Music Making for All - Todd Machover’s work on easy to use instruments and software for composing - is helping musicians, people with disabilities, and children.

Todd Machover (b.1953) is renowned for his work with computer music, having pioneered at IRCAM and now, at MIT’s Media Lab, a series of works using hyperinstruments that extend traditional performance practice with interaction, real-time digital processing. These pieces are uniformly entertaining and often very funny. You can squeeze squishy embroidered balls, play soundless violins or bang on glowing bugs with antennae.

These hyperinstruments were developed by Machover in an attempt to break free of conventional musical instrument design. Building on technologies developed for Machover’s groundbreaking Brain Opera, the Music Shapers enable children to engage in sophisticated listening, performing and composing activities normally accessible only after years of study. The instruments have a short learning curve that allows children and adults alike to achieve a basic level of understanding in just three to five two-hour sessions.

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