We present PIANX, a platform to assist piano players in alleviating Music Performance Anxiety (MPA). Our work is motivated by the ability of Virtual Reality (VR) to create environments closely resembling the real world. For musicians, settings such as auditions or concerts are of particular interest, since they allow practicing in situations which evoke stress as a result of stage fright. Current approaches are limited: while they provide a virtual scene, realistic haptic feedback (i.e. playing on a real piano) and an authentic representation of their hands is missing. We close this gap with the design of a Mixed Reality platform, consisting of a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) stage piano and an HTC Vive Pro VR headset. The platform offers (a) two approaches to finger tracking and visualization - a virtual representation based on LeapMotion hand tracking (baseline) and a real representation using see-through VR; in addition, it provides (b) three different settings in which users can practice (home, audition, concert hall) and (c) a mechanism for real time feedback. We created a series of videos demonstrating the system and collected feedback from 23 participants in an online study, assessing their views towards our platform. Results reveal key insights for the design of virtual MPA training platforms from a scientific and consumer perspective.    «

We present PIANX, a platform to assist piano players in alleviating Music Performance Anxiety (MPA). Our work is motivated by the ability of Virtual Reality (VR) to create environments closely resembling the real world. For musicians, settings such as auditions or concerts are of particular interest, since they allow practicing in situations which evoke stress as a result of stage fright. Current approaches are limited: while they provide a virtual scene, realistic haptic feedback (i.e. playing...    »