Design Perceptive

The folks at Radiolab have done several interviews – one of them with David Cope – talking about musical language.  Two of the interviews open the door to considering physiological foundations of experiencing dissonance and consonance in sounds.  One of these discusses dissonance and consonance in terms of brain chemistry.  The other discusses the similarities of tonal melodies that occur across various cultures and languages when addressing a baby or child.

Listen to the interview at: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2007/09/25

A $150 Xylophone from EBay

For this project to support research in the area of computational creativity, we’re building a robotic xylophone.  Well, we’ve got the approval for funding and the xylophone has been ordered.  Naturally, this is exciting!  This means that soon, we’ll be opening a box like children at birthday parties, putting it together and playing with it.  It might actually get a little loud around the 2nd floor of Nedderman Hall for a few.

Now, the next order of business is to settle on the solenoids and get those ordered as well.  Perhaps, we’ll get one to test our construction ideas.  Brandon Skinner has agreed to help put together the controller.  His help is greatly appreciated!