ThumMusings

Bringing the user interface of music-making into the 21st Century, and changing the world... one note at a time.

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Name: ThumMeister
Location: Austin, Texas, United States

In the late 1980’s, I tried to write insanely great code for the Mac and help others do so, too. When Windows swept through the Valley in 1991-2, I realized my great code would become worthless if the Mac platform sank. I became very interested in knowing how to spot winning platforms. Since Microsoft clearly knew how to make its platforms succeed, I joined its Systems Strategy Group. While designing and executing practical "technology evangelism" campaigns, I studied the theory behind the practice, eventually teaching mandatory "how-to" seminars to Microsoft's new evangelists. I left Microsoft in 2000, looking for a new industry to disrupt. When my wife quit her piano lessons after six months of diligent practice, saying that “music is just too hard,” I knew I’d found it. Hammering the Web relentlessly, I found a novel combination of old ideas which could make music dramatically easier to teach, learn, & play, more emotionally expressive, and expand the frontiers of tonality. This blog tells the story of my bringing those innovations to market.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Who Cares?

Is there independent verification of claim that consumers care about the benefits develiered by the Thummer & ThumMusic System?

Yes.

In a study of 3,500 consumers conducted during the last global recession (Stimulating Consumer Demand through Meaningful Innovation, Accenture, 2002), Nunes & Johnson found that consumers most often singled out two problems as needing “better” solutions:
  • Improving their physical health and sense of well-being, and
  • Helping them learn or providing intellectual stimulation.
Clearly, learning to play the Thummer with the ThumMusic System can help consumers "learn and provide intellectual stimulation.” But what about improving consumer’s physical health and well-being? Can the Thummer do that, too?

Yes.

A study (Kigoa & Tims, 2001) of mature students taking music lessons, compared to a control group that did not take such lessons, found that among those taking lessons:
  • Blood tests indicated a 90% increase during the test period in levels of Human Growth Hormone (hGH, which increases energy and sexual function, while decreasing the occurrence rate of illnesses), and
  • Anxiety, depression and perception of loneliness all decreased.
These improvements in physical health and well-being did not occur in the control group. This is just one of a host os similar studies on music and wellness. Clearly, learning to play a musical instrument is good for you.

Indeed, learning to play the Thummer can address many of consumers’ other stated needs, too.

Here’s the full list of benefits sought by consumers from Nunes & Johnsons’ study:
Learning to play music with the Thummer can help consumers satisfy many of these perceived needs. You want more free time? Learn to play an instrument that’s easy instead of one that’s hard. Want to make the most of your free time? Learn to play the Thummer, which requires less practice to get an equivalent amount of enjoyment. Want help pursuing your interests/hobbies? If your hobby involves making music, then learning to play the Thummer can help you more than learning any other instrument. Want to connect with your friends & family? Get together and make music with the simple, flexible, portable Thummer.

In short, the Thummer offers a simple, cheap, and effective way of acquiring each of the benefits most sought by consumers.

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