Maker Faire 2014 : The Musical Staircase

It's all up and down...

Way back in 2014, we were given an opportunity to consult on a proposed Musical Staircase project for a major entertainment venue in the Midlands. We're contractually obliged not to say which one but you can probably guess because it's not all that far from Birmingham.

The design brief looked something like this:

  • Visitors walking up down a prepared flight of stairs should trigger a series of musical notes, phrases and sound effects
  • A visual element related to the triggered notes was essential i.e. the stairs should flash and/or spotlights in the ceiling would change colour
  • Trained staff should be able adjust the performance to suit crowd conditions i.e switch it off
  • Trained staff could upload new content that might include still images, videos, advertising shorts and details of forthcoming attractions

We travelled to the venue and delivered a short presentation based on the above specifications. Suitably impressed, the panel decided to proceed with the project and agreed to fund a proof of concept prototype.

The first prototype used a set of ultra-bright LEDs coupled to a corresponding series of light-dependent resistors, the same arrangement which we'd used in the Laser Harp although, in this instance, the layout proved unreliable. In the next iteration, we combined the LED/LDRs with pressure sensors under each step. This arrangement worked very, very well. We could reliably trigger notes and flash the test lamps.

Alas, whilst the protoype worked well, the project was cancelled before we able to demonstrate the finished piece. Why? Almost certainly because, as kids, we were always told that we should never play on the stairs and here we were, encouraging people to dance and generally fool about in a manner that could pretty much guarantee a whole bunch of personal injury claims. Such an installation would likely represent a huge Health and Safety risk. In addition, we felt that the finished system would likely be both too complicated to operate and maintain as well as too expensive. Sad but such is life.

Undefeated, we installed the Musical Staircase prototype at Maker Faire 2014. Subject to visitors agreeing to use the staircase at their own risk and not to sue us if they fell off or twisted an ankle, patrols could run up and down or dance on the stairs, and the sound generator would produce a sequence of musical notes as they moved.

As you might imagine, the installation proved very, very popular with small children and young adults. However, we were forced to withdraw the exhibit completely on the second day after a gentleman of more generous proportions decided to have a go even though he knew his weight would exceed the stated limits... and he pretty much snapped the frame in two.

The Musical Staircase is not a project I plan on revisiting again. Indeed, the staircase assembly itself was turned into shelving shortly after the Maker Faire was over and the electronics found their way into another project entirely. That said, the Staircase was a fun project to put together in a short space of time and was a lot of fun to play with during its short life.