Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Free-Improvised Rehearsal-as-Research for Musical HCI

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Book cover New Directions in Music and Human-Computer Interaction

Part of the book series: Springer Series on Cultural Computing ((SSCC))

Abstract

The formal evaluation of new interfaces for musical expression (NIMEs) in their use by ensembles of musicians is a challenging problem in human-computer interaction (HCI). NIMEs are designed to support creative expressions that are often improvised and unexpected. In the collaborative setting of a musical ensemble, interactions are complex and it can be almost impossible to directly evaluate the impact of interface variations. The evaluation environment also needs to be carefully considered. In the wild, concert pressures and practicalities limit experimental control. In the laboratory, studies may not sufficiently reflect real-world usage to make their conclusions relevant. To address some of these issues, we propose a methodology of rehearsal-as-research to study free improvisation by ensembles of NIME performers. In this methodology, evaluation sessions are structured to mirror established practices for improvisation training and performance development. Such sessions can allow controlled, order-balanced studies with extensive data collection in the style of factorial HCI experiments while preserving the artistic setting of a rehearsal. Experiment design, questionnaires, and objective measures such as session duration will be discussed along with two case studies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Barbosa J, Malloch J, Wanderley M, Huot S (2015) What does ‘evaluation’ mean for the NIME community? In: Berdahl E, Allison J (eds) Proceedings of the international conference on new interfaces for musical expression. Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, pp 156–161

    Google Scholar 

  • Bin SMA, Morreale F, Bryan-Kinns N, McPherson AP (2017) In-the-moment and beyond: Combining post-hoc and real-time data for the study of audience perception of electronic music performance. In: Bernhaupt R, Dalvi G, Joshi A, Balkrishan DK, O’Neill J, Winckler M (eds) Human-computer interaction—INTERACT 2017. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 263–281. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67744-6_18

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bradley JV (1958) Complete counterbalancing of immediate sequential effects in a Latin square design. J Am Stat Assoc 53:525–528. https://doi.org/10.2307/2281872

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Cahn WL (2005) Creative music making. Routledge, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Corbin J, Strauss A (2008) Basics of qualitative research: techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. SAGE Publications, London

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Costello B, Muller L, Amitani S, Edmonds E (2005) Understanding the experience of interactive art: Iamascope in Betaspace. In: Proceedings of the second Australasian conference on interactive entertainment. Creativity & Cognition Studios Press, Sydney, pp 49–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Csikszentmihalyi M (1991) Flow: the psychology of optimal experience. Harper Collins, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg J, Thompson WF (2003) A matter of taste: Evaluating improvised music. Creat Res J 15:287–296. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2003.9651421

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fiebrink R, Cook PR, Trueman D (2011) Human model evaluation in interactive supervised learning. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM, New York, NY, pp 147–156. https://doi.org/10.1145/1978942.1978965

  • Gardner HJ, Martin MA (2007) Analyzing ordinal scales in studies of virtual environments: Likert or lump it! Presence: Teleoper Virtual Environ 16:439–446. https://doi.org/10.1162/pres.16.4.439

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelineck S, Serafin S (2012) Longitudinal evaluation of the integration of digital musical instruments into existing compositional work processes. J New Music Res 41:259–276. https://doi.org/10.1080/09298215.2012.697174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gurevich M, Marquez-Borbon A, Stapleton P (2012) Playing with constraints: stylistic variation with a simple electronic instrument. Comput Music J 36:23–41. https://doi.org/10.1162/COMJ_a_00103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayden S, Windsor L (2007) Collaboration and the composer: case studies from the end of the 20th century. Tempo 61:28–39. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0040298207000113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jordà S, Mealla S (2014) A methodological framework for teaching, evaluating and informing NIME design with a focus on mapping and expressiveness. In: Proceedings of the international conference on new interfaces for musical expression. Goldsmiths, University of London, London, pp 233–238

    Google Scholar 

  • Krüger S (2008) Ethnography in the performing arts: a student guide. The Higher Education Academy, York

    Google Scholar 

  • Lazar J, Feng J, Hochheiser H (2010) Research methods in human-computer interaction. Wiley, West Sussex

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin C, Gardner H (2016) A percussion-focussed approach to preserving touch-screen improvisation. In: England D, Schiphorst T, Bryan-Kinns N (eds) Curating the digital: spaces for art and interaction. Springer, Cham, pp 51–72. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28722-5_5

