Cultural perceptions, ownership and interaction with re-purposed musical instruments

This article addresses the perceptions, ownership and interactions between users of re-purposed devices that now form musical instruments, how they are used, perceived and whether this owes anything to their original context as a gaming devices. For the research, specially designed software was created to mimic the performance of a musical instrument for use in a workshop setting. The software relies on groups of five or more players interacting together to perform music beyond that of simple experimentation, and in order to teach basic musicianship through the use of a familiar device, A Nintendo DS. The initial workshop took place at The Box, FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) a multimedia arts facility based in Liverpool. The workshop on 1 February 2010 had participants answer multiple questionnaires, take part in audio and video recordings as well as interviews to ascertain the effectiveness of the design and potential of the concept.