Instrument Design and Mimetic Theory

This paper will explore mimetic principles relevant for music performance and instrument design. It will describe elements important for understanding basic interaction between visual, sounding and gestural aspects of experiencing instrument performance and illustrate how music controllers may be enhanced through devising specific design concepts based on mimetic theory. Example instruments designed according to these principles will be presented, specifically the BazerBow and its various prototypes

The BazerBow: a multimodal exploration of mimetic design principles

The BazerBow was forged from mimetic design principles to engage the audience, often overlooked in digital musical instrument design. This thesis represents a line of enquiry to develop a set of mimetic design principles through a process of music practice and research. These principles pull from five prongs of a cycle of development: mimetic theories (Cox, 2016; Maes et al., 2014; Malloch and Trevarthen, 2009; Szalavitz and Perry, 2010), digital musical instrument design, mimetic design, prototyping of BazerBows and an examination of the prototypes. Mimetic theories were amalgamated with existing digital musical instrument design research to yield initial mimetic design principles. BazerBow prototypes were produced using these principles and then explored and tested to evaluate and improve the efficacy of the mimetic design. The test phase consisted of five performance sessions that included unique real-time response sliders, questionnaires, and post-performance discussions. The data analysis, including a novel Average Distribution Method, showed that the BazerBow prototype was imbued with mimetic potential eliciting a more significant mimetic response from the audience than a commercially available keyboard. The outcome of this thesis is a collection of mimetic design principles that offer a formative toolkit in guiding instrument design towards carefully considering audience response. In addition, the novel real-time slider method and ADM analysis could be easily adapted for use in other research contexts. Significantly, there has been no previous application of mimetic theories to DMI design or creation of design principles based on mimetic theory, so this constitutes new knowledge, contributing to existing digital musical instrument design. These mimetic design principles will be continually improved and tested in the future through this iterative process, imbuing new and exciting instruments with mimetic potential

The Baserbow: An Instrument based on the exploration of the concept of mimetic participation for the development of multi-modal and multi-gestural devices

The focus of this research enquiry is to consider and explore how the interactive experience between a performer and his/her tools can be further enhanced and refined beyond current state-of-the-art equipment by aligning the design of multi-gestural and inter-modal midi controllers to support empathetic, mimetic participation. The first project of this research includes the development of a controller, based on guitar, and using lasers and sensors detecting gestural parameters. The visual aspect of the controller will inform the audience of the music and its relationship to the performer and controller, enabling the empathetic, mimetic participation, producing an immersive and shared experience. Arnie Cox asks “Do you ever find yourself tapping your toe to music?” [3] and goes on to say “we experience patterns of exertion by way of mimetic participation, and in this way it is as if we are acting - acting in a way that is more or less isomorphic with the sound producing actions heard (and seen).” [6] This paper will cover the context around mimetic participation, intermodality, and gesture

La pédagogie de l’EMILE en questions : modalités et enjeux pour le secteur LANSAD

Ce Cahier est consacré à l’Enseignement d’une matière par l’intégration d’une langue étrangère, plus connu sous son acronyme (EMILE). Il contient cinq articles et notes de recherche, deux notes de pédagogie, et une fiche pédagogique sur le thème, ainsi qu’une fiche pédagogique hors thème et deux recensions. Avec un certain recul depuis l’introduction d’EMILE dans les universités européennes (notamment à cause du programme ERASMUS, démarré en 1987), les didacticiens et les pédagogues commencent à pouvoir évaluer le concept et les opportunités qu’il offre pour l’enseignement/apprentissage des langues dans les formations professionnalisantes. Deux questions, en particulier, parcourent les différentes contributions de ce volume : le concept d’intégration, et le recrutement des enseignants. L’EMILE est fondé sur une approche méthodologique double : une discipline non linguistique est enseignée à travers une langue étrangère. Le concept d’intégration, central dans cette approche, met l’accent sur le fait que la langue et la matière non linguistique sont toutes deux objets d’enseignement/apprentissage, sans qu’il y ait préséance de l’une par rapport à l’autre. Cet équilibre délicat semble si difficile à atteindre que plusieurs auteurs se demandent s’il est véritablement possible de parler d’EMILE dans les dispositifs des cursus en anglais qui se sont multipliés ces dernières années. La question de la formation et du recrutement des enseignants disciplinaires et des enseignants de langue est également cruciale. La réalisation du double objectif (apprentissage simultané de la discipline et de la langue) implique la mise en œuvre d’une approche particulière, transversale et collaboratrice, de l’enseignement et exige, de la part des établissements comme des enseignants de la discipline et des enseignants de langue, une réflexion spécifique, non plus exclusivement sur l’enseignement des langues, mais sur le processus d’enseignement en général

The Conceptualization of Time, Space, and the Body in Virtual Sites and the Impact on Language Learner Identities

The introduction of digital technologies into language learning and teaching is not only changing the nature of learning but also the nature of the learner. Our traditional understanding of learner identity is closely associated with educational institutions and particular notions of time, place, and the body. This chapter draws on sociocultural and poststructuralist theory and social semiotic approaches to explore how time, place, and the body are conceptualized differently in online learning environments and how this affects our understanding of what learner identity means today. The new digital media offer language learners the opportunity to engage with the larger social world and negotiate language as a social practice, thus enabling learners to make an investment in the practices of a target language community and helping them to develop imagined identities. However, there are also challenges associated with interacting in virtual sites, and learners have to develop appropriate literacy skills