{"id":50959,"date":"2024-12-26T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eea920be-b8f0-4fb8-97ff-1da3929cb0c0"},"modified":"2024-12-26T12:09:20","modified_gmt":"2024-12-26T11:09:20","slug":"are-robotic-conductors-the-future-of-music-and-can-they-ever-be-as-good-as-humans","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/are-robotic-conductors-the-future-of-music-and-can-they-ever-be-as-good-as-humans\/","title":{"rendered":"Are robotic conductors the future of music \u2013 and can they ever be as good as humans?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Thursday, 26 December 2024 at 10:00 AM<\/p>

\n\n

Read on to discover just how good – or not – robotic conductors are…<\/strong><\/p>

Are robotic conductors really the future for symphony orchestras?<\/h2>
All I want for Christmas is a massive robot conductor. Too much to ask? If Tamagotchi are back \u2013 those electronic pets returning from two decades ago to take over Christmas 2024 \u2013 then why can\u2019t I be opening an animatronic maestro under\u00a0the Christmas tree?<\/p>
We could finally be near the utopia of so many orchestral musicians. Imagine never having to deal again with the all-too-fallible vicissitudes of human conductors. Instead, give those pesky time beating responsibilities to the robots who will never get a beat wrong: down with Abbado<\/a><\/strong>, all hail Asimo!<\/p>

What does a conductor do?<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul>
Robotic conductors: Honda’s Asimo<\/h2>
Asimo is Honda\u2019s robotic project, whose zenith of creativity was reached in 2008, when it conducted the Detroit Symphony in The Impossible Dream<\/em>. Honda quoted a mere $2.5m if you too wanted Asimo to conduct your next concert. But there was a wee problem: it took engineers six months to programme the two minutes of Asimo\u2019s performance, and the robot could neither react in the moment nor come up with an encore. In fact, so impossible was Asimo\u2019s robotic dream that Honda shut the project down in 2018.<\/p>

<\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Honda’s ASIMO conducts the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2008 <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The next generation: EveR 6<\/h2> <p>But last year, the spirit of Asimo lived on in South Korea, with EveR 6, which swapped Asimo\u2019s Daft Punk style visor for a creepily human-ish face. It replaced Asimo\u2019s pre-programmed gimmickry with something approaching collaboration \u2013 using EveR 6\u2019s precision alongside a human conductor\u2019s expressivity to create a musical cyborg, both homo sapiens and robot, that pushed boundaries of coordination and improvisation with the National Orchestra of Korea.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Conducting robot EveR-6: Bringing a new challenge to the realm of art\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/eV8TQTe_v-U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> EveR 6 makes its debut as an orchestra conductor <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/why-cartoon-theme-tunes-should-be-taken-seriously\">Why cartoon theme tunes should be taken seriously<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">MAiRA Pro S: a robotic conductor with three arms<\/h2> <p>And just a few weeks ago in Dresden, the snappily titled MAiRA Pro S made her three-armed debut with the Dresdner Sinfoniker. Although MAiRA\u2019s pronouns are human, she has no face, just three robotic arms with lightsaber-like batons protruding from a bank of futuristic servers. Dresden\u2019s <em>Robot Symphony<\/em> also tried to fuse the possibilities of robotic precision with the expressive power of human players: MAiRA\u2019s arms conducted ensembles in three different time streams, in music by\u00a0Andreas Gundlach.<\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Robot Conductor MAiRA Pro S Leads Dresdner Sinfoniker in a Groundbreaking Music Performance\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sGSKQ03DzOk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> MAiRA Pro S leads the Dresdner Sinfoniker\u00a0 <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/stockhausen-5\">Karlheinz Stockhausen<\/a><\/strong> might have wished MAiRA had existed in 1958 for his piece <em>Gruppen<\/em>, designed for three groups and three conductors. But then again, he might not. Because none of these robots can meaningfully react to the music that\u2019s happening in front of them, and all of them, I reckon, are destined to become like the Furbys of Christmases past, ending up in the landfill of broken musical dreams.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/six-best-works-stockhausen\">Six of the best: works by Stockhausen<\/a><\/strong><\/li> <\/ul> <h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Robotic conductors? Or just a good old metronome…<\/h2> <p>And anyway, if you really want to play precisely in time, there\u2019s a much better and cheaper solution: just use a click-track, available on any metronome app on your phone. Less exciting under the tree, I admit. So, if anyone\u2019s got a spare Asimo \u2013 or a spare $2.5m \u2013 come and make my Christmas Day!<\/p> <p\/> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Thursday, 26 December 2024 at 10:00 AM Read on to discover just how good – or not – robotic conductors are… Are robotic conductors really the future for symphony orchestras? All I want for Christmas is a massive robot conductor. Too much to ask? If Tamagotchi are back \u2013 those electronic pets returning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":50960,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/are-robotic-conductors-the-future-of-music-and-can-they-ever-be-as-good-as-humans.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/are-robotic-conductors-the-future-of-music-and-can-they-ever-be-as-good-as-humans-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/are-robotic-conductors-the-future-of-music-and-can-they-ever-be-as-good-as-humans-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/are-robotic-conductors-the-future-of-music-and-can-they-ever-be-as-good-as-humans-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/are-robotic-conductors-the-future-of-music-and-can-they-ever-be-as-good-as-humans-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/are-robotic-conductors-the-future-of-music-and-can-they-ever-be-as-good-as-humans.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/12\/are-robotic-conductors-the-future-of-music-and-can-they-ever-be-as-good-as-humans.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Thursday, 26 December 2024 at 10:00 AM Read on to discover just how good – or not – robotic conductors are… Are robotic conductors really the future for symphony orchestras? All I want for Christmas is a massive robot conductor. Too much to ask? If Tamagotchi are back \u2013 those electronic pets returning…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/50959"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}