Skoog: The easy-to-play instrument for everyone.

Music-making is an important part of every child’s education. The benefits are well-recognised and include improved concentration, language, sympathetic engagement and social interaction. 

A new musical instrument has been created specifically for disabled users: the SKOOG. This video gives a quick overview of what it is, how it works and has some clips of users making music with the skoog.

Tap it. Shake it. Squeeze it. Give it a little twist.

The Skoog software allows you to customise the instrument's sensitivity to suit your playing style, which means that anyone can rock out to their favourite tunes, or use programmes like GarageBand to open up a new world of amazing music and sound.

Skoog plugs straight into your computer’s USB port.

Dynamic sensors within the Skoog are cleverly arranged to respond to your every move, no matter how gentle or forceful you are feeling.

Play the Skoog with any part of your body!

Designed to adapt and fit with your own natural movements, the Skoog sets you free to explore sounds and music in your own way. By adjusting the Skoogmusic software you can challenge yourself and grow as a musician. Whether you have very limited mobility or bags of agility, you can make your Skoog fit your style.

How to play the Skoog?

You play the Skoog by physically interacting with it. Dynamic sensors within your Skoog are cleverly arranged to respond to your every move, no matter how gentle or forceful you are feeling. By pressing, squeezing, rubbing, stroking, tilting or shaking your Skoog in different ways you control how the different instruments sound.

Info from http://www.skoogmusic.com
Visit to find out more

TENORI-ON: the future sounds like this

No, this isn’t the first good-to-go version of Minesweeper: this baby is for making beautiful music with.

The Tenori-on is an electronic musical instrument designed and created by the Japanese artist Toshio Iwai and Yu Nishibori of the Music and Human Interface Group at the Yamaha Center for Advanced Sound Technology. It consists of a hand-held screen in which a sixteen-by-sixteen grid of LED switches are held within a magnesium plastic frame. Any of these switches may be activated in a number of different ways to create sounds. Two built-in speakers are located on the top of frame, as well as a dial and buttons that control the type of sound and beats per minute v produced.

There are two versions of the device available. The original TNR-W (Tenori-On White) features a magnesium frame, 256 rear panel LEDs and can run on batteries whilst the more affordable TNR-O (Tenori-On Orange) features a white plastic frame, has no rear LEDs and does not take batteries. The modes and sound sets in these instruments are the same.

Both devices have an LCD screen on the bottom edge of the frame. Using the connection function, it is possible to play a synchronized session, or to send and receive songs between two of the devices.

Iwai's intention in creating the Tenori-on is to create an electronic instrument of beauty. In his own words:

"In days gone by, a musical instrument had to have a beauty, of shape as well as of sound, and had to fit the player almost organically. [...] Modern electronic instruments don't have this inevitable relationship between the shape, the sound, and the player. What I have done is to try to bring back these [...] elements and build them in to a true musical instrument for the digital age."