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Brilliant Noteput Table Teaches Music by Touch and Sight

by Matthew Zuras on February 19, 2010 at 07:24 AM


To get nostalgic for a second, this humble writer, at one point, had great difficulty in learning musical notation. One reason that many parents begin to teach their children to play piano and other instruments at such a young age is the fact that young brains can more readily absorb complex languages, like music. Your writer did not begin to read music until early high school, and, surrounded by musical prodigies in marching band, was left somewhat in the dust when it came time to play. Had the Noteput table been available then, this tech journalist may have been better off.

Developed by Jürgen Graef and Jonas Friedemann Heuer, Noteput is an interactive table display that utilizes sight, touch, and sound to teach musical notation. To begin, the user simply places the treble clef on the virtual staff. A set of wooden notes, weighted with lead balls, immediately interact with the table as they are placed upon it, sounding out the pitches that correspond to their location on the staff. Users can then play a series of notes, or play notes in a loop to see how the music changes as the notes are moved across the table. See the video demo of Noteput after the break.

The designers employed the visual programming language vvvv and fiducial markers to build the interface. On his site, Friedemann Heuer explains, "Each object has a unique marker at its bottom, which is tracked with a camera placed inside the table. The software recognizes the marker and is therefore able to define which note with what note value is at what position on the staves. With this data a vvvv-patch computes the respective note sequence and sends it via MIDI to a sound software, which then can play these signals for different instruments."

Of course, a longer set of staves might be more useful for playing longer pieces, but, then again, Graef and Friedemann Heuer's table is designed to help beginners understand the concept of visual placement. A computer program could presumably accomplish the same task, but the physical interaction of placing notes on the table makes for a more memorable learning experience. It certainly would've helped your pathetic writer from being relegated to the tambourine and gong. [From: Fubiz, via: NOTCOT]

Tags: education, interactive, interactive table, InteractiveTable, joan friedemann heuer, JoanFriedemannHeuer, jrgen graef, JrgenGraef, music, musical notation, MusicalNotation, noteput, top

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