Object
Note Float is an interactive musical experience that enables players to learn notes and play music collectively. The installation is based on pentatonic scale of 6 notes and 4 octaves that creates a melody when played simultaneously. Note Float was build and designed by Maayan Cohen and Cathy Chen as a final project for the Creation and Computation course at the Digital Futures Masters Program at OCAD.
Note Float was inspired by Andre Michelle’s Tone Matrix grid http://lab.andre-michelle.com/tonematrix. Our goal was to create a fun interactive and playful experience for children and break the boundaries of a traditional board-game grid.
Note Float includes a main board made of commercial felt and conductive fabric. Every 2 close pieces of fabric are connected via metal snaps to electric wires that are inserted to an Arduino Mega board. Every two wires create one particular note.
There are also colorful felt pieces in different shapes (rectangle, triangle and circle). At the back of every piece there conductive fabric attached via conductive thread to an LED light and a battery. The felt piece is filled with sponges for softness and stones to give it weight. As the pieces are placed on the main board, the electrical circuit is closed, the LED turns on and a particular note is heard. When a piece is lifted from the board, the light turns off and the note stops playing.
The interesting things about Note Float is the collective melody; the notes are played one after the other in a loop so for instance if the note ‘Do’ ‘Me’ are activated, the player will hear ’Do’ ‘Me”Do’ ‘Me”Do’ ‘Me’ until they lift the pieces off the board. As more notes are placed on the board, the nicer the melody becomes.
Click on the link to see a video of Note Float in action http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hppUBC-6Utc
Environment
Note Float is designed to be placed in an light elevated surface so the electronics can be hidden underneath it. It can be played in a gallery, a communal space, a kindergarten, at home and even in a children room (if electronics safely secured). It was originally designed to be placed on the floor as a soft carpet that children can sit on and can easily be modified to this setting. It can also be placed outdoors (but not on the ground) to keep it from taring.
The environment for Note Float should provide an open atmosphere for play where children and adult can fully enjoy an interaction. It is best if placed indoors in a relatively quiet place so the sound can be heard clear. It is most enjoyable if played with 3-10 people so there are more opportunities to create various sounds with a variety of players simultaneously.
Users
Note Float is designed especially for children; we chose to use soft material that feel nice to touch and light to move around, squeeze, throw, and even eat so children of all ages can play it safely. It can be used in all ages but our main target audience are kids between ages 3-7. We found that adults enjoy it as well and this can be a great interactive tool not only for children to play with each other but also for children to play with their parents.
Interaction Analysis
Note Float was placed in an open space environment in the OCAD studio at the 6th floor for 3 hours. Unfortunately we didn’t have an opportunity to bring children interact with it yet, but It was interesting to see how adults used it. There was no description on how to play it so users approached the board and started to move the pieces around. The majority of users lifted the pieces and placed them immediately across the two conductive lines on the main board. When one piece was placed most users took another piece and started filling up the board. The minority kept lifting one piece up and down thinking that moving it around changes the rhythm of the melody. Only when explained they realized that lifting the piece results in the sound stops (I believe that the reason for it was that many people played on the board and it was hard to hear which piece makes which sound).
Another interesting aspect was the observation factor. Since this is a multiplayer game, players observed each other and learn from each other how to move the pieces around the board. It was interesting to see the joy on people’s faces as the music became full with more and more notes. It was very fulfilling to see that players didn’t want to stop playing the game and only left when had to. It was interesting to observe the urge to keep playing the board and how hard it was to bring it back to the beginning point – where no notes is playing and all is silence. Whenever users collectively started to take notes off the board, there was one users who kept putting it all back. It seems that the players found it gratifying to hear an instant reaction based on the physical movement.
Another interesting aspect was that occasionally one or two people approached the board and played Note Float by themselves, as the sound spread through the room more users started to join them and slowly the table was surrounded with 5 or 6 players.
As a result of the interaction, we realized the power of collective play. It will be interesting to see how children react to a social piece such as this. We also found that the simplest actions can be extremely gratifying and how effective it is to use sound as a playful signal. Based on this experience I think that there is a great opportunity to extend the project and introduce various melodies, and more sounds. This can enrich the musical experience and keep engaging for a long period of time.
