Investigating performance ecologies using screen scores: a case study

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to deepen the understanding of interconnections among actors and artifacts in a music performance. To this end, this work presents a case study with four participants. Each participant created a piece using Puffin, a screen score system that allows for real-time generation of scores to be played by traditional instrumentalists. We collected field notes and interviews and formalized them with the support of ARCAA (Actors, Role, Context, Activities and Artifacts), a recently developed framework specifically developed for this purpose. By discussing the resulting ecology we highlight some possible design suggestions, including the importance of considering non-direct interaction with a digital system as fundamental for a good “usage” of a given musical system; the relevance of accounting for the entire ecology of artifacts; and that different conceptions of affordances should be used to understand different perspectives of an ecology (in our case, social and hidden affordances).