Augmenting musical instruments with digital identities

Benford, Steve; McGarry, Glenn; Hazzard, Adrian; Chamberlain, Alan; Gibson, Rebecca; Avila, Juan Pablo Martinez

Abstract

We explore how augmenting musical instruments with digital identities can enhance their provenance, utility during creative practice, and personal meaning. A literature review reveals the importance of object identities in general and instrument identities in particular, how the identities of things can be digitally augmented, but also that this idea has not been widely applied to musical instruments. A first case study draws on interviews to illuminate the current practice of physically relicing guitars to enhance their identities. A second case study of augmenting a guitar to capture and retell its life story illuminates potential digital identity practices. Reflecting on both case studies, we reconsider musical instruments as product-service systems in which physical instruments come bundled with digital services that forge, perform, and share their identities.

Citation

Benford, S., McGarry, G., Hazzard, A., Chamberlain, A., Gibson, R., & Avila, J. P. M. (2024). Augmenting musical instruments with digital identities. Journal of New Music Research, https://doi.org/10.1080/09298215.2024.2423613

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 27, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Nov 14, 2024
• Publication Date: Nov 14, 2024
• Deposit Date: Oct 28, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: May 15, 2026
• Print ISSN: 0929-8215
• Electronic ISSN: 1744-5027
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09298215.2024.2423613
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/41134465
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09298215.2024.2423613