Yesterday Bret mentioned wanting to break guests out of the "tech demo" script and have some activities that guests could do themselves rather than just watch us do. Something more hands on.
I have a bunch of ideas for this that I'm excited to prototype with you all next week.
One that came up yesterday is the "beat recipe book". Like the La Tabla drum machine but more guided.
I was thinking we could make a book called Beats of the World.
Each spread is about a traditional rhythm (e.g. Salsa, Capoeira, Balinese gamelan, etc).
One page describes the culture around the rhythm: what instruments are used, its history, some pictures, etc.
On the facing page is a drum machine grid where the instruments are already there and there are light-colored cues that show you where to put your tokens. You'd fill in the grid progressively and hear how each instrument contributes to the beat. I found a web version of what the experience might sound like.
This way you can make the beat yourself (learn by doing), you can modify it, etc.
As icing on the cake, there's a printed map of the world that you pull out and put next to the book on the table. As you turn the pages, places in the world are highlighted that are mentioned in the history page for the beat (e.g. for Salsa, NYC, Puerto Rico, and Cuba would light up).
And once we can track a globe we can sub the globe in for the flat map.