3851
Marquez-Borbon, Adnan "Working Through: Characterising and Evaluating Skill with Digital Musical Interactions." PhD
, Queen's University Belfast, 2013
Keywords/Fields of Study : Interactive digital music systems, interaction design, skill, human factors, qualitative research
Abstract: Within the broader field of designing for digital musical interactions, there is an aspiration for musical devices to display expressive and skilful qualities. While the former has received much more attention, skill has been implicit in much of the new instrument design discourse despite the clamour for virtuosity. In this thesis I examine the underlying process of skill development with a novel musical instrument by unpacking its constituting elements. For this, I conducted a long-term observational study in which purpose-built musical device was given to a group of performers to learn and develop their performance abilities. Data collection and analysis approaches were drawn from established qualitative research methods in order to identify important components contributing to the phenomenon of skill. Results of this study show that skill is constituted by several components that are perceptual-motor, cognitive, affective, motivational, and social in nature. In this manner, it was found that both individual contributions of personal trajectories and histories, as well as social interrelationships create an environment for the development of skill. Moreover, meanings and judgements of skill are negotiated within a community of practice. It was found that within this social structure, this negotiation process leads to the development, consolidation and adaptation of performance practices. These results indicate that human contributions are of great importance to the development of skill with new musical instruments, thus challenging the view of skill as an inherent property of the musical device
Department: Sonic Arts Research Centre
, Queen's University Belfast
Advisor(s): Paul Stapleton, Michael Gurevich
