Sparkling Instruments

The project Sparkling Instruments dealt with the playful design and technical development of digital music instruments. Three groups of secondary school students, among them one girls-only group, started with trying out existing instruments and music games. Then the students created playful possibilities to interact with music in a series of workshops with musicians, game designers and music technology experts, and implemente them technically in the form of digital music instruments.

A closing public event was organized by the participating school students, where these instruments were presented to the school community and the public. The aim was to bridge the gap between art and technology.

In this highly interdisciplinary context, to improve the understanding of new forms of music making was a goal just as increasing interest in STEM subjects such as computer science and physics, which are involved in the construction of digital musical instruments. A special focus was fostering the interest of girls in STEM subjects.

A conceivable scenario in the project was a group of school students who design and construct a digital flute. Playing the flute is detected by analysing the airflow with a simple temperature and humidity sensor. The locking of the flute’s holes can be tracked by a light sensor. The construction of this flute requires, on the one hand, to understand the basic principles of electronics, which allows students to design the necessary circuits, and, on the other hand, to learn the necessary practical and crafting skills such as soldering. The sounds of the flute are generated by a digital synthesizer. In working with this synthesizer, students deal with digital sound generation and the associated musical parameters. With their finished instrument, they then explore possibilities of musical interaction together with their classmates.