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Ask Slashdot: How Can a Blind Singer 'See' the Choirmaster's Baton?
New submitter krid4 writes "Question from a blind friend: 'My ears replace my eyes. However, when it comes to the very moment of starting, or the change of tempi, my start will always come too late. Neither tuning in with the voices around me, nor listening to the moment of their breathing-in helps to solve this problem. Fancy that it might be possible to produce tactile pressure or even lines at the top of my right
hand, head or body. Even pulses would do, because what finally counts is the moment of the 'beat' produced by the choirmasters baton.' What simple, possibly DIY solutions are possible? It would help many blind chorus singers."
Motion tracking video of the baton (cheap webcam view from the side, colored foam ball on the baton end, track up/down motion with some very simple image processing); convert to a usable signal (e.g. audible clicks through an earpiece when the baton reaches maximum/minimum positions and turns around).
If you're singing in a choir, then you're standing next to someone else, who is likely sighted. Just have them give you the cue. It could be that they hold your upper arm, and slide it down to the elbow it as the choirmaster's baton drops. If the choirmaster gives a four-count before starting, then the helper's signal may be four squeezes on your arm, or four taps on your shoe. I don't imagine that it would take much training for a new person to help you with this, and it's much cheaper than some high-tech solution which may not work.
Can't the choir director accommodate your disability by counting down the beginning of the song? Forcing you both to adapt some cumbersome technology seems silly.
The baton is used for more than just starting the a song.
In Marvel Comics, lawyer Matt Murdock found a way... ... and became Daredevil!
"when it comes to the very moment of starting, or the change of tempi" (My emphasis). No, it won't come with practice, because the conductor won't necessarily set exactly the same tempi every time. Not all music is done to click-tracks.
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
Tempo changes and such should be covered, but starting a song from silent room would be hard to do. They don't yell "5-6-7-8" clicking the drumsticks together before starting Ave Maria.
Learn to love Alaska
By that logic a conductor is not needed during a performance; all they would have to do is press play. Every performance is a little different as the conductor modifies volume and tempo.
Ask someone who's encountered the problem and seen it solved... Like a choir director or one of the many organizations of choir and choral directors. Here's one. http://www.chorusamerica.org/ Part of the purpose of such organizations is to share information about what works for common and uncommon situations.
Although the choir starts singing on the large downward movement of the baton, that is not the cue the choir is using - if the started singing after seeing the downward movement, they would always be late. They are actually taking their cue from the very subtle upward movement just before the downward sweep. Even detecting this would be difficult. The size of this movement, and the delay between this movement and the drop, whether a movement is the of the 'get ready' upward sweep... all very difficult and confusing things. And the nature of the movements will change depending on conductor, the nature of the music, or even the conductors mood. The human brain sorts all of these things out just fine. The best idea is one I read from another poster here - have the neighbour of blind singer give them their cue.
Prediction for end of Universe #42: Fencepost error in Quantum_bogosort.cpp
However, when it comes to the very moment of starting, or the change of tempi, my start will always come too late.
Ah .. the trauma of remembering band practice:
Every conductor has a different style. The signal to start your part of a song that has already begun may be a small flick or pointing of the baton in your general direction, barely interrupting the overall tempo of the conducting, or if you have a dramatic conductor it can be a two-handed "picador going over the horns" gesture ... or no gesture at all.
Because the baton may be signalling to someone near the OP - in front or behind - but not the OP, the problem is discrimination as much as detection.
Also, it's not always a down beat. Changes of volume, extended notes and the final cut off of a long final note may be sweeping or tiny gestures sideways or straight towards the choir or orchestra.
Very few conductors will make big changes in tempo from what was practiced. No good will come of it.
In short, it might be more practical to start on the second note and drop out on the next to last note, paying attention to the parts of the production that immediately precede your bits so you are ready for it.
Yes. Instead of a baton, use a cattle prod.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Gah. No. That'd throw your pitch off terribly.
There's only one answer I can come up with. Have someone stand next to the blind friend and give him/her tactile cues. Hand squeezes would work, but be very basic. If the sighted friend has any skill, holding hands (down by their side) and making a very small pattern would be even better.
Either way, the sighted person would need to pay extraordinarily close attention to tempo changes and cuing. I'd be a hard job, but it would be doable.
