MusiCanvas

Integrating Art and Music Compositions

Spring 2016

MusiCanvas was a project designed and built in the Art of Making during the Spring 2016 edition. The class teaches practical engineering skills through hands-on learning, providing valuable, real-life experiences. I worked with a team of freshman engineering students to bring a fun and interactive project to life.

Project Details

Timeline: 6 weeks

Team Size: 6 freshmen engineering students

My Role: Creative Design Lead

Skills Practiced: prior art search, surveys, soldering, coding, learning new technologies, experimental design, interviews, poster design, video creation

Design Process

Initial ideation and problem statement

How might we combine the ease of use of art with the additional advantages of music to increase the accessibility and engagement of music/art therapy?

User and Expert Outreach

Surveyed 41 elementary students (6 to 10 years old) to gather data on digital versus analog solutions. We found that students prefer paper and crayons over iPads or other tablets.

We also spoke with teachers and therapists to get insight into how children use art and music in their mental and physical development.

Prior Art Search

Art/music apps and tactile technologies to read drawing input. Technologies explored include the Kinect movement tracking system, capacitive touch, and pressure arrays.

Technical Design

We chose to use a force sensitive material called Velostat to build an array of pressure sensors we then coded to play different chords and arpeggios.

User Testing

Partnering with the Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School, we had 91 first and fourth graders try MusiCanvas and give us valuable feedback to improve the design by adding volume control and more instrument options.

This project also spent 3 weeks in the Stress Free Zone and 15 weeks in the Center for Creativity being tested by college students.

MusiCanvas won Best Project Integrating Engineering and the Humanities at the Spring 2016 Design Expo, and the project is still functioning, being used as a demonstration for new Art of Making students.

MusiCanvas

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