Torrent: Integrating Embodiment, Physicalization and Musification in Music-Making

In this paper, we present Torrent, for Flutes and Water. Torrent is an embodied electroacoustic music composition written to commemorate a catastrophic local flood and the spirit of the citizens who united to overcome it. To create this music, we designed and built an interactive computer system to make audible and physical that which is usually hidden but ever-present in music-making: the musicians' muscle tension as they perform, think about, and feel their music. The Torrent system musifies and physicalizes the flutists' muscle tension as live water sounds and movement that accompany the musicians as they perform. Semi-structured interviews and surveys were conducted to under-stand the experiences of the performers and audience during one performance. The use of embodiment, as integral to the music itself, aspires to emphasize means and end, body and mind, effort and achievement in the struggle of people unit-ed against the elements.