Creating a computer-assistant for performance
John ffitch, Julian A. Padget · 2001
Centuries of experience with acoustic instruments means there is a body of knowledge about and un-derstanding of what can be done with a physical instrument, and this knowledge is refined and propagated through the interactions of teachers and pupils. That experience has nothing to tell us about synthetic in-struments and the one-off sounds for which such instruments are often created, nor about the instruments’ sonic character, which itself is rarely explored, and certainly the intuitive phrasing and shaping applied by a human player is not even attempted. We advocate a new research direction, building on current activities in agent research and in performance knowledge, which could lead us to a new kind of electro-acoustic music, both in public performance and private listening. 1