To wrap up the two semesters, I want to repeat the defined problem statement and aim for this project.
Problem statement
Absence of social community and musical experimentation makes it challenging for young musicians to maintain motivation.
Aim
Inspire and encourage musicians to improvise and play by ear.
The product can be used as:
An education tool to compliment classical training
A fun game for sharing musical exploration with friends
Key phases of development
Research phase
Reading about the topic
Analyzing existing solutions
Looking into other disciplines
Conducting interviews
Design phase
Early stage prototypes
Structuring of problems
Defining problem statement
Defining concept and aim
Creating technical prototype
Conducting user tests
Creating visual prototype
It has been exiting to work with this project. I have gained valuable insight within the field, and learned how I can research and develop prototypes in an effective manner. It has been challenging to work alone, but it also made me more aware of my own workflow and how I perform best. As the topic music education is within the field of my interest, I have been inspired all the way to create a concept that makes a difference.
After spending some weeks developing a technical prototype, I started building a visual one as well. The visual prototype represents the size and appearance of my concept, but serves no functionality. It is made of paper, cardboard, plastic, tape and fabric.
I started drawing some sketches of the intended design. In the blog post Concept Definition and Aim from May, I stated what buttons I find important to include. I worked further with these and concluded to implement seven buttons:
Power on/off
Sound up/down
Play melody/record
Replay melody
Return to previous melody
Pause melody
Skip to next melody
I want the design to be clean and understandable, without any unnecessary buttons. But after my user tests, I also understood that buttons such as replay and skip were crucial in order to serve good user experiences.
The lower part of the product is the speaker, and the upper part involve the buttons. The biggest button in the middle is the one that will be used the most. When it is pressed, the random generated melody plays. This is also the button that must be pressed in order to record the sound of the user input. In the next version of my prototype, I will also include a LED ring around that gives instant feedback on the input.
I recently conducted user tests on my technical prototype. The prototype does not yet work exactly as I vision my final product, but I find it important to involve users at an early stage. I wanted to test the core idea and get valuable feedback for further development of the concept.
I chose to conduct the user tests with people I interviewed in my research phase. They are women in the age range 23 to 26 and went to music lessons for 1-3 years as children. They have been playing different instruments such as piano, guitar, drums and the clarinet, but never for a long period of time. To learn more about their musical background, read my blog post from January: Key Findings from Interviews.
User test 1
Successful melodies: 4
Observations
Wants to test all the buttons before starting the game
Tries to sing the melody outload right away after hearing it
Points with her fingers on the buttons
Uses time to think before trying
Improved skills after every try
Gets frustrated when failing, but always wants to try again
Missing a replay button, to hear the melody again without needing to play it
Playing when looking at the serial monitor (printed notes): much easier, higher level of success. Wants to retry every time she fails.
General feedback
Thought it was very fun to play
Felt competitive, did not want to quit
Found it very annoying to fail
In the beginning, she did not understand that every melody was not necessarily containing all the tones.
Low quality speaker makes it hard to separate the tones. Suggests using Max 8 instead of the piezo buzzer.
The “incorrect melody”-sound is similar to some of the melody tones. This could be distracting and confusing.
After successfully playing a melody, the next one plays right away. This was too fast for her to prepare for listening again.
If I want to upgrade the product and make it even harder, it could be an idea to also implement different rhythms in the melody. Another option is to make the melodies longer (more than four tones). Nevertheless, she states that it was already complicated enough for her.
User test 2
Successful melodies: 1
Observations
Wants to start right away, before I am finished with the explanation
States that she is terrible, does not know anything about music theory
Struggles, but learns quickly
Notices that she is playing the melody wrong, but struggles to point out what the problem is
Decides to give up after numerous attempts on the second melody
Playing when looking at the serial monitor (printed notes): easier, but still needs to think a lot and use multiple attempts to succeed.
General feedback
Said it was very fun, would love to play with it all the time as a child.
Very nice way to train your ear.
Thought it would be easier with a higher quality speaker.
Suggested implementing an orange light for better feedback. It would make it easier to understand the number of wrong notes.
Wanted to try again every time she failed, but it was easy to get stuck on one melody and become annoyed.
Hard to hear what is wrong.
Missed a replay button.
Suggested writing the name of the tones on the buttons. Thinks it would be easier to understand the connections.
Suggested removing the resistors to get brighter LED lights.
