“Music is such a communal activity… but we tend to leave it in the hands of the expert.” —Linsey Pollak.

In this studio, we will develop interactive communal objects through the topic of music. Students will begin by exploring the different ways in which we can interact with music and how we as a class can create it within our own classroom community. Music will be considered a type of playful communication, and students will physically investigate sound-making techniques and materials as a scientific art.  Through the creation of unique musical instruments of their own design, students will discover what makes material into sound and sound into music.  Further they will address how to best share this joyful experience with the world through installing their work here at the school.

How do we make music, not just noise? How does a sound producing object invite the user to interact with it? How does a new user learn to make sounds or play music using this instrument?  What makes this activity communal?  Students will explore these questions through exercises in brainstorming, sketching, and prototyping. Ultimately we will use these skills and prototypes to develop new musical objects for our community at the classroom scale and the school scale.

IMG_4785.MOV

Click the above link to see our prototype in action!

Our Prompt: For this quarter-long idea session, we were tasked with the challenge of creating a musical installation somewhere along the walkway to the school entrance. This installation would have to entice students, teachers, and passersby alike to take the long trek down the walkway and would be able to be played either solo, or as a group effort. 

Our Project: After considering the prompt, we decided to address it by creating a xylophone fixed to the ceiling of the walkway, with a unique activation system. We debated attaching the xylophone to a wall, but we realized it would be best to keep it out of reach of people with bad intentions. The activation system is a collection of levers and hammers. The hammers hover below the chimes, and when a lever is pulled down, it tugs on a cable which is attached to the hammer above. The cable is fixed to the hammer on the opposite side of the fulcrum, meaning when the lever is pulled the hammer swings upwards, hitting the note. We have had several iterations of this. The first was the idea of a pulley system that dragged a hammer up a track. We were fairly satisfied with this idea, but we soon realized there was a way we could do the same thing in a simpler fashion (our current system).

Precedents: Our activation system closely resembles the Cornell Chimes. We took inspiration from the brilliantly simple way these chimes work and modified the system to meet our needs. 

Challenges/lessons learned: One thing we didn't account for was the lengths of the levers in relation to the lengths of the chimes. We needed the levers to hit the pipe in the exact middle, which we originally thought meant we would have to create a different length lever for each pipe. Eventually we realized we could stagger the pipes, lining up all of the centerpoints, eliminating this problem. Another overall lesson I learned was that prototyping and iterations are key. We were certain we had our final idea when we came up with the idea of a pulley system, but there is almost always a better way (for us it was the lever system). Also, when we had all of our final pieces in rhino, we decided it would be a good idea to cut just one lever/hammer combo first to see if it worked. We were lucky we did this because we discovered some problems we had to fix.

Next Steps/Iterations: Although we have worked long and hard at this project for the past quarter, we are far from done. Our activation system is complete, but we still need to figure out how to fix the chimes/notes to the ceiling. In addition, the final project would ideally be placed where it was originally meant to go (the walkway). I personally would also like to eventually change some small things like the shape of the levers (a more comfortable, aesthetically pleasing version would be nice), and add caps over the boxes holding the levers so you can only see the lever (this would give it a cleaner, simpler look). 

Precedents

What is a Precedent?

A precedent is a project done in the real world that can be used to help explain some of the ideas that will be covered in the studio or project. Students should locate and critically evaluate precedents and demonstrate how the content of the relate to their projects. 

Precedents generally fall into a number of categories - conceptual, aspirational, and comparable. 

• Conceptual precedents explore ideas related to the  studio through critical analysis  of a wide range of largely art-based projects. 
• Aspirational precedents look at cutting-edge or futurist implementation of technology as related to the studio topic. 
• Comparable precedents look at nascent or current projects, often in the marketplace, that relate to the theme of the studio at a design and technological level that students can reasonably achieve within the course of the Studio. 

