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.