Conclusion
In general, it was very helpful to test my concept in such an early stage. Their positive feedback motives me to develop the idea further in the future, and their critique made it clear what changes I should make. I already did some adjustments:
Changed the pitch on some of the tones
Increased delay between feedback and new melodies
Removed resistors from the breadboard
Adjusted the printed messages to the serial monitor
Over the past few weeks, I have been developing a technical prototype. I explored various options considering the available equipment and project timeline. After many iterations and debugging, I created a functional prototype ready for user testing.
The prototype is a simplification of my concept. It can be used to illustrate the main functionalities, but does not work exactly how I vision my finished product. I chose to follow the advice of making a low effort prototype with high indented impact on learning outcome.
Main components:
Random melodies generated out of four tones (C, D, E, F)
Four buttons for user input (C, D, E, F)
Green LED light for positive feedback
Red LED light for negative feedback
Piezo buzzer playing melodies, user input and feedback sounds
How does it work?
Instead of using a microphone for user input, I decided to work with buttons. A piezo buzzer (speaker) plays a random melody composed of four tones, and the user can use buttons to replicate the melody. In my programmed prototype, I used the tones C3, D3, E3, and F3. Each melody consists of four tones, which is always a random combination of the above. The buttons represent one tone each:
Yellow button: C3 Green button: D3 Blue button: E3 Black button: F3
Operation flow
Melody playback: The speaker plays a random melody consisting of four tones.
User interaction: After the melody finishes, the user can replicate it by pressing the corresponding buttons.
Feedback mechanism:
Correct replication: A short positive sound is played, and the green LED lights up, signaling success. A new random melody then follows.
Incorrect replication: A negative sound is played, and the red LED lights up. The same melody is repeated until the user successfully replicates it.
To be able to user test my concept, I want to create a prototype with a certain technical functionality. Based on ease of use and personal prior knowledge, I decided to use Arduino to test the desired functions.
Required equipment
Arduino Uno
Battery pack
Breadboard
Buttons
LED lights
NeoPixel ring
Electret microphone
Piezo speaker
Wires
Resistors
To begin the prototyping, I watched this tutorial on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMs5J4bJOD0. It shows how to connect a microphone to LED lights for instant feedback in an Arduino setup. I thought this was a good way of starting the building of my prototype, because it contains some of the major functionalities of my concept.
I used the online web-based tool on tinkercad.com to build my Arduino setup and write the code. This is how it looks like so far:
In the next step, I will research how to add a speaker. This tutorial shows a setup with both a microphone and speaker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIDhkvomrcg. It will hopefully help me on the way. If I can access the required equipment, I will also attempt to build it in a physical format.
Further, I need to figure out how to generate random melodies and play them on the Arduino speaker. This website shows examples on how the melodies could sound: https://random-music-generators.onrender.com/melody. I ideally want the tempo parameter to be around 70, and the number of notes to be 4.
For visual purposes, I also want to build a non-technical prototype to demonstrate the indented design in the end. The two prototypes will complement each other, and optimally be merged together in the final prototype video.
After some guidance last week, I have worked with defining my concept. To figure out what I want the final product to offer, I started by writing my visions down on paper. My concept is the result of all my research so far, and I want it to be a working solution for my defined problem statement.
Firstly, it is important that the gadget is fun and simple. Based on the results from my research, it should not become an element of stress. I want it to compliment normal music lessons, but I would not want it to be controlled by any teacher. The music students can be recommended to use the gadget, but not forced in any way. The results will not be the same if they are not motivated on their own.
It will not be possible to share or save scores. However, there will be integrated feedback after each sequence. The users can see if their mimic was correct or not. Due to motivational purposes, I want the focus to be on positive feedback. The gadget will tell when melodies are played wrong, but the goal is to motivate users to try again.
When making my first sketches and paper prototype, I visioned the product to only contain one big button. When developing the concept further, I figured that I should implement some additional buttons. I want it to look simple and easy to understand, but also include all essential functionalities. It should be possible to pause the sound, as well as replaying it. It would also be reasonable to enable a skip button, one for returning to the past sound and one for skipping to the next one. In addition, I will of course add buttons to control the sound level. All the buttons should follow standard patterns and communicate actions clearly.
To define the objective in a clear manner, I composed an aim and the intented user group.
Aim
Inspire and encourage musicians to improvise and play by ear.
