New Teaching Aid Is A Skoog Thing

Published 14 Jul 2010 15:50

A new instrument which lets disabled children play music expressively has been pioneered and developed with help from a Cumnock school.

Hillside Primary worked with Edinburgh University for 18 months to create the colourful Skoog - a colourful five-buttoned cube - sensitive to the slightest touch, yet robust enough to resist strong handling.

Youngsters who cannot play traditional instruments can touch, bash or squeeze the instrument to make sound. Technology within the instrument's soft, tactile surface is linked to a computer, which converts the way the Skoog is touched into the sound of different instruments, such as flute, trumpet or marimba. Users can play a variety of sounds on the Skoog and alter pitch, timbre and volume with a very small range of movement.

Hillside Primary Head Teacher, Jim McCaffrey praised the musical instrument. He said: "It's very inclusive and everyone is able to interact with it. The buttons are the same colour and size as the communication symbols the children are used to. Because it can be connected to a computer it can be tailored to individual children's needs. They love it."

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