Materiality in Long-term Design Practice and Performance

This study aimed to uncover how musicians interpret and apply deformable materials in musical practice. There are four phases involved in this research to achieve this objective. The initial step was to impart the participants with the necessary skills to create their own sensors using deformable materials, in a Material in Music Design Workshop. 

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Following the initial workshop, the study progressed into its second phase: a comprehensive, six-week-long design exploration. In the third phase, participants were invited with the opportunity to showcase their work, performing live in front of the audience at the “Work in Progress” event at Queen Mary University of London. The fourth and final stage of the study consisted of conducting semi-structured interviews with each participant, post their performance. 

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The open call of this study can be found here.

In this workshop setting, participants were provided with various materials and tools to construct physical interfaces, which allowed them to explore the relationship between materials and musical interaction.

The slides of the workshop can be found here. 

Four participants who were originally part of the initial workshop were invited to the six-week-long design exploration.

The footage of the design outputs can be found here. 

After the six-week design exploration, four participants were invited with the opportunity to showcase their work, performing live in front of the audience at the “Work in Progress” event at Queen Mary University of London.

The performance of Participant 2, Participant 3, and Participant 4 were video recorded. 

The full list of the code system can be found here.