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3D-Printed Prosthetics Turned into Musical Instruments

Published: 23 July 2013

A three-year project has resulted in a collection of 3D-printed prosthetic pieces that play music as the wearer dances. When you play a musical instrument, you make certain movements when you play; the way you hold your body and hands varies from instrument to instrument. A new type of instrument is utterly dependent on its player's body. Music PhD students, under the supervision of Dr. Marcelo Wanderley, at the Input Devices and Music Interaction Lab (IDMIL) at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, have designed a series of prosthetic musical instruments that have to be worn — and they play as the wearer dances (C|NET).

The music students involved were:

Joseph Malloch (Ph.D. candidate, Music Technology) - http://josephmalloch.com/

Ian Hattwick (Ph.D. student, Music Technology ) - http://ianhattwick.com/

Marlon Schumacher (Ph.D. candidate, Music Technology) - http://idmil.org/people/marlon_schumacher

From Mashable, Huffington Post -

3D PRINTED WEARABLE INSTRUMENTS TURN MOVEMENT INTO MUSIC (continuing coverage)

Ph.D researchers Joseph Malloch and Ian Hattwick from McGill University have created 3D-printed wearable musical instruments. The prosthetic digital instruments act as extensions of the human body, using advanced sensing technologies to transform movement into music and dance.

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