Elektronisesti laajennetut soittimet
Kokeiluista konserttilavalle
Abstract
This article examines the development of electronically augmented musical instruments and the effects they have on the instrumental praxis. The article offers a view to the design principles of instrument augmentation as well as a brief historical outline. On this basis, a case-study of an active acoustic augmented guitar is undertaken. The research materials comprise a custom-made active acoustic classical concert guitar, a commissioned composition for the guitar by Jesper Nordin, named Semper Dolens (2018), and two interviews of the guitarist Petri Kumela. Based on these materials, the article studies the effects and phenomena arising from instrument augmentation on the role of the musician and on the processes of playing and composing.
The results highlight three entangled topics. The first analyses the instrument as an actor in a network, pointing to the conceptual framework developed by Law (1992) and Latour (2012). The network comprises human and non-human parts, emphasizing the agency of the technological artefact on human cultural practices, such as guitar playing and composition. The second result of analysis points out the modular, perpetually unfinished and changing nature of the augmented instrument. The instrument is radically reconfigurable on the occasion of each new composition, intertwining the instrument to the compositional process. Instrument design and building become part of the composition, leading to a high degree of collaboration between the player, the luthier and the composer. The third resulting topic thus concerns the social repercussions of a technological augmentation. Parallel to the augmentation of the instrument’s technological complexity, one observes an enlargement of the social network in the music praxis. The roles of musician, luthier and composer become interlinked. In the light of the analysis, the augmented instrument appears as a complex organological entity giving rise to a social phenomenon.
