designing creative tensions between concept and...
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Designing Creative Tensions between Concept andEmbodied Practice
Andrew McPhersonQueen Mary University of London
London, [email protected]
Fabio MorrealeUniversity of AucklandAuckland, New Zealand
Andrea GuidiQueen Mary University of London
London, [email protected]
ABSTRACTWe present the Magpick, a sensor-augmented plectrum forelectric guitar, as a case study in designing research prod-ucts which deliberately seek a creative tension between con-ceptual understanding and embodied practice. Building onthe notion of “counterfactual artefacts”, we seek to explorehow the counterfactual might extend to embodied practice.Speci�cally, we seek to create an object which confoundsestablished sensorimotor skills, even as it retains a familiarvisual, tactile and cultural identity. The paper discusses thedesign process of the Magpick, its use by guitarists, and theemergence of di�erent forms of human-technology relationswhich appear to depend on the speci�c sonic behaviour ofthe Magpick. We conclude with questions for workshop dis-cussion about who we should work with and how whendesigning objects which have an unexpected or uncannyrelationship between identity and use.
CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → HCI theory, conceptsand models;
KEYWORDSembodied interaction; mediation; augmented instruments;counterfactual artefacts; design research
ACM Reference Format:Andrew McPherson, Fabio Morreale, and Andrea Guidi. 2019. De-signing Creative Tensions between Concept and Embodied Prac-tice. In Proceedings of (CHI). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 4 pages.https://doi.org/10.475/123_4
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work forpersonal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are notmade or distributed for pro�t or commercial advantage and that copies bearthis notice and the full citation on the �rst page. Copyrights for componentsof this work owned by others than ACMmust be honored. Abstracting withcredit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or toredistribute to lists, requires prior speci�c permission and/or a fee. Requestpermissions from [email protected], 2019© 2019 Association for Computing Machinery.ACM ISBN 123-4567-24-567/08/06. . . $15.00https://doi.org/10.475/123_4
1 INTRODUCTIONWe are interested in the ways that the design of unusual oruncannymusical artefacts can serve as amode of inquiry intoembodied practices. As a case study we present the Magpick(Figure 1), a guitar pick (plectrum) with embedded magneticsensing that modulates the sound of the guitar when thepick is moved in the vicinity of the guitar pickups.
The Magpick is situated within the �eld of New Interfacesfor Musical Expression [3] and speci�cally in the domainof augmented instruments (see [7, 8] for related examples).CommonNIME evaluationmetrics include creative or expres-sive potential (however de�ned), dimensionality or nuanceof control, or suitability for particular aesthetic contexts. Inthis workshop, we instead examine how design qualities ofthe Magpick can suggest particular patterns of interaction,potentially in con�ict with the player’s conceptual under-standing of what the object is intended to do.Our approach is inspired by the counterfactual artefacts
of Wakkary et al. [9]. Grounded in postphenomenologicaltheories of human-technology relations [2, 6], Wakkary et al.de�ne the counterfactual artefact as “a fully realized function-ing product or system that intentionally contradicts whatwould normally be considered logical to create given thenorms of design and design products” which thereby “em-pirically investigate[s] multiple alternative existences (orwhat-ifs) as lived-with realities.”
In this workshop we propose to discuss the extension ofthe counterfactual into the domain of embodied practice,with design research as a method supporting such inquiries.We take a familiar RtD approach in that our design phaseprecedes the delivery of a fully functional research product[5], but knowledge is generated through emergent human-technology relations that come from an object with an un-canny relationship between (mostly familiar) identity and(often surprising) use. Our design process seeks to carefullywalk this boundary, drawing on our own experiences as per-formers and instrument designers to consider details rangingfrom physical materials to interactive behaviour.
2 THE GUITAR PICKThe plectrum is a simple artefact – typically just a triangularpiece of plastic – but it is also a highly personal one. In guitar
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Figure 1: The Magpick: an augmented guitar pick.
playing, the pick becomes �guratively and literally an exten-sion of the body. Its texture and sti�ness a�ect the responseand tone of the instrument, to the point that di�erent stylesof music are associated with di�erent picks. Beyond that, thesize, shape, material and even colour of the pick can reveal agreat deal about a player’s personality and tastes.
The a�ordances of a generic pick are obvious to any trainedguitarist (though an experimentally-inclined player can alsodiscover hidden a�ordances or extended techniques, such asscraping the windings of the string). Moreover, the feel andappearance of a speci�c pick might carry more specialisedcultural associations. The pick is thus more than a simplephysical object: to the guitarist, it is an invitation to action,a suggestion of how the body might be extended and thelinchpin of a complex gestural language. For these reasons,altering or even defamiliarising the design of the pick whilepreserving a recognisable “pickness” can suggest altered pat-terns of action which challenge assumptions and work withor against existing training.
