[sholnkin] is tasked with teaching a kindergarten class how to play a musical instrument. No, not those cheap plastic recorders. [shlonkin] is teaching kindergarteners how to play the only instrument that both blows and sucks: the harmonica.
Unlike a classroom of kids with plastic recorders, where the fingering is either right or it isn’t, [shlonkin] needs to teach kids to put their mouth over the right hole, and suck or blow to produce a note. The classroom has a poster laying out the notes on the harmonica, but they needed something better. [shlonkin] envisioned a large illuminated sign that lit up in different colors, and could play the displayed notes with a speaker.
The high-level design for this project includes a Teensy 3.2 with the Audio Adapter breakout driving a small audio amp. The Teensy also controls a bunch of LEDs mounted inside a wooden case. The layout of these LEDs went surprisingly well, and it’s rare to find a backlit panel that is lit this evenly.
As a classroom musical teaching aid, this type of device has been around for decades – deep in the recesses of band rooms in schools across the world, you can find old Wurlitzer pianos with devices that aren’t much different from this simple device. It’s a pedagogical method that worked back then, and should work now.
Red and blue draw and blow, but the photo shows an impossible combination that even Howard Levy couldn’t play. All I see is red AND blue, all lit up.
It’s called a brown note for a reason.
The colors you’re seeing are painted on. The part that lights up is the white characters. In the photo nothing is lit up, but when it is the color is very clear to see. I’ll be posting a log with a demonstration just as soon as I finish building the remote keyboard that controls it. It is close.
From your HAD.io the white character lights up pink right?
Accordions blow and suck too.