This document outlines a bachelors thesis project aimed at creating a participatory space for working adults to revive their creativity through sound, movement, and visuals. It discusses the objective, timeline, secondary research on related projects, primary research insights on music perception and relating images to musical modes, and future plans which include concept refinement and documentation. The references and credits section lists sources consulted including books, papers, websites, and people.
2. CONTENTS
RECAPITULATION
BRIEF
TIMELINE
SECONDARY RESEARCH
PRIMARY RESEARCH
INSIGHTS
FUTURE PLANS
REFERENCES/CREDITS
3. R E C A P I T U L AT I O N
BACKGROUND
Boy with the paintbrush example.
How the different creative mediums originated
in an altogether different
context and how meanings have changed over
time. eg. Ritualistic and
Communal nature of arts and music
Asking people what is the first thing that
comes to their mind when I say
“Community”?
How collaborative activities foster a healthier
society?
DELIVERABLE
A space that fulfils my stated objective.
4. OBJECTIVE
A Participatory Approach to create a space for
working adults to revive
their creativity through the mediums of sound,
movement and visuals.
* Participatory Approach - A methodology in -
volving participation and col-
laboration from intended users as well as
people from different fields of
interest related to the task at hand.
Space - In the context of this project, space
refers to a tangible space
and not a virtual space.
Working Adults - People in the age-group of
25-45 roughly in different
occupations.
Creativity - Ability to produce something new
through imaginative skill, whether a new solu -
tion to a problem, a new method or device, or
a new artistic object or form.
Mediums - The ways of manifestation. Here the
mediums are restricted
to sound, movement and visuals to keep the
domain contained and defined
5. TIMELINE
October
Week 4
September
Week 1
August
November Week 2
Week 3
December
Week 1
December
Week 3
April
March
Week 2
Week 4
Janurary
Week 3
Initial research + Proposal Conceptualisation Technology Procurement
+ Acquisition of Technical knowledge
Secondary Research Concept Refinement
+ Evaluation Prototyping
Primary Research
Concept Finalisation Prototype Testing
Documentation
6. S E C O N D A RY R E S E A R C H
I NUDGE
Web Application
Different Instruments Simulated
Spatial Visualisation of notes.
Notes in Horizontal relationship give Melody
Notes in Vertical relationship give Harmony
Probability of dissonant notes filtered so that
most combinations sound musical.
Collaborative nature due to record and share
feature.
7. S E C O N D A RY R E S E A R C H
MUSIC IN IMAGES
Web Application
Algorithmic music based on image
Translating Visual Art to Musical Art
User uploads a digital image and it plays music
based on pixel colour, pixel saturation, overall
brightness etc.
Not very interactive as one just has to upload
an image and music plays accordingly.
8. S E C O N D A RY R E S E A R C H
TECHNOETIC RAINFOREST
Embodied relationship with technology.
Creating physical objects, software tools, and
electronic devices that, when combined within
specifically contextualized spaces create novel
systems of feedback, within which the user is
compelled to act, respond, and share responsi -
bility for emergent meaning.
Through the use of electronic new media tech -
nologies create improvisational structures,
processes and environments that serve as ana -
logs to human decodings of the phenomenal
world.
9. S E C O N D A RY R E S E A R C H
AMUSITY-COFFEE TABLE MUSIC
Object-based Interaction
New way to browse through someone’s music
collection.
Each bubble on the table represents a song.
The size and proximity of bubbles are based on
likes,popularity etc.
Objects like speaker. TV etc. are metaphors for
song,video etc.
Gestures like rotating the speaker object to in -
crease decrease volume etc.
10. S E C O N D A RY R E S E A R C H
...AND MANY MORE
Student projects
Studio Projects
Interaction Design
Space Design
New Musical Instruments
Synesthesia
Research Papers
11. S E C O N D A RY R E S E A R C H
PARTY GAMES
Adults become children temporarily
Seeing counterparts behaving in silly or funny
ways.
Participative
Nostalgia-School Like feeling
Chance to act smart and creative.
Group/Herd dynamics.
