Human gesture quantification: An evaluation tool for somatic training and piano performance

Motion capture technology has been widely adopted by computer gaming and the movie making industries. The technology also found a suitable niche in some areas of medicine. However, while sports and arts also present important opportunities for analysis of the human gesture, whether to improve performance or prevent injuries, the potential of motion capture was not yet fully exploited in these fields. This paper examines the potential of markerless motion capture in the context of piano pedagogy and performance evaluation when somatic training methods are used. An affordable motion capture platform based on Kinect sensor is designed to suit the specific requirements of piano playing, and an early experimental investigation of the suitability of the technology for this application is reported.