Design Considerations for Instruments for Users with Complex Needs in SEN Settings.

Music technology can provide unique opportunities to allow access to music making for those with complex needs in special educational needs (SEN) settings. Whilst there is a growing trend of research in this area, technology has been shown to face a variety of issues leading to underuse in this context. This paper reviews issues raised in literature and in practice for the use of music technology in SEN settings. The paper then reviews existing principles and frameworks for designing digital musical instruments (DMIs.) The reviews of literature and current frameworks are then used to inform a set of design considerations for instruments for users with complex needs, and in SEN settings. 18 design considerations are presented with connections to literature and practice. An implementation example including future work is presented, and finally a conclusion is then offered

Noted: Musical affordances for collective exploratory music-making

Noted is a product system that allows for exploration of musical ideas and collaboration through an integrated tangible user interface (TUI). It combines a mobile app and physical controller accessories that attach to the phone. This interaction of digital app functionality and tangible controls highlights the role of musical haptics as the primary channel of interaction between a musician and an instrument. This design concept is structured around four main themes: Exploratory Workflows, Musical Haptics, Musical Affordances and Collective Action

MAMI Tech Toolkit Utilising Action Research to Develop a Technological Toolkit to Facilitate Access to Music-Making

Music is essential to most of us, it can light up all areas of the brain, help develop skills with communication, help to establish identity, and allow a unique path for expression. However, barriers to access or gaps in provision can restrict access to music-making and sound exploration for some people. Research has shown that technology can provide unique tools to access music-making but that technology is underused by practitioners. This action research project details the development and design of a technological toolkit called MAMI – the Modular Accessible Musical Instrument technology toolkit - in conjunction with stakeholders from four research sites. Stakeholders included music therapists, teachers, community musicians, and children and young people. The overarching aims of the research were: to explore how technology was incorporated into practices of music creation and sound exploration; to explore the issues that stakeholders had with current music technology; to create novel musical tools and tools that match criteria as specified by stakeholders, and address issues as found in a literature review; to assess the effectiveness of these novel tools with a view to improving practices; and to navigate propagation of the practices, technologies, and methods used to allow for transferability into the wider ecology. Outcomes of the research include: a set of design considerations that contribute to knowledge around the design and practical use of technological tools for music-making in special educational needs settings; a series of methodological considerations to help future researchers and developers navigate the process of using action research to create new technological tools with stakeholders; and the MAMI Tech Toolkit – a suite of four bespoke hardware tools and accompanying software - as an embodiment of the themes that emerged from: the cycles of action research; the design considerations; and a philosophical understanding of music creation that foregrounds it as an situated activity within a social context

MAMI tech toolkit: utilising action research to develop a technological toolkit to facilitate access to music-making.

Music is essential to most of us, it can light up all areas of the brain, help develop skills with communication, help to establish identity, and allow a unique path for expression. However, barriers to access or gaps in provision can restrict access to music-making and sound exploration for some people. Research has shown that technology can provide unique tools to access music-making but that technology is underused by practitioners. This action research project details the development and design of a technological toolkit called MAMI – the Modular Accessible Musical Instrument technology toolkit - in conjunction with stakeholders from four research sites. Stakeholders included music therapists, teachers, community musicians, and children and young people. The overarching aims of the research were: to explore how technology was incorporated into practices of music creation and sound exploration; to explore the issues that stakeholders had with current music technology; to create novel musical tools and tools that match criteria as specified by stakeholders, and address issues as found in a literature review; to assess the effectiveness of these novel tools with a view to improving practices; and to navigate propagation of the practices, technologies, and methods used to allow for transferability into the wider ecology. Outcomes of the research include: a set of design considerations that contribute to knowledge around the design and practical use of technological tools for music-making in special educational needs settings; a series of methodological considerations to help future researchers and developers navigate the process of using action research to create new technological tools with stakeholders; and the MAMI Tech Toolkit – a suite of four bespoke hardware tools and accompanying software - as an embodiment of the themes that emerged from: the cycles of action research; the design considerations; and a philosophical understanding of music creation that foregrounds it as an situated activity within a social context

Proceedings of the 19th Sound and Music Computing Conference

Proceedings of the 19th Sound and Music Computing Conference - June 5-12, 2022 - Saint-Étienne (France). https://smc22.grame.f