Thermoscore: A New-type Musical Score with Temperature Sensation

In this paper, we propose Thermoscore, a musical score form that dynamically alters the temperature of the instrument/play er interface. We developed the first version of the Thermoscore display by lining Peltier devices on piano keys. The system is controlled by MIDI notes-on messages from an MIDI sequencer, so that a composer can design songs that are sequences of temperature for each piano key. We also discuss methodologies for composing with this system, and suggest two approaches. The first is to make desirable keys (or other keys) hot. The second one uses chroma-profile, that is, a radar chart representation of the frequency of pitch notations in the piece. By making keys of the same chroma hot in reverse pro portion to the value of the chroma-profile, it is possible to constrain the performer's improvisation and to bring the tonal ity space close to a certain piece.