GR1: Proposal & Analysis

Problem Statement

Coming soon...

Observations & Interviews

We interviewed three people, each with a different background in musical groups (a cappella/musical theater), and used their responses to put together a portrait of both our potential users and their needs.

Interview One - The A Cappella Veteran

Background: The interviewee had been involved in an MIT a cappella group for three years.

During our first need-finding interview, our goal was to determine what a cappella singers would find useful in a web application.  In particular, we asked our interviewee about common problems he faced while in an a cappella group.

• He mentioned that as someone who had no prior vocal training, when he first joined the group, it was hard for him to sight-sing music and to adjust to singing without an instrumental accompaniment.
• He noticed that many members of his group struggled with rhythm during rehearsals.
• He mentioned a virtual sheet music interface might be useful, so arrangements can be stored and shared via a central location, as opposed to through email.  
• There was also need for someone to maintain a website for their group, so recordings and videos of performances could be uploaded, which was a minor annoyance.

His first two points were interesting to us, and we decided 

Interview Two - The "New Guy"

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 a cappella 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 3 main insights:

• He has a hard time hearing himself while everyone is singing, making it hard for him to determine if he is singing the correct pitch or not. 
• He has a lot of difficulty with rhythm because it is hard for him to be on beat when other singers are singing at different rates.
• He would like to get feedback on his singing from the other members of the group because it helps him get more comfortable with singing in a group.

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.

During our last interview, our goal was to determine the needs of another one of our potential user classes: the vocal director.  This interviewee also gave us the unique perspective of someone who was directing two different musical groups at the same time - both an small a cappella group and a large, amateur musical theater group.

• She mentioned the challenges experienced in her two musical groups are different.  In a cappella, singers often find it difficult because there is no instrumental accompaniment.  In musical theater, there are many ensemble pieces, and in those, because people have a hard time hearing themselves over everybody else, it is hard for people to improve via just attending rehearsal.
• In a cappella, it is not useful to drill the notes in your head - it is more important to learn how to adapt once someone in the group goes slightly flat or sharp.  Memorization takes away the ability to adapt.
• The biggest problem with learning music is having the ear to hear where your part fits in.  In the past, to get around this, she gave people a recording of someone else singing their part with everybody else singing their parts in the background.  
• People have a lot of trouble with relative pitch and what things should sound like.
• As a director, she would like to give people feedback when they practice on their own, so she can know which parts need more work.
• In ensemble rehearsals for her theater group, it’s extremely difficult to deal with so many people all at once.  Calling on a few people to drill their parts during rehearsal leaves everybody else bored, and it’s hard to pick out exactly who is struggling, because some people will “fake” singing if they don’t know their part very well.

User Classes

Describe the user classes that you have identified, and their major characteristics.

Needs & Goals

Describe the goals that you have identified, with reference to the observations you made.