InterFACE: new faces for musical expression

InterFACE is an interactive system for musical creation, mediated primarily through the user's facial expressions and movements. It aims to take advantage of the expressive capabilities of the human face to create music in a way that is both expressive and whimsical. This paper introduces the designs of three virtual instruments in the InterFACE system: namely, FACEdrum (a drum machine), GrannyFACE (a granular synthesis sampler), and FACEorgan (a laptop mouth organ using both face tracking and audio analysis). We present the design behind these instruments and consider what it means to be able to create music with one's face. Finally, we discuss the usability and aesthetic criteria for evaluating such a system, taking into account our initial design goals as well as the resulting experience for the performer and audience.