Indoor Percussion is a physically demanding activity where members wear drums weighing up to 43 lbs while performing sophisticated musical scores to precise choreographed routines. It requires a unique combination of strength, stamina, musicality and grace. The 'Quantified Percussionist' employs sensors to measure and signal processing to analyze various aspects of the member experience.
A. Physiological Measurements
The 'Quantified Percussionist' project measures and analyzes physiological characteristics of team members such as EEG, heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rates, galvanic skin response, EOG, steps, etc.
B. Performance Metrics
Criteria such as hand speed, force, displacement are useful metrics to measure for indoor percussion. More significantly, precise measurement of hand, limb and foot position can be measured using the Kinect for improvement of choreographic routines for the members.
C. Signal Processing
Using the terrific 24 bit A to D converters on the TPerc Yamaha 0iV96i the sounds of the various percussive instruments are measured for fundamental frequencies, harmonic content, magnitude, and phase. Effects are added in both the frequency and time domain and analyzed. The frequency response of the microphones are characterized and optimized.
This project will help our students learn about engineering while pursuing their passion for indoor percussion.