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The Mobile Device: A new folk instrument?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 November 2013

Steve Jones*
Affiliation:
Music, Technology and Innovation Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Barbara Ballard's ‘carry principle’ defines the core elements of the mobile experience: small, personal, communicative, multifunctional, battery operated and always connected (Ballard 2007: 71). These qualities have ensured that for many of us some form of mobile device has become indispensable. Developments in mobile computing have meant that consumer devices are capable of increasingly sophisticated sound processing, leading to the emergence of new forms of mobile music. If this music is looked on as a new sub-genre of folk music, we might be able to put it in the context of live electronic music-making. With this in mind, this article will ask whether the mobile device has the potential to be considered a new folk instrument.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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