Music Tangible User Interfaces and Vulnerable Users: State of the Art and Experimentation

Tangible user interfaces (TUIs) let users manipulate digital information with their bodies and perceive it with their senses. This concept can be applied to the control of digital musical instruments and, in a more general context, music-oriented devices. Specifically addressing vulnerable users, namely people in a condition of cognitive and/or physical impairment, this paper presents the state of the art about music TUIs and describes an experiment conducted on a small group. The methodology consisted in building user-tailored experiences to let participants acquire basic musical skills with a hands-on approach implemented through an ensemble of digital instruments. The achieved results included both the improvement of music competencies in vulnerable users and the acquisition of soft skills.