Intelligent Musical Rugs: Ubiquitous Computing to Support Musical Education

Learning a musical instrument is associated with hours of practice for the technical improvement and musical evolution on the part of the student, leaving out many of those who have interest, but cannot dedicate themselves so thoroughly to the process. This is due to the physical characteristics of each instrument and their particular way of generating sound. With new computer technologies, such as ubiquitous computing, other ways of generating sound allow for new approaches in musical creation and education. This article describes an investigation of the use of ubiquitous computing in the context of an elementary school classroom with the intent of promoting the learning and experiencing of musical concepts. In an exploratory case study, done in 2 municipal public schools in Rio de Janeiro with 2 elementary school 7th grade classes, the school environment was transformed into a sound laboratory, whose sounds were activated using body movements that the students were already familiar with, such as clapping hands. Thus, the classroom is presented as a collective musical instrument, lessening the technical barriers that are necessary to musical execution.