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin C, Gardner H, Swift B (2014) Exploring percussive gesture on iPads with Ensemble Metatone. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM, New York, NY, pp 1025–1028. https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557226

  • Martin C, Gardner H, Swift B, Martin M (2015) Music of 18 performances: evaluating apps and agents with free improvisation. In: Stevenson I (ed) Proceedings of the Australasian computer music conference. Australasian Computer Music Association, Fitzroy, pp 85–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin C, Gardner H, Swift B, Martin M (2016) Intelligent agents and networked buttons improve free-improvised ensemble music-making on touch-screens. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM, New York, NY, pp 2295–2306. https://doi.org/10.1145/2858036.2858269

  • Neustaedter C, Sengers P (2012) Autobiographical design in HCI research: Designing and learning through use-it-yourself. In: Proceedings of the designing interactive systems conference. ACM, New York, NY, pp 514–523. https://doi.org/10.1145/2317956.2318034

  • O’Modhrain S (2011) A framework for the evaluation of digital musical instruments. Comput Music J 35:28–42. https://doi.org/10.1162/COMJ_a_00038

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shneiderman B (2007) Creativity support tools: accelerating discovery and innovation. Commun ACM 50:20–32. https://doi.org/10.1145/1323688.1323689

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skogstad SA, Nymoen K, Høvin M (2011) Comparing inertial and optical MoCap technologies for synthesis control. In: Proceedings of the 8th sound and music computing conference. SMC Network, Barcelona

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith DT (2009) Development and validation of a rating scale for wind jazz improvisation performance. J Res Music Educ 57:217–235. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022429409343549

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stowell D, Robertson A, Bryan-Kinns N, Plumbley MD (2009) Evaluation of live human-computer music-making: quantitative and qualitative approaches. Int J Hum Comput Stud 67:960–975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2009.05.007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Unander-Scharin C, Unander-Scharin Å, Höök K (2014) The Vocal Chorder: empowering opera singers with a large interactive instrument. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM, New York, NY, pp 1001–1010. https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557050

  • Wanderley MM, Orio N (2002) Evaluation of input devices for musical expression: borrowing tools from HCI. Comput Music J 26:62–76. https://doi.org/10.1162/014892602320582981

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams EJ (1949) Experimental designs balanced for the estimation of residual effects of treatments. Aust J Chem 2:149–168. https://doi.org/10.1071/CH9490149

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Wobbrock JO, Findlater L, Gergle D, Higgins JJ (2011) The aligned rank transform for nonparametric factorial analyses using only ANOVA procedures. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM, New York, NY, pp 143–146. https://doi.org/10.1145/1978942.1978963

  • Wobbrock JO, Kay M (2016) Nonparametric statistics in human-computer interaction. In: Robertson J, Kaptein M (eds) Modern statistical methods for HCI. Springer, Cham, pp 135–170. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26633-6_7

    Google Scholar 

  • Xambó A, Hornecker E, Marshall P et al (2013) Let’s jam the reactable: peer learning during musical improvisation with a tabletop tangible interface. ACM Trans Comput-Hum Interact 20:36:1–36:34. https://doi.org/10.1145/2530541

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Ben Swift, Michael Martin, and our study participants for assistance with the case studies listed in this chapter. Special thanks to Alec Hunter, the Canberra Experimental Music Studio, and the ANU Schools of Music and Art for support in the artistic goals of this research. This work was partially supported by The Research Council of Norway as a part of the Engineering Predictability with Embodied Cognition (EPEC) project, under grant agreement 240862.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Charles P. Martin

  2. College of Engineering and Computer Science, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Henry Gardner

Authors
  1. Charles P. Martin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Henry Gardner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charles P. Martin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Music Computing Lab, Centre for Research in Computing, Walton Hall, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

    Simon Holland

  2. Reid School of Music, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Tom Mudd

  3. Music Computing Lab, Centre for Research in Computing, Walton Hall, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

    Katie Wilkie-McKenna

  4. Centre for Digital Music, School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    Andrew McPherson

  5. Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Marcelo M. Wanderley

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Martin, C.P., Gardner, H. (2019). Free-Improvised Rehearsal-as-Research for Musical HCI. In: Holland, S., Mudd, T., Wilkie-McKenna, K., McPherson, A., Wanderley, M. (eds) New Directions in Music and Human-Computer Interaction. Springer Series on Cultural Computing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92069-6_17

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92069-6_17

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-92068-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-92069-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation