Body as Instrument: Performing with Gestural Systems in Live Electronic Music

Human movement reveals information about social identity, physical health and attitude. Motion tracking technology can aid creativity and inventiveness by translating rich information from subtle facial expressions and muscular activity into sonic and musical processes. Motion sensing also offers the opportunity to transcend the physical constraints of traditional instruments. Novel motion-controlled instruments can accommodate a performer’s unique body shape, movement habits, preferences and physical abilities, inspiring new movement vocabularies and musical repertoire.
This book explores how musicians navigate these unique musical environments, appropriating and inventing new instruments and energetic forms of bodily communication. Through a series of case studies exploring current practitioners’ experiences and author-composed works, the book examines the transformational impact of motion sensors on musicians’ physical awareness and abilities, evolving musician and instrument relationships, and distinctions between audience and performer. It explores the role of experiential design strategies in developing robust and nuanced movement-controlled instruments suited to the rigors of live performance.