Ways of knowing, ways of writing: technical practice research in new musical instrument design
Teresa Pelinski, Andrew McPherson, Rebecca Fiebrink · Journal of New Music Research · 2024
Musical instruments are not static and neutral technological objects, but objects we shape through our designing and performing practices. Along these lines, various authors have argued for the relevance of practice research in the New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) field. Most of these contributions tackle interface evaluation or issues related to musical practice. In contrast, technical processes are typically addressed from linear, goal-oriented narratives based on technical implementation that consider the instrument merely as a technical artefact. In this paper, we critique such technoscientific narratives through science and technology studies, human-computer interaction, design and NIME literature. We propose Technical Practice Research as an alternative mode of research in technical practice that places the locus of knowledge production in the practice rather than the technical artefact, by focussing on the first-person and real-time nature of technical practice. Although framed in the context of NIME, this proposal extends to other fields in which technical and creative practice are intertwined.