A Musical Composition Toy Modeled for Children
Contents
1. Cooperstock for his enthusiasm and expert knowledge in Human Computer Interaction We thank the teams and evaluators who provided the indispensable empirical response to our prototypes throughout the evolution of our project Please note that details of the Design and Development of MusicBlox and the complete User Manual can be found at http www cim mcgill ca jer courses hci assignme nts 2002 www ece mcgill ca 257Engaumo hci not ebook REFERENCES 1 Gould John D et al The 1984 Olympic Message System A Test of Behavioral Principles of System Design Communications of the ACM Volume 30 Number 9 September 1987 2 Nielsen Jakob Ten Usability Heuristics http www useit com papers heuristic heuristic_list html 1994 3 Norman Donald A The Psychopathology of Everyday Things The Psychology of Everyday Things Basic Books 1988 pp 1 292. The Design and Development of MusicBlox A Musical Composition Toy Modeled for Children McGill University Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept Ahmad Zeid Al Hammami U4 Computer Engineering zeido sympatico ca Mayank Mehta U2 Electrical Engineering mayank mehta mail mcgill ca ABSTRACT In this paper we describe the design and development of MusicBlox an interactive music creation toy The toy is made for children ages 5 and up It is designed to allow children to be creative through fun and experimentation without requiring any instrumental aptitude Using two main components MusicBlox maps musical staff composition to building blocks KEY WORDS Affordance 3 conceptual model 3 design implementation Human Computer Interaction iterative design 1 interactive systems mapping 3 music MusicBlox toy user driven changes INTRODUCTION A team of members from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of McGill University created MusicBlox Using MusicBlox children can explore the process of music composition in a novel way by physically attaching noteBlox together to create a musical line and then having the toy playback their melody Then the child can revise his her composition learning the notes in relation to one another and harmonies between notes with each composition MusicBlox s expandable design offers unlimited possibilities in musical creation The only requirements from t
3. a Select a musical ir etrument from the main Blox by moving the toggle to the chosen instrument Agave 2 3 b Press the play button onthe main Blox to start playing the musical compostion Agure 2 4 Identify which note is playing using the note lights Change motes to create a new compostion Agure 3 Here rote Blox C is It Figure 7 Instructions page from User manual In our final prototype we had to implement a termination block that has no note value but must be connected to the end of the chain of noteBlox in order for the system to play Ideally a termination block would not be necessary in this toy so it has not been included in the user manual Our Final Prototype has internalized LED s that light up when the note plays allowing the user to identify which note is playing Drawings of instruments for the instrument select button have been drawn clearly on the mainBlox Figure 5 so the user can easily determine the state of instrument selected The play stop button is a toggle switch again so that information on system state can be clearly determined The noteBlox are made of wood providing solid blocks with affordances as connection points Figure 6 NoteBlox are brightly colored making the toy visually appealing and making note tones easy to distinguish from one another Figure 4 We wish the user entertainment and musical learning with our project ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank Professor
4. dable about the system and what isn 1 Time spent looking at the Usage illustration Diagrams before assembling playing first song 2 Number of Good comments Things user liked 3 Number of Bad Comments Things user did not like 4 Number of Questions posed by user How many things are not intuitive 5 Number of times user expresses frustration II Cognitive Walkthrough Steps to use MusicBlox are 1 Linking in series of the noteBlox 2 Linking of the mainBlox to one end of chain of noteBlox 3 Selection of a musical instrument from the mainBlox 4 Use of the mainBlox to start playing the musical composition 5 Identification and correction of a wrong note using the note lights The following identifies how the interface supports these steps The noteBlox have a note on them and each musical note is represented by a separate color so the user will understand that they are linked together to form a musical composition of notes The noteBlox are linked using the side connections clearly visible as connection points on the side of the noteBlox The mainBlox has functions on it so it can be identified as the mainBlox and linked via side connections to the chain of noteBlox The user selects an instrument from the instrument selection toggle button The mainBlox has a button marked play music which initiates play of the musical composition There is a stop button to stop music play When the musical com
5. ed to select an instrument before pressing play However the sequence of these steps is stated in the user manual The user suggested the addition of a pause button as a useful improvement which will not be implemented to maintain simplicity Testing learnability of the system The second use of MusicBlox The user assembled the second song in 1 minute and played it in 30 seconds The user modified and played the second song in minute The user spent 5 minutes looking at the Steps to Use Diagrams before assembling playing first song The user loved the idea the different colors for the different notes the availability of different instruments how easy it is to pick an instrument and the use of stop and play which became natural to use by the second use The user expressed frustration 4 times based on the results described in the next section Evolution of the Interface Motivation Having baseBlox makes the system complicated adding an extra step before music composition Change BaseBlox are removed from the system allowing noteBlox to be directly connected Motivation Stacking noteBlox to form chords and having different note values increases the technical difficulty significantly Change To make implementation feasible only one note values will be represented and the melody will consist of a single note string Motivation The user did not like that there is no initial instrument selected Change A solution
