Research
I hold a DMus from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music where I was a SSHRC Doctoral Fellow under the tutelage of Marie-Chantal Leclair. My research investigates live electronic music performance and computer improvisation through a research-creation project called eTu{d,b}e (étude + eTube). With instrument builder and programmer Vincent Cusson, we developed an augmented instrument called the eTube, with a Student Research Award (2021–22) from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) at McGill University. Two ensuing CIRMMT Student Awards supported collaborative work with Kasey Pocius (2022–23) and Maxwell Gentili-Morin (2023–24) to create spatialisation models for improvising agents and update the software of the eTube controller, respectively.
The eTube and the eTu{d,b}e improvisation framework are the focus of my doctoral dissertation (May 2024), and numerous publications (see references below). eTu{d,b}e has been performed at the Sonorities Festival (Belfast), North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference (NASA), New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME), Harvard University, live@CIRMMT, Codes d’accès, Guelph University (IICSI),
During my studies I was privileged to receive support from the following organizations: A Student Member of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT), an Associate Researcher with the Input Devices and Music Interaction Laboratory (IDMIL), completing an Inter-centre research exchange with Simon Fraser University’s Metacreation Lab for Creative AI, and holding a graduate scholarship from the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI). Many of these collaborations are ongoing and continue to support the eTube project, for which I am grateful.
My research interests include: improvisation, contemporary saxophone techniques, human-computer interaction, improvising agents, and agency in computer music performance.
Etu{d,b}e
eTube
eTu{d,b}e simultaneously refers to the name of the eTube, an augmented instrument, and to a series of improvised etudes based on human-computer musical interactions. Improvising musical agents are loaded with corpora of audio recordings which are segmented, analysed, and labelled for use as audio output by the computer agent. The computer uses machine listening to analyse the performer’s sound, then combines segmented portions of the audio in the corpus to interact with a human performer in an improvised musical context. We use existing improvising agents developed by other programmers, which are indicated in the media below.
The eTube is a baritone saxophone mouthpiece extended with a plastic tube and augmented by a custom controller to communicate musical agents. This augmented instrument facilitates interaction between a human performer and musical agents in musical improvisation and is purposefully limited in terms of traditional playing techniques, although it produces an intriguing sound world. This instrument is currently being developed by Vincent Cusson, Kasey Pocius, Maxwell Gentili-Morin, and me. For more details regarding the eTube interface design, please see Vincent Cusson’s GitHub.
Media - Preliminary tests with musical agents
Creative Dynamics of Improvised Interaction (DYCI2) performance at the 2021 North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) Region 10 Conference at McGill University
Acoustic Tube and Improvising Agents Demonstration
Media - etu{d,b}e framework with eTube controller and Musical agents
eTu{d,b}e improvisation framework performance at the Schulich School of Music.
eTu{d,b}e online performance.
Cusson, Vincent, and Tommy Davis. “Etu{d,b}e: A Preliminary Conduit.” In Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, 2022. https://doi.org/10.21428/92fbeb44.c05957ee.
CIRMMT INTER-CENTRE RESEARCH EXCHANGE AT Simon Fraser University’s METACREATION LAB
Performances with the eTube and the co-creative musical agent Spire Muse by Notto Thelle, following a one-month residency.
Spatialization Models by Kasey Pocius
eTu{d,b}e with spatialized improvising agents by Kasey Pocius and Tommy Davis for Cod’a 2022: Échanges at Eastern Bloc presented by codes d’accés.
Publications
Davis, Tommy, Kasey Pocius, Vincent Cusson, Maxwell Gentili-Morin, and Philippe Pasquier. “Embodied eTube Gestures and Agency.” In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Movement and Computing. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1145/3658852.3659084.
Davis, Tommy. “The eTube Project: Researching Human-Computer Interaction through an Interdisciplinary Collaboration with Improvising Musical Agents.” Doctoral dissertation, McGill University, 2024.
Pocius, Kasey, Tommy Davis, and Vincent Cusson. “eTu{d,b}e: Developing and Performing Spatialization Models for Improvising Musical Agents.” In Proceedings of the International Conference on Arts and Humanities, 10 (1):20–37, 2024. https://doi.org/10.17501/23572744.2023.10102.
Davis, Tommy, Kasey Pocius, Vincent Cusson, Marcelo M. Wanderley, and Philippe Pasquier. “eTu{d,b}e: Case Studies in Playing with Musical Agents.” In Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, 2023. http://nime.org/proceedings/2023/nime2023_39.pdf.
Cusson, Vincent, and Tommy Davis. “Etu{d,b}e: A Preliminary Conduit.” In Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, 2022. https://doi.org/10.21428/92fbeb44.c05957ee.
Academic Presentations
2024
May 30–June 2 Movement and Computing Conference, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Embodied eTube Gestures and Agency [poster presentation]
Apr 8–13 Sonorities Festival, Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Symposium Talks: eTu{d,b}e: Exploring Musical Agents through Improvisations with an Infra-Instrument
Handmade Music: eTu{d,b}e with Spatialized Improvising Agents
2023
Dec 1 Composing and Performing with Digital Musical Instruments, CIRMMT RA4 Workshop, McGill University, Montreal
3tube: co-composing for an infra-instrument, fixed media and agent software
Oct 20–22 Sound, Meaning, Education: CONVERSATIONS & improvisations, International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI), University of Guelph, Ontario
eTu{d,b}e: embodying improvising musical agents through a spatialized eTube practice
May 31–June 2 New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) Conference, Mexico City, Mexico
eTu{d,b}e: case studies in playing with musical agents paper presentation
May 11–13 Harvard University Instruments, Interfaces, Infrastructures: An Interdisciplinary Conference on Musical Media Conference, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
eTu{d,b}e with spatialised agents by Kasey Pocius and Tommy Davis
Enfants, apprenez-nous à parler (US premiere) for eTube by Quentin Lauvray, sptialisation by Kasey Pocius
Apr 11 McGill Association for Student Composers (MASC) Presentation, Digital Composition Studio, McGill University
eTu{d,b}e: improvising with musical agents and the eTube
Apr 2 North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS
eTu{d,b}e (US premiere) with spatialised agents by Kasey Pocius and Tommy Davis
Mar 25 Doctoral Lecture-Recital, Tanna Schulich Hall, McGill University
Improvising Cyborgs: Researching Computer Creativity with the eTu{d,b}e Framework
Feb 25 Lecture-Recital for the Music and Transcendence in a Posthuman Age Colloquium, Salon Orange, Montreal
Improvising Cyborgs: Researching Computer Creativity with the eTu{d,b}e Framework
Feb 23 Musical Creation and Technologies Seminar guest presentation, Université de Montréal
eTu{d,b}e: improvising with musical agents and the eTube
2022
Jun 28–Jul 1 New Interfaces for Musical Expression Conference Online Performance, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
Etu{d,b}e (premiere) by Vincent Cusson and Tommy Davis