The book came from papers presented at a 2011 international conference entitled “When Words Fail: What Can Music Interaction Tell Us About HCI?” Sixteen chapters by 32 different authors highlight current music interaction research. The first chapter provides a broad overview by providing brief answers to a series of questions starting with “What is music interaction?” It is the use of interactive systems that utilize computer technology for musical activity, typically involving collaborations between individuals.

While a technical background is not required to read this book, it should be mentioned that the material has considerable technical and psychological depth. Areas for future research are also indicated.

Live performance receives significant attention, as these chapter titles indicate: “Music Interaction: Understanding Music and Human-Computer Interaction”; “Affective Musical Interaction: Influencing Users’ Behaviors and Experiences with Music”; “Chasing a Feeling: Experience in Computer Supported Jamming”; “The Haptic Bracelets: Learning Multi-Limb Rhythm Skills From Haptic Stimuli With Reading”; “Piano Technique as a Case Study in Expressive Gestural Interaction”; “Live Music-Making: A Rich Open Task Requires a Rich Open Interface”; and “Appropriate and Complementary Rhythmic Improvisation in an Interactive Music System.”

Additional topics include digital and virtual musical instruments, composition, and coding. An interesting chapter discusses “utilizing music as a processing tool for affective computation in artificial systems.” This includes military robots and musical neural networks. A developing research field involves using sound in a more sophisticated manner than the typical heart rate monitor. Consequently, while the emphasis is on music, research and applications consider sound broadly.

The chapters begin with an abstract and end with a concluding wrap-up and a list of references. A comprehensive index for the entire book is very helpful to readers. A broad audience of researchers, musicians, and designers will find worthwhile and stimulating ideas in this book.