Gallery: An Instrument That Turns Musical Notation Into a Simple Visual System
Alexandra Theunissen01dys-04
Royal College of Art Student [Alexandra Theunissen's](https://www.linkedin.com/pub/alexandra-theunissen/4b/942/4b3) lifelong efforts to master the piano were stymied by dyslexia so she used her design skills to create a new kind of musical notation to settle the score.
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Called DYSsonance, Theunissen's design turns notes into shapes and tones into colors.
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Bricks of all sizes and colors are arrayed on a board that represents the musical staff.
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Rolling the bar over the musical staff completes circuits a circuit with an OTOTO microprocessor board hidden underneath.
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Ensuring proper note value was particularly important to Theunissen. Half notes, or minims, are represented as 2:1 rectangles. Quarter notes, or crochets, are squares. The 1/16th note, or quaver, is a triangle.
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"It was very important to me to visually translate the complementarity of the different rhythms," she says. "Which, to me, is something missing in the classical score."
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"The notion of complementarity is perfectly expressed with two triangles forming a cube for example," says Theunissen.
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The use of technology in the design is limited to an [OTOTO](http://stag4.wired.com/2013/10/crazy-circuit-board-helps-kids-crank-out-beats/) single-board microcontroller designed to help musicians develop outré instruments.
Alexandra Theunissen09dyss-02
Theunissen experimented with many approaches, including designs that worked more like musical instruments rather than notation devices.
