2016-03-30 status

Done

Data Collection

• Responding to feedback from AFL, changed color highlighting behavior and typographic convention (using hyphens instead of commas) for what we now call "finger substitution" (the term used by pianists for using different fingers to strike and release a key).
• Fixed latency problem with arrow buttons and associated improper scrolling under iOS.
• Gave up on invitation-only Survey III, as this feature caused problems that stumped Qualtrics support.
• Added name and email question to survey, so I can manually map the data back to player profiles. This is really annoying, but we need to move forward.
• Finalized Survey III (again) and asked IB, AFL, and Dan Murphy to review.
• Solidified design of Automatic Data Collector, known hereafter as "Dactylize."
• Discussed plans with David Meyer, EE/ME and all-around mensch. He suggested separate power supply to ensure adequate current for ICs.
• Ordered another $200 of components to prototype and to build the system.
• Decided to use my Casio Privia PX-130 for production system. This should leave us with $250 to compensate subjects for on-campus sessions. Tic toc.

 Doing

1. Proving Dactylize concept.
2. Discussing each descriptive chart in detail--its purpose, insight (if any). High priority now because promised to share with subjects.
3. Transcribing Harold Samuel fingerings from Tovey WTC edition through Survey III.
4. Determining predictive value of one fingering sequence choice on another--initial Chi Square foray.
5. Calculating mean edit distance as measure of IAA and "influence."
6. Calculating adoption rate as measure of "influence."
7. Performing Chi Square analysis of exploratory dataset to correlate abbreviated Parncutt fingerings with gender, reach, age, Hanon usage, technical practice, preparation actions, injury, etc.
8. Finishing Parncutt algorithm implementation.
9. Transcribing Czerny Opus 821 to use in missing annotation study. 10% done.

Struggling

• Illness, vacation, and the end of Lenovo's fiscal year have all been distractions.

Dactylize proof of concept

Initial breadboard layout supporting 16 keys and 10 fingers. 

Foil tape key overlays on four keys on mini keyboard, wired with
alligator clips for proof of concept.

Dactylize drawings

Finger and key connectors

Enclosure concept

Connector details

Architecture and thoughts on output

Circuit details

Dactylize comes alive

We have finally come up with a design for automatically collecting fingering data from actual performances that I think has a good chance of working (details to follow).

There are two catches. First, we will be attaching very light wired "sensors" (actually just connection points) to the pianist's unsuspecting finger tips. Minimizing the effects of these sensors on performance is a design challenge that we will need to address.

Second, and more important for this email, we will be making some modifications to the keyboard itself. These modifications should not damage the keyboard, but they are not things I would want to see done to a digital piano I cared about.

Therefore, I am considering two options. First, I have a very old and cheap 61-key keyboard (a Roland EP5) that I would happily donate to the cause. It is velocity sensitive, but does not have a weighted action. It is very nearly beneath *my* contempt. Indeed, I may use it for prototyping just for spite.

Option two is to purchase a $500 Casio Privia PX-160. This keyboard has a remarkably good graded hammer action that seems to be the best at this price point. In my almost utterly worthless opinion, it is reasonably comparable to the actions in the piano lab at UIC, but of course opinions will vary on this point. Anyway, it is the best keyboard I can afford with the grant money I have left.

My question to you: Is it worth it to have a graded hammer action? Part of the data we want to collect is a reasonably nuanced MIDI performance. I think it will help in this regard, and it should be more enjoyable for subjects to play. But I could also spend this money to compensate subjects. They would enjoy that too.

2016-03-09 status

Done

Data Collection

• Fixed problem with Survey III in Safari. I reinitialized the editor to be empty when NEXT is clicked, and everything seems to work normally. This should help our response rate a lot.
• Validated data entered in abcDE.
• Entered Czerny's recommended fingerings for Prelude 9 and 17 and Fugue 17. Fugue 9 posed too many problems for me to finger from Czerny. Decided to leave it in survey to see if people working from other editions fare better.
• Drafted recruitment email for Survey III.
• Finalized Survey III and asked IB and AFL to review.
• Transcribed 7 of 60 studies from Czery's Opus 821. 
• Fixed several abcDE bugs and warts.
• Dropped computer vision plans for automatic data collector (ADC) in favor of more straightforward electronic approach inspired by suggestion from Alex Demos. Dr. Demos suggested that using the MIDI data and closing a circuit tied to a particular finger should be enough: attach wires to the fingers and foil to the keys and just use finger-to-key contacts as switches. But I think the problem is a little more complicated than that, as having multiple fingers resting on the keys when a note is struck and the timing granularity of MIDI would likely leave us with considerable ambiguity. I think this needs to be handled as a patch-bay circuit, where a specific finger is tied to a specific key at the point of contact just as two parties were connected on an old switchboard.
• Found incredibly informative book explaining a patch-bay circuit using the Arduino and Pure Data (Pd), a graphical programming language I have actually used before. So I have a pretty clear plan in mind for prototyping ADC. It should take more soldering than thinking.
• Ordered about $300 of components and tools needed to build the system.
• Reached out to a EE friend to sanity check my plans. Waiting to hear back. Will reach out to Dr. Zefran if push comes to shove.
• Met with Dr. Demos and discussed my research plans and musical phrasing at some length. He thought WTC was a good corpus choice, and the missing annotation (fill-in-the-blank) problem seemed to resonate with him (as it did with CR). We concluded that we did not need to address phrasing in the WTC data collection, as we can make assumptions about phrasing because of the style of the music. Anyway, we will be leaving this for future work. By the way, he teaches advanced statistics in the Psychology Department. Hail fellow, well met.

Data Analysis

• Analyzed a number of descriptive charts and clarified some methodological matters.

 Doing

1. Discussing each descriptive chart in detail--its purpose, insight (if any). Top priority now because I want to share with subjects, as promised.
2. Transcribing Czerny Opus 821 to use in missing annotation study. 10% done.
3. Determining predictive value of one fingering sequence choice on another--initial Chi Square foray.
4. Calculating mean edit distance as measure of IAA and "influence."
5. Calculating adoption rate as measure of "influence."
6. Performing Chi Square analysis of exploratory dataset to correlate abbreviated Parncutt fingerings with gender, reach, age, Hanon usage, technical practice, preparation actions, injury, etc.
7. Finishing Parncutt algorithm implementation.

Struggling

• What, me worry?