Through a critical analysis and melding of these categories, students can develop ideas for creative and technical innovations based on an expansive understanding of the theme.

What Makes a Good Precedent?

• Meaningful
  • Provides a rich social, historical or cultural context
  • Highlight examples of current relevant projects
• Inspiring & Exciting
  • Shows a novel approach
  • Shows a novel design solution
  • Exposes students to concepts, projects, and research that they are unaware of.
  • Helps generate conversation about the studio topic early in the research and brainstorming process.
• Focused
  • Shows a novel technical, functional, or mechanical application
  • Shows a conceptual application
• Guiding
  • Shows students options, avenues, and principles at any point during the design process.  Precedents are useful throughout the studio, not just at the beginning.

Posting Precedents

A precedent can be a video or a series of images. Image posts should have a Title and Caption on every slide.

Every Precedent should include the following in the body of the post:

• The name of the project/device/object/installation/book etc and the name of the creator.
• A source link to the original content.
• A reason why the precedent is  it is applicable to the project.
• Analysis (if appropriate) of the precedent. This can be technical or conceptual. 

Examples

Please see examples below.

Untitled
Anish Kapoor (British (born India) 1954)
Date: 2007
Medium: Stainless steel
Dimensions: 89 3/4 x 89 1/4 x 16 1/2 in. (228 x 226.7 x 41.9 cm)

Created for public interaction and engagement with the surrounding space, this sculpture draws the viewer in with its refined surface and startling optical effects of depth and dimension. From a body of Kapoor's work of mirrorlike pieces that reflect or distort the viewer and the surroundings and suggest the notion of continuous space, it offers a dazzling experience of light and a startling optical effect. Deeply rooted metaphysical polarities are at play in Kapoor's work: presence and absence, being and nonbeing, solidity and intangibility, and he draws on both Western and Eastern cultures for inspiration. His intention to engage the viewer and provoke a physical and visceral response is achieved in this reflective sculpture with its faceted facade that fuses the work, the viewer, and the environment into one pixelated, constantly fluctuating mosaic.

The distance and angle that one stands from the mirror's surface affects how the image of the viewer is reflected. This is a very interesting work of art in that it brings the curiosity out in the viewer and creates a dance-like interaction with the sculpture, as one's tendency is to move around in front of the piece to see how that changes one's perception of it. The viewer can actually "create" their own visual experience based on how they stand and move in front of the mirrors.

https://artsology.com/mirror-art.php

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/495458

Monkey bars, a slide, maybe a merry-go-round.  We will always love these trusty staleworts of the park, but now, more than ever, the scope and complexity of new kinds of structures is challenging the way we think about play. Designers and innovators are creating structures that go far beyond swings, encouraging users of different ages and abilities to customize their play experiences through experimentation and exploration. For many people, the fun lies in finding your physical limits; but what if once you reached those limits, the play structure adapted to a greater degree of difficulty? Research groups, such as Human Computer Interaction Engineering at MIT, are exploring how objects designed for play can adapt to help with skill building.  Questions like “how high can you go?” or “how long can you hang on?” turn into “can you go higher?” or “can you hang on longer?”

In this studio, students will look beyond the typical playground to design structures that can engage the full spectrum of possible users and integrate the thrill of adventure into the everyday.  In collaboration with students at Karam House in Reyhanli, Turkey, we will prototype play objects that can be installed within an existing timber-framed playground structure.  Student teams will be in direct contact with corresponding teams at Karam House throughout the entire design process through weekly virtual meetings.  In the first phase of the studio, students will create scale models of their prototypes; after midterm, teams will consolidate, and a select number of designs from both Karam and Woodstock will be built in full scale at each location.

http://minekafon.org/

The Mine Kafon ball is a large wind-powered device, heavy enough to detonate landmines as it rolls across the ground. Massoud Hassani drew inspiration for the project from his childhood growing up on the outskirts of Kabul, where he would play around the minefields with homemade, wind-powered toys.