As for the aesthetics of the performance? Nobody cares when you're helping a friend like this. If you're really concerned about how it looks, then make it obvious somehow that they're blind. (have them wear the great big stereotypical black glasses, etc)
I won't join Slashcott. OTOH, If Beta goes live, I just won't be back until it's fixed. Sorry Dice.
Simple, replace the baton with a starter's pistol..
Multiple steps:
:>)
If this works, please send me royalty or idea money if you're grateful. JK. No, maybe if you do make money, gimme! (alternate-6 and alternate-7 from brother on phone. Thanks!) Note that the alternate clickings will match what the baton is doing in real-geometric space!
1 - modify baton to include an IR-led (infrared wavelength Light Emitting Diode) so that motion tracking of the baton's moving tip can be done easily without bothering other people in the orchestra or the audience with a visible or flashing or distracting red or green LED
2 - set up some sort of motion tracking system that can track the IR led and come up with X-position and Y-position and possibly also X-velocity and Y-velocity
3 - calculate X-velocity as the derivative of the X-position, calculate the X-acceleration as the derivative of the X-velocity with respect to time; do the same for Y-position to calculate Y-velocity and Y-acceleration
4 - when you hit zero-crossings for X-velocity (e.g. X-velocity goes from positive [right to left perhaps] to negative [left to right], then the X-clicker is activated
5 - when you hit zero-crossings for X-velocity (e.g. Y-velocity goes from positive [down to up perhaps] to negative [up to down], then the Y-clicker is activated
6 - hide/place X-clicker in the right-foot, maybe at the heel-pad/ankle region or right under the big-toe, whichever the user likes best
7 - hide/place Y-clicker in the left-foot
.
alternate 6 - X-clicker-A goes under little toe of right foot, X-click-A is activated when the baton goes from (left--right) to (right-to-left), which means it hit the right-extent of travel and reversed; X-click-B goes under the big toe of right foot and it clicks when the baton stops going (from right-to-left) and reverses direction to go (from left-to-right), which is the left-most extent of travel.
alternate 7 - do like alternate 6 but place one clicker at the back of the heel Y-click-min which clicks when the baton changes from traveling downwards to traveling back upwards, and tape Y-click-MAX along the calf, maybe 6 inches up or so, and Y-click-MAX clicks when the baton stops traveling up and changes direction to go down. This is an intuitive mapping of what the baton is doing.
Better yet, a lightsabre. Then you just listen for the pitch and volume of the hum.
In concert bands and orchestras frankly the director is not in control. The tubas and Sousaphones have enough tube length that the player must lead the beat by a fraction of a second. The reality is that the director's baton is actually following the big brass in timing. Since a chorus is often without the deep brass sections you need a device that will send you an audio cue slightly ahead of the choral director. I suspect that a portable or hand held PC like device could be programmed to measure the tempo and report the beat slightly ahead. It also would need to vary the intensity of the cue so that you would no when to play forte or pianissimo.
You can get what I am describing by looking at marching bands. The last row in the band will be the Sousaphones. The Drum Major is pretty much invisible to most of the band members so it really is not the drum major controlling either the pace of the march nor the pace of the music. It is the sousaphones and they are pointed right over the heads of the band members. And it is most likely feeling the sound and not hearing the sound that cues in the players. Think about all the noise in a stadium and the cheering etc.. If you are playing a clarinet or other instrument you won't be aware of the Sousaphones much or at all. But they are controlling the pace at all times. The drum major blows his whistle when the piece is finished and when a piece is to be started and puts on quite a show. The low brass knows what pace to set from rehearsals. And the bulk and weight of the Sousaphones comes into play as it is obvious that if the pace were too quick the Sousaphones could not keep up with the marches at all. Very few conductors want to admit that the low brass is running the show. Large drums can also do the same sort of function at times.
Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever sung in a choir in which the conductor uses a baton. It's standard in bands, but it doesn't seem to be so much in choral work, at least in my circles.
Now that I think about it more, the few times I've conducted choirs I don't think I've used a stick, even when one was available. It seems wrong putting an instrument in my hand when the musicians don't have one.
Cogito, ergo sig.
...or just make a special baton with a tiny accelerometer, wirelessly connected. Would make more sense than attempts at CV.
Ezekiel 23:20