Why don’t you take her for a spin?

It’s a whole new way to experience music: the Expression Synthesis Project allows users to put their own expressive stamp on a piece of music without being able to play a musical instrument–as long as they can drive a car:

“ESP starts with a piece of music (in) the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) format…The score used as the test case in the development of ESP is the Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G-minor by Johannes Brahms. The piece was selected because it contains numerous moments of extreme speed ups and slow downs. To guide the musical performance, Chew and her colleagues used information from the score to create a ‘road’ that corresponds to the structure of the piece…The road’s turns suggest to the driver when to slow down and speed up. however, the ultimate decision on what to do at each turn is entirely in the driver’s hands (or foot). The foot pedals control both the tempo and the volume of the music. Additionally, buttons mounted on the wheel act as the equivalent of the pedals on the piano, making the notes either sustain or cut off crisply.”

Vroom!