The Design of the Body:Suit:Score, a Full-Body Vibrotactile Musical Score

We present the body:suit:score, a vibrotactile musical score that displays instructions and signals directly on musicians’ bodies using an array of vibrating motors. Initially inspired by the third author’s need for a new kind of score in his compositional practice, the body:suit:score facilitates the exploration of novel musical experiences and performer-audience relationships that are impossible or impractical without such a score, such as allowing the performers to freely move about the performance space amidst the audience. The body:suit:score has been designed through a close collaborative process between artists and technicians. A number of notable design elements and functionalities have emerged in response to this process, and in particular due to the strong requirements for usability and maintainability of the system.