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1 Epic Sheet Music Team Members Steve Seedall - Development Kevin Dong - User Experience Huijun Zhou - Design Alyssa Trinh - Design URL OR Problem & Solution Overview The tools that musicians have and use currently are effective, but arguably outdated. Sheet music, most notably, has had very few technological advances, even though it is one of the most important tools for musicians. Other tools such as metronomes and tuners have been improved and digitized, but there is currently not a resource that combines all of them together. Since many of their tools are outdated and scattered around musicians often waste valuable time using, storing, and finding them. Our solution to this problem is to create a resource that modernizes the tools that musicians commonly use and combines them into one place. It will include the ability to find and import sheet music, then view it on a tablet, which will have the ability to listen and follow along to the music as it s played. Scrolling/page turning will happen automatically, feedback will be given to the user so they can see how well they are playing, and they will be able to take notes on the sheet music for later perusal. The resource will also combine other common tools such as a metronome and tuner to ease the lives of the musicians that use it. Contextual Inquiry Customers To broaden our understanding of what the potential users of the musical application might desire, four contextual inquiries were conducted. Since the application is meant to appeal to musicians of various skill levels, an advanced musician, beginning musician, and two people interested, but not practiced, in music were targeted for contextual inquiry. All those targeted for contextual inquiry are University of Washington students, and friends with at least one group member. Lindsey Kornowske is an advanced musician who has been playing the cello for roughly ten years, practicing regularly to refine her skills. She began her studies in fifth grade, continuing onwards and playing in the Chamber Orchestra and Symphonic Orchestra at Kentwood Senior High School, which went to state for the Solo and Ensemble contest frequently during her time in high school. Starting her junior year of high school, Lindsey began private instruction and became the first chair cellist. During her last year in high school, she premiered as a soloist, playing a concerto with the orchestra for the school s senior concert. At the University of Washington, Lindsey furthered her studies with private instruction and participation in the University Chamber Orchestra. A month ago, Lindsey joined the Thalia Symphony, a community orchestra which performs advanced music at Town Hall four times a year. Davinder Saini is an experienced musician who has recently switched to the cello after ten years of playing the violin. Like Lindsey, he began studying the violin in fifth grade, and played with the Chamber

2 Orchestra and Symphonic Orchestra at Kentwood Senior High School. For one month in middle school, he played the cello, but did not resume developing his skills with the instrument until after his high school graduation. For a month before university started, Davinder played with the freshman orchestra at Kentwood High. For a month longer, he practiced the cello avidly, and for another three months, he played on and off. During his sophomore year at the University of Washington, he played more frequently because he had enough space to hold a cello in his new apartment. Along with Lindsey, Davinder joined the Thalia Symphony a month ago on the cello. Allen Khuu is a student at the University of Washington interested in learning the piano. For the past few years, he has been dabbling with piano-learning software called Synthesia. Synthesia allows beginning pianists to engage in a Guitar Hero-like activity which prompts the user to hit notes which scroll down to the bottom of the screen. Although a keyboard can be attached to the computer for Synthesia, Allen prefers keeping his keyboard disconnected, and playing along to YouTube videos of Synthesia songs. Though he has learned many popular songs, he cannot read sheet music and would like to learn. Erin Pena is a senior at the University of Washington interested in music. She occasionally touches the piano, which she took two years of lessons for in middle school, but has not seriously played since. She enjoys listening to a variety of music, including classical and rock, and would be interested in refining her skills in the piano, and learning the ukulele and bass guitar. Contextual Inquiry Results The experienced musicians we observed brought our attention to several specific features that could be added to our musical application. The two cellists, Lindsey and Davinder, brought our team s attention to the need of a tuner, metronome, music playback and recording feature, effective notation system, search function, and automatic page turning feature in our application. We additionally discovered user preferences regarding tablets, and learning styles for complete beginner musicians. Lindsey, the most experienced musician we studied, relied heavily on her joint tuning and metronome device while practicing. She always requires a tuner at the beginning of practice, and noted it would be useful to have a constant chromatic tuner displayed while she was playing to allow her to instantly check intonation. A display with a letter to indicate which note she was playing, and a meter, to indicate how far off she was from that note, would be helpful to experienced musicians like Lindsey. For learning purposes, Davinder noted it would be useful if the program could record each instance he missed a beat or note so he could later practice that portion of the music, or at track his progress with a certain piece. His improvement in factors such as intonation, rhythm, and dynamics, over several different pieces could then be logged for personal record. While she was practicing, Lindsey often reached for her metronome, turning it on and off, and adjusting its speed constantly during the hour we observed her playing. A small metronome display with a constantly oscillating meter, and sound which could be easily switched on/off, and adjusted for speed, could save Lindsey some time. The constant metronome display would help her find her place when she is lost, or assist her in counting long rests. To help him find his place, Davinder suggested a button of some sort which could be pressed to immediately highlight where the orchestra is currently playing. Lindsey also suggested being able to jump to rehearsal letters and measure numbers by searching for them. Music playback and recording revealed itself as a potentially powerful learning tool for Lindsey and Davinder. Both musicians stressed the importance of having the ability to easily look at other musicians parts. Lindsey was surprised at how much her perception of the music changed when she rehearsed her solo part for a concerto she was playing with a full orchestra. Davinder notes that it would be useful

