MUSICLOCK Disrupting the old ways of teaching music theory. CASE STUDY EXAMPLE MUSICLOCK Disrupting the old ways of teaching music theory.

USE IMAGES TO DEMONSTRATE old ideas to new ideas

WHY CREATE THIS PROJECT Learning to play an instrument is great fun. However, many aspiring musicians feel overwhelmed and intimidated by music theory and scales. Perttu Pölönen, a student at Sibelius Academy in Finland, had always felt that the methods in which music theory was taught were problematic. It was not that the concepts themselves were overtly difficult: they were simply explained in needlessly complex manner and, worse still, often without an apparent practical connection.

Demonstrate the improvements VISUALLY

WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION THE HEUREKA MOMENT In western music, all scales are built from 12 pitches of the so called chromatic scale. Thinking this while looking at a traditional wall clock, Pölönen had a heureka moment: what if you would place those notes around a clock face and use that format to represent the structure of any given scale? This idea turned to MusiClock, a physical learning tool which helps to visualise, understand and remember all musical scales and their modes.

WHY THIS MEDIA FORMAT GOING DIGITAL It was clear that a mobile app would be the most fitting format for the idea - that way, learning the scales would be easy anywhere. So how to transfer the simple and brilliant idea of the physical device to an app? The app should be fun and addictive to use for musicians of all ages and skill levels. They should also be able to learn by playing, so the app should have a keyboard and backing tracks from varying genres to jam with.

PROTOTYPE FUTURE DESIGNS

DESCRIBE THE UNIQUE STYLE/FEATURES/STORY VISUAL DESIGN The MusiClock app UI consists of not only the playable clock itself, but also features an interactive keyboard that highlights the notes that belong to the scale currently on display. The user can also transpose the backing tracks in real time to any scale she wants to practice. The visual style of the UI was built around the idea of finding fitting colors to represent the mood of different scales: for example, selecting the Major scale turns the dominant colour to cheery yellow whereas the Blues scale is – surprise, surprise – blue.

WALK THROUGH THE DESIGN THINKING PROCESS TECHNICAL DESIGN Building the basic mechanics of the clock, keyboard and backing tracks required a deep understanding of music theory from the developer. That is part of the reason why we felt the project was such a perfect fit for us: all our team members happened to be either musicians or music enthusiasts themselves. Communication-wise, it was easy to hit the right notes (excuse the pun) from the get-go.

DESCRIBE WHAT TECHNOLOGY WAS USED

COMPARATIVE SUCCESS WITH OTHER EXAMPLES The simple, yet brilliant idea instantly gained momentum: Pölönen won the first price at the 2013 European Union Contest for Young Scientists and was also named the most creative Finn at the 2014 Slush startup event. Together with his brother, Pölönen started a company around his invention. The brothers joined forces with seed investor company Koppicatch, and after careful consideration, Taiste was chose to design and develop the product.

INTRODUCE THE TEAM WHO CONTRIBUTED

DESCRIBE WHY THE OUTCOME WAS SUCCESSFULL HOW THE APP WAS RECEIVED The strategy of the Pölönen brothers was to release MusiClock gradually around the globe, so that we could react to the user feedback between the launches in different countries. The product was met with high praise: the user review average on the App Store was a whopping five stars out of five – even before a single update. Moreover, the app was soon selected to Apple’s Popular Apps category. In 2017, the app won the main prize of the Expressing category at the prestigious Interaction Awards in New York. Due to its tremendous success, MusiClock’s story will no doubt continue. The carefully crafted base platform makes it perfect for add-ons of all kind. And because different musicians have very unique interests and needs, the customisation options are practically unlimited. The Pölönen brothers have at their hands a tool that might just revolutionise the way music theory is being taught and studied – and it has truly been a joy to be a part of that journey.

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