I was quite excited when Klee pointed me to CNET’s article, “Apple wants you to scratch and claw your iPad”. It sparked a vision of a pairing of percussion instrument ‘beaters’ adapted to this new technology that can detect and react to acoustic signals.
There are already tools and devices out there enabling people who do not have use of their hands, or have no hands to control computers via their facial muscles, tracking of head movement and instruments controlled by mouth such as sip & puff devices, and even more basic a simple #2 Ticonderoga pencil and a keyboard… So it isn’t a big stretch to envision the adaptation of percussion ‘beaters’ to be comfortably held and controlled by mouth and to create differing acoustics for iPad. There are the basic drumsticks with ‘beads’ of different shapes, sizes and materials at the end for distinct sounds; brushes used mostly with cymbals; rutes, which are made of bundles of birch, cane or twigs bound together (or sometimes a rod that has been split) and can be adjusted for looseness or tightness of the dowels; nylon brushes and padded mallets for a start.