Supporting Children's Rhythm Learning Using Vibration Devices
Sosuke Miura
Masanori Sugimoto
Interaction Technology Laboratory, Department of Frontier Informatics
University of Tokyo{miura, sugi}@itl.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Introduction
Rhythms play a critical role in music, and understanding them is a fundamental issue in music learning.
It has been proved that many children who are not good at musical performances do not adequately
understand or recognize the rhythm patterns of musical pieces. However, to understand and learnrhythms by listening to the melody is not always easy for some children. Therefore, music teachers inelementary schools often pat each of their children on the shoulder in sync with the music, in order tomake her understood her rhythm patterns more intuitively by "feeling through the shoulder" than byvibration
listening to the melody.
device N
The proposed system called T-RHYTHM supports children's rhythm
speakerlearning based on this teaching method: rhythm learning by providing
rhythmchildren with tactile stimuli using vibration devices. When a group of personalof part N
computerchildren plays musical instruments or sings a song in an ensemble
rhythmsituation, T-RHYTHM transmits the rhythms of the individual children'stransmitter of part 2
rhythmpart to their own device through wireless communications. Each child canof part 1
easily recognize the rhythm of her part without being confused by theothers' performances or singing voices.
vibration

Overview of T-RHYTHM

device 2
vibration device 1
Figure 1. System configuration

musicalinstrument

As shown in Figure 1, T-RHYTHM is composed of a MIDI instrument, apersonal computer (PC), a transmitter device, and vibration devices. The
wireless
communication
software executed on the PC receives MIDI data from the musicreceiverperformed by an accompanist (e.g. a music teacher), and identifies which
location and what note in the score are performed by using the Dynamic
Programing-based pattern matching algorithm. T-RHYTHM then sends
the rhythm information of all the parts of the musical piece to the vibration vibration motor
devices through the transmitter. The rhythm information is composed ofPIC micro computer
pairs of a rhythm description (a timing, strength, and length of each note)and an identification number for a vibration device. Each device checks if
Figure 2. Vibration device
the received information is the rhythm information of its own part.
The vibration device as shown in Figure 2 is composed of a receiver, a microcomputer and a vibration
motor (5,000 rpm, 1G vibration quantity). The device is enclosed in a small bag: Children can put the bagaround their neck and place the vibration motor wherever they like, such as, on their wrist, arm, orshoulder (Figure 3).

Current Status and Future Works
Individual children
put a bag aroundtheir neck

The vibration motor ofT-RHYTHM is attached to her wrist

The evaluations of T-RHYTHM have been conducted in an elementary school,
Kashiwa city, Chiba prefecture, Japan. Fifth graders are asked play the etude
composed of six parts in an ensemble setting. By listening to the melody of theetude from a speaker, individual children performed one of the following musicalinstruments in an ensemble setting: a cymbal, a big dram, a snare drum, atambourine, xylophones, and organs.
Post-experimental interviews, questionnaires, and video analyses have provedthat the children and their teacher's responses are overall positive. Our future
work will be to conduct more intensive evaluation studies to deeply investigate
the rhythm learning effects of T-RHYTHM.

Figure 3. T-RHYTHM in use

Supporting Children's Rhythm Learning Using Vibration Devices
by Sosuke Miura & Masanori Sugimoto
Interaction Technology Laboratory, University of Tokyo
http://www.itl.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/