Musicking tangibles for empowerment

In this paper we present a novel approach towards understanding and design of interactive music technology for people with special needs. The health effects of music are well documented, but very little research has been done and interactive music technology been developed, for Music Therapy and health improvement in everyday situations. Further, the music technology that has been used, exploits very little of the potential current computer technology has to offer the Music and Health and Music Therapy fields, because it is designed and used based on a very narrow perspective on technology and its potential. We present and argue for a broader understanding of music technology for empowerment and health improvement, building on a multidisciplinary approach and combining perspectives from Tangible interaction design with empowerment and resource oriented Music Therapy. We call this concept MusickingTangibles, inspired by the musicologist Christopher Small's important term "musicking". We further present two Musicking Tangibles we have designed, and argue for their empowering qualities based on user observations.