Training Orchestral Conductors in Beating Time

YouTube video of presentation at https://youtu.be/f9gXMvMcoSM Orchestral conducting involves a rich vocabulary of gestures and so training conductors is challenging. We discuss how virtual reality and gesture detection could be used to aid this process. We describe our pilot interface for training conductors in basic beat patterns, using gestural input and virtual reality output. We investigated both positional and acceleration-based detection of beats, concluding that that the best way to detect beats reliably is to identify maxima in acceleration, that is, those moments in a beat that would appear as a flick to a human player. This practical evidence supports Wöllner's theory of how human players detect beats. We trialled our system with novices and experts, with a range of beating styles.