Music via Motion: A distributed framework for interactive multimedia performance

Music performance is closely associated with body movements in many levels for both the instrument player and the listener. Recent studies show the existence of a strong link between bodily movement and conception and perception of music. The MvM (Music via Motion) framework was proposed over 10 years ago now and has been designed for several different scenarios including interactive dance performances and interactive installations. This paper presents a recent revision to the MvM framework and core system with a range of enhancements and optimizations. It discusses related background and details the new design together with a case study on conducting, using the MvM framework to offer visual and audio feedback on the beat position in order to study the perception of conducting gesture communication and different interpretations. Keywordsmotion; multimedia; distributed; framework; mapping; gesture; conducting