Accessible Choral Ensembles for Visually Impaired Singers

Choral activities are generally led by a conductor who uses visual cues and non-verbal instructions to drive the performance. Song dynamics are generally well rehearsed however live performances may necessitate unrehearsed messages in order to correct errors or to introduce dynamics in response to external factors. These messages are communicated by the choir master just-in-time, to which however, visually impaired choristers have no access. This paper outlines an investigation into how technology can contribute to this end while presenting a solution which adopts optoelectronic devices for gesture recognition, real-time communication protocols and over-the-air haptic-feedback to enable participation while minimising adoption barriers via intuitive and low-friction interaction. Insights from both qualitative and quantitative techniques will be presented along with techniques used to understand, assess and evaluate the domain in an iterative series of interventions.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Claire Galea

Chris Porter

Conference

Publication date: July 2018

Publication date (Print): July 2018

Pages: 1-10

Affiliations

[1 ] Faculty of ICT

University of Malta

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.37

SO-VID: 19b2c0c9-4256-44a9-b1f1-cd18ae20dbc0

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of the 32nd International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference

Conference acronym: HCI

Conference number: 32

Conference location: Belfast, UK

Conference date: 4 - 6 July 2018

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Human Computer Interaction Conference

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.37

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

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G. BertiniP. Carosi 1993 Light baton system: A system for conducting computer music performance Interface 22 3)243 257 doi:10.1080/09298219308570635
J. O. Borchers 1997 WorldBeat: Designing a baton-based interface for an interactive music exhibit Paper presented at the Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Atlanta, Georgia, USA 131 138
J. BorchersE. LeeW. SammingerM. Muhlhauser 2004 Personal orchestra: A real-time audio/video system for interactive conducting Multimedia Systems 9 5 458 465
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A. Cox 2010 Musical gestures: Sound, movement and meaning rolf inge godoy and marc leman (eds.). Musicultures 37 0
D.P. DeVenney 2010 The Right Hand In Conducting Choirs 1 The Promising Conductor Roger Dean Publishing Company, a Lorenz Company
C. Durrant 2018 Choral conducting New York Routledge
I. FetteA. Melnikov 2011 The WebSocket protocol. () IETF: Internet Engineering Task Force; Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Retrieved from http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6455
J. H. FontelesS. SilvaM. A. F. Rodrigues 2015 Gesture-driven interaction using the leap motion to conduct a 3D particle system: Evaluation and analysis of an orchestral performance SBC Journal on Interactive Systems 6 2 11 21
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R. Lai 2014 Exclusive: PMD’s CamBoard pico XS is the tiniest gesture camera we’ve ever seen http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/10/pmd-camboard-pico-xs-gesture-camera/ (accessed April 2018)
E. LeeT. M. NakraJ. Borchers 2004(2004 You’re the conductor: A realistic interactive conducting system for children Paper presented at the In Proceedings of the NIME 2004 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression 68 73
O. C. Manzanelli 2010 Conducting a blind choir: An experience from argentina Europa Cantat Magazine Music and Handicap 3
T. MarrinJ. Paradiso 1997(1997 The digital baton: A versatile performance instrument Paper presented at the Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference 313 316
P. Matev 2010 The academician petko staynov choir: A mixed professional choir of the blind in sofia, bulgaria Europa Cantat Magazine: Music and Handicap 3
A. C. McClung 1996 The relationship between nonverbal communication and conducting: An interview with rodney eichenberger Choral Journal 36 10)17
K. Menehan 2009 With access and accommodation for all The Voice of Chorus America 32 2
S. MitraT. Acharya 2007 Gesture recognition: A survey IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Part C (Applications and Reviews) 37 3)311 324 doi:10.1109/TSMCC.2007.893280
H. Park 2015 How useful is braille music?: A critical review International Journal of Disability, Development and Education 62 3)303 318 doi:10.1080/1034912X.2015.1020921
Royal National Institute of Blind People(2016 Braille music http://www.rnib.org.uk/braille-and-moon-%E2%80%93-tactile-codes/braille-music
J. PreeceY. RogersH. Sharp 2002 What is interaction design? Interaction design(1st ed.1 31)New York, NY, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc
A. R. SarkarG. SanyalS. Majumder 2013 Article: Hand gesture recognition systems: A survey International Journal of Computer Applications 71 15 25 37
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M. A. Smaligo 1999 Resources for helping blind music students Future Reflections 18 1
C. K. TsuiC. H. LawH. Fu 2014 One-man orchestra: Conducting smartphone orchestra Paper presented at the SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 Emerging Technologies Shenzhen, China 11 1 11 2 doi:10.1145/2669047.2669049 Retrieved from http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2669047.2669049
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K. Van Weelden(2002 Relationships between perceptions of conducting effectiveness and ensemble performance Journal of Research in Music Education 50 2)165 176 doi:10.2307/3345820

