title: The E-music box: an empirical method for exploring the universal capacity for musical production and for social interaction through music.
abstract: Humans are assumed to have a natural-universal-predisposition for making music and for musical interaction. Research in this domain is, however, typically conducted with musically trained individuals, and therefore confounded with expertise. Here, we present a rediscovered and updated invention-the E-music box-that we establish as an empirical method to investigate musical production and interaction in everyone. The E-music box transforms rotatory cyclical movements into pre-programmable digital musical output, with tempo varying according to rotation speed. The user's movements are coded as continuous oscillatory data, which can be analysed using linear or nonlinear analytical tools. We conducted a proof-of-principle experiment to demonstrate that, using this method, pairs of non-musically trained individuals can interact according to conventional musical practices (leader/follower roles and lower-pitch dominance). The results suggest that the E-music box brings 'active' and 'interactive' musical capacities within everyone's reach. We discuss the potential of this method for exploring the universal predisposition for music making and interaction in developmental and cross-cultural contexts, and for neurologic musical therapy and rehabilitation.
authors.affiliation: The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development , Western Sydney University , Penrith, New South Wales 2751, Australia.
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Novembre
authors.affiliation: The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development , Western Sydney University , Penrith, New South Wales 2751, Australia.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Varlet
authors.affiliation: The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development , Western Sydney University , Penrith, New South Wales 2751, Australia.
authors.forename: Shujau
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Muawiyath
authors.affiliation: The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development , Western Sydney University , Penrith, New South Wales 2751, Australia ; School of Social Sciences and Psychology , Western Sydney University , Penrith, New South Wales 2751, Australia.
authors.forename: Catherine J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.affiliation: The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development , Western Sydney University , Penrith, New South Wales 2751, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Keller
keywords: joint action; music box; music production; neurologic music therapy; non-musicians; universals