Voice Networks: The Human Voice as a Creative Medium for Musical Collaboration

The author describes a musical installation that allows players to record, transform and share their voices in a group. A central computer system facilitates the interaction as participants interdependently collaborate in developing their “voice motifs” into a coherent musical composition. Observations of subjects interacting with two different applications that were developed for the installation lead to a discussion regarding the use of abstract sounds as opposed to spoken words, the effect of group interdependency on individual contribution by players and the tension between maintaining autonomy and individuality versus sharing and collaborative group playing.