When art and technology intersect, new ideas are brought to old practices. By integrating music and biomedical technologies, people will change how they are playing and enjoying music. Christina Couch, of Get in Media, spoke to a number of researchers working with flexible sensors and other technologies to develop new ways of making music. Sensors attached to musicians’ bodies produce sounds according to the player’s body gestures making the sounds produced by each person different. “Instead of breaking out pricey percussion instruments, musicians armed with Drumpants sensors simply place them in the clothing item of their choice, select which sounds they’d like to hear, and tap to create songs,” says Tyler Freeman, inventor of Drumpants. Researchers suggest the emergence of technologies will effect people’s operation of musical instruments. “With sensor-enhanced instruments, musicians of the future may also get the benefit of being able to create ear-palatable tunes without spending years learning to read music” says, Christina Couch.
Dr. Sid Fels from ECE points out the importance of the emerging popularity of sensor-based instruments. These innovated technologies have started to gather a significant number of followers whose musical culture is influenced by their new instruments. People playing this kind of music are building up an ever-growing community. They are more interested in the production of music rather than listening. The increasing popularity of sensor-based technology brings musical instruments into a new haptic and gestural sphere.