12. What kind of different things can we do to help our
target group rediscover the child in them?
13. How can we create a space to foster creative expression
and give rise to Eureka moments?
14. P R I M A RY R E S E A R C H
MUSIC PERCEPTION
Need to understand how perception works
among the three mediums in question-
SOUND, MOVEMENTS, VISUALS
Translation of one medium into another.
Understanding the grammar of the three art -
forms and parametrizing them.
15. P R I M A RY R E S E A R C H
IMAGES + SOUND
The participants were in the age group of 20 -
25 years and essentially from a non-musical
background.
They were given headphones in a compara -
tively silent environment and made to listen to
the songs in succession without disclosing the
track names.
They were instructed to write out the images
that they could visualize when a particular
track was playing. It could be incidents, ob -
jects, colours etc.
TRACKS USED
The Wedding Song - O’Neill Brothers
I am a man of constant sorrow - Norman Blake
Nostalgia - Enya & Yanni
Ahanu Sleep Music
Midnight Express - Nuno Bettencourt
18. P R I M A RY R E S E A R C H
INSIGHT
Dealing with modes rather than individual
notes in music and then relating them with
other parameters.
For the C Major Scale the MODES are as fol -
lows:
C-Ionian (commonly known as Major Scale) -
Happy, Upbeat
D-Dorian - Jazzy, Sophisticated, Soulful
E-Phrygian - Spanish sound
F-Lydian - Airy, Mesmerising
G-Mixolydian - Bluesy, Easy Going
A-Aeolian (commonly known as Minor Scale) -
Sad, Sorrowful
B-Locrian - Very tense, Dark, Almost sinister
20. P R I M A RY R E S E A R C H
IMAGES + SOUND (refined)
A thumbnail array of images were prepared
Each image has one dominant colour.
Each image has a single subject (mostly)
Relationships between musical modes and col -
ours can be derived from the imageboards that
the subjects come up with for each track.
21. P R I M A RY R E S E A R C H
IMAGES + SOUND (refined)
This is an ongoing experiment as only two in -
stances have been carried out.
Results do look promising as listeners are able
to associate musical modes to certain kinds of
mood through the use of image boards.
For example the Aeolian and Phrygian modes
tend to be associated with darker,bluer images
while the Ionian mode is associated with
bright colours like Yellow, Orange, Pink etc.
TRACKS USED
Sonata in C-Ionian
Microkosmos-Dorian Mode
Microkosmos-Phrygian Mode
Microkosmos-Lydian Mode
Microkosmos-Mixolydian Mode
22. FUTURE PLAN
TO DO - SEMESTER 7
Continue Primary Research
Mind Maps of all insights from secondary re -
search.
Conceptualization of Ideas and Experiments
Joining the dots between various parameters.
Concept Evaluation + Refinement
Up-to-Date Documentation through blogging
etc.
Enjoy the journey thoroughly !!
23. REFERENCES/CREDITS
BOOKS
Composing Music with Computers - Eduardo
Reck Miranda
Music Cognition and Computerised Sound-
Perry R. Cook
Sonic Graphics- Seeing sound - Thames &
Hudson
Visual and Auditory Perception- Gerald M.
Murch
PAPERS
A Multilayered model of product emotions-
Pieter Desmet
Values and Emotions: An empirical investiga -
tion in the relationship between emotional re -
sponses to products and human values-
Desmet,Hekkert,Hillen
Affective presence in museums: ambient sys -
tems for creative expression - Kirsten Boehner,
Phoebe Sengers and Geri Gay
24. REFERENCES/CREDITS
SITES
http://www.virtualpiano.net/
http://www.idiscoveri.com
http://www.media.mit.edu/research/groups/m
usic-mind-and-machine
http://www.media.mit.edu/research/groups/m
usic-mind-and-machine
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.flickr.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org
PEOPLE
Prof. Ravi Mokashi Punekar
Mr. Ambar Das
Abhishek Nandan
Rohit Sharma
Jasmeet Singh Sethi
Jagriti Kumar
Shreyoshi Ghosh