The motion capture experiment has a few different projects: the analysis of three drummers utilizing basic strokes and selected rudiments, the analysis of one drummer over a years time via basic strokes and selected rudiments, and the analysis of one performer over different movement/musical mediums. For the demonstration, the one drummer over a years time portion of the project will be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of utilizing said data to improve in percussion practice and math skills for high school students. There are a few concepts from different fields used to analyze and interpret the data derived from the motion capture experiment: an application of structural linguistics, set theory, and algebraic geometry (in terms of the five number summary and trigonometric reduction of data)
In order to understand the use of motion capture data to snare drumming pedagogy, the mathematics of the project, kinematics, must be understood. For the experiment, there are five cameras set up pointing to the experimentee. Through a camera syncing machine, 5 seconds of video are captured with the experimentee performing the select rudiments. In order to most accurately capture each of the anatomical phenomena, reflective tape was placed on joints of the experimentee. This allowed for the analysis through image processing. Once the image processing is completed per frame, cartesian data is available for the 5 seconds of video.
For most of the experiment, the frame rate for each camera is at 150 frames per second. This brings the total frame count of one trial to about 750 frames. With three different trail dates for the one drummer, the total number of trails is about 60 trails; which gives about 45000 frames of data. Now, each anatomical marker has a point in time per 45000 frames of data. For this demonstration, only 4 anatomical markers will be used. So, the total frame count for this portion of the experiment is about 180000 frames.
Each trail has a specific movement pattern for this one drummer over the year of study. In order to obtain the information from a comparative standpoint, a five number summary must be performed in order to read the data. After the five number summary is performed, a trigonometric reduction is used to compare the three different experiment dates. Once this process is complete, the one who analyzed the information has the tools necessary to complete high school maths.
The basic form of analyzing the data is based on the position of the upper body in terms of snare drumming. The data suggests that there are a set number of positions for every drummer, regardless of style, origin of technique, or variation of technique. The positions are as follows: up position, tap position, and rest position. Like many phenomena in physics, each occurrence in the experiment begins at the rest position and ends at the rest position.
Although the motion capture experiment performed in this demonstration is costly, there are many open source motion capture tools. A school can use these open source materials in a Computer Science class and run experiments on many different types of movements within and outside of music (i.e. sports, handwriting, etc). A curriculum can then be formed from interacting with the software, analyzing the information, and applying that analysis to a pedagogy of the movement medium analyzed.
In addition to the mathematical skills developed through motion capture study and kinematic data, the experimenter can also develop their note taking and writing skills. With evidence of writing as a crucial tool for mathematical development, a scientific approach to snare drum pedagogy can yield students approaching mastery in their current, and future programs in mathematics and English Language Arts. This concept can be found in the reduction of the double stroke data to trigonometric functions:
Elbow in 10.01.16 Double Stroke
This portion of the experiment transcribes the moeller technique, or military drumming technique, through the lens of cartesian data (xyz coordinate data). With this information, the body can be explored in reaction to the drum head. There are a few techniques that I’ve reinforced based on the data. For instance, I combined the push/pull, 3-stroke bounce, and buzz stroke into one basic stroke, the buzz stroke. This buzz stroke contains all of the other basic strokes except the up stroke. The double stroke is contained in this stroke as well.
There is an interesting change in the intersection of joints from the transformed data in regards to the Elbow. The elbow, in the resultant vector data, seems to shift about 90 degrees over the course of the year study. This could be due to the method in which the drummer practiced over the course of the year. Or, it could be the analysis of the previous trial dates and its effect on the approach of the drummer; however, more experimentation is needed to justify the latter claim. Regardless, there is a marked change in how the elbow interacts with the shoulder and wrist
This concept has loosened my grip which allows me to play for longer periods of time at faster intervals. In theory, the data collected and analyzed from the experiment has allowed me to progress faster than I would without the data. This loose grip and bounce oriented striking mechanic can be transferred to other percussion instruments including piano, guitar, and the body in the medium of dance (guaguanco).