Emily Saletan RR5

Especially in preparation for the music sequencer, I have been thinking about the ways in which users edit the sound of their instruments. To an everyday observer, the processes of mediating pitch, duration, and maybe volume are probably more expected. The mapping of the mechanics - mutualized as they are - can be followed visually and aurally. This might look like the placement of fingers, the time those fingers spend in that place, and the force with which they provoke sound through that instrument’s mechanism, respectively. Elements of timbre might also be more evident on a percussive instrument via the use of different mallets.

However, to an everyday observer, the more nuanced adjustments of a seasoned player might not initially be so obvious. My suspicion is that the rotation of a flute or the adjustment of a hand muting a french horn is not as accurately anticipated without example. This is inspired by page 238 of Artful Design, which lists Perry Cook’s reasons for the loss of intimacy between human player and instrument in the development of new controllers and synths. The second reason that he cites is a lack of fidelity between gesture and output, which hinders learning. Learning is the process of updating a mental model based on new information. In order for a user to learn to play a new instrument, the mental model of the instrument must stay trustworthy so that the mental model can stabilize. This is universal - how does one learn to blow air over the mouth of an open bottle or whistle through a blade of grass? Trial and error, with a new mental model with each new instrument that’s selected. At a certain point the grass might grow limp or tear, and the mental model has to adapt to that change (or a new blade of grass). The musician most reliably learns on a stabilized instrument where the mapping stays repeatable as they play.

In an audiovisual performance, as audience members watch, they are also learning the mapping of each instrument. Based on how carefully they observe, they are potentially quantifying even the most minute adjustments. In this way, intimacy is also shared between the observer and the performer and the instrument – not just between the two latter parties. It seems to me that an audience’s satisfaction, respect, and understanding would also be based on the fidelity of the instrument. The observer-listener also wants the experience of the music to feel real.