6. hanges are described in this paper STAGE 1 INITIAL DESIGN Our project went through many phases Perhaps the most important stage was the one of envisioning what the user would gain from our product Market research of similar products found a toy consisting of 5 blocks and a base with five slots to place these blocks Each block played various melodies so the child could create millions of tunes However this is not a clear conceptual model of musical composition In MusicBlox each block represents a separate musical note This provides a direct mapping between the concept of composition using notes to melody line creation using physical blocks The fundamental elements in music composition are notes Notes map to noteBlox the fundamental building element in MusicBlox The initial design of MusicBlox consisted of 3 main block components baseBlox noteBlox and the mainBlox BaseBlox are linked together to form a chain representing the concept of a musical staff Each baseBlox can have up to three noteBlox stacked on a baseBlox to form a chord An empty baseBlox represents a musical silence NoteBlox are blocks of different color and size that represent different notes Eight colors of blocks symbolize the eight notes that form a musical scale Three available sizes of the noteBlox corresponded to three different note values a quarter note a half note and a whole note Also each noteBlox has a note name on it and pict
7. he user are memorization and association of notes to colors basic motor and listening skills and basic comprehension of picture labels on function buttons Creative capability and musical motivation are anticipated Nicolas Gaumond U3 Electrical Engineering ngaumo po box mcgill ca Anika Talapatra U3 Electrical Engineering anikatalapatra yahoo com As the child progresses a greater number of blocks can be used to form more complicated melodies Also two or more chains of blocks set to different instruments could be played simultaneously to form an orchestra The suggested term project theme was that of an interactive toy or game It was also a part of the criteria that a conventional keyboard or graphics display screen not be used as the Human Computer Interaction interface The inspiration of MusicBlox appealed to all members of the group as an innovative idea that would be fun to design and implement and it met the afore mentioned conditions The project evolution came about through iterative design 1 During each stage of the project the team discussed and tested the current model with potential users and then redesigned the toy based on empirical results Iterative design allowed us to focus on users and tasks and on making user driven changes to the current model This paper discusses the various stages our project went through before its final implementation The evolution of the design and various user driven c
8. lution of the Interface Motivation Users found that the toggle switch was hard to use Change We will leave more space around the toggle switch and include simple large drawings of the instruments so that a child will be able to clearly select an instrument and identify which one is selected Motivation Users found that the user manual needed diagrams and more details Change The user manual has many more diagrams and details on MusicBlox s use Motivation Users suggested that the blocks should have internal differently colored LED s This would prevent a child from breaking an external LED Change LED s were internalized and made a different color for each note Motivation The foam board material used as casing is not strong enough to hold the side connectors Change Wood will be used as casing material STAGE 4 FINAL PROTOTYPE Figure 4 Final Prototype x b Tan GUITAR De i Figure 5 MainBlox of the Final Prototype Figure 6 Side Connections of NoteBlox Steps to Use MusicBlox 1 Link several of the note Blox together in series using the side connectors and receptacles Agure 7 2 nk the man Bloxto the chain of note Blox by inserting the side connector of the main Blox into the side receptacle ofthe note Box The end ofthe note Blox chain withthe side connector should be free Agave 2 siras igure 2 Insmumenc selection toggle bumon Playiscop buron 3
9. musical string with one mainBlox to control play and instrument selection functions The connection points on the noteBlox and mainBlox are large and easy to connect one block to another e Help users recognize diagnose and recover from errors Each noteBlox lights up as it plays If a noteBlox is not lighting up the user can remove this block form the system and replace it with another noteBlox These results of these three tests would be used to redesign the current model to satisfy our overall evaluation criteria STAGE 2 PAPER PROTOTYPE AND SOFTWARE PROTOTYPE Description Our paper prototype and software prototypes are best described with pictures Figure 2 Software Prototype Summary of User Evaluation The results from users carrying out our evaluation plan were Positive feedback we received was that the system 1s very easy and fun to use and the system was very easy to learn The user found the design aesthetically sound The noteBlox could be connected quickly and intuitively using the instructions The user was able for the most part to focus on the actual goal musical piece creation Notes were easily identified and changed at will First use of MusicBlox The user assembled the first song in minute after reading on line instructions The user played a first song within 30 seconds It took the user 1 minute to modify and play the first song A few errors were made when the user did not realize the ne
