connorgblogwk1

Connor Griffin

MA Project Workshop

Blog Post 13

Alot of the feedback that I received from my classmates was centered on the visual component rather than the audio. For the audio, everyone enjoyed the quality of the audio as well as the heart of the song. A Lot of the feedback was centered on how catchy the song was as well as how it was written lyrically which both made me feel really proud of my work. As for the visual component, everyone was pretty much along the lines of choosing a visual component that would resonate with the theme of the song as opposed to something random. The visual added was just for an example to demonstrate how the videos would look. A lot of people suggested videos that showcased my upbringing as well as life where I am from, so that definitely helped me circulate new ideas as to where I would want those locations to be. My next steps are to begin production of the songs as well as shoot my locations over the course of the break and next semester. My next deliverable would be a potential list of scenes as to where I would want to shoot at. Yes, I have a set committee and chair.

For the future life of my project, I would put it in a portfolio for reference for any music and audio careers in the future. Having a virtual reality album not only demonstrates skill with audio technology, but also skill with Virtual Reality technology as well. I will also share it with friends on social media as this could be something that they have never heard of.

Thank You  Dr.Shaw and Professor. Zaylea for making this a wonderful class and keeping me on track with my project. This class has truly helped me frame the scope of my project as well as how I want it to look, and I couldn’t have done that without help from you both.

The article that I will be discussing is “The Evolution of Music Performance Anxiety and Quality of Performance During Virtual Reality Exposure Training” by Josiane Bissonnette. What this article is talking about is how the use of Virtual Reality technology is used as a method for treating anxiety disorders in students. More specifically, dealing with anxiety relating to music performance. Nine different students participated in this multitude of different sessions spread out over the weeks. What was interesting to find about this article is that there was a significant decrease in music performance anxiety between sessions while also reporting a significant increase in the overall performance quality of the students. 

This article relates to my project a little bit in the sense that it also talks about the use of Virtual Reality technology in a music setting. Something to note is that the students using the headsets did see an improvement in their performance and a decrease in their anxiety, which leads me to question how effective immersion can be for the person experiencing it. Maybe examining how the students reacted to being immersed can help provide insight into the type of immersion that I would want my audience to feel when they view my project for the first time.

I spent my day working on more research and framing how I wanted to shoot my project. I did talk to my committee chair the day before who offered great help with different sources as well as some examples of how to provide my next deliverable of a song and a visual component. No, I did not meet with Kristina Devoe.

Bissonnette, J., Dubé, F., Provencher, M. D., & Moreno Sala, M. T. (2016). Evolution of music performance anxiety and quality of performance during virtual reality exposure training. Virtual Reality, 20, 71-81.

The article that I have decided to research is called “Virtual Reality Musical Instruments: State of the Art, Design Principals, and Future Directions” by Stefania Serafin. In this article, they go over the basic principles of Virtual Reality Musical instruments such as the historical context of them being software emulations, how they can act as extensions of musical instruments, and how we can control them with new interfaces. In addition, they talk about how they are being received form the viewpoint of a performer. They also consider the future challenges that are present when using Virtual Reality Musical Instruments such as motion sickness from too much stimulation in such a rapid format.

This contributes to my project a little bit in the sense that it has to do with Virtual Reality and music. Although this mainly relates to how instruments are played, the fact that they are analyzing people using Virtual Reality technology and a specific music-related program is vital to my project because I need to take into consideration the potential problems that could occur with people using Virtual Reality technology. Some of my audience members could get motion sickness from using the device for too long, or some people could just not respond well to the full immersion of the Virtual Reality headset.

Serafin, S., Erkut, C., Kojs, J., Nilsson, N. C., & Nordahl, R. (2016). Virtual reality musical instruments: State of the art, design principles, and Future Directions. Computer Music Journal, 40(3), 22–40.

1. Some of the feedback I received was that I did a good job implementing the feedback from our class on my cover art by changing the font and location of it. Doing this helped the cover art stand out more without taking away from the title. Another piece of feedback is that the immersive aspect was a good idea because the live footage would help add to the realistic effect that I was going for. My next steps are to nail down practice shots and locations for where I want to shoot.
2. What I will create for my proof of concept is a quick snippet of a song. This snippet would be about 20-30 seconds, but surely enough time to grasp the concept of the song. In addition to this, I will have a quick footage to go with the song. This will be test footage from any location in Philly just to make sure that every thing is working correctly but this will act as an outline for how the album itself will look.

