Abstract
Music conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures, the primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble. In order to successfully perform a musical piece it requires intense training and coordination of both the conductor and the orchestra. However, preparing a pratice session is expensive and time-consuming. Therefore, there is a need for alternatives to provide adequate training to conductors at all skill levels. A lot of works were done in the past decades that resorted in the construction of interactive conducting systems by using specialized hardware. The disadvantage of these system, is that they require the conductor to carry a special hardware to a further extent, the fatigue caused by their prolonged use. Similarly, there are other interactive conducting systems that incorporate computer vision techniques into them. However, these vision based conducting systems have some limitations by using CMOS camera. The goal of this research is to study the mechanics of music conducting and to develop an interactive conducting system using Microsoft Kinect to solve the above mentioned problems. After extensive discussions with professional and nonprofessional conductors, as well as partaking in wide-ranging research regarding music conducting materials, several conducting key features were identified. A set of lightweight algorithms exploring those features was developed to enable tempo control, volume adjustment, and instrument emphasis, which are core components of conducting.