10. ore than four instruction diagrams that are easy to follow and task oriented e No more than five seconds to add each noteBlox so that user can focus on the goal the musical piece e Easy identification of wrong notes and easy change of notes within a string of noteBlox e The user should be able to naturally memorize the different tones of the noteBlox by the different colors of the noteBlox for each tonality STAGE 2 EVALUATION PLAN In order to test our initial design and have empirical feedback from potential users we created an evaluation plan to be used at each stage of the design Results from the evaluation would lead to redesign of the toy incorporating user driven changes Our plan consisted of three parts I Evaluation Plan using Quantitative Measurement Quantitative evaluation criteria to be measured 1 Time to correct use 2 Number of mistakes before correct move is made These measurements indicate how intuitive the system is 1 Time to assemble first song 2 Time to play first song 3 Time to modify and play first song 4 Number of errors in assembling playing These measurements indicate the learnability of the system how easy it is to use once one learned how to use it 1 Time to assemble 2nd song 2 Time to play Second song 3 Time to modify and play 2nd Song 4 Number of errors assembling playing the song The following questions give the design team an idea of what is easily understan
11. position plays each note lights as is plays The user should thus be able to identify which note sounds out of tune Minimal questions asked maximum interest in the toy and maximum positive responses from the user indicate that our initial evaluation criteria are satisfied III Heuristic Evaluation The Heuristic Criteria 2 used by our team were e Visibility of system status MusicBlox informs the user about what is going on in the system The user is informed about the state of the system either play or stop through the position of the play or stop button The user knows which instrument is selected through the position of the instrument toggle button The user can identify which note is being played and thus identify any notes he she wishes to replace through the lighting of each noteBlox during the play stage e User control and freedom The user can stop the system by pressing the stop button The user can undo or modify a musical composition by removing all or some of the noteBlox from the string The user can change state of instrument selected easily during or before play by pressing on the instrument of choice on the instrument toggle button e Error prevention The usage diagram that outlines the steps to use MusicBlox minimizes errors of operation e Aesthetic and minimalist design MusicBlox can by used with little no learning time as it is a simple system of noteBlox that are linked together to form a
12. ure of the note on a musical staff so the user can learn the positioning and names of notes as he she plays Each noteBlox has a LED As the notes are played the noteBlox light up so the child can identify which are out of tune The mainBlox is the central unit where the chain of noteBlox is read The melody can be played out using one of three different instrument sounds selected from the mainBlox The instruments guitar flute and piano where chosen to represent the string wind and percussion classes of musical instruments respectively The user then uses the play stop and volume button to play his her composition Ideally features of the toy would include storage of a melody to playback later and continuous looping MainBlox can be disconnected and taken elsewhere without dragging blocks along so user can go show someone what he she created without hassle The blocks are connected using side connectors and side receptacles Each block facing the user with the note name upright has a side receptacle on its right hand face and has a side connector on its left hand face The side connectors receptacles are protrusions from the flat surface of the blocks providing an affordance 3 that they are used for connection of the blocks to one another Evaluation Criteria Our overall evaluation criteria were followed throughout the design and implementation of MusicBlox The criteria are e Intuitive connection of noteBlox e No m
13. would be to create a default instrument when MusicBlox is initially turned on Also so that the user is clear on the state of the system the instrument selected will be indicated by the position of the toggle button Motivation The user found that the system does not indicate when it is in play or stop mode Change The play stop will be combined into a single rocker button The play position and stop position can be easily identified using a rocker button such that the rocker is depressed either towards the PLAY or the STOP level for the entire duration of the play or stop modes respectively This satisfies the visibility of system status STAGE 3 FIRST PROTOYPE Description Drawing of our first prototype including the mainBlox and one noteBlox Figure 3 First Prototype Summary of User Evaluation The evaluating team found the overall experience pleasant They enjoyed the clear visibility of the user interface and the proper labeling of the buttons Strengths of the Interface The evaluation of our first prototype indicated that The name of the device is a very good hint at the functionality to be expected Physical affordances are quite clear overall The purpose and feedback of the STOP PLAY button are very clear The musical lines starting from the mainBlox and at the top of each noteBlox give a good mapping of how to connect the blocks together The labels use language that is familiar to the user Evo
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