One book that I found is called “Virtual Music: Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era”  by Shara Rambarran. This book is referencing the future landscape of music and sound, as well as what it will look like. To go more in-depth, the book talks about a changing technoscape in which we are able to send and receive information at a much faster rate than we were ever able to before. The fact that we have improved this method of sending information and receiving information means we have essentially eliminated the restricted boundaries of distance, time, and location, allowing for more people to have access to things not previously accessible. One of which is being able to see live artists in the Virtual Reality Landscape.

This book contributes to my project in that it talks about Virtual Reality technology and how music has almost evolved in a sense because of it. The world of digital music is constantly changing. With new technology such as Virtual Reality headsets being used for people to create music or just simply watch and listen, this can be seen as an improvement in the general landscape. Virtual Reality helps break down the previous barriers such as not being able to visit concerts due to medical or distance reasons. This not only shows that the combination of Virtual Reality and Music is not only beneficial but also promotes a sense of inclusivity by allowing other people to still participate in musical events.

What I did in regard to my project was find more instrumentals to use for the songs in addition to finishing the cover art of the album. I plan to finalize the cover art and choose how many songs I would like to include.

Rambarran, S. (2021). Virtual Music: Sound, Music, and Image in the Digital Era. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

The academic article that I have chosen to write about is “The Application of Virtual Reality in Music Teaching System” by Hong-Xuan Bian. This article discusses how an interactivity feature present in Virtual Reality Technology has helped improve upon the traditional way that students typically learn music. The reason that the tech was created in the first place is to help improve the efficiency of teaching music while also improving the quality of immersion from the Virtual Reality side. The way that the teaching from the VR headset was evaluated by a factor analysis. At the end of the experiment, the results indicated that the students had a great enthusiasm for autonomous learning. In addition, the efficiency at which the students learn has also greatly increased with the new Virtual Reality program.

This contributes to my project a little because it relates to the usage of music and virtual reality. While my project is more geared toward an album, this article focuses more on an educational aspect. However, this article also demonstrates that the application of music in a virtual reality setting can be beneficial to people and that most people don’t have any initial problems with using music in a VR headset. 

The type of feedback that I received on my initial media was that the cover art photo was received very well and that I could focus on improving the text font so that it does not cover up the image. Other feedback I received was about the copyright and sampling used. The songs being used are all from people I know and therefore have permission to use. I will go through the instrumentals and edit out whatever copyright materials might be present. Another bit of feedback I received was asking about the elements of the project. So far the elements of it are original/alternative hip hop, album cover art, and visuals accompanied with each song.

Bian, H. X. (2016). Application of virtual reality in music teaching system. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (Online), 11(11), 21.

The article I will write about is “AirPiano: Enhancing Music Playing Experience in virtual-reality with Mid-air Haptic Feedback” by Inwook Hwang; Hyungki Son; and Jin Ryong Kim. The AirPiano is an enhanced music system allowing touchable uses in the virtual reality world as well as real-time feedback. The excitement comes from the realistic angle of real-time feedback simulated by the system. The two modes of feedback are constant, in which short bursts are provided, and adaptive feedback in which real-time feedback from the changes of a virtual keypress is monitored. A study was also done through this technology in which mid-air rendering can improve the user experience on the virtual and real-life piano.

This article relates to my project because it demonstrates the intersection of music and virtual reality technology. Even with the full immersion of Virtual reality technology, the users actually learned and became more comfortable using the piano. In addition, the feedback from playing the piano, specifically the adaptive feedback, has promoted clarity and user satisfaction for most of its users, which means not only users experiencing Virtual reality is important, but how the environment responded to their actions is just as important

In a meeting with members, I discussed different tools for Virtual Reality usage and how people currently use this technology.

I. Hwang, H. Son and J. R. Kim, “AirPiano: Enhancing music playing experience in virtual reality with mid-air haptic feedback,” 2017 IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC), Munich, Germany, 2017, pp. 213-218, doi: 10.1109/WHC.2017.7989903.

