Flag beat: a novel interface for rhythmic musical expression for kids

This paper describes the development of a prototype of a sonic toy for pre-scholar kids. The device, which is a modified version of a football ratchet, is based on the spinning gesture and it allows to experience four different types of auditory feedback. These algorithms let a kid play with music rhythm, generate a continuous sound feedback and control the pitch of a piece of music. An evaluation test of the device has been performed with fourteen kids in a kindergarten. Results and observations showed that kids preferred the algorithms based on the exploration of the music rhythm and on pitch shifting.