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In 2010 we're seeing more instruments and applications that encourage experimentalism through touch-sensitive controls, wearable performance interfaces, and laser beams. Today, a novice keyboard player can sound like a virtuoso within a matter of minutes using highly responsive touch screens/pads to manipulate sounds.  As innovations in music technology transfer from complex systems to more user-friendly interactive platforms, music can become easier to play for those who never thought they could.

Ocarina ($1) is a perfect example of a highly innovative and social iPhone music app that works for both trained musicians and ordinary people as an instrument. Through movement, touch, and breath, Ocarina’s “tap and play” interface allows users to create music on the go so that they can share with other users around the globe. Ocarina users are instructed to blow into their iPhone microphone port while tapping the four holes on the screen to manipulate the instrument’s pitch, add vibrato by tilting the iPhone down, and change the volume by blowing harder or softer into the port. Ge Wang, a founder at Smule which created Ocarina explains, “The iPhone will never replace a physical instrument like a violin, but these new instruments are only possible on the phone, and it’s something people always have with them.”