Comments
Franck Norman
Drew Logsdon
Summary
The authors sought to create a tool to help users develop multi-limb coordination. They also mentioned developing skills in recognizing, identifying, memorizing, retaining, analyzing, reproducing, and composing polyphonic rhythms. Their work builds on the theories of Dalcroze, a music educator, the entrainment theory of human rhythm perception and production, and research in embodied cognition, especially sensory motor contingency theory.
They created a Haptic Drum Kit, which contains a set of four vibrotactiles and elastic velcro bands, an Arduino electronic circuit board with a pouch belt, a midi drm kit, a computer running Max/Msp and software for audio and midi recording a playback, the Haptic Drum Kit program, and a stereo audio system for playback. They used a 12000 rpm (typo?) rotary-motor type vibrotactile device for the haptic signal.
Their user study consisted of 5 users, 4 novices and 1 experienced user. There was 20 reference rhythms from 4 broad categories
- metric rhythms, 8 and 16 beat
- figural rhythms, involving syncopation, based on the Cuban clave
- simple regular beats rendered figural by the way events are distributed across limbs, thus subtly varying tone color
- polyrhythms
Commentary
I think this would be a fun device to try. I am pretty sure that I would have trouble with this because my reflexes tend to be slow, but after a while, I can learn to coordinate myself better, which is the point of the device.
Simon Holland, Anders J. Bouwer, Mathew Dalgleish, and Topi M. Hurtig. Feeling the Beat Where it Counts: Fostering Multi-Limb Rhythm Skills with the Haptic Drum Kit. TEI 2010.
