Flow: A musical composition tool using gesture interactions and musical metacreation

Abstract

Music composition is a delicate and disciplined art form that is tedious and repetitive. In this preliminary study, we explore the design of an interaction that aims to balance the work of composers with the help of a mobile application. The process of musical composition is not easy for composers. Certain tasks such as figuring out succeeding notes often requires trial-and-error, as well as knowledge of certain theories. Existing technology has employed musical metacreation to assist in this process. This endows machines with the artificial creative capacity to perform musical tasks. In review, the existing technology has not been generally-used in all stages of the musical composition process. By combining several interaction technologies, composers can benefit by being able to do their tasks with significantly less cognitive load and time.