Telematic Wearable Music
Seth Dominicus Thorn · 2021
The author discusses telematic wearable music, recounting the design and evolution of improvised techniques and approaches in a remotely taught course offered to undergraduates. This new contribution to interactive interfaces for remote ensembles is musically motivated and inclusive for non-specialists who apply musical instincts they discover through participation. Students are introduced to wearable ”Internet of Things” (IoT) computing, synthesis, and sound design, with the goal of developing rich, movement responsive, individually and/or collectively playable wearable instruments. The course facilitates practice-situated investigation of accessible, agile, and inexpensive modes of distributed creativity in musical interaction through experiential inquiry and tinkering. Telematic wearable music aspires to enact shared, situated spaces and less ocularcentric modes of learning through embodied sonic telepresence, emphasizing and enhancing embodied participation in synchronous remote learning.