical system behind the that can be chosen by a performer every moment when it is actual instrument. Performing became the creative explo- played in real time. ration in freedom of the musical affordances, musical reac- Cook's principle [6] about musical controller design "bet- tions or acoustic relations to the physical space performed, ter to make a piece, not an instrument", reinforces this vi- without the need of any kind of musical notation. It is im- sion of composing inherent scores. According to this, the portant to remark that this historical moment is a bridge design of a new instrument should be starting with a com- between the old traditional vision of the composer, and a position in mind. But just like in any traditional composi- new role that is more connected to the current practices tion, many cultural, personal and idiosyncratic elements of with electronic instruments. the builder's personality impregnate each digital instrument Now some decades later, our study field stays at the design. Or as it is explained by Wanderley [22], if a com- continuation of the cultural and technical evolution of all poser decides to build or take part in the design of a certain those pioneering works, developing a variety of alternative instrument, the vocabulary of gestures of an instrument is approaches [4] to composition, notation and performance. often created with a subjective artistic reason in mind. In the following section we discuss two compositional ap- proaches for electronic musical instruments. 3. TANGIBLE SCORES 2.2 Composed & Self-Composed Instruments 3.1 A Physical Layer for Musical Notation The concept of an inherent score is important for under- Inspired by the mediated relation between musician, instru- standing the mediated relationship between composers, per- ment and musical performance, we decided to design a new formers and their instruments. In this section we introduce instrument that emphasizes the inherent scores. Hence our the phenomenological approach on performing with them. objective was the extension of the concept of inherent score Twelve years ago Schnell and Battier introduced the con- and creating a new digital instrument that could incorpo- cept of composed instruments [17]. This term serves to ex- rate some kind of musical notation within its very physical plain that our digital instruments equally "carry the notion configuration.
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