Considerations in the use of Computer Technology in Contemporary Improvisation Are Computers Musical Instruments? Cesar Villavicencio Departamento de Música – Escola de Comunicações e Artes – Universidade de São Paulo Email: cesar@cevill.com Music has always had close ties with the development of instrumental technology. Although today computers hold an important role in performance practices, there are some issues regarding the physicality of musical presentations that need to be discussed. This paper focuses on some aspects involved in the use of computer technology today in the performance of music improvisation. Borrowing information from cognitive and aesthetic sources, it presents the idea of the necessity of developing instrumental interfaces for performing music with computer technology, arguing that sponsoring collaboration between scientific and performative areas would ultimately help to generate music that is eloquent and consistent. Introduction Soon after the introduction of tape as a musical medium, in the decade of the 1950’s, the first experiments and compositions combining both tape and acoustic instruments began to appear. This was the beginning of live sound processing. Today, the technological possibilities are, needless to say, enormous. Computer technology is constantly becoming faster, more powerful and reliable. Yet, these qualities do not ensure the quality of musical performances that use electronic devices. Quite the opposite, they offer such broad possibilities that the danger of losing consistency is present as it probably never was before. I am of the belief that the physicality of musical performance is a crucial issue and a central aspect of the way music communicates in live situations. When Hazel Smith and Roger Dean mention that “Computers can be both tools of improvisation and provide the environment (with)in which improvising takes place” i , we also have to think that, since the role of a computer machine is not solely dedicated to the making of music, there are some issues that need to be addressed. Today, it seems that the lack of communication between the “laptop” performer and the audience is sometimes acknowledged as a new “concept” natural of this kind of performances. Although there might be unquestionable levels of expertise involved in using computers for performing music, I think that it is misleading to regard as inherent of this practice the lack of direct contact with the audience.