This is a concept toy car I designed to help teach beginner musicians (well, singers and wind or brass players) about the importance of controlled breathing. It replicates exercises familiar to many music teachers, and puts them in the context of a car steering game.
The project was part of my final MA work at the Royal College of Art, which looked at new approaches to music education through games, toys and play.
How it works
The player blows into a mouthpiece to control the car’s steering. Blow gradually harder (a crescendo) and it steers to the right; blow gradually softer (a diminuendo) and it steers to the left. The object of the game is to complete a three point turn.
At the RCA Show 2006
My best attempt at a three point turn
Being played with (before breaking, a lot) at the RCA Show 2006
Mapping Scalextric to musical notation = Interesting
Since the movement of the car can be described using musical notation (ie using only tempo and dynamics), I made a book of musical studies which looked at the potential shapes and patterns of other types of steering movements, and what the corresponding sheet music would look like.
The instructions pages
A three point turn, with corresponding notation
What the circuit of Silverstone might look like as notation
How a figure of 8 might be played
This is a movement from a Hummel trumpet concerto
Making and prototyping
At the minute the car exists in prototype form, and uses a Yamaha BC3 MIDI breath controller, which feeds into Max/MSP, which then sends serial data over Bluetooth to a servo steering the car. Thanks to the RCA tutors and visiting teachers, including Tom Hulbert, Crispin Jones and Tobie Kerridge for helpful nudges with the electronics.
First proto (getting MIDI values to steer the wheels)
Doing the initial mappings
Chicanes and bends of different sizes mean changes in time signature
Testing an early prototype's turning circle