RHYME: musicking for all

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to bring together the fields of participatory design, design for all, accessible music, tangible interaction and musicking to propose musicking for all, where participants can take part on their own terms, with their own intentions, initiatives and interpretations. The goal is to promote well‐being and health among the participants.

Design/methodology/approach

Co‐creative tangibles to enable musicking for all have been created and evaluated in a research project. The paper uses the experiences so far in this project to propose “musicking for all”, based on the fields mentioned in “Purpose” above.

Findings

Participatory design, design for all and tangible interaction forms a promising basis for musicking for all. Challenges/paradoxes emerge when applying participatory design approaches to design work involving disabled children.

Originality/value

The paper contributes with an original view on musicking for disabled children, and proposes musicking for all based on the fields of research mentioned in “Purpose” above. The value in the contribution is a fresh view on co‐creative tangibles for disabled children, and a suggested way forward to improve health and well‐being for this user group.

Citation

Holone, H. and Herstad, J. (2013), "RHYME: musicking for all", Journal of Assistive Technologies, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 93-101. https://doi.org/10.1108/17549451311328772