DruMeBa

Synopsis

DruMeBa is a customizable multimodal drumming experience promoting collaboration among children with Autism. By combining the communicative and collaborative power of drumming with technology, DruMeBa brings music therapy into the 21st Century. At one of four drumming stations, each player hears the rhythms she or he creates while DruMeBa's central table displays dynamic visuals. These provide players with immediate, whimsical, and easy-to-understand information regarding how hard they are hitting the drums, how much they are collaborating, and whether or not they are in-time with one another. Prototype Table Design: Miro Glisch Sr Developers/Programmers: David Kretz (Research and Technology Manager, CFC Media Lab), David Bouchard (Physical Computing) Special thanks to: Stacie Carroll, Dr. Rhonda McEwen, Dr. Jason Nolan, Ricardo Linares, Dr. Naresh Vempala, Graham Ingham, Susan Robinson, Alana Grossman, Howard Goldbach, Liz Mitchell, Dr. Frank Russo, Dr. Irene Drmic, Dr. Lili Senman, Dr. Wendy Roberts, Imeria Martinez; our deepest appreciation to Tai, Nicholas. Isabella, Nathan, Jill and Cait