A Survey of Augmented Piano Prototypes: Has Augmentation Improved Learning Experiences?

TL;DR

This paper systematically reviews augmented piano prototypes to assess their impact on learning, revealing strengths in synchronization support and opportunities for enhancing sight-reading, motivation, and improvisation in piano education.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive survey of augmented piano prototypes, analyzing their effectiveness in learning and identifying areas for future development.

Findings

Prototypes effectively support synchronized movement and posture.

Opportunities exist to improve sight-reading and motivation features.

There is potential to better encourage improvisation through augmentation.

Abstract

Humans have been developing and playing musical instruments for millennia. With technological advancements, instruments were becoming ever more sophisticated. In recent decades computer-supported innovations have also been introduced in hardware design, usability, and aesthetics. One of the most commonly digitally augmented instruments is the piano. Besides electronic keyboards, several prototypes augmenting pianos with different projections providing various levels of interactivity on and around the keyboard have been implemented in order to support piano players. However, it is still not understood if these solutions are indeed supporting the learning process. In this paper we present a systematic review of augmented piano prototypes focusing on instrument learning, which is based on the four themes derived from interviews of piano experts to better understand the problems of teaching the piano. These themes are: (i) synchronised movement and body posture, (ii) sight-reading, (iii) ensuring motivation, and (iv) encouraging improvisation. We found that prototypes are saturated on the synchronisation themes, and there are opportunities for sight-reading, motivation, and improvisation themes. We conclude by presenting recommendations on augmenting piano systems towards enriching the piano learning experience as well as on possible directions to expand knowledge in the area.