Exploring the use of a digital audio workstation and tangible controllers to democratize musical expression among children with motor disabilities

Abstract: There is a lot of research connecting musical expression with well-being, motivation and meaningfulness, especially when introduced in early years. Children should have the opportunity to express themselves through music regardless of motor disability. There is research targeting children with motor disabilities and musical expression but when the projects ends the children are left without the technology. There is a gap in research exploring technologies accessible in terms of availability to buy and use for the children. This thesis take advantage of the evolution of music production technologies where standard digital audio workstations are highly customizable and therefore an option to use as tools to democratize musical expression among children with motor disabilities. Democratize in this context means to make the children able to participate in a musical performance and express themselves in a similar way as fully abled children. To explore the use of music production technologies to promote musical expression among children with motor disabilities a proposed solution of digital audio workstation Ableton Live and beat matched functionalities coupled with various tangible controllers was explored during 3 sessions at a school in Malmö. Four children at the age of 10 with motor disabilities participated together with their music teacher. The result indicates that the proposed solution has great potential to democratize musical expression among the children using available music production technology. The key component in the proposed prototype was the use of beat matched loops and effects which were synchronized to the songs tempo and made it possible for the children to express themselves musically.  The result also show that an important aspect of gaining well-being, motivation and meaningfulness among the children was connected to the proposed prototype ability to generate a musical outcome matching the children's expectations and personal preferences.