Ross Kirk

Multiple media interfaces for music therapy

This article describes interfaces (and the supporting technological infrastructure) to create audiovisual instruments for use in music therapy. In considering how the multidimensional nature of sound requires multidimensional input control, we propose a model to help designers manage the complex mapping between input devices and multiple media software. We also itemize a research agenda.

Computer music in the service of music therapy : the MIDIGRID and MIDICREATOR systems

The paper describes the use of the MIDIGRID and MIDICREATOR systems with a range of transducers and interface devices in music therapy. This opens up new possibilities, as well as new challenges in the way in which such technology may be used in therapy. The paper includes a discussion of the role of music therapy, together with some case histories involving the use of these systems.

Radical user interfaces for real-time control

This paper describes recent work which challenges the predominance of the WIMP (Windows-Icons-Menus-Pointers) computer interface for use in real-time situations. The results of the work have implications for the design of user-interfaces for real-time control tasks (of which musical performance and experimentation are clear examples). This paper describes the tests, the interfaces, and the results from a variety of test subjects over several weeks. It then draws conclusions about the appropriateness of commonly accepted interfaces for complex and creative tasks.

Music therapy and electronic technology

The paper explains how a mobile Music Therapy van was established using electronic and computer technology developed as part of a long-term university research project. The electronic instruments and computer programs that are used are described along with an overview of their applied uses with children who have special needs. The technology is shown not only to allow access to those clients otherwise alienated from music and the music therapy, but is also beginning to provide quantitative data to expand the analytical techniques of the therapist.

Technology and music: incompatible subjects?

The authors of this paper have been involved in the setting up, development and teaching of the U.K.s first postgraduate Music Technology course at the University of York. Ironically neither author was permitted to study both the component subjects (music and technology) at secondary school due to the manner in which the school timetables separated these apparently ‘non-related’ subjects. This paper explains the ways in which technology, music and computing can be very closely related from a higher education perspective. It is hoped that it may be of equal interest to musicians and technologists working within institutes at various levels in the educational hierarchy, and may be instrumental in encouraging collaboration between them.

Interactive multimedia systems for engineering education in acoustics, synthesis and signal processing

This paper describes programmable multimedia systems, developed at the University of York, which are used extensively for teaching on a variety of music technology and mainstream engineering courses. Software and hardware systems are described for the physical modelling of acoustic spaces, and for constructing interactive synthesis and signal processing networks. Details are given on how these have been successfully integrated into higher education programmes at York.

Evolution of timbres through the use of Tabula Vigilans on the MIDAS system

Tabula Vigilans is a real time algorithmic system for the definition of rule based compositions and their performances. As such it encourages the composer to associate performance details with structural compositional parameters. Tabula Vigilans thus provides an ideal complement to the MIDAS system which is a multiprocessor network designed for the high speed signal processing associated with the performance of electroacoustic music. This paper gives an overview of these two complementary systems and presents some examples of the way in which Tabula Vigilans applications can be mapped onto MIDAS networks. The examples include an interactive timbral controller, an algorithmic score generator and a dynamic spectral balancing instrument.

The role of gesture in environmental control

The paper describes the way in which tools developed for the performance and analysis of musical gesture can be used in environmental control systems. A conclusion arising from the work suggests that a gestural facility developed by disabled clients for the performance of music, and strengthened through music therapy, can be utilised directly in the interaction with the wider environment, contributing to enhanced quality of life for this group of people.