- Working with input from a microphone
- Working with captured sound in software
- Experience taking a project all the way from concept to completion; connecting all of the pieces
- Continuing to learn how to learn new technology and implement it quickly
When learning to sing or play an instrument, the student must learn how to produce each note and connect that note with its visual representation on a music staff. This is a simpler task with instruments that have many physical keys, such as flute, clarinet, and other woodwinds, but becomes increasingly difficult in brass instruments, fretless string instruments, and voice. I plan to produce a piece of software that will display an image of a music note on a staff to the user and ask the user to play that note. The software will analyze the input and give feedback regarding whether the note they played matches what was displayed.
There are currently no active software solutions that perform the task of helping a student learn to play the correct note displayed on sheet music. There seem to be some apps that were built or started in the past but are not currently active or available, or were never finished.
People currently learn this skill by
- taking lessons or classes
- playing the note on another instrument and trying to match it
- playing a note and seeing what feedback a tuner (separate hardware gadget) gives
These solutions work but can be cumbersome, inconvenient, or expensive. With my app, the music student can practice using a tablet or phone on a music stand (simple and inexpensive), at their convenience.
UPDATE: Note Rush is an app designed for young music students and performs this task. https://www.noterushapp.com/ Criticisms are that the notes it asks the user to play do not cover the full range for their instrument, and that its graphics are designed for people of elementary school age. Otherwise it works quite well, can be used by all band and orchestra instruments, and is well-supported by the developer.
My users are beginner cello students of any age. These students are dedicated to learning how to read sheet music, specifically learning how to accurately play each note on the bass cleff. My users want to learn note recognition and increase their accuracy in tuning by ear.
https://trello.com/b/2u3GHjfK/capstone-elle-play-that-note https://trello.com/invite/b/2u3GHjfK/f2926299301e1c89a0d535132322b69f/capstone-elle-play-that-note
- JavaScript (bonus: translate to React Native (for Android app))
- Web Audio API: AudioBuffer https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/AudioBuffer - interface representing a short audio asset residing in memory
- Node
- Pitchfinder (a Node library) https://github.com/peterkhayes/pitchfinder - pitch detection algorithms for Javascript (browser and node)
- HTML, CSS, Bootstrap
- For bonus features, Firestore to persist user data
- Front-end deployment: Github pages (NOTE: must be HTTPS as web app for Chrome to enable microphone access)
- Back-end deployment: Google Cloud (or Azure or AWS?)
https://www.evernote.com/l/Ag4Lrqfi_ZFAt7PAOjkJJuQWf3JsJjMPWC0
This looks good, before capstones try to build out your Trello board with your user stories and break them into discrete tasks. This looks like a neat app. Dan is likely to be very interested as he's a musician.
With the Trello board built out, this is approved.