Expressiveness and Digital Musical Instrument Design

Abstract

In this article, after giving some possible definitions of “expressiveness”, we examine the problem of expressiveness in digital musical instruments, which tends to involve using specific gestures to obtain an expressive sound rather than performing expressive gestures. Some of the particular features of digital musical instruments, such as pitch control, dynamic control and the possibility of exploring sound palettes, are described and some practical examples given. Finally, several musical implications of the gestures used to obtain musical expressiveness are discussed, from pedagogical and other related points of view.