My research progress is on the right track for the goals that I set this semester. Research articles on the relationship between music and virtual reality are still hard to find so I needed to broaden my search to just music and virtual reality devices separately to get more sources. Some milestones that I am proud of are making sure to research something new every week and keep up to date on new updates and innovations related to my subject. My project vision is also meeting the goals that I set for the semester because I finally have a clear vision of what I want my project to be. The production milestones that I am proud of are collecting the album’s instrumentals and drafting conceptions for how the visuals will look. I will articulate that the way we consume information is vastly changing and evolving from watching simple screens to full-on immersion. Combining both our visual and auditory senses, A virtual reality music album pushes the boundaries in which we consume information, while also utilizing fairly new technology still in its early stages. What I am most looking forward to in the second half of the semester is creating good memories while finishing the project.

Another academic article I found is titled: “Music Everywhere-Augmented Reality Piano Improvisation Learning System”. In this article, the author discusses the design and usage of an AR piano tool that combines the Microsoft Hololense and a MIDI Bluetooth-enabled electric piano. The system displays a type of mirror resembling a keyboard, fitted to the environment the user is in, and opens up new possibilities of instrument learning. An entire curriculum is dedicated to teaching different genres of music such as blues, rock, jazz, and classical music. Users engaging with a piano have interactive lessons, can watch virtual hand lessons, see and hear demonstrations, and even play their own solos. The tool was designed to be fun and effective in teaching musical concepts.

This contributes to my project by having the connection of using music in an AR setting. In addition to having music be the primary focus, the article touches on music being an effective tool in teaching music, as well as showcasing users enjoying their experience when listening to music in an AR setting. This would help foster the idea that music in an AR/VR setting can be enjoyable and even beneficial for people who might want to study music.

What I am thinking about are the details of how my AR/VR album will look. In addition, I have nailed down that there will be a physical copy of the album for people to use with their mobile devices.
Das, S., Glickman, S., Hsiao, F. Y., & Lee, B. (2017). Music Everywhere–Augmented reality piano improvisation learning system. In Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME). Aalborg University Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark (pp. 511-512).

Another scholarly article I have read is “Performing Music in Virtual/Augmented Space” By Mehrnaz Alirezaie & Joel Mendoza. In this article, they are pushing the boundaries of intersection between music and the Virtual/Augmented reality world. They show this by introducing three virtual reality and three augmented reality instruments and evaluating each instrument through different categories such as functionality and efficiency. In addition, researchers are also looking at the possibility of improving ways of musical expression in the near future using Augmented and virtual reality-based instruments. The instruments being used during this article are the Virtual Xylophone, Virtual Air Guitar, and the Virtual synthesizer. The augmented instruments used are an Augmented DJ Booth, an Augmented Groove, and an Augmented music table for the creation of music.

This contributes to my project in a little way because it relates to the usage of music in a virtual and augmented reality setting. The way this article differs from my project is the fact this article focuses more on instruments being played while my project leans more toward songs as a collective being played. While my project does differ, this article did help clarify people’s initial reactions to music in a different setting and showcased how music in a Virtual or Augmented reality could be beneficial to learning.

This week, I have sent out emails and have been asking professors in person to be on my committee and a member for my project. I have a meeting with two professors next week to discuss my project in more detail. Another professor has already agreed to be on my committee while another has agreed to be a member.

Alirezaie, M., & Mendoza, J. (2005). Performing Music in Virtual/Augmented Space.

The article that I am reviewing is called “Audience Experiences of a Volumetric Reality Music Video” by Garreth Young, Neill O’Dwyer, Matthew Moynihan, and Aljosa Smolic. They describe how the landscape of audio and visual projects is rapidly changing and evolving. One of the ways in which this is changing is by shifting from traditional 2D viewership and going into a more immersive experience. With this change in how we are viewing not only music videos but seemingly all forms of audio and visual projects, the authors of this article are examining how audiences initially react to this new format. Something interesting to note about this article is that they made sure to gather negative reactions that audience members to compare results with the positive ones. One takeaway from this article is that VR is intended to enhance the user experiences with audio and visual projects, not replace it. Meaning that the focus should be placed on making the experience more enjoyable rather than focusing on being hyper-realistic.

This contributes to my project because this helps clarify the pros and cons of using VR technology with an audience and how not everyone might enjoy the experience. This also contributes to my project because it helps clarify some details that I was thinking about such as formatting the video in a way that could be enjoyable to most, if not all people.

I have worked on solidifying my project idea which is an AR/VR album and the steps needed to complete it.Young, G. W., O’Dwyer, N., Moynihan, M., & Smolic, A. (2022). Audience experiences of a volumetric virtual reality music video. 2022 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR). https://doi.org/10.1109/vr51125.2022.00099