The science of music

Senior lecturer Dr Richard Polfreman and postgraduate researcher Dan Halford will be taking part in the University’s Science and Engineering Day this weekend on Saturday 14th March: Events are running all day on Highfield Campus, and details can be found on the event web site and Facebook page. We’ll be demonstrating some of the technologies involved in our research into non-standard controllers for musical performance.

There will be two demos, one themed around the Hands On Sound project, which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council as part of a Collaborative Doctoral Award. Our partners in the project are Dr Cheryl Metcalf from Health Sciences, the London Sinfonietta and Sound Intermedia, and we are exploring optical motion-capture systems in live electronics performance. The other demo compares different types of control feedback when using electronic devices, and how these might affect performance, which is one of the questions being addressed Richard’s current research in this area.
It looks to be a very interesting day on campus, with a wide variety of activities and demonstrations across the scientific research being undertaken within the University, so please do come along if you can, and drop in on us in Building 85, Room 2209.