PickUpPiano
Group Members
- Joy Chen, joyc@mit.edu
- Keshav Dhandhania, keshav57@mit.edu
- Pramod Kandel, pramod@mit.edu
Problem Statement
It goes without saying, that a A significant fraction of the human population loves music. And it also goes without saying, that piano Piano is one of the best musical instruments of all time, particularly for novices.
There are very many people, young and grown-ups alike, who want to learn piano during the spare time they have at home. Interviewing various people and going through the syllabus of various music schools has shown us that learning piano usually proceeds along the following (approximately chronological correct) path
- Learning Basic theory - musical notation and basic theory - , notes, chords, etc.
- Playing simple songs like (e.g. "Happy birthday to you" using single hand only), finger exercises.
- Simple exercises with both hands.
- Training your ears on distinguishing musical notes, music dictation.
- Playing more advanced songs.
- Being a part of an orchestra!
We want to help people who want to learn piano reach their goals. Looking around the internet, it seems that there To do this, we had to find what is missing from their existing resources. There are various tutorials that address step 1, and that steps 2 and 3 and step 2 is more about practice and students students’ initiative than the teacherstutor. To the best of our knowledge, there is nothing on the web that addresses step 43, and that is what we would like to do. to focus on.
Ear training is a process by which musicians learn to identify, solely by hearing, pitches, intervals, melody, chords, rhythms, and other basic elements of music. The application of this skill is analogous to taking dictation in written/spoken language. One of the immediate benefits of ear training is that the learner is able to “listen and play” vs “read and play”. Also, expert musicians have the firm belief that ear training enhances the learners appreciation for music and their ability to analyze and compose music.
More detail on ear training can be found at at music dictation and and Solfeggio. We would like to understand how best one can create a tool to help learners through the process of ear training, so that our users can go from the beginner's level of "read and play" to the more advanced level of "listen and play"the needs of users undergoing ear training, no matter their level of experience, and make a tool specifically for them addressing their needs as much as possible.
Links
PickUpPiano - GR1: Analysis
GR3 - : Paper Prototypingprototyping