Playtest #1

Friday, march 30, I've done my first playtest with the conducting baton.
I went to a school, to a class full of 5 and 6 year olds. I picked three children randomly (two boys and a girl).
I had one conducting baton and I used Griegs' Peer Gynt, At the wedding as test music. I changed the music (tempo and volume) myself according to the movements the children made with the conducting baton (with Virtual DJ). Later on in the test I skipped through the music to active and passive parts of the music.

Out of this first playtest I wanted to learn the following things:
- Do children understand the play affordance I tried to communicate
- What kind of movements do the children make to direct the music (or to simulate a conducter)
- How do children react on the state of music (active/passive)
- Which music system (interaction) works best (tempo/volume or adaptive)
- Does the child has the feeling he or she is influencing the music with the current playtest system
- Do children like the music I've choosen (classical)
- What kind of play affordances can the children get out of this interactive conducting baton

I predicted one leap, which is that the interaction is done by myself, I am the computer. Which means that there is a chance that I can't react fast enough on the movements of the conducting baton. That could make the interaction with the music less clear.


My conclusions out of this first playtest:
- Timing the change of music is very important for clear communication of interaction
- For a clear interaction between player and music, you need clear contrasts in music and the change in music should react accuratly to the movements of the conducting baton.
- Change in tempo is not contrasting enough for children to notice.
- The children make a lot of different movements that are big and active. Most movements look a bit like ballet. Whether this is because of the music genre (classical) needs to be tested.
- When the music is too passive (or when the music stops playing), children interpetet this as a pauze, they wait until the music starts playing more active again as a cue to continue playing.
- The state of the music (passive/active) influences the movements of the children (passive/active, controlled/uncontrolled)
- Children don't like the classical music of Grieg, they think it's old fashioned and prefer theme music from children tv shows like Mega Mindy, Batman and Spiderman.
- Children notice skips in music and perceive these skips als flaws in the music (negatively).
- Children use a lot of space when playing with the conducting baton (to dance and run).
- Children turn and jump with the conducting baton, which needs to be kept in mind during technical design.
- When playing together (with one conducting baton), one child 'conducts' the other children (2 childs) and the other children dance to the music. Or they use the conducting baton as a 'firestick' to blast imaginary fire at eachother. They could also throw the conducting stick over at eachother.
- The basic interaction (the basic play affordance) is always pointing or waving with the conducting baton. So the product design communicates correctly how the player should hold the stick and what movements could be made with it.

Iterations for next playtest:
- Collect different styles of music to look at what kind of music children like best and which music they can have the most fun with.
- Try a new music system: instead of skipping through parts of music or adjusting tempo, mix through two loops of the same musical piece, one passive and one active in equal tempo. In that way I can respond quicker and easier to the movements the child makes with the conducting baton.

Research questions for next playtest:
- Does the style of movement (ballet/...) depend on the style of music that is played (classical/...)
- Do children react on constrast in music
- Do children understand that with high contrast in music and accurate reaction on their moments that they lead the music instead of the other way around
- If the music changes on the next count (which is how real directing works), is that a realistic interaction for the player or not?

First prototype Interactive conducting baton

This is the first prototype of the Interactive conducting baton.
It's made of wood and griptape. It is 30cm long.
At the moment I'm downloading several dj programs to see which one is best suitable for my first playtest.

In the first playtest I'm going to test this prototype with 6 year olds. I will play Griegs Peer Gynt nr.01 At the wedding. According to the movements the tester will make with the baton, I will adjust volume and tempo.

I've talked with composers Stan Koch, composer/non-linear music strategist Than van Nispen and sonic designer Laurens van der Wee about my concept and ways I could children let interact with the music.

Out of these talks I came to three concepts children can interact with the baton:
1: Volume/gain and tempo. The music will be linear. The tempo will adjust according to the tempo the child will sway with the baton. Volume will adjust according to how big the movement is. This is a very simple concept, but the composers predicted this way of interaction shall be interesting enough for children to play with the music.

2: Percussion, blowers, strings. The child can point in a certain direction to address percussions, blowers or strings and can make these instruments play harder or softer. The musical system will work in layers of percussion, blowers and strings.

3: Busy parts, quiet parts. According to the movement of the child (busy or quiet), a system will choose a quiet or a busy part of a composition. This will be a non-linear music system.