Simple mappings, expressive movement: a qualitative investigation into the end-user mapping design of experienced mid-air musicians

In a New Interface for Musical Expression (NIME), the design of the relationship between a musician’s actions and the instrument’s sound response is critical in creating instruments that facilitate expressive music performance. A growing body of NIMEs expose this design task to the end performer themselves, leading to the possibility of new insights into NIME mapping design: what can be learned from the mapping design strategies of practicing musicians? This research contributes a qualitative study of four highly experienced users of an end-user mapping instrument to examine their mapping practice. The study reveals that the musicians focus on designing simple, robust mappings that minimize errors, embellishing these control gestures with theatrical ancillary gestures that express metaphors. However, musical expression is hindered by the unintentional triggering of musical events. From these findings, a series of heuristics are presented that can be applied in the future development of NIMEs.