The product can be used as:
An education tool to compliment classical training
A fun game for sharing musical exploration with friends
The next step in my design process is to develop a concept. In this phase, I find it particularly challenging not to have anyone to spar with. Nevertheless, it is helpful to sketch ideas and discuss them with myself.
I started making scribbles of a music exploration park with instrument installations, performance spaces and music trails. However, I was not too inspirated to develop this concept further. I searched the web for existing products and tried to think of new inventions. After looking back at my old notes, I finally ideated a concept that motivates me.
I want to make a small portable music gadget that could make a big difference for individuals. The gadget will in this article be referred as the Mimic Box.
Message to user: “Be a Parrot”.
What
The mimic box will encourage musicians to play by ear. It will play random melody snippets, and the users are supposed to mimic the sounds they hear, without any help from musical notation. It will work for a wide variety of instruments, such as piano, violin, trumpet, and even vocal.
Why
The tool will help musicians to free themselves from rules and music sheets. They will develop a trained ear for music, and intentionally get inspiration to jam and improvise more. My research throughout the winter semester shows that in many cases, musical notation seems scary and music lessons becomes serious too quickly. It is important to stay playful and experimental to feel a pure joy for music.
In addition, the tool will invite to social interaction and co-playing. It may be used as a competition-based game, which creates a community within the music field.
How
User pushes button – Box starts playing a random melody – LED ring lights up on every tone – Melody ends
User pushes button – Box starts recording
User mimic melody
User pushes button – Recording ends
Feedback! (Green, yellow or red color)
The given feedback will be based on how well the user mimicked the melody.
One of the most important tasks for me this semester was to make a clear problem statement. I also wanted to get an overview of all research gathered in the winter semester and sort out the most important findings.
The last couple of days, I have been using post-it notes to get a deep understanding on why exactly people decide to quit music education. This question has been repeated since the very beginning of my project, and I have gathered a wide variety of answers. The notes work as a summary of my research findings, and creates the base for an affinity model.
Writing the answers down on paper helped me get an overview of the complex problem. Thereafter, I decided to sort the post-it notes into different categories. I wrote one power statement associated with each category:
A supportive community is needed to maintain motivation
Wrong difficulty level and focus on performance make music seem too serious
Difficult logistics make the threshold higher
Motivation is dependent on goal-orientated practice and continuous improvement
The structure of lessons should be adapted to every individual student
In the next step, I wanted to ideate solutions for each category. This helped me understand which statements I was more motivated to work further with.
In the end of the session, I finally concluded with a problem statement:
Absence of social community and musical experimentation makes it challenging for young musicians to maintain motivation.
The statement concludes the problems I want to attack. Based on my research, it is crucial for musicians to feel belonging with a supporting community, as well as having the opportunity to experiment with improvisation instead of just following strict rules. The challenge is not to make people start playing an instrument, but making them stay inmusic (prevent quitting).
A case study with disabled musicians. Teodoro Dannemann.
I will use this blog post to write about an article published at the NIME conferences. In 2023, Teodoro Dannemann from Centre for Digital Music on Queen Mary University of London did a case study with disabled musicians. As a part of the course Interaction Design 1, I will discuss my thoughts about his article.
I chose Dannemanns article because it has a certain relevance to my design and research topic. The aim of the study is to explore the possibility to design new or modified instruments, focusing on a character of disability. The researchers went through three stages to fulfill the needs of musicians with different disabilities:
A semi-structured music jam session and subsequent analysis
Undergraduate students, researchers and lecturers assisted to arrange jam sessions for four children from the Teletón rehabilitation center (hereafter referred to as the performers). The performers got the opportunity to choose which instrument to play, and worked in teams together with coordinators. Some of the coordinators worked as tempo leaders, and some as normal musicians. The performers actions were observed and recorded.
In the beginning of the session, each group created a musical score based on a template (see picture below). The performers were welcome to freely create their own unique notation language. The group started the jam based on their home-made score. After a while, the tempo leaders initiated improvisation for ten minutes.
In the end of each round, the facilitator talked to the group to learn what they liked about the jam, what problems they faced, and their overall interaction experience. Then, teams were told to make a slightly more complicated score and start jamming again. This process was repeated three times.
Obtain individual performers profiles from the data collected
Each group of coordinators discussed the obtained data. Based on the results, they created profiles for each performer comprising the four dimensions: (1) movements and embodiment, (2) musical preferences, (3) difficulties, and (4) capabilities. This helped them organize the collected data and get an overview of the needs of each performer.
