Uni Project in MAXMSP

Hello,

I'm not very savvy with MAXMSP and I'm trying to learn. I'm on a Performance Sound course in Rose Bruford in London and I would like some help on working a few things out in MAX for my sound instillation.

The Idea:
The Idea is somebody sits down on a chair in a room full of speakers and lights. I'm thinking of making it look like a sound/lighting engineers closet. I will have fabric that when pressure is applied to it, it will send a signal down to my Arduino and into my Maxbook Pro with MAXMSP on it. My Macbook Pro will be linked to a mixing desk using a 3.5mm Jack to stereo phono and connected to the desk will be 5 of the speakers in the room with a subwoofer which will obviously make 5.1 surround.

So to put it as basically as possible...
Fabric in chair > Arduino > Macbook Pro > MAXMSP > Mixing desk > Speakers

When somebody sits down on this chair I want a sound scape from a completely different place to come through the speakers. Like a beach or Hell. This audio I will design using Logic Pro 9. If he/she gets up again whilst the audio is playing, I want the sound to instantly stop. Also, provided he/she sits down again in 10 seconds or less I want the sound to continue from where it left off. If the fabric sends no signal in 10 seconds or more I want the audio to reset its self so that when the next person comes along they will start from the beginning. That way I can leave my instillation alone and watch people enjoy.

My question is how the hell do I design this is MAXMSP?

I'd need something to tell MAX that a signal is coming through. It's a simple ON/OFF. Either there is a signal or there isn't. When the signal is on it needs to trigger the audio. When the signal is off I need the audio to pause. If the signal is back on in 10 seconds or less then I want the audio to continue. If the signal is back on after 10 seconds I need the audio to start from the beginning. As you can tell I don't know where to start so any help on this would be fantastic!

Also, How do I make my arduino communicate with MAXMSP?

Thank you very much,
Maximilian Crosby