At ShareMusic, we are working in several ways with an area that concerns remote co-creative work — the development of a remote performance platform. The development of remote co-creation platforms can open up entirely new possibilities for creating art. It is also one of the areas in our research strategy, and in the context of the 2020 Corona pandemic, this work became highly urgent.
Important partners in this work are CCRMA at Stanford University, especially the development of the Jacktrip technology, and X-system Ltd that we have been and are working with in different projects and activities.
We will update this page continuously with articles and invitations to events concerning this highly technological and innovative work, so please visit us often. Also, never hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. We like curious minds!
ShareMusicLab with Jacktrip and Norrlandsoperan's Symphony Orchestra
Sharing: Remote Performance Skåne on October 27 2022
Towards Access for All – symposium on October 17 2022
Trailer about the Remote Performance work in Skåne 2022.
X-System is the world’s first functioning computational model of the musical brain. It is able to analyse musical tracks and predict with high accuracy the neurophysiological effects the music is likely to have on the listener, including autonomic activity, electrical brain activity, endocrine activity and neurotransmission. It is furthermore able to generate playlists to lead listeners from “where they are” in terms of mood, feelings and emotion to “where they want to be”.
Many developments in X-System came through the experience work with young people with disability and children with trauma. Furthermore, X-System has wide experience in use of sensors and in both processing and representing data related to thoughts, feelings, the mind and the body - precisely the areas of development required for the co-creation platform, enabling users not only to share musical experience in real time but also to share emotions and motivations. Professor Nigel Osborne, the inventor of X-System, chairs the Share Music Advisory Board. Read more about X-system Ltd here.
Jacktrip is a zero latency architecture which allows musicians to collaborate online in real time (without the delays that make playing together impossible on systems like Zoom, Skype or Teams). It also has much higher sound quality than other platforms. This makes it very important for Share Music. At the best of times, the artists we work with can find it hard to travel to work together. The pandemic made this situation even worse. JackTrip offers an elegant and very musical solution to remote co-creation. We have tested it in recent workshops, including with Norrlandsoperan in Umea, and everyone has been delighted with the results. The architecture was developed at Stanford University, so Patricia Alessandrini and others have been able to link us directly to its designers.
Professor Nigel Osborne
ShareMusic is part of the project MuseIT, which is co-funded by the European Union and runs from 2022-2025. MuseIT stands for "Multisensory, User-centred, Shared cultural Experiences through Interactive Technologies." ShareMusic's role in the MuseIT project focuses on the part that concerns cultural co-creation, and we are working, among other things, on the development of a "Remote Performance Platform" that will enable musical co-creation at a distance. We are involved in other parts of the project, not least in creating an accessible archive of cultural assets.
In total, twelve partners from nine EU countries and three non-EU associated partners are involved in the project. The project coordinator is the University of Borås. All project partners are part of so-called work packages that have different focus areas.
ShareMusic organises a number of activities during the project, where different features and technical developments are explored in co-creative settings. Activities are often arranged together with other project partners.