Wearable Musical Instruments: Create Music Without Knowing a Lick of Theory

By Carolyn Heneghan

As technology progresses, so too do the possibilities of music creation. Music programs like ProTools and GarageBand removed the necessity of organic musical instruments for creating music, but now instruments controlled by motion are making music more accessible to anyone who wants to create music without having to learn traditional theory.

Sound on Intuition

One such development is Sound on Intuition, created by Belgian designer Pieter-Jan Pieters, a student at the Design Academy Eindhoven. Music schools denied Pieters admission because he could not read music, so he went to design school instead to find a way to allow people to create music without sheet music or traditional instruments—but instead by translating body movements into sound and music.

Pieter’s five motion sensor-controlled instruments can interpret a variety of different motions:

• Wob – Makes a wavy sound based on the position of your hand in relation to the device, mimicking the waving motion of your hand
• Heart – Picks up the rhythm of your heartbeat and translates that into its own sound
• Scan – Translates the movement over your hand-drawn work into sound
• Kick – Picks up the motion of you tapping your foot
• Finger – Picks up the motion of you tapping your finger and has a flex sensor that also changes the sound

The devices act like MIDI controllers and play any sound based on your movements in different areas of your body. For example, to play high notes, you can reach high. You control rhythm based on rhythmic taps with your body. And, of course, your sonorous heartbeat will, according to Pieters, will match the tempo of the beat of the music automatically.

Other Wearable Musical Instruments

Pieters’ Sound on Intuition wasn’t the first wearable, motion sensor-controlled musical instrument, and it certainly won’t be the last. Several other instruments and programs have similar abilities.

Leap Motion, for example, is a tiny, three-inch motion controller that senses how your hand naturally moves, which now has musical implications (read more in our Leap Motion feature). Pointing, waving, reaching and grabbing all produce sound in conjunction with music-centric apps, such as a few motion-based MIDI controllers, such as AirMidi, AeroMIDI and Geco MIDI, an air-based drum machine and an app that teaches piano.

Instrumented Bodies is a trio of motion-sensored cyborg extensions of the body that creates sound and music based on movement. The creators are Ph.D researchers Joseph Malloch and Ian Hattwick at the Input Devices and Music Interaction Lab at McGill University.

The three devices—spinal cord, visor and rib cage—are clear plastic and created by 3D printers, and their luminescence gives them a futuristic, sci-fi appeal, illustrated by the dancers the researchers used to test their project.

Fantasia: Music Evolved (Xbox One, Kinect) is a motion-controlled video game that allows you to create music through motion by conducting the songs, moving your arms, grabbing sounds and creating melodies. While not commercially available yet, there was a demonstration at this year’s E3 (read more in our E3 feature).

The Future of Music Creation

As music creation evolves, the process will become more accessible to people of all backgrounds, whether they know theory or how to read music or not. Anyone will be able to create music, which could mean an outpour of new music to consume and share online. People with no experience playing an instrument will be able to create albums’ worth of music without ever having to pick up the piano or guitar, while still creating music organically using their own bodies instead of just a computer program.

In addition to being more accessible, music will also become more intuitive. Raise your arms higher for higher notes. Make wavy motions with your arms for wavy sounds. Move your fingers quickly for quick notes and slowly for longer brushstrokes. And motion-controlled musical instruments will become even more natural with time.

You can see how far motion-controlled music has come since the theremin, and it will only continue to get better from here.