Music is a language in and of itself, it’s hard to learn, let alone produce. Thankfully, there are some schooling options to make learning music more accessible, however, that option comes later in life, and we all know learning a new language is easier when we’re young. Terrene Huang created Chorus, a modular, music-making product for kids between the ages of nine and thirteen in order to implement the whims of music production into everyday life for children.

The entire assembly of Chorus includes a guitar, microphone, piano, drum, live instrument, reverb, filter, EQ, and delay modules. With each instrument module, users can create loops within 16 beats. Additionally, the main module provides one-on-one interaction with an animated bird who doubles as the user’s instructor. This consistent visual helps young music-makers whenever trouble comes along with chord progressions or drum beats. This main module is the hub of the whole operation, providing module calibration, a volume slider, and a knob to adjust the tempo. By pressing the tempo knob, users access the rest of Chorus’s features, such as music production fundamentals like reverb and EQ. Mini-lessons keep children’s musical learning progression on track, helping to cognitively place the music production students, but Huang was careful to provide supplemental learning preferences. Children acquire skills and knowledge primarily through sensory learning, in this case: sight, touch, and sound. Chorus’s modular structure caters to sensory learners with its colorful and vibrant color scheme and the modules that are easily removable, stackable, and customizable. Each module also easily magnetizes to another and is color-coded, which only enhances the product’s intuitive design. In addition to the instrument modules, Chorus offers users the chance to incorporate audio effects, such as reverb, delay, EQ, and filter.

The combination of instrument modules and music studio capabilities is what sets this children’s product design above the rest on the market. By allowing children the chance to not only play music on real electronic instruments but also produce and mix that music in a comprehensible, manageable way, Chorus takes young learning seriously and helps to ensure that users also feel excited to learn.

Designer: Terrene Huang