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] H. S. BadiS. Hussein 2014 Hand posture and gesture recognition technology Neural Computing and Applications 25 3)871 878 doi:10.1007/s00521-014-1574-4

[2] G. BertiniP. Carosi 1993 Light baton system: A system for conducting computer music performance Interface 22 3)243 257 doi:10.1080/09298219308570635

[3] J. O. Borchers 1997 WorldBeat: Designing a baton-based interface for an interactive music exhibit Paper presented at the Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Atlanta, Georgia, USA 131 138

[4] J. BorchersE. LeeW. SammingerM. Muhlhauser 2004 Personal orchestra: A real-time audio/video system for interactive conducting Multimedia Systems 9 5 458 465

[5] V. BraunV. Clarke 2006 Using thematic analysis in psychology Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 2)77 101 doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

[6] A. Cox 2010 Musical gestures: Sound, movement and meaning rolf inge godoy and marc leman (eds.). Musicultures 37 0

[7] D.P. DeVenney 2010 The Right Hand In Conducting Choirs 1 The Promising Conductor Roger Dean Publishing Company, a Lorenz Company

[8] C. Durrant 2018 Choral conducting New York Routledge

[9] I. FetteA. Melnikov 2011 The WebSocket protocol. () IETF: Internet Engineering Task Force; Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Retrieved from http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6455

[10] J. H. FontelesS. SilvaM. A. F. Rodrigues 2015 Gesture-driven interaction using the leap motion to conduct a 3D particle system: Evaluation and analysis of an orchestral performance SBC Journal on Interactive Systems 6 2 11 21

[11] G. Guest 2012 Applied thematic analysis Introduction to applied thematic analysis 3 20)Thousand Oaks, California SAGE Publications, Inc

[12] R. Lai 2014 Exclusive: PMD’s CamBoard pico XS is the tiniest gesture camera we’ve ever seen http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/10/pmd-camboard-pico-xs-gesture-camera/ (accessed April 2018)

[13] E. LeeT. M. NakraJ. Borchers 2004(2004 You’re the conductor: A realistic interactive conducting system for children Paper presented at the In Proceedings of the NIME 2004 Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression 68 73

[14] O. C. Manzanelli 2010 Conducting a blind choir: An experience from argentina Europa Cantat Magazine Music and Handicap 3

[15] T. MarrinJ. Paradiso 1997(1997 The digital baton: A versatile performance instrument Paper presented at the Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference 313 316

[16] P. Matev 2010 The academician petko staynov choir: A mixed professional choir of the blind in sofia, bulgaria Europa Cantat Magazine: Music and Handicap 3

[17] A. C. McClung 1996 The relationship between nonverbal communication and conducting: An interview with rodney eichenberger Choral Journal 36 10)17

[18] K. Menehan 2009 With access and accommodation for all The Voice of Chorus America 32 2

[19] S. MitraT. Acharya 2007 Gesture recognition: A survey IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Part C (Applications and Reviews) 37 3)311 324 doi:10.1109/TSMCC.2007.893280

[20] H. Park 2015 How useful is braille music?: A critical review International Journal of Disability, Development and Education 62 3)303 318 doi:10.1080/1034912X.2015.1020921

[21] Royal National Institute of Blind People(2016 Braille music http://www.rnib.org.uk/braille-and-moon-%E2%80%93-tactile-codes/braille-music

[22] J. PreeceY. RogersH. Sharp 2002 What is interaction design? Interaction design(1st ed.1 31)New York, NY, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc

[23] A. R. SarkarG. SanyalS. Majumder 2013 Article: Hand gesture recognition systems: A survey International Journal of Computer Applications 71 15 25 37

[24] K. SathianR. Stilla 2010 Cross-modal plasticity of tactile perception in blindness Restor Neurol Neurosci 28 2)271 281 doi:10.3233/RNN-2010-0534

[25] J. SauroJ. R. Lewis 2012 Quantifying the user experience: Practical statistics for user research Elsevier/Morgan Kaufmann Retrieved from http://books.google.com.mt/books?id=QncH02-bvjoC

[26] M. A. Smaligo 1999 Resources for helping blind music students Future Reflections 18 1

[27] C. K. TsuiC. H. LawH. Fu 2014 One-man orchestra: Conducting smartphone orchestra Paper presented at the SIGGRAPH Asia 2014 Emerging Technologies Shenzhen, China 11 1 11 2 doi:10.1145/2669047.2669049 Retrieved from http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2669047.2669049

[28] C. Y. WanA. G. WoodD. C. ReutensS. J. Wilson 2010 Early but not late-blindness leads to enhanced auditory perception Neuropsychologia 48 1)344 doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2009.08.016

[29] K. Van Weelden(2002 Relationships between perceptions of conducting effectiveness and ensemble performance Journal of Research in Music Education 50 2)165 176 doi:10.2307/3345820

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