Abstract:

The stagnation, inexistence, or lack of knowledge of the means to deal with the implementation of the performative teaching and learning process of students with visual impairment, is something persistent. The attempt to resolve this factor culminated in the development of a technological resource called Maestro, which summarizes my path as performer, professor and researcher.

Maestro is a software designed to support the technical conducting teaching and learning, for students with visual impairments. This technology accurately performs the technical-gestural mapping of the student through the laptop/desktop webcam, suggesting the necessary corrections to his/her practice, through auditory and haptic somatosensory feedback.

The hardware responsible for haptic feedback is placed on the student's arm as a bracelet with a vibrators system. On the computer - or a laptop - a database is stored with the information of the spatial margins of the conducting technical movements. The bracelet will transmit the data generated from the movement in front of the computer webcam, that will read this data and send an answer to the bracelet by activating the vibrational system. The vibrators of the bracelet are distributed as follows: two on each side of the proximity of the wrist (one on the left side and the other on the right), one at the top and the other at the bottom of the arm. This distribution allows the perceptivity of arm to the right or left, up or down.

The auditory feedback has the same principle, however, with the manipulation of a sound frequency which allows the correlation to the conducting technical movements. The central axis used was the frequency of 440Hz. The choice of this frequency is justified because it is a medium and comfortable height for human hearing. Dividing this axis by three (440 ÷ 3), the result of 146.6Hz (equivalent to D, a 12th below A at 440Hz) is obtained as a low-limit frequency. For the high-limit frequency the central axis was multiplied by three, therefore: 440 x 3 = 1320Hz (equivalent to E, a 12th above A at 440Hz). Using a headphone it is possible to correlate the sound of the right channel, with the right arm movements, and the left channel with the left arm. Low-sounds should be correlated to a down movement of the arms, and high-sounds will indicate that the arm is performing up-movements.

The methodological procedure to achieve the research objective is based on User-Centered-Design. It focuses on technological development, considering the user as a central point, aiming to articulate their needs, limitations and desires for the creation of a prototype that meets these elements. 25 volunteer participants expressed about their interaction with the prototype, and the data of this interaction point to an effective usability in the correction of the conducting technical movements.

Its innovative potential and its educational, social and inclusive impacts, makes Maestro an important didactic-methodological resource, that enhances the teaching and learning process of musical performance, for professors and their possible students with visual impairment.

Keywords:

Maestro conducting software, Teaching and Learning of Conducting, Musical technical studies and visual impairment.