MirrorFugue by Xiao Xiao from usa

Great works of music are like great cities, meant to be revisited again and again, each time taking new pathways, making new discoveries. Experiencing a performance is like going on a tour of a city. The expert performer layers experience and knowledge from the past with feelings of the present moment, transporting the audience to new realms.

MirrorFugue is a platform for a digitally augmented acoustic grand piano that takes the audience on an interactive journey through microcosms of music. Inspired by the reflections on the fallboard of the acoustic grand piano, MirrorFugue combines the moving keys of a player piano with projection onto the instrument.

Named for the Baroque compositional form of multiple interwoven voices, MirrorFugue offers multiple perspectives into the real and imagined worlds of each piece. One perspective presents the digital reflection of the pianist’s hands and body, evoking in the observer the visceral sense of presence of the performer.

This perspective of MirrorFugue connect distant families and friends. A granddaughter can perform for her grandparents in another country. Concerts of great pianists can be performed live in a living room across the world. One can watch the great pianists from up close, learn from them–not only the movements of the hands but the breathing, phrasing and characterization of the body–and play along. One can even play a duet with oneself from many years ago, an adult accompanying herself on the piano as a little girl.
(video of this perspective: https://vimeo.com/63205564)

Other perspectives visualize the imagined worlds behind pieces of music. A running scale up the keyboard becomes a virtual character that scales up the keys, “playing” notes with his steps, the expression reflected in the way he moves. Rolling arpeggios become enormous waves crashing onto the keyboard. Or perhaps the representations are more abstract, making clear the structure and gesture of the musical phrase.
(one example of this: https://vimeo.com/61571527)

These perspectives can complement performances, live or recorded, adding a layer to guide the listening of the audience. They can also exist as interactive games inviting the viewer to play the keys, which then influences the action in the virtual worlds. These interactions allows even the amateur a vehicle to playfully traverse pathways of musical worlds.