What follows is a set of working prototypes for communal composition. Each explores a different democratic mechanism applied to the creation of music: averaging, spatial voting, quadratic voting, electoral systems, embodied movement, generational ownership. They run in a browser. You can play them. None are finished pieces of music. They are instruments you can play.
Seven Prototypes
I
Piano
Democratic Instrument
30,000 people sit at a piano. Each plays a note. The note you hear is the democratic result of every choice. The simplest model is pure democratic averaging applied to pitch. Chords allow you to create harmony from proportional representation.
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I-b
Mean Mode
Continuous Pitch
An extension of the Piano model to create continuous sound. Switch between mean, mode, and chord to hear how the same votes produce different music depending on the aggregation method.
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II
Miro
Spatial Voting
A shared canvas where each touch becomes a vote. Overlapping choices form peaks in a 3D landscape. The topography is sonified to create a piece of music. Inspired by Miró's Bleu II.
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III
Assembly
Quadratic Voting
Five layers of pre-composed musical blocks. Participants spend voice credits to vote on which blocks to play. Concentrating votes costs quadratically more, so the output reflects not just majority preference but intensity of feeling.
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IV
Parliament
Electoral Systems
Vote for one of seven parties alongside 300 simulated citizens. Toggle between first past the post, proportional representation, and coalition. The votes stay the same. The system changes.
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V
Choreography
Body as Instrument
Democracy as physical representation, as being seen, on the record. Cameras track dancers' movements and transcribe them into sound in real time. Dancers become co-composers of the resulting piece.
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VI
Epoch
Generational Ownership
A composition that accumulates over days, months, generations. A neighbourhood might build a shared piece over a decade. A digital community of 50,000 in viral waves. A city of half a million over half a century. The literal ownership of cultural history.
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Core Idea
Music has always been communal but its creation and ownership rarely are. These prototypes explore what happens when democratic governance is applied directly to the act of making music. The process of creation becomes as democratic as the outcome.
Next Steps
- Real communities, real networks
- Neighbourhood touchscreens
- Camera-tracked dance performances
- Orchestras whose audiences vote on what comes next
- Onchain provenance tying every touch to its creators