As new waves of artificial intelligence enter the creative sphere, the story of music and technology reminds us of something vital: technology amplifies, extends, and reflects human musical intention, but it has never replaced it. Telemidi stands at the edge of this evolving story, not as a disembodied system, but as a pulse-aware, human-first platform designed to reconnect us to real-time co-creation. By retracing the historical transformations that shaped our relationship to sound, we glimpse not only where we are going, but what we must protect.
1. The Mechanical Age: Expanding the Human Register
Long before synthesisers or computers, musical technologies emerged as mechanical extensions of the human body. From tuned percussion and stringed instruments to pianos and brass, these tools offered an expanded register and timbral palette beyond what the voice alone could deliver. This epoch enabled a more vivid externalisation of the musical mind. As noted by Strachan, the technological evolution from the clavichord to the grand piano reflects deep social and aesthetic transformations (Strachan, 2017, p. 165). Diduck’s concept of claviocentrism captures how the chromatic keyboard structure embedded itself culturally and transitioned from physical instrument to digital GUI via the piano roll in MIDI (Diduck, 2015). This continuity informs how MIDI-centric systems like Telemidi maintain expressive heritage even in virtual environments.
2. Notation and the Composer Epoch: Memory Beyond Death
The development of Western notation, particularly from the 12th century onwards, allowed musical ideas to be externalised, duplicated, and passed down through time. Notation became a kind of technological memory system, enabling what de Selincourt and Langer called ‘virtual time’ (Pressing, 1993) and allowing composers to project structured musical concepts across centuries (Bray, 2024, p. 73). This shift led to the ‘age of composers‘ during the Industrial Revolution, aligning apex orchestral performances with machine-like execution; a living embodiment of performers being cogs within the orchestral machine. Roy Ascott (1984) contrasted this with the telematic ideal of mutual, real-time information exchange between equal contributors. Telemidi reflects this evolution by restoring the dynamic interplay that can only be generated between two humans.
3. The Electrical Era: Broadcast and Amplified Identity
The 20th century saw the rise of radio, amplification, and magnetic recording, transforming how music was created, composed, and consumed. Amplification transcended the necessity of vocal projection, allowing intimate performance styles to flourish. Guitars, once rhythm-section tools, were reconfigured as solo instruments through signal amplification. Bell (2015, p. 49) highlights the irony that Edison’s phonograph, intended for business dictation, became a cornerstone of musical commodification. Julien and Levaux (2018) note how the recording artefact created one-way musical experiences; it mutated the listener–performer dynamic. Broadcast introduced collective synchrony of music listening across entire countries at a time, thus embedding pop culture into a national identity. These developments formed the preconditions for real-time media systems like Telemidi, which endeavours to return the listening experience, to focus on live music.
4. The Digital Studio Age: Solo Producers and Machine Logic
The advent of MIDI, audio software, and digital production in the late 20th century ushered in a more solitary mode of music-making. As Diduck observed, MIDI adopted the chromatic keyboard as its visual and semiotic centre, embedding claviocentrism into the very fabric of digital music (Diduck, 2015). Producers could operate alone, constructing music with grid-locked precision and little human interaction. Terren (2019) points to the influence of sequencers and drum machines when ingraining looping and repetition into dance music. Strachan (2017) and Bell (2018) chart how this machine-driven aesthetic de-emphasised performance and favoured automation. As Bray (2024) affirms, this process shaped the modern EDM aesthetic: rigid, efficient, and often dehumanised. Yet the limitations are matched by affordances, if the rigid formats are harnessed to act as pulse markers between remote locations, it enables Telemidi’s real-time system.
5. The Convergent Age: Digital Life and the Search for Real Connection
Today’s musical landscape is shaped by social media, algorithmic playlists, and a generation raised entirely within digital systems. AI-generated tracks are flooding platforms, and they lack the subtlety of embodied, human nuance. At Telemidi, we believe that the more non-human actors are saturating people’s playlists, the more these listeners will crave the authenticity of live, human interaction. Oliveros reminds us that “communicating sound over distance has been important to humans (and animals) for all kinds of purposes” (Oliveros et al., 2009, p. 96), suggesting that remote sonic connection predates digital mediation. Telemidi does not aim to replace tradition, but to extend it, enabling musicians to co- create in real-time across distance, reanimating the pulse of collective performance.
Conclusion
Each epoch of music technology has reshaped our sonic environment, yet none has rendered the human obsolete. From mechanical invention to digital mediation, the enduring truth is this: music is a human act, and technology is its extension. Telemidi stands as a 21st-century tool with ancient roots, enabling us to use new systems not to escape each other, but to play together once more.
