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The Drum Loop - A constructivist iOS rhythm tutorial system for beginners
This document discusses the design of an iOS app called Drum Loop, which aims to help beginners learn rhythm through intuitive visualizations. It notes that standard musical notation can be difficult for novices to understand rhythm from. The app represents rhythms spatially using a "time unit box system" for clarity. It also uses real drum patterns instead of simple notes to be more engaging. The document outlines various exercises and features the app prototype includes to teach rhythmic concepts in an accessible way through interaction.
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The Drum Loop - A constructivist iOS rhythm tutorial system for beginners
- 1. Designing the Drum Loop Advisor: Dr.Alex Ruthmann A constructivist iOS rhythm tutorial system for beginners by Ethan Hein December 17, 2013
- 2. Beginners struggle withthe way that standard notation represents rhythm The two measures of music above occupy the same time duration, but it would appear to a novice that the first is much longer than the second. While there are valid typographical reasons not to represent rhythms by their lengths on the page, it makes the symbology that much more difficult to understand.
- 3. What is themost intuitive way to visualize rhythm? Here are eight visual representations of son clave transcribed by Toussaint (2013). The fifth method, the time unit box system, is the basis for most drum machine and sequencer interfaces.
- 4. Standard notation asa time-unit box system Putting notation on a grid matches note durations to spatial length, making it easier to understand. "Check the Rhime" by A Tribe Called Quest, as transcribed by Charlie Hely
- 5. The MIDI pianoroll as a time-unit box system TUBS are reasonably intuitive. However, it is still difficult to see the relationship between metrically related positions in a linear representation. A drum pattern in Ableton Live's MIDI sequencer
- 6. Constructivist music teaching Beginnerswork best at the mid-level of abstraction, with figures, phrases and riffs. Real-world drum patterns are more intuitive than musical "simples" like eighth notes, rests and time signatures. Large-Scale Design • Motivic elaboration/development • Sections and sectional functions • Similarities and differences across events distanced in time Beginners arrive here Traditional western music education begins here Mid-Level • Figures, phrases and functions • Stability/instability • Arrivals and departures Details • Pitch and metric values • Intervals and chords • Notation Adapted from Bamberger (1996)
- 7. Prototyping with Max/MSP/Jitter Christopher Jacoby andI were able to create a working Drum Loop prototype in six weeks using Max. However, our standalone app suffered from severe performance and responsiveness problems. The Drum Loop.maxpat model sequencer view controller drum circle drum machine drum wedge poly drumbuffer sequence splitter presentation positioning note on poltocar present drumsamples
- 8. A breakbeat exercise:The Funky Drummer
- 9. Visualizing swing byresizing grid cells
- 10. A usability challenge- maximizing target area
- 11. Beyond the musicclassroom: math mode
- 12. A genre exercise:Four on the floor
- 13. A compositional challenge:subtractive rhythm
- 14. A kid-friendly version:the Groove Pizza
- 15. Other beginner-oriented radialrhythm apps Propellerhead Figure
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- 18. The Drum Loop'sdesign contribution • Presents an interface of toylike simplicity • Uses culturally authentic and significant rhythms as a springboard to the user’s own musical expression • Makes clear which events are metrically related • Reveals symmetries in the music that may not be immediately apparent to the ear • Creates an intuitive visualization of concepts like syncopation and hemiola