Introduction

IMUTUS aims at the development of an open platform for training students on musical instruments. It introduces innovative features both at the pedagogical and at the technological levels. Pedagogical and technological innovation are closely linked since new technological tools will allow for new teaching practices, while new pedagogical demands may call for new technological R&D.

The recorder is chosen as the target instrument because it is a traditional instrument widely taught in European schools providing no MIDI support. The system will be designed to address the needs of beginners (first level) who are usually at the age of 9 to 14 years old. However, users of any age may use the system to improve their musical skills and acquire music knowledge.

IMUTUS will provide an attractive, engaging and easy to use environment equipped with advanced technological tools to increase the effectiveness of music training and learning, allowing the students to proceed at their own pace. Lesson of theory will be combined with challenging practicing sessions and fun games to create a complete learning setting.

Theory presentations will mainly cover the material necessary for successfully coping with the exercises and will present a useful source of information for the pupil to refer to when necessary. Considering the wide availability of existing software and web resources for teaching different aspects of music theory (music fundamentals, music reading and writing etc.) this choice is fully justified. Moreover, delivering an open platform, IMUTUS will enable educational units to be dynamically inserted by tutors, allowing the content to be continuously augmented.

IMUTUS is not intended to replace traditional forms of teaching. As all music tuition software, IMUTUS is expected to be most successful when used as a supplement to traditional music lessons with a teacher and will be particularly effective at teaching the more repetitive, yet essential, aspects of learning music. Many students never master these essential components of music and, consequently, do not achieve a high level of accomplishment in music. Providing a fun and attractive learning environment, IMUTUS will encourage students to practice and master these skills.

The student’s performance will be assessed objectively by a specially developed objective performance evaluation module, based on a comparison between the extracted MIDI information and a target performance compiled from the original score. The module will offer feedback suitable to the current skill level of the student, presenting it as easy-to-understand feedback messages referring to high-lighted notes or parts in the original score.

The possibilities of formulating an adequate list of basic skills (technical and musical) that are involved in music performance will be examined. Using such list of skills, both as a basis for the assessment of the student level, as well as for the characterization of the melodies and exercises, would allow the system to suggest follow-up exercises and provide more personalized learning paths.

Additionally, the student will have the capability to listen to changes in pitch or note values made in the original score by means of a graphical editor. This basic editor provides the means to edit the score of a piece, to convert it into MIDI format, and to listen to the transformed score. In this way, the student can obtain a immediate realization of variety of musical elements through direct interaction with the system.

Audio recognition and optical recognition algorithms will be improved resulting in higher recognition rates in more complex acoustic performances or printed scores. The incorporation of high quality recognition techniques leads to an innovative integrated system facing the total situation of interactive music tuition using either acoustic or written input, in case MIDI output is not available.

Another element that increases the up-to-date functionality of the system is its Internet-based communicative character. The musical courses database will be downloaded through the Internet and will be updated based on the comments and the results of the users, enhancing the dynamic and interactive nature of the system. Additionally, the students will be provided with the ability to communicate with a specially mandated distance learning teacher group to obtain electronic guidance, feedback and assistance whenever they require it, through asynchronous Internet communication.

The fingering technique is one of the most important aspects in learning and practicing with a musical instrument. Thus, the educational value of appropriately representing the movement of the fingers and the positioning of the instrument between the lips is (embouchure) evident. The selection of virtual reality (in the form of a 3D representation technology such as VRML) presents a superior solution over simple video, since it will enable the pupil to freely navigate within the scenery, observing the movement of the virtual player from different viewpoints, zooming in and out, and emphasizing on aspects that they consider especially difficult (e.g. the position of two fingers to each other). Moreover, the use of a high level coding for the finger positions and movements and a music-notation-to-hand-position mapping, will make it possible to dynamically render in 3D the fingering of any score or passage, which would be impossible through the use of simple video. The introduction of virtual reality will also allow experimentation with new pedagogical mechanisms for teaching music and more specifically for showing correct hand and finger positioning.

Thus, providing such an efficient and innovative environment for music practice can significantly improve the quality of computer-based music tuition, balance the position of traditional instruments over electronic keyboards, and allow for the definition and experimentation with new music teaching practices enriching the traditional procedures and involving advanced technological tools and distance learning.