NETEM: Supporting Musical Ensembles with Synchronised Digital Scores

The aim of this project is to enable the public release and long-term support of software prototypes developed during the NETEM research project, thereby vastly increasing the impact and dissemination of the research.

The NETEM ('Networking Technology and the Experience of Ensemble Music-making') project asked whether a wireless network of tablet computers could be transformative to the experience of musical ensemble playing. To explore this question, we developed two apps for Apple's iPad: NETEM Conductor and NETEM Performer. These apps display musical scores in the place of conventional paper scores, and synchronise the performers' scores with the conductors score. With synchronised scores, musicians cannot lose their place in the music. This reduces stress and increases confidence, enabling the whole ensemble to focus on musicality. It also enables access to ensemble music for less experienced musicians, and supports ensembles with performers of varied abilities.

The NETEM project followed a participatory ethos, and the apps were developed with regular testing and feedback from a primary school orchestra and with a varied set of local musical ensembles, musicians and conductors. Feedback from these groups has demonstrated that the NETEM apps would be valuable to many musical ensembles. The apps in their current form are research prototypes, designed for the NETEM research project, and to be used with the support of the research team. They lack some user interface features and basic functions that everyday users would normally expect from a public release. Users without specific technical expertise may find them difficult to use. This project will develop the apps from research prototypes into consumer quality releases, following a clearly defined specification of new features that need to be implemented. We will also build an online community hub to support users. We will make the apps available to a wide user-base by creating a new version for Android in addition to iOS. Building on the rich participatory ethos established with the initial project, we have organised frequent testing sessions with a student ensemble and with our partner ensembles: Lewes Concert Orchestra, Dorothy Stringer Secondary School Orchestra and Community Music for All Sussex.

A core concern of this project is to ensure longevity of the outputs, beyond the lifetime of this and future research grants. To achieve this, we are collaborating with Sussex Innovation Centre (SInC), a business support hub at the University of Sussex. SInC are conducting market research within the UK education sector and with community orchestras, and are identifying structures and organisations that will help us engage with stakeholders in these sectors. They will work with us to create a plan for setting up a company to support the apps and the community of app users. The company will operate with sustainability and affordability as its priorities. Revenue will pay for future updates and repairs to the software, and for long-term support for the community of users. Our collaboration with SInC is supported by a £5,000 grant from the University of Sussex Enterprise Panel, and will lay the foundations for an ongoing partnership through the company we form.

The apps will be released in spring 2017, with a public launch event in London. At the event, members of the public of any musical skill level will be able to take part in an ensemble rehearsal and performance with professional musicians, supported and enabled by the software. A similar event will follow at Edinburgh Science Festival.

The initial geographic scope of this project is UK audiences; in the long-term, having established a UK user base, we will reach out to international communities. Our main users will be stakeholders in classical and contemporary musical ensembles in community and educational settings. Impact will also be seen beyond these groups, for professional ensembles, music teachers, composers, non-classical groups, and non-musicians who have an interest in ensemble music.

For less experienced musicians in school ensembles, the software will support and reduce stress in musicians who struggle with reading scores and keeping in place with the rest of the ensemble. In the short term, this will lower the bar of entry to ensemble playing to these users. In the medium term, this is likely to improve their confidence in playing, and eventually be reflected in their general musical skill level. More experienced musicians in school ensembles will benefit from improved flow and cohesion in rehearsals where the group as a whole can concentrate on musicality with the support of the software. This improved flow will benefit ensemble leaders who will need to spend significantly less time aiding players with score following, therefore freeing more time for other aspects of rehearsal. Ensemble leaders will benefit from access to a library of free scores, developed during research and prepared for release during the follow-on period; scores include new compositions and original arrangements of some tracks featured in the BBC's Ten Pieces therefore benefiting from high recognition factor. Students will gain from the cognitive, social and well being benefits that research has shown are attributable to involvement in ensemble playing. Schools will receive economic gains, with free access to a collection of scores.

Community musical ensembles will benefit in similar ways to schools, with the software allowing access to ensembles for less experienced musicians, and supporting them in rehearsals and performance. For professional ensembles, the software offers an opportunity to collaborate with non-professional players, as demonstrated by our workshop events run as part of the NETEM project. For all ensembles, the software will aid flow in rehearsals by removing pragmatic concerns over managing, navigating and archiving paper scores. Furthermore, with the NETEM system, musicians can see any instrument part, giving flexibility in switching to easier or harder parts, or experimenting with other scores. We will benefit from the expert marketing research support provided Sussex Innovation Centre to ensure the most effective marketing to schools and community ensembles running on limited budgets.

Music teachers can benefit from the system, using it as an educational support tool for students learning to read music. It can also support duets between teacher and student. Composers will have a new distribution channel and a new community of users for their scores. The apps will offer an opportunity for musicians who do not work primarily with fully notated scores (pop, rock, jazz etc.), to collaborate with classical musicians. We have already successfully demonstrated this feature in sessions that brought together a contemporary music ensemble with rock musicians. The software can support non-musicians who are interested in trying ensemble music, as we have seen in our Brighton Science Festival workshop event.

All users will benefit from the online community, which will be actively supported by the company we will form with SInC. Users will have access to tutorials, reference materials and forum discussions, and will be able to share and access free scores.