TR#470: The "Conductor's Jacket": A Device for Recording Expressive Musical Gestures

Teresa Marrin and Rosalind W. Picard

International Computer Music Conference '98 Proceedings
Ann Arbor, MI

We present the design and architecture for a device called the "Conductor's Jacket," which we built to collect and analyze data from conductors. This device is built into normal clothing and designed in such a way as to allow for normal activity and not encumber the movements of the wearer. The jacket records physiological and motion information from musicians in order to better understand how they express affective and interpretive information while performing. We present our design considerations and some preliminary results from data collection trials that we conducted on a range of professional and student conductors in 'real-world' situations.

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