Creating a Super Instrument: Composers and Pianists Reaching Beyond Their Technical and Expressive Capabilities

Thanks to the development of new technology, musical instruments are no more tied to their existing acoustic or technical limitations as almost all parameters can be augmented or modified in real time. An increasing number of composers, performers, and computer programmers have thus become interested in different ways of "supersizing" acoustic instruments in order to open up previously-unheard instrumental sounds. This leads us to the question of what constitutes a super instrument and what challenges does it pose aesthetically and technically? Although the classical music performers have traditionally been dependent on their existing instrumental skills, various technological solutions can be used to reach beyond them. This paper focuses on the possibilities of enhancing composers' and performing pianists' technical and expressive vocabulary in the context of electroacoustic super instrument compositions. The discussion will be illustrated by two compositional case studies.