Active Listener: Interactive instrument

When listening to music, the listener’s traditional role is listening according to the intentions of the composer or performer. Sloboda (1989) suggested that listening to music was part of a “pharmaceutical” model in which music listeners are considered passive recipients of musical stimuli. However, why is the choice of listening or not listening to music that is already created by someone else the only option? Is there any other type of active listening proposal out there? With this question in mind, I proposed a new listening system that expands the listener’s domain.

This interface introduces a new music listening system that can alter various elements of existing music. More specifically, we propose a new role for the listener as an active agent, meaning one who can alter certain musical elements while listening according to their desired emotion.

I created a prototype to communicate between the performer and the listener, and I designed a new instrument and an application for mobile phones. If a listener chooses one desired emotion through a mobile application, the listeners can control the musical elements of a song based on the desired emotion through OSC(Open Sound Control).