Rullen Bandet

Rullen Bandet is a set of four accessible digital musical instruments designed to help children with different abilities play music with each other, including those who have difficulty with verbal communication. Each instrument uses a different type of interaction, such as pressing, touching, or shaking, so children can participate in ways that work for them without needing prior musical experience.

We designed four simplified instruments: a piano played by pressing buttons, a drum activated by touch, a tambourine played by shaking, and a guitar combining touch and button presses. All four instruments are connected to a central unit containing a speaker, battery, and Bela microcontroller. Each instrument controls a separate musical track, and all tracks stay in sync. When someone plays an instrument, its track becomes audible, making it easier for children to play music with others without having to coordinate the timing themselves.

Before designing the instruments, we explored universal design, inclusive design, and accessible digital musical instruments (ADMIs). We focused on making the instruments easy to understand and use, with simple interactions that require minimal physical effort. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we couldn’t test the instruments with our intended participants. Instead, we tried the working prototypes with classmates to see how the instruments could be played in a group setting.