Musical Prosthetics

Musical Prosthetics

Amro Arida

For hundreds of years dancers and musicians have captivated our senses and told elaborate stories through movement and sound.  New technologies and contemporary improvisational and interactive theater are changing the way audiences experience both musical and dance performances.  These new mixed-performance experiences merge physical instruments with the human form, bringing together previously separate genres of music composition, choreography, dance and performance-art.

In this studio, students will explore new techniques and concepts for wearable musical instruments or “musical prosthetics.”  Students will create and develop these high-tech musical prosthetics, and design agile and flexible interfaces that are suitable for dancer-performers-musicians. The students' inventions will deviate from mechanical sound generation used in conventional instruments, and will instead utilize high-tech sensor interfaces and digital music.