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Creator: Hiroshi Ishii, Xiao Xiao

Title of Work: Andante

Year of Creation: 2014

Link to Project Work: http://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/andante/

Link to Artist Bio: http://tangible.media.mit.edu/person/hiroshi-ishii/ , http://portfolio.xiaosquared.com/About

Andante is an augmented reality program intended for developing beginner skills in piano playing. In developing this learning program, Hiroshi Ishii and Xiao Xiao regarded human experiences and histories from the somatic perspective — constant consideration was put towards recognizing the rhythmic flow of the human gait, and applying this consideration towards learning musical notations. This emphasis on the body-mind is reflected in Ishii’s and Xiao’s other new media art work, as they develop spaces, messages, and tools that rely on direct human interaction. As a designer focused on the human sciences and transitions to futures, I’m interested in Andante‘s potential as a person-based contribution towards futures-learning — does the human soma need increased priority in the design process?

According to the paper, Andante: Walking Figures on the Piano Keyboard to Visualize Musical Motion, the program runs both MIDI and the walking animations on Java, and in response to the player hitting each of the keys.