GR1: Proposal & Analysis

Project: Pitch Perfect

Problem Statement

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Singers in musical groups often find it difficult to perfect their individual parts in ensemble rehearsals.

They run into obstacles such as:

• not being able to hear themselves among many other voices
• not finding effective ways to practice alone outside of practice
• not receiving individual feedback as vocal directors are usually only able to address groups of people

Observations & Interviews

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His first two points were interesting to us, and we decided pursue that train of thought with our next two interviews.

Interview Two - The "New Guy" to Musical Theater

Background: The interviewee is currently involved with a musical theater group, but he has had no prior vocal training.

This interview was focused on understanding the difficulties that arise for new singers when joining an ensemble music group.  We observed one of his group rehearsals to get a better sense of an ensemble practice.  While listening, we noticed that it was hard to hear specific people singing.  After practice, we were able to talk to the interviewee and gain three main insights:

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The key takeaway from our interview is that with so many people singing in a large group, it is very easy for one person's voice to be drowned out.  The interviewee expressed strong interest in being able to practice his parts by himself first before going to group practice. 

Interview Three - The Vocal Director

Background: The interviewee is one of the vocal directors for a musical theater group on campus that has an especially high number of amateur performers.  In addition, she is also currently one of the music directors for an MIT a cappella group.

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We felt that her responses gave us a lot to work with, and with that we were able to form a clearer picture of problems faced by musical groups.

User Classes

We have identified two major user classes:

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1. The Singer

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The singer belongs to an a cappella group or musical theater.  Two types of people fall into this user group:

• People that are new to singing.  These people have not had formal musical training and need practice on things like rhythm and sight-singing.  
• Soloists.  Soloists generally have more singing experience but find it hard to practice their solo during ensemble meeting time.

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2. The Vocal Director

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The vocal director is in charge of all singers during ensemble meeting times and must help everyone learn and improve their partsDescribe the user classes that you have identified, and their major characteristics.

Needs & Goals

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From our interviews, we determined a set of needs and goals of our target user classes.

• New singers have trouble with pitch and rhythm.
• Singers have a lot of trouble knowing how their part fits in with others.
• In ensembles, it is hard to hear oneself sing during group rehearsal.
• A cappella singers have a hard time dealing with singing without instrumental accompaniment.
• Singers want personalized feedback from their vocal directors.
• Vocal directors want to give people individual attention and feedback, but rehearsal time is too precious.