A Novel System for the Elderly to Learn Playing Electronig Musical Instrument in Ensemble

Abstract

This study presents a novel system that lets the elderly with no previous formal knowledge of music perform in ensembles using a newly developed electronic musical instrument called Cymis. The new system consists of a music conductor, players, an interface, and touch screen PCs. A guide bar on each screen indicates the ideal tempo, and players can achieve a synchronous performance in the ensemble by following the guide bar. The difference in time between the ideal playing of each note and a player's performance is measured on each PC. We gave five elderly individuals opportunities to play Cymis and found that they learned to play ensemble easily. All of the subjects enjoyed playing in musical ensembles and displayed a keen interest in continuing to use Cymis after the study. The Cymis ensemble system will allow the elderly to enjoy musical ensemble and contribute to future studies on dementia prevention.