A Digital Mobile Choir: Joining Two Interfaces towards Composing and Performing Collaborative Mobile Music

Nicolas d'Alessandro, Aura Pon, Johnty Wang, David Eagle, Ehud Sharlin, and Sidney Fels

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract:

We present the integration of two musical interfaces into a new music-making system that seeks to capture the expe-rience of a choir and bring it into the mobile space. This system relies on three pervasive technologies that each support a different part of the musical experience. First, the mobile device application for performing with an artificial voice, called ChoirMob. Then, a central composing and conducting application running on a local interactive display, called Vuzik. Finally, a network protocol to synchronize the two. ChoirMob musicians can perform music together at any location where they can connect to a Vuzik central conducting device displaying a composed piece of music. We explored this system by creating a chamber choir of ChoirMob performers, consisting of both experienced musicians and novices, that performed in rehearsals and live concert scenarios with music composed using the Vuzik interface.

Citation:

Nicolas d'Alessandro, Aura Pon, Johnty Wang, David Eagle, Ehud Sharlin, and Sidney Fels. 2012. A Digital Mobile Choir: Joining Two Interfaces towards Composing and Performing Collaborative Mobile Music. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1178199

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{dAlessandro2012,
 abstract = {We present the integration of two musical interfaces into a new music-making system that seeks to capture the expe-rience of a choir and bring it into the mobile space. This system relies on three pervasive technologies that each support a different part of the musical experience. First, the mobile device application for performing with an artificial voice, called ChoirMob. Then, a central composing and conducting application running on a local interactive display, called Vuzik. Finally, a network protocol to synchronize the two. ChoirMob musicians can perform music together at any location where they can connect to a Vuzik central conducting device displaying a composed piece of music. We explored this system by creating a chamber choir of ChoirMob performers, consisting of both experienced musicians and novices, that performed in rehearsals and live concert scenarios with music composed using the Vuzik interface.},
 address = {Ann Arbor, Michigan},
 author = {Nicolas d'Alessandro and Aura Pon and Johnty Wang and David Eagle and Ehud Sharlin and Sidney Fels},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1178199},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 keywords = {singing synthesis, mobile music, interactive display, interface design, OSC, ChoirMob, Vuzik, social music, choir},
 publisher = {University of Michigan},
 title = {A Digital Mobile Choir: Joining Two Interfaces towards Composing and Performing Collaborative Mobile Music},
 url = {http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2012/nime2012_310.pdf},
 year = {2012}
}