Sorry I Haven't Been Posting, Let Me Recap...

This past week has gone by like a blur. I have not been posting as much as I should because I have been getting adjusted to living in a new place, adjusting to the new job, and I went home this weekend to pick up the last of the stuff for my new apartment. I plan to be posting much more regularly now that I feel adjusted to all of the new stuff.

This past week was a lot of work on the MMCB. The design has been re-engineered to make it more compatible with the technology and more cost effective, the programming has been created and is in the process of completion, and the process is starting to enter its final stages.

The design of the board has changed drastically. Instead of the 21 triggers, one for each inverted chord, the MMCB has been reconfigured to 9 triggers: one for each chord and two buttons that change the inversion. This simplifies the box as well as stays within the restrictions of the number of Arduino ports (I originally thought that there were 21 usable ports; in reality there are only 18 usable).

Here is the design:

Each of the triggers is a thumbtack. The "Play!" button is a penny that serves as a ground for the MaKey MaKey. The first and second inversions are accessed by holding down the inversion first, holding down the root second, and then pressing the "Play!" button. The device is built into the box that the MaKey MaKey comes in and the overlay is just paper held down by the tacks.

The Arduino wires have been stripped at one end to allow the internal copper wire to be looped around the thumbtacks. The tape holds them to the top of the box. The MaKey MaKey is held into the box by a rubber band that is looped through the ground holes and the box. The USB port is connected through a small hole in the box.

As you can see, the device is actually finished! We created multiple paper prototypes and when we came up with this design, we decided that this would be the real prototype. We assembled the box and also assembled the programming.

The group decided that recording all of the sounds live would be superior to using the pitches accessible through our software of choice, Scratch. We recorded the chromatic scale in over three octaves in order to get all of the pitches necessary for a database to create chords. We recorded voice, piano, electric and acoustic guitar, and marimba to ensure that students who are used to hearing a specific instrument can work better. From there, we grouped together all of the diatonic chords in the key of C major to be used in our programming.

After creating many skeletons of programming in Scratch, this is what the programming turned out to be:

One subset

The entire subset for one instrument

Now that this is all done, we can move on to developing a presentation about what the applications are, how it can be improved, and cost effectiveness (under $65!). Wish us luck!

Day 4: A "Meh" Day

Today's work receives a solid "meh" out of "excellent" today. I felt like I did OK work, but it seemed as though I was straining to put out my best today.

Let me explain. When I woke up this morning, I felt motivated and ready to go. I showered, got dressed, got my stuff together, and headed out. I was all ready to go and put in work...and then I got to work.

Savannah and I did a lot of conceptual work today with the other uses of the MMCB. We realized that what we are developing is a board that can be reprogrammed to do really anything. I am reminded of when a friend of mine back in high school made a "ghetto iPad" (although not a great term to use) out of an old keyboard in order to play tic-tac-toe. The whole thing was cost effective and reprogrammable, just like the MMCB. However, the MMCB is built out of an entirely new apparatus rather than using a legitimate keyboard. We decided that the triggers should not have permanent labels. If someone reprograms the board, there should not be permanent labels that could impede the ease of use with a new program.

After Savannah left, Matt and I recorded the remainder of the piano and vocal samples for the triggers. The Fischer Recital Hall was so perfect for recording. The acoustics were excellent and recording took less time than anticipated. I was a little discouraged with my performance. My voice was giving me problems and my solfege was coming out like garbage. It took too many tries for me to get a take that both Matt and I thought was good. Matt and I messed around with the samples in his Logic software for a bit, and then resolved to go home and do some work.

As for the Scratch workshop...Today the assignment was to create an About Me page in Scratch that used most of the functions. The About Me project gave me a good refresher on Scratch. I had only played around with it once ever, and this little project helped me learn both new concepts and cement old concepts in my mind. It was kind of fun to be able to put a little project about myself up; it was fun and relatively easy to design, but not so easy that it was boring. The creative aspect of the project was definitely good for an introductory project, but only would work if the entire group being addressed had at least minimal Scratch experience. I feel as though my skills are probably not on par with the skills of a lot of other people in the course, but that may be one other purpose of the project: to analyze the average level of skill that the group is at.

The workshop still is giving me a weird vibe. I am not sure if I really like this style of learning as much as I thought I would. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Day 3: The Gameplan and The Vibe I'm Getting

The Good News: Savannah and Matt both love my idea and want to run with it for the MaKey MaKey contest!

The Great News: The deadline has been pushed back so we have a full additional two weeks to iron it out and get a presentation together!

The Best News: The three of us have absolutely improved on almost every aspect of the MaKey MaKey Chord Board (from now on it will be known on this blog as the MMCB) and have a plan for how we will build this system.

So, here is the plan.

Over the next ten workdays, Savannah, Matt, and I will be putting together the components (digital and physical) for the first prototype of the MMCB. We have estimated product cost to be approximately $75  to $100 depending on how we go about it (which would make it very affordable in schools.

