Maestro in Motion

Physical Interface

This design is attached to the user by anchoring the arduino and PCB to a cloth leotard, with the individual sensors also anchored to cloth wearable items. Here the sensors controlled by the hands are attached to fingerless gloves, and the sensor attached to the left elbow is anchored using a portion of a shirt sleeve.

Sensors

Software

Performance

While there isn't a specific skillset needed to use this design, the possibilities available to explore with this tool will be dependent on the range of the movers physical and improvisational abilities. It is appropriate for both performance, and as a general tool for creative exploration and idea generation

Discussion

The use of gestural movements is an integral part of artistic performance across many mediums, for both functional and expressive purposes. Within the domain of music,previous work on gesture controlled instruments have focused on the functional aspects of gesture in controlling the sound. While the gestural aspect is a part of the performance,there is an implicit hierarchy that is created, as the primary role of gesture is a functional means to achieving a sound, even if the movement can be considered to have its own independent creative merit.

The interdependencies between music and movement can be difficult to disentangle and examine, given that both are frequently used together to evoke and inspire affective states in the intended audience. The work of Elizabeth Streb, which features acrobative and physically challenging stunt-like choreography, is a vivid example of the intensive and visceral impact that movement performance can have on an audience. (“ELIZABETHSTREB,” 2014) Combining movement with music allows the two mediums to play off of one another, and add intensity and nuance to the overall performance. For example, in Martha Graham’s Lamentations, the music mirrors the dancers movements as she transitions between jittery, repetitive motions to the slower, more reflective core work that illustrates the emotional and physical manifestations of grief. (Martha Graham Dance Company, 2016)

In these and other works, we can see the complementary roles that music and movement inhabit as both tap into the conceptual mappings and associations that are tied to sensory connections between sound and physicality. Both offer us ways to engage deeply with experiences that are both subjective and universal, however the existing cultural paradigm is that these are two languages of expression that are complementary, but conceptually distinct. We offer a different perspective, that by allowing sound creation and manipulation to be an extension of gestural movement, rather than a result of it or a parallel process, we can create a new and integrated expressive vocabulary.

Some artists have demonstrated explorations of this in their own work, most notably Meredith Monk, who is a pioneer in the dance field for integrating dance with vocal work in her performances. Her artful choreography of both movement and sound breaks down the traditional separation of the mediums as parallel processes that interact and influence one another but are inherently independent, and instead allows us to see both the motion and the sound as two equal and linked results of the embodied creative experience. An accomplished dancer and musician, Monk’s work expands our understanding of dance and movement performance by explicitly exploring these connections between body movement and expressive sound. (“Meredith Monk,” n.d.)Another artist who has developed similarly motivated work is Joe Goode. As a contemporary dance choreographer and performer, Goode states, “I am equally interested in the texture of the human voice and the effect it has on movement. Since my early days as a choreographer, I have been trying to forge some territory where dance and language/sound could co-exist. . . Far from being contradictory, I see these two ways of telling as innately linked. I want to liberate the dancer from his/her silence and create a total theater that is rigorously crafted but intimately personal." (Wilder, 2018)

By utilizing voice and movement as equal elements of the performance process,these creative approaches work towards an integration of the body, movement and sound.Although specialization in specific mediums is necessary for advanced virtuoso performance, the process of artistic exploration benefits from this integration, as "Creativity integrates three overlapping modes of learning: sensual (perception, abstraction and insight), interactive (physical experience and coordination), and symbolic (procedure and language)." (Grba, 2020) A deeper investigation into the multi-faceted relationship between movement and sound allows artists to explore new avenues of expression and additional creative nuance.

The relevance and importance of gesture and spatial awareness to the creative process, and specifically the music creation process, highlight the need for tools and processes that leverage the embodied experiences of artists as they engage with their work.(Deacon et al., 2019; Satama et al., 2021) To explore how creativity in music can be facilitated by this embodied experience, we created an instrument design that shifts control of the soundscape to a mover, allowing them control over the audio experience by connecting gestural elements to perceptually relevant aspects of the resulting aural experience. This expands upon work by artists such as Monk and Goode by enabling the body to be a sound creator in ways beyond vocal engagement. Using wearable sensors, this design enables performers to use gesture as a way of engaging with the sound, rather than being limited to solely the role of the generator, or of the responder.