This paper explores an approach to building electronic musical instruments for use in improvised music that I have found to be particularly effective for developing flexible, dynamic, and versatile instruments well adapted to the improvised context, and a resultant set of suites of solo improvised character pieces. The lessons learned from this research can be useful beyond the scope of this particular instrument design philosophy. In Part I, I present the foundations of my approach to instrument design, based on my past experience and the technological environment in which electronic music has developed. I discuss the values that guide me in the creation of instruments for use in improvised performance, and describe the development tools iRTcmix and Nikl, and Dixey, an instrument I have created with those tools and hardware devices using the Apple iOS operating system. Part II discusses the musical issues related to the creation of Character Weekend, a set of solo recordings produced with the tools described in Part I.

Thesis (Ph.D.). / Written for the Dept. of Music Research, Schulich School of Music. Title from title page of PDF (viewed2009/09/01 ). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MMusPerf)--University of Melbourne, The Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts and Music, 2010. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-95)

Typescript, etc. / Digitized by Kansas State University Libraries

This thesis project presents the T-Sticks, a new family of digital musical instruments (DMIs). Most DMIs are either entirely unique interfaces, or exist as design iterations in which each incarnation is intended to improve on the last. The T-Sticks are instead intended to form a complementary group or consort which may be performed ensemble and also performed individually in solo pieces or works for mixed instrumentation. Each of the T-Sticks is based on the same general structure and sensing platform, but each also differs from its siblings in size, weight, timbre and register. / This document explores some of the issues challenging and motivating the field of DMI design and performance, and describes the motivations behind the T-Stick project in this context. Several existing DMIs are examined for similarities to the T-Stick and compared in terms of design intention, implementation, and usage. The hardware and software designed and built for this project is presented, along with insights gained through collaboration with performers and composers in the context of McGill University's Digital Orchestra project. The performers in question have collectively practiced and performed with the T-Stick for hundreds of hours in the lab, practice room, and on the concert stage. The consort of T-Sticks will be featured as an ensemble in a piece to be performed during the 2008 MusiMarch festival in Montreal.

This thesis evaluates the Lightning II and the Radio Baton gestural controllers for musical applications within two main perspectives. The first involves a technical specification of each in terms of their construction and sensing technology. This step, along with an analysis of the insights by long-term users on the controllers in question, provides an understanding about the different musical contexts each controllers can be and have been used in. The second perspective involves studying the Radio Baton and the Lightning within a specific musical context, namely that of a simulated acoustic percussion instrument performance. Three expert percussionists performed basic percussion techniques on a real drum, a drum-like gestural controller (the Roland V-Drum), the Radio Baton and the Lightning II. The motion capture and audio data from these trials suggest that certain acoustic percussion playing techniques can be successfully transferred over to gestural controllers. This comparative analysis between gestural controllers adds to the ongoing discussion on the evaluation of digital musical instruments and their relationship to acoustic instruments.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1991. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Harold F. Abeles. Dissertation Committee: Robert Pace. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-119).

Thesis (D.M.A)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 57 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-57). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

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