Hit the thumb jack! using electromyography to augment the piano keyboard

Jakob Karolus; Annika Kilian; Thomas Kosch; Albrecht Schmidt; Pawe W. Wozniak

doi:10.1145/3357236.3395500

Hit the thumb jack! using electromyography to augment the piano keyboard

Jakob Karolus, Annika Kilian, Thomas Kosch, Albrecht Schmidt, Pawe W. Wozniak

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Improvising on the piano keyboard requires extensive skill development, which may reduce the feeling of immersion and flow for amateur players. However, being able to add simple musical effects greatly boosts a player's ability to express their unique playing style. To simplify this process, we designed an electromyography-based (EMG) system which integrates seamlessly into normal play by allowing musicians to modulate sound pitch using their thumb. We conducted an exploratory user study where users played a predefined melody and improvised using our system and a standard pitch wheel. Interview responses and survey answers showed that the EMG-based system supported the players' musical flow. Additionally, interviews indicated the system's capabilities to foster player creativity, and that players enjoyed experimenting with the effect. Our work illustrates how EMG can support seamless integration into existing systems to extend the range of interactions provided by a given interface.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	DIS 2020 - Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	429-440
Number of pages	12
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450369749
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3357236.3395500
Publication status	Published - 3 Jul 2020
Event	2020 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, DIS 2020 - Eindhoven, Netherlands Duration: 6 Jul 2020 → 10 Jul 2020

Conference

Conference	2020 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, DIS 2020
Country/Territory	Netherlands
City	Eindhoven
Period	6/07/20 → 10/07/20

Funding

This research is financially supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Programme under ERCEA grant no. 683008 AMPLIFY. Part of this research was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the project C02 of SFB/Transregio 161.

Keywords

Creative support tool
Electromyography
Expressive piano play
Motor tasks
Seamless integration

Access to Document

10.1145/3357236.3395500

3357236.3395500Final published version, 6.69 MB

Cite this

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title = "Hit the thumb jack! using electromyography to augment the piano keyboard",

abstract = "Improvising on the piano keyboard requires extensive skill development, which may reduce the feeling of immersion and flow for amateur players. However, being able to add simple musical effects greatly boosts a player's ability to express their unique playing style. To simplify this process, we designed an electromyography-based (EMG) system which integrates seamlessly into normal play by allowing musicians to modulate sound pitch using their thumb. We conducted an exploratory user study where users played a predefined melody and improvised using our system and a standard pitch wheel. Interview responses and survey answers showed that the EMG-based system supported the players' musical flow. Additionally, interviews indicated the system's capabilities to foster player creativity, and that players enjoyed experimenting with the effect. Our work illustrates how EMG can support seamless integration into existing systems to extend the range of interactions provided by a given interface.",

keywords = "Creative support tool, Electromyography, Expressive piano play, Motor tasks, Seamless integration",

author = "Jakob Karolus and Annika Kilian and Thomas Kosch and Albrecht Schmidt and Wozniak, {Pawe W.}",

year = "2020",

month = jul,

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doi = "10.1145/3357236.3395500",

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pages = "429--440",

booktitle = "DIS 2020 - Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference",

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note = "2020 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, DIS 2020 ; Conference date: 06-07-2020 Through 10-07-2020",

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Karolus, J, Kilian, A, Kosch, T, Schmidt, A & Wozniak, PW 2020, Hit the thumb jack! using electromyography to augment the piano keyboard. in DIS 2020 - Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference. Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 429-440, 2020 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems, DIS 2020, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 6/07/20. https://doi.org/10.1145/3357236.3395500

Hit the thumb jack! using electromyography to augment the piano keyboard. / Karolus, Jakob; Kilian, Annika; Kosch, Thomas et al.
DIS 2020 - Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference. Association for Computing Machinery, 2020. p. 429-440.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

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ER -

Hit the thumb jack! using electromyography to augment the piano keyboard

Abstract

Conference

Funding

Keywords

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Cite this