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Torrent: Integrating Embodiment, Physicalization and Musification in Music-Making

Published: 20 March 2017 Publication History

Abstract

In this paper, we present Torrent, for Flutes and Water. Torrent is an embodied electroacoustic music composition written to commemorate a catastrophic local flood and the spirit of the citizens who united to overcome it. To create this music, we designed and built an interactive computer system to make audible and physical that which is usually hidden but ever-present in music-making: the musicians' muscle tension as they perform, think about, and feel their music. The Torrent system musifies and physicalizes the flutists' muscle tension as live water sounds and movement that accompany the musicians as they perform. Semi-structured interviews and surveys were conducted to under-stand the experiences of the performers and audience during one performance. The use of embodiment, as integral to the music itself, aspires to emphasize means and end, body and mind, effort and achievement in the struggle of people unit-ed against the elements.

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Cited By

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  • (2024)RaveNET: Connecting People and Exploring Liminal Space through Wearable Networks in Music PerformanceProceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3623509.3635270(1-8)Online publication date: 11-Feb-2024
  • (2024)Feeling Data through Movement: Designing Somatic Data Experiences with DancersProceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3623509.3633371(1-11)Online publication date: 11-Feb-2024
  • (2023)Embodying the AlgorithmProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3580885(1-24)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
  • Show More Cited By

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cover image ACM Conferences
TEI '17: Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction
March 2017
806 pages
ISBN:9781450346764
DOI:10.1145/3024969
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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Publication History

Published: 20 March 2017

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Author Tags

  1. electroacoustic music
  2. electromyography
  3. embodied interaction
  4. musification
  5. physicalization

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  • Research-article

Funding Sources

  • Alberta Innovates Technology Futures
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

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TEI '17
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TEI '17 Paper Acceptance Rate 41 of 151 submissions, 27%;
Overall Acceptance Rate 393 of 1,367 submissions, 29%

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TEI '25

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Cited By

View all
  • (2024)RaveNET: Connecting People and Exploring Liminal Space through Wearable Networks in Music PerformanceProceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3623509.3635270(1-8)Online publication date: 11-Feb-2024
  • (2024)Feeling Data through Movement: Designing Somatic Data Experiences with DancersProceedings of the Eighteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3623509.3633371(1-11)Online publication date: 11-Feb-2024
  • (2023)Embodying the AlgorithmProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3580885(1-24)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
  • (2022)Physecology: A Conceptual Framework to Describe Data Physicalizations in their Real-World ContextACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/350559029:3(1-33)Online publication date: 14-Jan-2022
  • (2022)Making Data Tangible: A Cross-disciplinary Design Space for Data PhysicalizationProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3501939(1-18)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
  • (2022)Physicalizing Sustainable Development Goals Data: An Example with SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy)Extended Abstracts of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491101.3519638(1-7)Online publication date: 27-Apr-2022
  • (2021)The Bodies of TEI – Investigating Norms and Assumptions in the Design of Embodied InteractionProceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction10.1145/3430524.3440651(1-19)Online publication date: 14-Feb-2021

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