Bowing analysis

As some of you will know I’m involved at present in a couple of research projects at the Open University.

Me in the motion capture suit!

One of these has been looking at bowing technique using motion capture technology. A couple of times now I’ve worn a motion capture suit, with a variety of sensors on it, in order for a computer software program to track and record a variety of bow movements. This research is being conducted by Janet van der Linden of the OU computing department, along with various colleagues including Erwin Schoonderwaldt, who has recently finished a Doctoral Thesis on the mechanics and acoustics of violin bowing!

At one recent session we were able to record my bowing movements in a variety of short musical excerpts. The data gained can then be analysed in a variety of ways, but certainly the most immediately striking is to view it in video form, with a stick figure representing the player (me in this case!) and drawn lines to show the movements made at the hand and at the elbow. Here’s a sample video. You have to imagine that you’re viewing me from above! I may at some stage try to synchronise the music clip I was playing with it, but in the meantime you can try to guess from the shapes what it is: There’s a free copy of my “Ascension” CD waiting for the first person who can work out what the piece is!

I’m fascinated by the shapes it reveals. If you’d like to see some other similar videos and visualisations done by Erwin with other players, and using a somewhat different motion capture setup, please click here.