Prototype music instruments
A team of designers got the task to elaborate a proposal of one or two instruments for each performer. They based the prototypes on the data gathered in each individual performer profile. The instruments needed to take into account not just the specific needs of each performer and their musical and performance styles, but they also had to be feasible in terms of time (around two months for construction) and budget constraints. Each team got feedback from coordinators and tutors, and iterated the prototypes up to the final delivery event. Each performer was handed their corresponding instrument and got one hour to explore its possibilities. In the end, all participants of the project gathered for a final jam session with additional instruments.
In the end of the written article, final results are being discussed. They describe two cases of designed instruments, corresponding to two very different performers. The first of the two performers ended up getting a digital cello that could be played with one arm, and a 3D-printed prosthetic forearm. The performer showed a special interest for the prosthesis. However, it was found that the forearm socket needed more fine tuning for them to be able to exert more pressure against the cello. The other performer received a one-handed flute. Even though the performer was really excited about the idea, they were most interested in using the flute to make all sorts of unusual sounds and effects. So, the team ended up making a special „magic flute“. This flute was set up for the performer to easily change how it sounds using a computer, so they could try out different sounds. The design team also put together a simple guide to help the performer get started with fun activities. This would help them focus better on specific tasks and get into a rhythm.
My thoughts
I find the study meaningful and inspiring. It pertains to such an important topic, and the results are effective. I think the article communicated the research and outcomes in an organized manner. Each step in the study is described thoroughly, and the author evaluate how the steps could have been possibly done different. Dannemann is aware of weaknesses in the study, but I also noted down some concerns.
Firstly, I think the performers should have been involved more in the prototyping phase. This is mentioned by the author in the paragraph: FINAL REMARKS: A CRITICAL REFLECTION. Based on the feedback the performers gave in the delivery event, it becomes clear that there should have been conducted user tests in an earlier stage. Especially concerning the prosthetic forearm that needed more fine tuning. If they tested the prototype iteratively on the real end-user, the prothesis could have worked properly against the cello. Each person with disabilities is different, so it is crucial to involve the designated end-user in an early stage.
I am also curious about the instrument’s limitations. Does a one arm flute offer the same possibilities as a normal flute? It is designed for such a small user group, and I imagine how difficult it is to create it without any other limitations. It would be interesting to read more about every instrument they made and how they differ from the standards.
In the first lecture of our course Design & Research 2, we were instructed to develop 1-3 prototypes within a three-day timeframe. These prototypes were expected to be „quick and dirty“, yet still relevant to our chosen topic. Initially, I thought this would be challenging and time-consuming. However, it turned out to be both fun and helpful.
I began by brainstorming ideas. Because I am still in the early stages of the design process, I found it hard to already envision potential solutions. Setting a four-minute timer, I began writing down any ideas that came to mind on post-it notes. Under time pressure, my brain generated numerous concepts. I then collected these ideas and proceeded to sketch out various concepts.
Using this method results in the creation of low-fidelity concepts without extensive contemplation. I might not end up using any of the concepts, but it was a great way to start the creative thinking.
PROTOTYPES
I ended up creating prototypes out of two different ideas:
Multiplayer Keyboard
This concept is inspired by the observation that many musicians experience a lack of social aspect in their practice. They often end up prioritizing team sports such as football over solo instruments, drawn to the motivational aspects of teamwork. Playing in a band or orchestra is an option, but this idea aims to facilitate collaborative piano playing among friends. Whether with two or four players, the proposed product would enable the creation of harmonious melodies and the exploration of various tones and melodies with friends.
Improvisation Motivator
During my research, I observed benefits of improvisation in music. Musicians in all ages can struggle with motivation and to find joy in playing their instruments. It typically becomes overly rigid and challenging, leading to decrease of self-esteem in music. With this proposed concept, the aim is to make music practice more fun and playful. The product contains a built-in metronome and a speaker capable of playing various chords and drumbeats. Intentionally, the improvisation motivator should lower the threshold for solo improvisation practice. Traditional music sheets can be limiting, hindering users from learning in a more enjoyable and interactive manner. To utilize this product, users would simply press the blue button located on the top, enabling them to play over self-selected chords and beats. This approach makes it easier for individuals to experiment with the right tones and create new melodies on their own.