Step One: Record live instruments. While the three of us were discussing the idea, the point was brought up that just Scratch sound may be harder for kids to connect with. For example, as a vocal student, I am actually better at hearing chordal differences in vocal harmonies. So, we will take three instruments minimum (guitar, piano, and voice) and record each of the tracks to be inputed into Scratch rather than having to assemble the programming all in Scratch. Today, we recorded piano. We played a chromatic scale up three octaves. From those pitches, Matt (our resident SRT genius) is going to assemble each of the tracks. Tomorrow, we will record my voice and Matt's guitar in the same fashion.

Step Two: Assembly of Scratch programming and organizing it into a file-sharing center. One of the additional improvements that the group came up with today was the idea of crowdsourcing the project. Although our group is the creator of the first MMCB, if we win the contest, we can put the basic blueprints to make one online. That way people can build them and even improve on them on their own time without having to buy a crazy product all at once. In addition to the blueprints, we will create a database for scales that can be used by anyone. If we win the money from the contest, we could potentially continue to record more and more scales in more and more keys. For our demo, we will most likely only use chords from major keys, but in the future, the database could expand to as many scales as requested by the users.

Step Three: Build the actual board. The board has undergone some design changes while we were discussing it. It will look a little something like this:

The board will be a box with the parts based on the inside. The MaKey MaKey itself will be affixed to the bottom of the box using screws (which will connect the ground to the wooden box). This gives the device portability and gives easier access to reprogramming.

Step Four: Create a presentation for the contest. Hopefully we will be able to show this to some high school students and get their opinions on it while having them test it for us. We will probably end up making a web page or something along those lines to help show our progress.

I am stoked!

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Today, I also started interacting with the online workshop that Dr. Ruthmann asked me to participate in. For the most part, the first day included creating a profile and introducing myself on a forum. The general vibe that I am getting from this course is that it will not have enough structure or incentive for me to feel fully invested in, but I feel that it will help me to learn about Scratch much more. The program says flat out, "Participate as much or as little as you want." In my opinion, that language is not conducive to the program. Saying you can do as much as you want takes stress off of a busy participant, but saying you can do as little as you want can possibly discourage those who thought the course would have clearly defined goals or structure. I honestly am worried that I will have to end up forcing myself to participate more than I will want to.

However, the community aspect of the workshop seems really cool. People from all over with all sorts of different backgrounds were introducing themselves on the forum, and I really enjoyed looking over some of the really interesting profiles. I like the idea of knowing who you are working alongside, even if you are not necessarily addressing them directly.

I hope that this program will turn out better than I am anticipating. With any luck, I will be able to find my own motivation to do the assignments, regardless of the odd statement that almost discourages my participation.

And now, bedtime.

Day 2: I Got To Thinking

When Dr. Ruthmann posed a question to the SMERG students, it got me thinking: How can we use MaKey MaKey technology to lead a creative activity? In my Introduction to Music Education class  last semester,  I was first introduced to MaKey Makey technology and was immediately fascinated by it. The demonstrator (one of the creators of the tech) came in and showed us many examples of how the computer keyboard substitute has been used to create music that ranges from exceedingly simple to complex and riveting. As a future educator, I started immediately thinking of all sorts of outlandish things that kids could do with this sort of setup. However, when thinking about how I could use this tool to educate kids, I had to stop and think.

After a full day of mulling over ideas, I think I have one that could work. So here is the pitch: What is one part of music that a lot of talented high school and collegiate musicians have trouble with? Although some would argue intonation and motivation to practice, I would say that most student musicians have trouble with music theory. Some musicians never even take a theory class during their high school years and when they enter college are immediately at a disadvantage compared to students who did have that opportunity (myself being one of those students). I am lucky; I usually am able to grasp on to music theory concepts and learn them quickly, but it is not always that easy. With that in mind, back to Dr. Ruthmann's question: How can we use MaKey Makey technology to lead a creative activity that can help reinforce concepts in collegiate music theory?

Chord analysis is a key concept in music theory, and is often one of the hardest. I know that when I was first working on chord analysis, I was baffled for a few days before figuring out all the ins and outs. Some of my classmates had even more trouble than I did. Most of the problem for me was my inability to hear and see the difference between the subtleties of inversions. I would have trouble hearing differences between chords such as the subtonic in root position (ex. in key of C major: B, D, F) versus the supertonic in second inversion (ex. in key of C major A, D, F). When interval training and keyboarding are still such relatively new concepts for some students, it is essential for these students to be able to hear the difference between two chords that appear so similar. So the final question is this: How can we use MaKey MaKey technology to lead an activity that will act as a tool for high school and/or collegiate students to help distinguish the differences between seemingly similar chords?

