Multimedia Recognition of Piano Music Based on the Hidden Markov Model

Piano performance is an art with rich artistic elements and unpredictable performance skills. It is an important carrier for playing beautiful piano sounds. The generation of musical tension and expression of piano performance is a vivid display of piano performance skills. In piano performance, we should pay attention to the cultivation and flexible application of performance skills. In order to ensure the richness and artistry of piano performance, it is fully based on the artistic characteristics of piano performance. Through in-depth analysis of the principle of the hidden Markov model, it is applied to the multimedia recognition process of piano playing music. In the process of obtaining the template, the fundamental frequency of the piano playing music differs greatly, and the piano playing music appears during the performance process. For the problem of low recognition rate, this paper proposes a multimedia recognition method for piano music. Finally, the analysis of experimental results shows that the method proposed in this paper has a 16% higher recognition rate than the traditional method, and it has a certain value in the multimedia recognition of piano music.

Problemas de tocar e ensinar piano: uma contribuição pedagógica de George Kochevitsky

O presente artigo tem como objetivo discorrer sobre as contribuições de George Kochevitsky, abordadas no seu livro The Art of Piano Playing, a scientific approach (A arte de tocar piano: uma abordagem científica), principalmente, no que se refere aos problemas de performance e de pedagogia pianística, alinhados aos pensamentos dos outros educadores renomados da área. Devido à sua natureza, a pesquisa foi amparada no método bibliográfico, apoiando-se em: Kochevitsky (1967; 1996 e 2004), Sá Pereira (1964), Kaplan (2008), Gieseking e Leimer (1972), Neuhaus (1987), entre outros. O trabalho visa contribuir para os estudos sobre o ensino e a interpretação pianística na função de um novo referencial teórico em língua portuguesa, ressaltando a importância de aprofundamento do tema nas pesquisas na área de Teoria e História do Pianismo e Pedagogia do Piano.

“Is it gonna be fun?”: Lolabelle, Dog Pianists, and Musical Réussite

This article examines historical dog pianists and the pianistic training of Lolabelle the rat terrier to explore a musical question beyond structure and intention: what might musical encounters between human and nonhuman animals make possible? Reviewers of Laurie Anderson’s film Heart of a Dog, in which some of Lolabelle’s performances appear, rarely center either Lolabelle or her pianism and frequently distance themselves from indicating belief in the musicality of the activity. The tone of this reporting is consistent with that of other Western reporting on dog pianists in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. While piano-playing dogs have historically strengthened the human-animal divide by reinforcing dogs’ status as never-human, the frames for anthropomorphic acts are what strengthen this divide rather than something inherent in the anthropomorphic activity itself.

Exploring synergy in a mobile learning model for piano playing ornaments exercise with local musical heritage

This study addresses the potential of a mobile learning model that integrates local Malaysian musical heritage in piano ornaments finger exercise. An asynchronous model adapted from the concept of karaoke was designed aiming at a synergy of piano exercise, edutainment, and heritage education with visual and auditory accompaniments. We aimed to raise interest and motivation for piano playing ornaments exercise among learners during practice while raising awareness of local musical heritage. A total of 30 piano students aged 13 to 15 years participated in this intervention study; they were equally divided into a control group and an experimental group. The pre- and post-intervention assessments revealed an increase in the levels of motivation, awareness of local musical heritage, and perceived satisfaction factors for the new mobile learning model.

Examining Piano Playing Proficiency among Selected Music Students in a Ghanaian Public University

Piano instruction—composition, arrangement and tutoring has been a pivotal part of music education. Several countries across the globe have encapsulated it into curriculums and syllabi. Its benefits span several genres of music. It has been part of music education at the tertiary level in Ghana but has not received enough attention and is also faced with several challenges. The study sought to examine the piano playing proficiency among tertiary students within the Ghanaian context and the various factors responsible for the challenges faced and propose contextual interventions to address the issue. The study made use of the qualitative methodology. The instruments used for data collection were semi-structured interviews and participant observations. It was evident that piano playing among tertiary students needs rapt attention in terms of tutorials, well-equipped studio space and competent personnel to handle the tutelage. It is recommended that stakeholders shift the focal lens to piano playing proficiency in music education students as one of the requirements for graduation.

Playing the piano with a robotic third thumb: assessing constraints of human augmentation

Contemporary robotics gives us mechatronic capabilities for augmenting human bodies with extra limbs. However, how our motor control capabilities pose limits on such augmentation is an open question. We developed a Supernumerary Robotic 3rd Thumbs (SR3T) with two degrees-of-freedom controlled by the user’s body to endow them with an extra contralateral thumb on the hand. We demonstrate that a pianist can learn to play the piano with 11 fingers within an hour. We then evaluate 6 naïve and 6 experienced piano players in their prior motor coordination and their capability in piano playing with the robotic augmentation. We show that individuals’ augmented performance with the SR3T could be explained by our new custom motor coordination assessment, the Human Augmentation Motor Coordination Assessment (HAMCA) performed pre-augmentation. Our work demonstrates how supernumerary robotics can augment humans in skilled tasks and that individual differences in their augmentation capability are explainable by their individual motor coordination abilities.