3 THE MAGPICKPrinciple of OperationThe Magpick is a 3D-printed plectrum with a hollow cav-ity containing 4 turns of copper magnet wire. It operates
Figure 2: The Magpick; wrist-mounted preamp; stompbox
according to Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction,whereby a wire moving in a magnetic �eld sees an inducedvoltage proportional to the product of the velocity and the�eld strength. The magnetic �eld in this instance is providedby the permanent magnets found in typical electric guitarpickups, and the (very small) voltage induced in the wire isampli�ed by a custom low-noise integrating preampli�er.A full engineering account of the sensor’s operation is
beyond the scope of this paper. Here, its crucial featuresinclude: that a signal is created only when the guitarist playsover the pickup area (and not over the fretboard); that itresponds to the intensity of movement with a wide dynamicrange; and that it responds to motion above the strings (nottouching them) as well as to strums and plucks.The ampli�ed signal from the pick can then be used to
modulate the sound of the guitar in one of three sound de-signs. In the volume swell condition, the amplitude of theguitar sound is modulated by the pick, enabling subtle shap-ing of the sustained part of a note, but requiring constantmotion from the player for any sound to be heard at all. Inthe harmonised delay condition, plucking the strings createsa series of delayed harmonics of the guitar signal whose am-plitude is controlled by the pluck strength and the proximityto the pickups. In the scrambled delay condition, waving thepick modulates the amplitude of a 5-second recorded bu�erof the guitar sound; the bu�er is played randomly such thatthe guitarist cannot choose what is played but can alter itsvolume.
Design ConsiderationsFigure 2 shows the main components of the Magpick. Westrived to give the guitar pick and the ancillary devices a�nished quality which �nds a sweet spot between familiarityand unfamiliarity. Guitarists should recognise the Magpickas the object they normally use to play the guitar, while atsame time it must present itself as a di�erent object.
The pick needed to be made of a durable material to with-stand constant friction with the guitar strings, while alsoallowing a wire to be coiled inside. We initially used paperand clay prototypes and later moved to 3D printed model.
Figure 3: The 11Magpicks given to participants of our study.
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Figure 4: A guitarist using the Magpick system.
The �nal shape (Figure 2 left) is thicker than normal picksbut has a pointed tip that allows for fast picking. A cap coversthe hollow cavity and gives the object a distinctive aesthetic.We tested a few di�erent materials for 3D printing or injec-tion moulding. The �nal choice of materials was informedby their durability and grip, as well as by aesthetic and tac-tile qualities. We produced 11 picks (Figure 3) with di�erentcombinations of the two parts in acrylic (white, black, andgrey), brass, and sandstone, which di�ered in texture andweight.
The housing for the preamp is designed to strap to theplayer’s wrist with velcro (Figure 4), minimising cable lengthfor a sensitive signal while staying out of the way of the�ngers. The combination of pick and guitar signals takesplace in a �oor-mounted case resembling a familiar guitarstompbox, though without the typical on-o� stomp switch:the e�ect is engaged all the time, and it is up to the player toadapt their playing to control it. In this way, the Magpick isnot a pure extension of guitar technique but something thatcan also redirect and even frustrate traditional techniques,depending on the sound design.
4 USE BY GUITARISTSWe recruited 11 skilled guitarists to undertake weeklongplaying explorations with the Magpick, a full account ofwhich is beyond the scope of this paper. Each player wasgiven a single physical version of the Magpick with a singlesound design. In an initial video-recorded encounter, theplayer was left alone for 10 minutes to discover for them-selves the Magpick’s behaviour, after which point they wereinterviewed. They were then given a series of daily tasks tocomplete at home, and they returned at the end for a �nalinterview.
Initial EncounterDuring this initial exploration, 6 of 11 guitarists playedmainly standard guitar repertoire and techniques, while theother 5 engaged in focused exploration of its a�ordances.All of these guitarists eventually discovered at least part ofthe new interaction possibilities o�ered by the instrument,which usually manifested as a moment of epiphany visibly
marked by body language indicating surprise, facial expres-sions and/or exclamations such as: “Aha!”, “I see, I see...”. Anotable result was the speed with which some guitarists(particularly on the volume swell condition) went from themoment of epiphany to incorporating the new techniques �u-ently into a complex performance also containing traditionaltechniques – in one cases, less than 5 seconds.
Pa�erns of Human-Technology RelationsExamining the emergent patterns of interaction throughIhde’s levels of human-technology relations [2], many play-ers demonstrated embodied and hermeneutic relations. Inthe embodied mode, the pick assumes the role of bodilyextension, as is commonly found in traditional acoustic in-struments. The player’s focus of attention appears to be noton but through the pick toward an imagined sonic result.The embodied mode was characterised by rhythmic con-trol and �ne-grained intermingling of traditional and newtechniques.
