Efficient Tracking of Pianists' Finger Movements

Pianist finger movement contains information about note preparation, accent information as well as personal identifiers. However, no system for detailed finger tracking presently exists that can also be used ecologically: at an acoustic piano whilst also incurring acceptably low disruption to the performance. An optical motion capture system is described using a monocular camera setup to track passive UV paint markers placed directly onto pianists' fingers. Tracking accuracy and 3D estimation algorithms are evaluated. This low-cost, efficient system maximizes its uses in performance analysis experiments which are most importantly not confined to laboratory environments.