Composing the Instrument: Revisiting the notion of the instrument's score

This article revisits the concept of the instrument’s inherent score, exploring how musical instruments can embody a form of notation that both shapes and inspires performance. Building on earlier research (Tomás 2016; Tomás and Kaltenbrunner 2014), the study examines the historical and theoretical foundations of this idea, tracing its roots to experimental music practices of the 1960s and 1970s, particularly within the Sonic Arts Union collective. Composers such as Alvin Lucier, Gordon Mumma and Nicolas Collins have described how electronic instruments embody compositional elements, effectively functioning as scores. The paper argues that the instrument’s score emerges from the material and symbolic affordances of the instrument, mediating the performer’s engagement with its sonic and physical properties. This concept has influenced contemporary digital instrument design, where the boundary between composition and instrument becomes blurred. The study also engages with theoretical frameworks from Vilém Flusser and Friedrich Kittler, situating the instrument’s score within broader discourses on technology and embodiment. Finally, the paper explores the challenges of notating such scores, drawing parallels with choreographic practices, and concludes by emphasising the body’s central role in interpreting and enacting these inscriptions during performance.