The Brief:
Musicians typically rehearse far away from their audiences, in practice rooms that are often worlds apart from the concert venues and stages they aspire to perform. Due to the high costs of renting the space and the booked out nature of the venues, international music training lacks the repeated exposure to real life performance situations that students need. This in turn means students often learn too late how to manage the stresses of performing and in front of an expectant audience. The Royal College of Music wanted to create a digital experience that brought students closer to how the live experience might feel, in order to get them strongly prepared for live performances.
The Results:
Skyline Whitespace worked collectively with The Royal College of Music, Conservatorio della Svizzera Italian (Lugano) and the creative design consultancy Studiohead to create a groundbreaking new performance simulator that creates the feeling for students of performing live in front of an audience.
The simulation comprises of both realistic backstage and on stage spaces, along with an interactive virtual audience and audition panel. It enables the user to experience either a concert environment or an audition environment, helping the musician to develop and hone professional skills in a number of settings and scenarios. The simulator is accompanied by regular coaching sessions to strengthen stage presence, counselling for musicians suffering from performance anxiety, along with cutting edge physiological monitoring before, during and after a performance. An embedded AV recording system enables musicians to watch, evaluate and share their performances in the simulator straight after via any web-enabled device.
