Haptic sensation and instrumental transgression

Abstract

Anyone who has ever played a musical instrument will certify the development of a particular type of relationship between the instrument and the performer. This relationship goes beyond a convenient coupling that is optimized for sound production. Every musical instrument defines ways in which to be touched, felt, activated. Music performance is dependent on bodily involvement that goes beyond the auditory and the sense of hearing. This article investigates the role of haptic sensation in the context of the performer–instrument relationship and draws on the writings of Georges Bataille to illuminate a discussion of the erotic in performance.

Keywords:

• Performer
• Instrument
• Eroticism
• Bataille
• Georges
• Haptics

Notes

[1] The notion of performance ecology is advanced by Bowers (2003) in the context of how performers using electronic devices establish a dynamic environment by virtue of how each device is placed on the surface of a table.

[2] Metaphors of the seamless support much of the design of new interfaces for musical expression and human–computer interaction in general. A discussion of the possibilities that lie beyond the seamless is elaborated in Coyne et al. (2004).