About
Dr Polfreman is based in Music at the University of Southampton, where his teaching and rsearch is focussed on Music Technology. Teaching topics include MIDI sequencing, history of music technology, music and sound production and music in games and interactive systems. Research interests include music and movement, user interface design and HCI, live electronics performance and music information retrieval.
Dr Polfreman is Academic Integrity Officer and Examinations Officer for Music in 2021-22, as well as Head of Music Technology.
Research
Research interests
- New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME)
- Music and Movement
- User-Interface Design and HCI
- Music Information Retrieval
- Live Electronics Performance
Current research
Moving Music - examining movement and physical gesture in musical contexts, initially focussing on conducting, but also in live electronics control.
Graphical interpolation systems - with Darrell Gibson of Bournemouth University, evaluation of different user interface designs for graphical interpolated control of sound synthesis in the context of sound design.
Research projects
Completed projects
Publications
Teaching
A current areas involving music and technology:
Music Technology History, Fundamentals of Sound and Synthesis, MIDI and Sequencing, Music and Sound Production, Game Music and Sound Design Technology
Previous areas also include:
Music and Audio Programming (e.g. in C, C++, Flash), VST plug-in design, Max/MSP Programming and Live Electronics, Digitial Signal Processing.
Biography
Dr Polfreman joined Music at the University of Southampton in 2004, having previously worked at the University of Hertfordshire, where he completed his PhD in user-interface design for software based sound synthesis systems.
Dr Polfreman’s research over many years has explored the interface between musicians and technology, looking for novel ways in which to enhance the experience for performers, composers and musicologists. This has often focussed on music-related Human Computer Interaction with a range of stakeholders, from those challenged in their appreciation of music through hearing impairment, through live performers with electronics, to systems with the potential to enhance the processes of composition and analysis of music and sound. Recent work has focussed on music and motion and the use of hand and body tracking systems in controlling sound and in conducting.
Dr Polfreman has also worked on a wide range of industry projects involving live performance and installations, many of which were in collaboration with Sound Intermedia (London), including world premieres of works by Benedict Mason, Jonathan Harvey, Harrison Birtwistle and Simon Bainbridge, as well as a number of re-workings of compositions by Luigi Nono.