The hermeneutic mode (in which a technology is encoun-tered through symbolic interpretation), we instead saw theguitarists’ attention directed toward the pick itself, eithercontinuously or intermittently. The Magpick’s appearancein the foreground of attention might re�ect a disruption ofexisting sensorimotor skill around traditional picks. Theseplayers nonetheless appeared to develop a conceptual un-derstanding of the Magpick’s function, sometimes expressedin interviews in simpli�ed binary form (e.g. playing nearthe pickups or the �ngerboard turns the e�ect on or o�). Acommon pattern of interaction was for the guitarist to playa passage with traditional technique, then direct their atten-tion to moving the strumming hand to a di�erent part of thestrings as if operating a stomp switch, before returning totraditional technique.We also observed characteristics of alterity relations, in
which surprising or di�cult-to-predict behaviour led theplayer to ascribe to the Magpick a sense of quasi-otherness.In interviews, some guitarists used language similar to howtheywould describe interactingwith anothermusician (“whenyou’re playing it you’re sort of duetting with it” ). Finally, ina few cases the guitarist departed from the traditional roleof the pick, for example plucking the strings with the left(fretting) hand only while waving the pick above the stringsto modulate the sustain, or holding the pick in the palm ofthe hand while plucking with the �ngers.While observations from 11 players cannot generalise to
all guitarists, sound design appeared to in�uence the type ofrelations that emerged. Players with the volume swell condi-tion tended toward the embodied approach while hose withthe harmonised delay approach tended toward the hermeneu-tic. Of course, Ihde’s human-technology relations are not
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�xed, nonoverlapping categories, and each player demon-strated a range of approaches at di�erent times.
5 DISCUSSIONTheMagpick aims to occupy a space which is conceptually fa-miliar while challenging certain facets of embodied practice.It presents itself visually and by feel as a pick (the wrist-mounted preampli�er box notwithstanding) and thereby in-herits various cultural connotations of a pick. The materialand aesthetic design choices are integral to this presentation.However, its behaviour is often unfamiliar (though largelydeterministic), challenging established training.The result is that the Magpick is familiar at a conceptual
level: after a relatively short time, it is possible to verbalisehow the e�ects work, but at the level of sensorimotor path-ways, the Magpick does not act as the expected extension ofthe hand: knowing how it works is not always equivalent tobeing able to play it, and so we see the emergence of di�erentplaying strategies, some involving considerable consciousattention, others thinking through the artefact toward animagined sound.Another example of a non-equivalence of concept and
practice can be found in a violin with the strings put on inreverse order [4]. Violinists easily understand the transfor-mation, but its incongruence with established sensorimotorskills means that violinists struggle to play it and �nd theexperience frustrating and exhausting. From a design per-spective, the quality of construction and �nish is crucialto presenting a believable instrument to the player; a semi-�nished research protoype might elicit a di�erent reaction.Though we are interested to explore how counterfactual
artefacts could be extended into scenarios where the origi-nal class of artefact is the locus of a speci�c embodied andcultural practice, our scenario di�ers from Wakkary et al.’sTilting Bowl [9] in several respects. The Tilting Bowl wasthe object of co-speculation with philosophers; we insteadwork with skilled musicians. Although both are engaged intheir domains of expertise, we might expect to �nd morefocused insights through physical demonstrations and vocal-isations rather than linguistic explication. Our participants’engagement also took place over a shorter time (1 week). Itwould be interesting to observe whether over a longer term,we observe feelings of personalisation and attachment thatwe saw in a previous study of simple instruments [10].
Topics for WorkshopIn the studio critique session, we are interested to explorehow design processes and material factors can maximise thecreative tension between concept and embodied practice. Wetook an iterative approach to producing a research product,guided by our own experience, but a discussion topic mightbe whether other musicians can or should be involved in
the creation of uncanny instruments designed to challengeexpectations.
We are also interested to discuss the role of interactive be-haviours in RtD processes. We saw that for the same physicalartefact, di�erent behaviours gave rise to di�erent relation-ships with the artefact. A possible discussion topic is howsculpting interactive behaviours in an RtD context di�ers inprocess from convenional interactive system design in HCI.
Finally, we would like to discuss how the scenario of musi-cal performance might create particular types of engagementwith design artefacts that are not present inmore open-endedencounters [1, 9], and conversely how our design approachand observations might generalise to other domains.
6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThisworkwas supported by EPSRC under grant EP/N005112/1(Design for Virtuosity) and EP/L01632X/1 (Centre for Doc-toral Training in Media and Arts Technology).
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