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 significant fraction of the human population loves music. And it also goes without saying, that piano is one of the best musical instruments of all time.
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 musical notation and basic theory - notes, chords, etc.
- Playing simple songs like "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 are various tutorials that address step 1, and that steps 2 and 3 and more about practice and students initiative than the teachers. To the best of our knowledge, there is nothing on the web that addresses step 4, and that is what we would like to do.
More detail on ear training can be found at music dictation 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".
Links
GR2 - Designs
GR3 - Paper Prototyping
GR4 - Computer Prototyping
GR5 - Implementation
GR6 - User Testing