The sensor-based t-stick digital musical instrument, which was invented in 2006, offers great potential for virtuosic control over a diverse range of sounds and musical materials, as well as promising new forms of musical and gestural expression. The t-stick has been designed and constructed to permit a unique variety interaction techniques such as: touching, gripping, brushing, tapping, shaking, squeezing, jabbing, swinging, tilting, rolling, and twisting. As a result, a significant emphasis is placed on the gestural vocabulary required to manipulate and manoeuvre the instrument. The musical experience for both the performer and audience is characterised by a notable engagement between performer body and instrument.
The t-stick project grew out of a collaborative undertaking by music technologist Joseph Malloch and composer/digital instrumentalist D. Andrew Stewart at the Input Devices and Music Interaction Laboratory and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music, Media and Technology (McGill University), in cooperation with performers as part of the interdisciplinary McGill Digital Orchestra project.
The ongoing development of the t-stick family is a result of continuing institutional and public support. To date, the t-stick has been presented in Canada, Mexico, Norway, the USA, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal and Korea Republic.
For more information and performance footage: