Learning music via tangible and corporeal interaction

Andrea Valente av@aaue.dkKristoffer Jensen krist@aaue.dk

Aalborg University Esbjerg

Learning musicMany methodologies to teach in primary school

We wanted a tool to support– multimodality– learning by doing– children active participation

Re-design of existing teaching tool c-cards, with:– fewer and simpler cards– specific support for music– extension to corporeal (bodily) interaction

Learning musicMany methodologies to teach in primary school

We wanted a tool to support– multimodality– learning by doing– children active participation

Re-design of existing teaching tool c-cards, with:– fewer and simpler cards– specific support for music– extension to corporeal (bodily) interaction

Learning musicMany methodologies to teach in primary school

We wanted a tool to support– multimodality– learning by doing– children active participation

Re-design of existing teaching tool c-cards, with:– fewer and simpler cards– specific support for music– extension to corporeal (bodily) interaction

Let's play cardsMusiCards is a re-design of computational cards (c-cards)

can express instructions with sequences and (random) choices

A computational card is as a square piece of paper, with a port on each of its four sides

There are 5 types of cards, and together they form the a basic deck (below):

– peg-pit card– forward card and the jump card– random and the switch card– the 4 small puppets are pegs

PegsThe deck

Let's play cardsMusiCards is a re-design of computational cards (c-cards)

can express instructions with sequences and (random) choices

A computational card is as a square piece of paper, with a port on each of its four sides

There are 5 types of cards, and together they form the a basic deck (below):

– peg-pit card– forward card and the jump card– random and the switch card– the 4 small puppets are pegs

PegsThe deck

Let's play cardsMusiCards is a re-design of computational cards (c-cards)

can express instructions with sequences and (random) choices

A computational card is as a square piece of paper, with a port on each of its four sides

There are 5 types of cards, and together they form the a basic deck (below):

– peg-pit card– forward card and the jump card– random and the switch card– the 4 small puppets are pegs

PegsThe deck

1/2

1/2

Semantics

Forward& Jump

Pit

Random Switch

A card circuit

?

Structure Dynamics

Note on real-time: 1 step always takes same time!

Let's play music too!An action is an annotation, written on top of a card

The action will be executed when the peg lands on the card

There are 2 kind of actions: – play-a-note actions (indicates which note to play)

– spawn actions (causes a new peg to be placed on some card)

Silence is the default action, so every card always has one associated action

A

Let's play music too!An action is an annotation, written on top of a card

The action will be executed when the peg lands on the card

There are 2 kind of actions: – play-a-note actions (indicates which note to play)

– spawn actions (causes a new peg to be placed on some card)

Silence is the default action, so every card always has one associated action

Let's play music too!An action is an annotation, written on top of a card

The action will be executed when the peg lands on the card

There are 2 kind of actions: – play-a-note actions (indicates which note to play)

– spawn actions (causes a new peg to be placed on some card)

Silence is the default action, so every card always has one associated action

!x

x

A

Let's play music too!An action is an annotation, written on top of a card

The action will be executed when the peg lands on the card

There are 2 kind of actions: – play-a-note actions (indicates which note to play)

– spawn actions (causes a new peg to be placed on some card)

Silence is the default action, so every card always has one associated action

Musical circuit

A B C

DE

F

Possible outcomes

A B C FA B C D E A B C F...

As a regular expressionA B C (D E A B C)* F

Mapping music to circuits and backThe Frere Jacque's example

Open problems and tricks● represent duration properly (½ notes?)● how complex can an action be? Can we really express all notes/any music piece?● how many pegs required to play?● spawn takes care of cycles with odd number of steps

Multimodality

Software

Table-top

(Blackboard)

Corporeal

● Java● Greenfoot

Multimodality

Software

Table-top

(Blackboard)

Corporeal

● Java● Greenfoot

Multimodality

Software

Table-top

(Blackboard)

Corporeal

● Java● Greenfoot

Multimodality

Software

Table-top

(Blackboard)

Corporeal● kid=peg

● traffic

● Java● Greenfoot

Software Demo

Conclusion● Music learning thru play and multimodal implementations● Corporeal interaction = free movement within a rule system

– classical example is hopscotch– actions are realized by one or more participants (here: singing notes)

– advantage is that children are physically moving, singing, and keep track of the structure of the music. Play with 3 basic elements of music: rhythm, melody and structure

● Corporeal environment– is playful,

– encourages non-formal learning

– the layout of the circuit can be drawn directly on the ground or using giant cards

– actions can be drawn using non-permanent markers (re-use of cards), and even definition of new alternative actions or navigations drawn on blank cards.

● MusiCards are– simple and expressive, game-like, very cheap, extendible and easy to deploy both in a

classroom and at home

Thanks

Andrea Valente http://aaue.dk/~avKristoffer Jensen http://aaue.dk/~krist

Questions?