The solution: The MaKey MaKey Chord Board

Fig. A - MaKey MaKey Chord Board 1.0 concept drawing
Disclaimer: Not drawn to scale
Disclaimer: I cannot do art

The idea behind the Chord Board (Fig. A) is similar to the idea behind a digital controller or sampler. Each of the triggers on the board is made of conductive material that completes the circuit on a MaKey MaKey trigger that will cue up a particular chord in a specific inversion. The conductive, flexible discs are mounted to (but do not touch) the board (also conductive and connected to the "ground" alligator clip) so that when any disc is pushed down and touches the board, the circuit of the MaKey MaKey is completed and sends the signal to the computer. The board would be intended to remain fully assembled and used either inside the classroom by students using headphones or by a teacher projecting the image of the board up for students to see what buttons they are pressing. 

Step one of using this system would be to cue up Scratch with a script for a scale. Scale scripts would probably begin with major and minor, but could later be expanded to included to include modal scales, stylistic scales, or even custom made scales. Let's load up the chords for a C major scale (Fig. B):

Fig. B - Scratch Script for C Major Scale (Prototype): Root Position
Disclaimer: Scale scripts are unfinished, screenshots taken from a demo created on 6/1/13

Above is a prototype of a script for the C major scales. The top row of triggers on the Chord Board labelled numerically correspond with the seven scale degrees in the Western system. For example, if the user presses the trigger labelled "1," the MaKey MaKey will send the command for Scratch to play the tonic chord of the scale in root position (ex. in the key of C major, the "1" trigger would play C, E, G and then all three together). If the user presses the trigger labelled "2," the MaKey MaKey will send a signal for Scratch to play the supertonic chord of the preloaded scale in root position (ex. in the key of C major, the "2" trigger would play D, F, A and then all three together).

Fig. C - Scratch Script for C Major Scale (Prototype): 1st Inversion
Disclaimer: Scale scripts are unfinished, screenshots taken from a demo created on 6/1/13

The second row of triggers have similar function to the first row (potential script in Fig. C). However, they trigger the chord defined at the top of the column in its first inversion. For example, the trigger labelled "1st" in the column topped by the trigger labelled "1" would send a signal to play the tonic chord of the preloaded scale in the first inversion (ex. in the key of C major, the trigger labelled "1st" in column "1" would play E, G, C and then all three together). The third row of triggers works the same way, except that they send signals that play the second inversion chords corresponding to the scale degrees at the top of the rows (potential scripts shown in Fig. D). For example, the trigger labelled "2nd" in column "1" would play the tonic of the preloaded scale in second inversion (ex. in the key of C major, the trigger "2nd" in column "1" would play G, C, E and then all three together).

Fig. D - Scratch Script for C Major Scale (Prototype): 2nd Inversion
Disclaimer: Scale scripts are unfinished, screenshots taken from a demo created on 6/1/13

As far as applications of the Chord Board go, the possibilities are endless. When I initially came up with the idea of the Chord Board, it looked something more like Fig. E (below).

Fig. E - Chord Board 0.5 Original concept drawing
Disclaimer: Not drawn to scale
Disclaimer: I cannot do art
Disclaimer: Even my stick figures look dumb

The initial Chord Board concept was intended to be used as a tool to help theory and aural skills teachers. The ideal setting would be in a room with all students seated at pianos. The teacher would load up any scale they wanted on Scratch. The numbers (made of a flexible, conductive material) would be mounted on with non-conductive material (but not touching) the board (also conductive and attached to the "ground" clip) so that when the user presses the number down, the circuit would be completed and the signal would be sent. Sound familiar? The device would be connected to speakers so that the students could hear it all together; the idea is to help students hear and sing the differences (auditory and kinesthetic learning), create visual connections (visual learning), and link together all of those skills through keyboarding (more kinesthetic learning). The new Chord Board works more along the lines of reinforcing concepts rather than introducing them, but still maintains the multi-pronged learning strategy idea. 

In addition to being used as a learning tool, the Chord Board is also intended to be used as a performance tool. For example, after students are comfortable identifying chords on their own, the teacher can assign songs (in specific modes) to the class to be analyzed in terms of scale degrees. The students would be assigned to analyze the chords in terms of scale degrees and play the progression of the songs on the Chord Board and sing along with any starting pitch. This kind of project would help students understand transposition; this activity could be used as a transitional lesson between learning the concept of transposition and actually applying the skill to keyboarding.

The system would cost a decent amount of money to create, but not so much that it would be outside the means of a collegiate or high school budget. I have not researched extensively how much the material would cost, but it can most likely be created with materials found at a hardware store.

This is all conceptual type stuff, so if it does not work out, whatever. I thought it was a nifty idea that could be used in music classrooms at many levels. Tomorrow I meet with Savannah and Matt to start working on MaKey MaKey stuff; maybe we will be able to flesh out this idea.

Day 1: I Tried To Draw All Day...And Also Scratch

Disclaimer: This post was supposed to be up on June 1, but this happened.

Long story short, the program I used to create the illustrations on the next post took a long time to work with, and I worked on the Scratch scripts that you will see in the next post. But it's bedtime now, so I will retire for now with the post almost done.

Expect a huge, full-fledged post tomorrow; no more teeny posts for me.

Hi all! The purpose of this blog is to chronicle and elaborate on my experiences with the UMass Lowell Music Education program and my research throughout the summer!