3 for the program to play back difficult parts for him, or allow him to look at other musician s parts so he knows when to begin playing again after long periods of rest. During playback, Davinder noted it would be useful if the tempo (speed) of the recording was played could be controlled for practicing purposes. If Davinder could record his practice sessions easily, he notes it might be useful for constructive feedback. Conductors, peers, or teachers could use these recordings to administer the proper advice, or even homework. He was excited to propose that a recording feature might allow for the music he was playing to instantly be transposed into sheet music. From what we discovered by studying Lindsey and Davinder, an effective notation system would assist greatly. Quite frequently, Lindsey removed her music from her stand to write down notes, most of which were fingerings. Since fingerings are specific to each individual, it would be useful to have a flexible notation system which would allow musicians to easily make additions to their sheet music. She also noted it would be nice to have a bookmarking system which would allow her to easily return to passages she would later need to practice. Lindsey also stressed how nice it would be if the conductor could edit the music of the entire orchestra. This would reduce wasted rehearsal time, and resolve ambiguity and communication issues between the conductor and the orchestra. Both cellists agreed that an automated search function integrated into the music or interface would be extremely helpful. Playing in a large orchestra often demands being able to quickly find the rehearsal letter or measure number dictated by the conductor. A function which would automatically find and highlight the inputted section would be well used during rehearsals. An instant search feature for musical terms, and target ranges for tempos would be useful to musicians like Lindsey, who spent a couple minutes verifying the meaning of Allegretto grazioso during her practice. Watching Lindsey and Davinder practice revealed that a function for automatically turning the pages of sheet music would be useful. She would prefer a default touch option for manually turning the page, with an optional automatic function which listens to the music being played and turns the pages automatically with the music, which would be useful for concerts or continuous runs of the music. We learned a lot in our inquiries about whether or not a tablet based app would be effective for our intended purpose. Lindsey had a few concerns about the logistics of using a tablet while playing an instrument, including the difficulty in writing notes on a touch screen and the problems of relying on a battery powered device during a performance. Davinder really liked the idea of using a tablet because it would allow him to carry more music around and make setting up easier. With Allen and Erin, who were interested in music, but not regularly practiced, it seems like videos were very useful to their learning. Allen preferred watching videos on Synthesia, which assisted him in learning the piano. Erin, interested in learning the ukulele and bass guitar, noted that she learned much from YouTube videos. New and existing tasks Tuning an instrument (simple, medium frequency, medium importance) Tuning is a task that every musician needs to perform. Preparing the instruments is always important for a perfect performance. Currently, musicians have to buy a physical tuner or use a separate tuning app in order to tune their instruments. With our app, musicians can tune their instruments easily with the integrated tuner, without having to use a physical tuner or another app. Finding and viewing sheet music (moderate, high frequency, high importance)

4 One of the most common tasks for musicians is to search for music to play and then view it. Before the digital age, sheet music was written and copied by hand. Printing was difficult because all of the parts of the music had to line up precisely to be legible. Only relatively recently were we able to use copy machines or scan music into computers to be viewed or printed again. Today, these digital representations usually images or PDFs as individual files floating around the internet. Our app will allow users to search for music from a large database of songs from many different genres. They will also be able to import songs that they have made themselves or purchased from other sources. They will then be able to view the songs that that have purchased and imported in sheet music form. Playing sheet music (complex, high frequency, high importance) Possibly the most important and definitely the most complex task for a musician is to actually play the music. There are so many things they must do while they play that it can easily become overwhelming, especially for novices. One thing a musician must do while they play is to interact with the music to view the part that they need to play at a specific time. If they are using physical sheet music then this means that they must turn the pages at the right time so they can transition to the next set of notes. Even if the music is in a digital format they currently must swipe or tap something to get the digital page to turn. This is not ideal because the musician is using their hands to play so in order to interact with the music this way they must take a hand off of their instrument. This method can be difficult and error-prone, especially for novice musicians. Our app will make this task easier by automatically adjusting the sheet music to always show the next part to be played on the screen. No interaction from the user will be necessary, so they can keep both of their hands on their instrument at all times. Another thing a musician must do while they play is to pay attention to the notes they are supposed to play and recognize when they play a wrong note. Currently it must be determined by ear whether a note was played right, either by the musician, a teacher, or a peer. This is not always ideal because it s not always an accurate method and it takes time to develop a good ear for how certain notes sound. Teachers are usually pretty good at picking out wrong notes but most of the time it s a difficult task for novices to do it when they are practicing by themselves. Our app will make this task easier by having the option to notify the user as notes are played and differentiating between right and wrong notes so they can see when the play a wrong note. Musicians often use a metronome while they play an instrument to keep track of the beat of the song so they can stay with a certain rhythm. Generally they purchase a physical metronome that they must have in their physical presence while they play. More recently there are apps and websites that can be used as metronomes so that musicians don t need a physical one. Our app will include a metronome so that musicians can listen to a beat without needing a separate device or app, which would be one more thing they need to worry about while they play. One final thing a musician needs to do while playing music is write down reminders and notes for later perusal. There are many reasons for doing so and many methods that are used, such as marking fingering for certain note sequences, highlighting certain notes or signatures that you need to pay special attention to, or making a note of how long certain notes are played. Our app will allow the user to make different kinds of notes and marks on the sheet music as they view or play it, including text notes that they type in, highlights and bookmarks of pages/sections/notes, and freehand drawings at any place in the music or page margins.

5 Sketches of important screens

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