Preface Admission Works "Disclavier" Research Development behind "Disclavier" Participation Artist's
		April 19 - 27, 1997 [Finished] NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC]
		Works "Disclavier" "Disclavier" is a combination of the words "disc" and "clavier," and is the name of a musical instrument that performs in virtual space. The "disc" is a music medium like the familiar record or CD, and the "clavier" simply means "keyboard instrument." The Disclavier is a combination of the two in which directly touching fragments on a revolving disc releases sounds. The instrument is played by three players sitting separately from one another controlling their own Avatars in the virtual space. The method of performance couldnot be simpler: the players simply touch the disc directly with the hands of their Avatars. As long as the hand is within the sphere of the disc, performance may start from anywhere. Since the upper part of the disc is fitted with an Effector that can modify the sounds to be released, you can choose whatever effect you like. Any basic sound can be given a quite different timbre according to how the Effector is used. Since the structure of the virtual space does not differ substantially from that of real space, your intentions and movements can be carried over without modification into the virtual space. For example, you can move your Avatar to the position where someone else's is, and interfere with his performance. Alternatively, all three players can cooperate by moving their Avatars to the same position to produce the same sound in unison. Consequently, depending on the position of the three players relative to one another, where the disc is touched, and the timing with which it is touched, it is possible to produce sounds in many ways andachieve a variety of results. Since three players acting in cooperation produce more complex sounds than one player acting alone, the results are more interesting. And because the result is fed back instantly as a sound, it is not difficult to read the others' intentions nor to convey your own. This makes the Disclavier an instrument where communication is essential-exchanges of wishes and intentions themselves from the music.