Exploring the Three Dimensional Spatiality of Polyrhythmic Drum Improvisation

This paper reports on creative practice design research founded on the translation of complex polyrhythmic digital drumming into the spatial domain. We outline four exercises in the use of drumming improvisation as a methodology for the spatialization of polyrhythmic drum improvisation; as static Spatial Drum Notation and representation as 3D models, artefacts and in Virtual Environments and live drumming performance inside a VR CAVE. These creative exercises bring forward concepts of affordance of musico-spatial representations, a theoretical `musico-perspectival hinge' and the continuum of performance, notation and representation.