REXband : A Multi-User Interactive Exhibit for Exploring Medieval Music

Eric Lee, Marius Wolf, Yvonne Jansen, and Jan Borchers

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract:

We present REXband, an interactive music exhibit for collaborative improvisation to medieval music. This audio-only system consists of three digitally augmented medieval instrument replicas: thehurdy gurdy, harp, and frame drum. The instruments communicate with software that provides users with both musical support and feedback on their performance using a "virtual audience" set in a medieval tavern. REXband builds upon previous work in interactive music exhibits by incorporating aspects of e-learning to educate, in addition to interaction design patterns to entertain; care was also taken to ensure historic authenticity. Feedback from user testing in both controlled (laboratory) and public (museum) environments has been extremely positive. REXband is part of the Regensburg Experience, an exhibition scheduled to open in July 2007 to showcase the rich history of Regensburg, Germany.

Citation:

Eric Lee, Marius Wolf, Yvonne Jansen, and Jan Borchers. 2007. REXband : A Multi-User Interactive Exhibit for Exploring Medieval Music. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1177163

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{Lee2007a,
 abstract = {We present REXband, an interactive music exhibit for collaborative improvisation to medieval music. This audio-only system consists of three digitally augmented medieval instrument replicas: thehurdy gurdy, harp, and frame drum. The instruments communicate with software that provides users with both musical support and feedback on their performance using a "virtual audience" set in a medieval tavern. REXband builds upon previous work in interactive music exhibits by incorporating aspects of e-learning to educate, in addition to interaction design patterns to entertain; care was also taken to ensure historic authenticity. Feedback from user testing in both controlled (laboratory) and public (museum) environments has been extremely positive. REXband is part of the Regensburg Experience, an exhibition scheduled to open in July 2007 to showcase the rich history of Regensburg, Germany.},
 address = {New York City, NY, United States},
 author = {Lee, Eric and Wolf, Marius and Jansen, Yvonne and Borchers, Jan},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1177163},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 keywords = {interactive music exhibits, medieval music, augmented instruments, e-learning, education },
 pages = {172--177},
 title = {REXband : A Multi-User Interactive Exhibit for Exploring Medieval Music},
 url = {http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2007/nime2007_172.pdf},
 year = {2007}
}