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The vocal chorder: empowering opera singers with a large interactive instrument

Authors:

Carl Unander-Scharin,

Åsa Unander-Scharin,

Kristina HöökAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '14: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 1001 - 1010

https://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557050

Published: 26 April 2014 Publication History

Abstract

With The Vocal Chorder, a large interactive instrument to create accompaniment, opera singers can get more power over the performance. The device allows performers to interactively accompany themselves through pushing, leaning on and bending steel wires. The design was guided by the unique needs of the solo-singer, explored through autobiographical design and material explorations, some on stage, and later tested by other singers. We discuss how designing for opera and for the stage requires extraordinary durability and how opera performances can change with a bodily-oriented instrument such as The Vocal Chorder. Through a designerly exploration, we arrived at a device that offered (1) a tool for singers to take control over the rhythmical pace and overall artistic and aesthetic outcome of their performances, (2) an enriched sense of embodiment between their voice and the overall performance; and (3) a means to empower opera singers on stage.

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Cited By

Li JRawn ERitchie JTran O'Leary JFollmer S(2023)Beyond the Artifact: Power as a Lens for Creativity Support ToolsProceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3586183.3606831(1-15)Online publication date: 29-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3586183.3606831
Martin CGardner H(2019)Free-Improvised Rehearsal-as-Research for Musical HCINew Directions in Music and Human-Computer Interaction10.1007/978-3-319-92069-6_17(269-284)Online publication date: 7-Feb-2019
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92069-6_17
Rossitto CRostami ATholander JMcMillan DBarkhuus LFischione CTurchet LBratteteig TSandnes FBerget G(2018)Musicians' initial encounters with a smart guitarProceedings of the 10th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/3240167.3240223(13-24)Online publication date: 29-Sep-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3240167.3240223
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Index Terms

The vocal chorder: empowering opera singers with a large interactive instrument
1. Human-centered computing

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '14: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 2014

4206 pages

ISBN:9781450324731

DOI:10.1145/2556288

General Chairs:
Matt Jones
Swansea University, Wales, UK
,
Philippe Palanque
Université Paul Sabatier, France
,
Program Chairs:
Albrecht Schmidt
University of Stuttgart, Germany
,
Tovi Grossman
Autodesk Research, Canada

Copyright © 2014 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

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Published: 26 April 2014

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CHI '14: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

April 26 - May 1, 2014

Ontario, Toronto, Canada

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CHI '14 Paper Acceptance Rate 465 of 2,043 submissions, 23%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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Cited By

Li JRawn ERitchie JTran O'Leary JFollmer S(2023)Beyond the Artifact: Power as a Lens for Creativity Support ToolsProceedings of the 36th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3586183.3606831(1-15)Online publication date: 29-Oct-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3586183.3606831
Martin CGardner H(2019)Free-Improvised Rehearsal-as-Research for Musical HCINew Directions in Music and Human-Computer Interaction10.1007/978-3-319-92069-6_17(269-284)Online publication date: 7-Feb-2019
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92069-6_17
Rossitto CRostami ATholander JMcMillan DBarkhuus LFischione CTurchet LBratteteig TSandnes FBerget G(2018)Musicians' initial encounters with a smart guitarProceedings of the 10th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/3240167.3240223(13-24)Online publication date: 29-Sep-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3240167.3240223
Desjardins ABall AKoskinen ILim YCerratto-Pargman TChow KOdom W(2018)Revealing Tensions in Autobiographical Design in HCIProceedings of the 2018 Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3196709.3196781(753-764)Online publication date: 8-Jun-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3196709.3196781
Schneider HEiband MUllrich DButz AMandryk RHancock MPerry MCox A(2018)Empowerment in HCI - A Survey and FrameworkProceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3173574.3173818(1-14)Online publication date: 21-Apr-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3173574.3173818
Stavropoulou SGeorgaki A(2016)Exploring Singing Vocal Pedagogy in the Greek Elementary School through Interactive TechnologiesTrends in Music Information Seeking, Behavior, and Retrieval for Creativity10.4018/978-1-5225-0270-8.ch015(310-324)Online publication date: 2016
https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-0270-8.ch015
Wang JMughal MJuhlin OGeerts DDe Marez LPauwels CBentley FTimmerer C(2015)Experiencing Liveness of a Cherished Place in the HomeProceedings of the ACM International Conference on Interactive Experiences for TV and Online Video10.1145/2745197.2745198(3-12)Online publication date: 3-Jun-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2745197.2745198

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