Embodied Cognition in Performers of Large Acoustic Instruments as a Method of Designing New Large Digital Musical Instruments

We present The Large Instrument Performers Study, an interview-based exploration into how large scale acoustic instrument performers navigate the instrument’s size-related aesthetic features during the performance. Through the conceptual frameworks of embodied music cognition and affordance theory, we discuss how the themes that emerged in the interview data reveal the ways size-related aesthetic features of large acoustic instruments influence the instrument performer’s choices; how large scale acoustic instruments feature microscopic nuanced performance options; and how despite the preconception of large scale acoustic instruments being scaled up versions of the smaller instrument with the addition of a lower fundamental tone, the instruments offer different sonic and performative features to their smaller counterparts and require precise gestural control that is certainly not scaled up. This is followed by a discussion of how the study findings could influence design features in new large scale digital musical instruments to result in more nuanced control and timbrally rich instruments, and better understanding of how interfaces and instruments influence performers’ choices and as a result music repertoire and performance.