Application of Four-Hands Piano Virtual Learning Videos for Learning to Read Basic Level Block Notation

Learning media can be said as a tool in the learning process, with everything that can be used to stimulate the thoughts, feelings, attention and abilities or skills of students so that it can encourage the learning process. The material presented must be systematically and psychologically designed in order to prepare effective instruction. This article discusses learning to read piano instrument block notes using a virtual four-handed piano learning video that can be easily accessed and studied individually. However, the success of the four-handed virtual piano learning video in learning piano block notation has various aspects that must be considered so that the music-making features available in the video can be used effectively. This article aims to discuss the level of student satisfaction in the use of four hands virtual piano learning videos, identify obstacles in learning, provide feedback and important information for learning improvement. This research uses descriptive analysis method. Involving three course students who already understand reading block notation, in the Borg and Gall method, this product testing is in stage 1, where the subjects involved are still in small scope. The results of this test show some of the advantages and disadvantages of learning videos, both in terms of audio, visual, material, material delivery techniques, to the level of students' understanding of the material

Towards the Design of a Natural User Interface for Performing and Learning Musical Gestures

AbstractA large variety of musical instruments, either acoustical or digital, are based on a keyboard scheme. Keyboard instruments can produce sounds through acoustic means but they are increasingly used to control digital sound synthesis processes with nowadays music. Interestingly, with all the different possibilities of sonic outcomes, the input remains a musical gesture. In this paper we present the conceptualization of a Natural User Interface (NUI), named the Intangible Musical Instrument (IMI), aiming to support both learning of expert musical gestures and performing music as a unified user experience. The IMI is designed to recognize metaphors of pianistic gestures, focusing on subtle uses of fingers and upper-body. Based on a typology of musical gestures, a gesture vocabulary has been created, hierarchized from basic to complex. These piano-like gestures are finally recognized and transformed into sounds

Music Information Retrieval Meets Music Education

This paper addresses the use of Music Information Retrieval (MIR) techniques in music education and their integration in learning software. A general overview of systems that are either commercially available or in research stage is presented. Furthermore, three well-known MIR methods used in music learning systems and their state-of-the-art are described: music transcription, solo and accompaniment track creation, and generation of performance instructions. As a representative example of a music learning system developed within the MIR community, the Songs2See software is outlined. Finally, challenges and directions for future research are described

A microtonal wind controller building on Yamaha’s technology to facilitate the performance of music based on the “19-EDO” scale

We describe a project in which several collaborators adapted an existing instrument to make it capable of playing expressively in music based on the microtonal scale characterised by equal divsion of the octave into 19 tones (“19-EDO”). Our objective was not just to build this instrument, however, but also to produce a well-formed piece of music which would exploit it idiomatically, in a performance which would provide listeners with a pleasurable and satisfying musical experience. Hence, consideration of the extent and limits of the playing-techniques of the resulting instrument (a “Wind-Controller”) and of appropriate approaches to the composition of music for it were an integral part of the project from the start. Moreover, the intention was also that the piece, though grounded in the musical characteristics of the 19-EDO scale, would nevertheless have a recognisable relationship with what Dimitri Tymoczko (2010) has called the “Extended Common Practice” of the last millennium. So the article goes on to consider these matters, and to present a score of the resulting new piece, annotated with comments documenting some of the performance issues which it raises. Thus, bringing the project to fruition involved elements of composition, performance, engineering and computing, and the article describes how such an inter-disciplinary, multi-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary collaboration was co-ordinated in a unified manner to achieve the envisaged outcome. Finally, we consider why the building of microtonal instruments is such a problematic issue in a contemporary (“high-tech”) society like ours

Technological Support for Highland Piping Tuition and Practice

This thesis presents a complete hardware and software system to support the learning process associated with the Great Highland Bagpipe (GHB). A digital bagpipe chanter interface has been developed to enable accurate measurement of the player's nger movements and bag pressure technique, allowing detailed performance data to be captured and analysed using the software components of the system. To address the challenge of learning the diverse array of ornamentation techniques that are a central aspect of Highland piping, a novel algorithm is presented for the recognition and evaluation of a wide range of embellishments performed using the digital chanter. This allows feedback on the player's execution of the ornaments to be generated. The ornament detection facility is also shown to be e ective for automatic transcription of bagpipe notation, and for performance scoring against a ground truth recording in a game interface, Bagpipe Hero. A graphical user interface (GUI) program provides facilities for visualisation, playback and comparison of multiple performances, and for automatic detection and description of piping-speci c ngering and ornamentation errors. The development of the GUI was informed by feedback from expert pipers and a small-scale user study with students. The complete system was tested in a series of studies examining both lesson and solo practice situations. A detailed analysis of these sessions was conducted, and a range of usage patterns was observed in terms of how the system contributed to the di erent learning environments. This work is an example of a digital interface designed to connect to a long established and highly formalised musical style. Through careful consideration of the speci c challenges faced in teaching and learning the bagpipes, this thesis demonstrates how digital technologies can provide a meaningful contribution to even the most conservative cultural traditions.This work was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as part of the Doctoral Training Centre in Media and Arts Technology at Queen Mary University of London (ref: EP/G03723X/1)

ADEPT:Exploring the Design, Pedagogy, and Analysis of a Mixed Reality Application for Piano Training

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Interactive Software for Guitar Learning

In this paper we present software designed to help address problems encountered by beginning guItarists, using interactive software to find effective solutions to enhance the learning process. Software can be utilised to improve a player's ability tdhear mistakes in theIr performance, as well as to create a fun and entertaining learning environment 'to motivate the player to practice. A software prototype ~~s been developed, which served as a basIs for usabllzty testmg, to highlight the usefulness of vari~us methods of feedback and provide a way forward in developing valuable software for guitar tuition