Intelligent Music Performance Systems: Towards a Design Framework

Abstract

This article attempts to define and typologize the main principles for the design of Intelligent Music Performance Systems (IMPS). It presents a three-dimensional framework based on studies of proxemics combined with findings from AI design research. Each of these dimensions – embodiment, participation, and autonomy – is presented together with existing taxonomies, then integrated into an analytical framework. This framework informs the discussion of nine historical cases of IMPS from the 1950s to the present, to gain a refined understanding of their interactive design. The discussion leads back to three main tendencies in IMPS design – instruments, systems, and agents – and the article concludes by combining the proposed framework with ideas from Speculative Design Research.

Keywords

• Intelligent Music Performance Systems
• Musical Proxemics
• Interactive Composition
• Speculative Design Research