GIVME: Guided Interactions in Virtual Musical Environments

Abstract

The current generation of commercial hardware and software for virtual reality and immersive environments presents possibilities for a wealth of creative solutions for new musical expression and interaction. This paper explores the affordances of virtual musical environments with the disabled music-making community of Drake Music Project Northern Ireland. Recent collaborations have investigated strategies for Guided Interactions in Virtual Musical Environments (GIVME), a novel concept the authors introduce here. This paper gives some background on disabled music-making with digital musical instruments before sharing recent research projects that facilitate disabled music performance in virtual reality immersive environments. We expand on the premise of GIVME as a potential guideline for musical interaction design for disabled musicians in VR, and take an explorative look at the possibilities and constraints for instrument design for disabled musicians as virtual worlds integrate ever more closely with the real.