Young violin players enjoy wearing the Music Jacket and it does not inferfere with their playing (July 2009). Photo by Jon Bird.

Young violin players enjoy wearing the Music Jacket and it does not inferfere with their playing (July 2009). Photo by Jon Bird.

Pilot study that demonstrated that vibrotactile feedback can guide subjects' hands to targets on a screen (July 2009). Photo by Jon Bird.

Pilot study that demonstrated that vibrotactile feedback can guide subjects' hands to targets on a screen (July 2009). Photo by Jon Bird.

Rose Johnson trying out a prototype 8 vibration motor MusicJacket (November 2009). Photo by Jon Bird.

Rose Johnson trying out a prototype 8 vibration motor MusicJacket (November 2009). Photo by Jon Bird.

MusicJacket

We are developing a system for novice violin players that helps them to learn how to hold their instrument correctly and good bowing action. We work closely with violin teachers and our system is designed to support conventional teaching methods.

A visualisation of a good bowing action generted from motion capture data. There is very little movement by the elbow of the bowing arm and the bow follows a relatively straight trajectory. Movie by Erwin Schoonderwaldt.

We use an Animazoo IGS-190 inertial motion capture system to track the position of the violin and the trajectory of the bow. We use vibrotactile feedack to inform the student when either they are holding their violin incorrectly or their bowing trajectory has deviated from the desired path. We are investigating whether this system motivates students to practice and improves their technique.

A top down visualisation of a bad bowing action generted from motion capture data. There is a large movement of the shoulder, upper arm and elbow of the bowing arm and the bow does not follow a straight trajectory. Compare this to the top down visualisation of a good bowing action below. Movie by Erwin Schoonderwaldt.

A top down visualisation of a good bowing action generted from motion capture data. There is very little movement by the elbow of the bowing arm and the bow follows a relatively straight trajectory. Movie by Erwin Schoonderwaldt.

Two recent publications that describe the development of the MusicJacket and some pilot studies that investigate how vibrotactile feedback can be used to guide hand movements are:

van der Linden, J., Schoonderwaldt, E. and Bird, J. (2009) Towards a Real-Time System for Teaching Novices Good Violin Bowing Technique. Proceedings of the Eighth IEEE International Workshop on Haptic Audio Visual Environments and Games, (forthcoming).
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van der Linden, J., Schoonderwaldt, E. and Bird, J. (2009) Good Vibrations: Guiding Body Movements with Vibrotactile Feedback. Proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Physicality, 13-18.
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