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onpu-card player

“onpu-card player” is a teaching tool for use in elementary and middle school classrooms. This tool uses “onpu cards” to further assist learning.

“onpu cards” (onpu means a musical note in Japanese) is an original teaching tool proposed by a music teacher at a school for the visually impaired. The shape of the musical note is three-dimensional so that it can be identified by touch. The widths of the cards are proportional to show the length of the note. The card for the standard whole note is of such a size that it fits in the palm of both hands; this is in order to make the overall sense of the note’s length easier to grasp. The black edges can be viewed and touched to easily identify the boundary of the cards when placed in a line. I assisted with the realization and improvement of the cards and helped bring them to their current shape.

“onpu-card player” is a tool that automatically reads the type and placement of a line of “onpu cards” and emits sound in accordance with that arrangement. My intention with this tool is not only to help students learn the fundamentals of musical notes, but also to connect this learning with the creation and expression of rhythms that students can create themselves, even if they cannot play an instrument.

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