Welcome

Ever wonder about how music works? How harmonics interact with the ear and brain to produce harmony?
Ever longed to learn an expressive instrument, quickly?

This site, with the help of a growing community, is a cool place for information about music, especially how to learn it, make it, and how the thing actually works, all in a more-or-less scientific (yet whimsical) way.

This site's Current focus is a faster, innovative music keyboard called a jammer, similar to the planned but unfunded Thummer.

In a nutshell, we are combining current music theory, modern knowledge and simple ergonomics to produce "piano 2.0"; an improved musical keyboard, built on the $500 AXiS-49 keyboard from C-Thru   It is an affordable, second generation version of the Axis-64 keyboard ($1800 or so).

I've built three jammers and have found they have very significant advantages over the traditional design and few disadvantages. They are faster to learn, very significantly faster and easier to play and more expressive. They are also easier to play by ear, in other words, to jam, hence the name.

In practical terms, it takes 10 years to become skilled enough to be passable pianist. With the jammer design, the same level should be reachable in 3 yrs. It's not a free lunch, but it is less expensive, yet more filling.

Indeed, the meshing of the keyboard layout with music theory, kinesiology and human perception is a great leap forward: it's fun to have an instrument where the melody and the chords intertwine, where it's blink'n easy to add chords to a melody and music just plain makes sense.

Join in

It takes a community to raise a child, so please join in; post your ideas and comments. This is your opportunity to make a difference, to get in at the start of something very cool, and have fun doing it. If you see anything where you think "that wasn't too clear" or "I wish I could see a demo of what he's talking about" there's your chance. :

Further information

What we are looking for: The "ideal" jammer.

C-Thru Music's AXiS-49 is the key ingredient in this instrument, as told here: A Jammer is Born

Things needed to support this new-fangled instrument; what are all the things needed to support it, as the guitar is supported: making wabbit stew.

Backing up the above is posts describing how the AXiS keyboards key-layout work, and my first attempt at developing a theory of how to play an AXiS.

Why the Jammer's key layout is better: the Short and Simple explanation

A longer explanation for those who like detail & theory,
    Part one: It's easier to learn
    Part Two: It's easier to play

Snippets of Music Theory

The secret patterns of harmonics
The basis of harmony is harmonics, would it help to know "where" the harmonics are? Yes, it really helps.

Music to our ears: how the major scale began and works
My attempt to explain music terminology, history and theory, all in one little article.

The surprising contribution of volume (forthcoming)
We all think pitch reigns in music, but volume is the real behind-the-scenes ruler.

In music, everything, but everything is relative (forthcoming)
A "G" is the dominant of "C", but what is C the dominant of?

Building jammers

Here is what was developed experimentally: the first prototype jammer
   and here's how I built it

Without an electronics degree and not as hard as one would think
A wearable jammer
The first attempt - it worked, but had issues. Included is how to make it.

A portable jammer
The second attempt - it works well, but was fiddly to make.

Future Improvements:
1. a better keyshape?

2,  Other improvements I'd like to see
  - Key spacing, shaping and other tweaks.

Design notes about Jammers

Making a virtue out of necessity

Having fun with design to create a very powerful instrument                  

 

Coloring the keys

An idea that paid off very well 

Learning to play a Jammer
Learning is simpler and faster if the instrument helps the learner, instead of confusing.
Fingering the jammer
How to get started

Advice from those who have gone before
Experimental Thummer users offer tips

Key shifting is simple
Really, really simple on a jammer

Reading a musical score and playing it on the jammer
The musical score makes sense at last

Playing by ear
Finally we have an instrument that it's feasible for a novice to play by ear.

Playing Chords
Chords on the jammer – simple diagrams
- the root / key center     - building the triads          - building the major 6ths and 7ths
- building the minor 7ths  - building the jazz chords - building other fun chords 

Humor

Music for Nerds
Music and musicians explained simply, as befits the subject and this writer

Science
You thought I was joking when I said "Music Science". No, it's not an contradiction in terms. One day I will post some  psycho-acoustic background all will then be clear ;)

Related sites

Working from a keyboard to music:                

http://www.aqwertian.com

 

Try out the jammer/Thummer keyboard on your own PC              

http://www.thummer.com/ThumBoard/thumboard.html

 

CopyLeft (c)  2008, 2009 Ken Rushton
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  Texts.  A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".