Piano OpenLab - Presentation at Jacksonville University

Music departments invest a considerable amount of money to purchase the keyboard lab systems on the market today. Teachers mostly use them only for group piano classes, with limited flexibility and adaptability. The most famous lab systems are made by big companies like Yamaha and Roland, and although they ensure a great sound quality, they still relies on a sophisticated and complex wiring technology, and are expensive to maintain and to update/upgrade. Piano OpenLab - a system prototype based on a Python original code - reinvents the infrastructure of the class piano and brings it to a new level of teaching using innovative and sustainable technology, with the following distinctions: 

- It assigns the sound quality to the computer instead of the piano, by using MIDI, DAWs, and no-latency apps. 

- It reduces wired connections between components, by using computer and online-based technologies. 

- It is extremely modular, so to make part replacement easier and cheaper. 

- It makes the system adaptable to many activities, such as music technology, music production, and composition classes. 

- It is easily updatable and upgradable with affordable and user-friendly software installations. 

- It improves accessibility and enhances remote instruction (giving access to MOOC). During the presentation, attendees will know more about the rationale and the technology behind Piano OpenLab. Video demonstrations will be shown that include some of the improved activities Piano OpenLab can run, as compared to the traditional systems in use today.