Researchers at Birmingham University claim to have developed a new platform that allows musicians to practise, collaborate and perform remotely as virtual avatars.
It’s called Joint Active Music Sessions (JAMS for short), and is said to enable you to set up an avatar so you can collaborate online in real time or even perform a virtual concert.
Dr Massimiliano (Max) Di Luca from the University of Birmingham explains how it works: “A musician records themselves and sends the video to another musician. The software creates a responsive avatar that plays in perfect synchrony with the music partner. All you need is an iPhone and a VR headset to bring musicians together for performance, practice, or teaching.”
The avatars capture the unspoken moments that are so important in musical performance, allowing practice partners or performers to watch the tip of the violinist’s bow, or make eye contact at critical points in the piece.
JAMS could be particularly useful in terms of music tuition. After all, since Covid, many musicians have moved from exclusively face-to-face lessons with students to online sessions at least some of the time.
Apparently, the avatars have real-time adaptability and are dynamically responsive to the musician via the VR headset, so you get a unique, personalised experience.
And crucially, the boffins at Birmingham are certain that there is no latency - you hear what you hear pretty instantly, as if you were in the same room together. Dr Di Luca says: “Performers can start to feel the effects of latency as low as 10 milliseconds, throwing them ‘off-beat’, breaking their concentration, or distracting them from the technical aspects of playing.”
It all sounds very exciting. Don’t, however, expect this to be rolled out overnight. The Birmingham research team is now seeking commercial partners to collaborate on further development and take the product to market. Dusty rehearsal rooms and face-to-face tuition clearly haven’t had their day quite yet...
