Abstract:
The thesis entitled the Creation of an Integrated Musical Instrument for the Mentally Disabled Children was aimed to create an integrated musical instruments for the mentally disabled children, to compose 4 Thai songs for the integrated musical instruments for the mentally disabled children and to study the effects of using the integrated musical instruments for the mentally disabled children in terms of perception and reaction to musical elements, i.e. rhythm, melody and sound. The results can be concluded as follows: Appearance of the integrated musical instruments is in the form of towable rectangular cart from which some parts could be taken out individually as 4 different types of musical instruments struck, blown, plucked, bowed, shaken and keyboard. Based on manner of playing, the integrated instruments contained every type of the instruments and can be played by as many as 18 players simultaneously. The integrated instrument is painted with vivid, eye-catching pink, red, orange, yellow, green and blue colors. The 4 created compositions use melodic scale of Thai traditional music and are melodically short and repetitive. By experimenting the integrated musical instrument with samples of mentally disabled children, the results revealed that the samples showed favorable perception and reaction to rhythm, melody and sound.