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The increasing significance of cooperation and communication in the international world of music is a significant trend. The barrier of geographical distances and the cost and efficiency of cooperation and communication processes are pressing global issues. Numerous advances in multimedia and human computer interaction (HCI) technology have introduced a number of innovative benefits to our lives. Remote meeting tools and interactive e-learning platforms are good examples of cost-effective applications that are now used around the world to benefit business and education areas.
To extend online collaborative opportunities to music professions, a few software applications have been developed that use distributed environments, which allow real-time interactions between geographically distant musicians (Chafe, Wilson, Leistikow, Chisholm, & Scavone, 2000; Renaud, Carot, & Rebelo, 2007; Zimmermann, Chew, Arslan, & Moses, 2008). However, synchronization challenges constrain the number of players in different locations and make distributed orchestra rehearsal impractical. To mitigate synchronization challenges, an interactive conducting system could become the middle agent in interpreting conductor gestures and tuning music based on recognized results for each distributed player. In addition to being a cheap and practical solution for amateur conductors, a music conducting system could be a helpful teaching and training tool in schools and academic environments. Even professional conductors could use a conducting system with musicians' audio files as input to experiment with the shape of the music. Conducting systems could further enhance composers' ability to experience their own creations.
A number of conducting systems were completed in recent decades that assist in the construction of interactive conducting systems. While some prior efforts emphasized understanding the emotional expressions conveyed through conducting techniques, others focused on building the actual systems. The Conductor's Jacket (Nakra, 2000) is a relatively successful system available for use that provides a test bed for the study of emotional expression in music conducting. After collecting and analyzing data from conductors during rehearsals and performances, thirty-five significant features that reflected intuitive and natural gestural tendencies were identified. These features then assist the conducting systems in better interpreting conducting gestures.
Several works have been published on constructing interactive conducting systems (Argueta, Ko &, Chen, 2009; Borchers, Lee, Samminger, & Müuhlhäuser, 2004; Lee, Grüll, Kiel, & Borchers, 2006a; Lee et al., 2006b; Murphy, Andersen, & Jensen, 2003; Nakra, Ivanov, Smaragdis, & Ault, 2009; Prisco, Sabatino, Zaccagnino, & Zaccagnino, 2011; Segen, Gluckman, & Kumar, 2000; Wong, Yuen, & Choy, 2008). In the last decade, the construction of interactive conducting systems has facilitated conductor-specialized hardware. A good interactive conducting system should provide tempo control, volume control, instrument emphasis, and pattern-changing beat recognition. Moreover, it should be suitable for both beginners and professionals.