Improving performers' musicality through live interaction with haptic feedback: A case study

Physical interaction with instruments allows performers to express and realise music based on the nature of the instrument. Through instrumental practice, the performer is able to learn and internalise sensory responses inherent in the mechanical production of sound. However, current electronic musical input devices and interfaces lack the ability to provide a satisfactory haptic feedback to the performer. The lack of feedback information from electronic controllers to the performer introduces aesthetic and practical problems in performances and compositions of live electronic music. In this paper, we present an initial study examining the perception and understanding of artificial haptic feedback in live electronic performances. Two groups of trumpet players participated during the study, in which short musical examples were performed with and without artificial haptic feedback. The results suggest the effectiveness and possible exploitable approaches of haptic feedback, as well as the performers' ease of recalibrating and adapting to new haptic feedback associations. In addition to the methods utilised, technical practicalities and aesthetic issues are discussed. © 2011 Michailidis et al