Designing for Conversational Interaction

In this paper we describe an interaction framework whichclassifies musicians' interactions with virtual musical instruments into three modes: instrumental, ornamental andconversational. We argue that conversational interactionsare the most difficult to design for, but also the most interesting. To illustrate our approach to designing for conversational interactions we describe the performance workPartial Reflections 3 for two clarinets and interactive software. This software uses simulated physical models to create a virtual sound sculpture which both responds to andproduces sounds and visuals.