Textural Timbre Models: a study of sonic expansions in an interactive and recursive approach to the
percussive gesture on the classical guitar.
Percussive classical guitar; interactivity; musical gesture.
The present artistic research focuses on the analysis and application of diverse percussive techniques
on the classical guitar as exploratory procedures for investigating timbral possibilities with the
contexts of creation, composition, and performance. The study examines the sonic potentials generated
by striking different areas of the classical guitar’s body, relating these explorations to a systematic
mapping of the characteristics by the sounds resulting, grounded in the physical and geometric
specificities of both, the instrument and the performer. Within the proposed taxonomy, these sounds
are classified as Interpretive Percussive Gestures (IPG). Within this framework, the research
seeks—both as performer and composer—to broaden the dialogue with musical practice through the
incorporation of gestures and techniques drawn from a variety of percussion instruments. This
expansion enhances the guitar’s sonic repertoire and integrates these timbres into the compositional
process. The approach further reflects on traditional guitar training, repertoires informed by percussive
perspectives, intersections with other domains of instrumental practice, and the incorporation of
technology into performance. Such integration aims to foster new modes of perception, extending the
instrument’s sonic possibilities through the use of extended techniques and interactions between the
guitar and technological devices (interactive interfaces). This, in turn, offers new contributions to the
performer through the borrowing of musical gestures and techniques from percussion instruments,
supporting the proposed expansion of percussive sonorities on the guitar. The study adopts certain
assumptions regarding the conceptualization of the guitar; the identification of potential percussive
regions on both the instrument and the performer’s body; and the percussive resources embedded in
instrumental idiomatics, as well as the technical and postural considerations involved in what we refer
to as Classical Percussive Guitar. These elements form the methodological basis for achieving the
broader objective of the research, informed by the works of Campos (2012), Oliveira (2020),
Fernandes (2020), Josel and Tsao (2014), and Traldi (2007). Through the classification of IPG
according to specific rules and criteria, Textural Timbral Models (TTM) are constructed, grounding a
creative-compositional approach to percussive guitar performance in an interactive and recursive
manner.