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Exciting Opportunity for Piano Students: Join the ‘Rach3’ Research Project!

Institute of Computational Perception, Johannes Kepler University (JKU), Austria.

Are you a passionate piano student and interested in participating in cutting-edge research? We are seeking two piano students to participate in an innovative project, ‘Rach3,’ which explores piano rehearsal strategies using computational methodologies.

Who and What We’re Looking For:

Two students at a Music University studying a classical music piano-focused bachelors or masters programme (either for concert performance, chamber performance or music education).
Available for regular practice sessions and willing to engage in research-related tasks for a period of one year.
Living in Vienna (preferable) or Linz, Austria.
Space at home to have a silent Yamaha B2 or B3 upright piano (which will be provided), plus some more gear such as video cameras, microphones, with their respective stands.
A valid work permit for Austria (at least 15 hours per week).
A computer/laptop to record audio and video data.
Agreement for their recording data to be published and used in non-commercial research (Creative Commons license CC BY-NC), as part of an open dataset.

Benefits and Remuneration:

Monthly remuneration for 15 hours of work per week (will be determined according to the salaries stated by the Austrian Science Fund): 5 hours of recording, and 10 hours for annotations, data transfer, etc.
A silent piano will be provided for home use throughout the project.
A copy of the recordings for personal use.

Other Requirements and Application Info:

The recordings for the dataset will be Western Classical Piano pieces in the public domain from the common practice period. The pianists have the freedom to choose to practice pieces of their liking from this repertoire. They will also be trained to conduct the collection of recordings by themselves at their homes. They will need to therefore be willing to work with the set up and regular monitoring of the technologies involved in the recording (GoPro, Microphones, Armbands measuring physiological factors, etc.). While the research is based at JKU, the recording of the rehearsals will be conducted at the pianists’ homes. They will however be required to bring the data to the research institution (in Vienna/Linz) on a regular basis.

Interested candidates are invited to apply at carlos.cancino_chacon@jku.at with a brief introduction, an artistic C.V., relevant experience (in years, piano examination levels, current University level in Piano/Music performance), details of current enrolment in a University Masters or Bachelors programme, and (if available) video/audio links to some performances on the piano.The JKU and FWF are committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in science. All qualified applicants will be considered regardless of their ethnicity, nationality, gender or background.