Tiny Touch Instruments: Composing for Collaborative Mobile Performance

Rebecca Abraham

Image credit: Rebecca Abraham

• Format: poster
• Session: posters-2
• Paper PDF link
• Presence: in person
• Duration: 5
• Type: medium

Abstract:

This paper explores Tiny Touch Instruments (TTIs), a set of mobile instruments, and their role in facilitating collaborative, unrehearsed music-making. Through the composition and performance of two pieces, Skating and Skipping, this work investigates how multimodal notation and instrument design can shape performer experience, interaction, and engagement. Performances were documented through participant observation, interviews, and a survey, revealing key themes such as the role of notation in guiding improvisation, the balance between agency and unpredictability in digital instruments, and the recontextualization of mobile devices as musical tools.