Music and technology in harmony: today’s frontrunners

Musician and performer Imogen Heap debuted her ‘musical gloves’ technology as early as 2012. Since then, the scope of the project has only expanded. The musical gloves work by allowing Heap to manipulate and mix music in real time, via the movements of her fingertips. This way of making music brings together the software of making music to an organic place of bodily movements. Engineering applicants may wish to read more on how the gloves were developed as a technological solution to aid live performances.

Heap isn’t the only musician to bridge the gap between technology and bodily performance of music. Icelandic artist Björk has broken ground through being the first app in the Museum of Modern Art. The app, Biophilia, link her music to interactive graphics and animations revolving around galactic themes. Users can listen to the song or contribute to a song through touching a star on the interface. The song ‘Virus’ prompts a close up view of cells being attacked by a virus, where users can stop the virus attacking the cells but correspondingly causes the song to stop. Applicants interested in Fine Art should consider what the inclusion of an app into MoMA changes what we define as art, while potential Music applicants might be interested to find how accelerating technology has made the process of creating music more organic than ever.