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    Combined computer lab and piano/keyboard lab

    Jeremy Day-O'Connell
    in Pedagogy

    Colleagues,

     

    I wonder if anyone has experience with a space that doubles as computer lab and piano/keyboard lab.  (Currently my institution has a separate room for each, but I can't help but think that there might be some innovative furniture or equipment that could improve upon this--perhaps some way to quickly turn a keyboard into a computer desk and vice versa....)

     

    Thank you for any thoughts and/or experiences you're willing to share.

     

    Best wishes, 

    Jeremy 

    __________________

    Jeremy Day-O'Connell

    Associate Professor and Chair

    Music Department

    Skidmore College

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    • 2 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
    • carsonicsCarson Farley
      @carsonicsSend carsonics a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

      Hi Jeremy, I'm sure you might know this already.  Weighted keyboard controllers are essential for a pianistic interface which hook directly to any computer/software you use.  If there are no weighted controller keyboards any laptop can can record piano as audio with the onboard microphone or with a simple audio interface and external microphone.  In the latter situation you would record the piano as audio.  There are programs that convert audio to midi information (but I haven't used them) in the event that you wanted to use notation software with recorded information.  There is a lot of very good free legal software available like Audacity and even Finale has a free notation program.  Of course most software companies offer academic versions at reduced prices or for use in labs.  

    • Timothy Francis
      edited May 2017 @drtfrancisSend drtfrancis a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

      Since you haven't received much feedback on this, I'll just pipe in and recommend that you get in touch with the Music Technology Center at the University of Northern Colorado: http://arts.unco.edu/music/music-technology. ; They have both a computer lab with keyboard midi controllers at each station, and a piano lab (weighted electronic pianos) with laptops attached to each piano.  You might also consider contacting Toby Rush (now at the University of Dayton: https://udayton.edu/directory/artssciences/music/rush_tobias.php), who worked with the labs at UNC for quite a few years and still does some work with Music pedagogical technologies.