School of Music professors unify to create VR conducting program for music students

Three Illinois State University professors created and implemented RibbonsVR, a virtual reality program, for ISU students taking music conducting classes.

Band Director Tony Marinello, Associate Director of Creative Technology Roy Magnuson and Professor Tim Fredstrom were able to bring their different skills to the table to create this product.

“I respect [Marinello and Fredstrom] immensely as conducting teachers and music educators, so I thought this would be awesome,” Magnuson said. “With Fredstrom’s background in choral and Marinello’s in wind conducting, I thought [making this program] would be really interesting. They can look at very different things and give feedback. It’s stimulating for me as a developer to get feedback from them as they are looking at it very differently. It’s super fun.”

The development of the program began in June 2019 and the first version was finished and ready to be released in March 2020 but was delayed due to the pandemic.

The program helps students practice their conducting skills and provides immediate feedback about their performance.

“Students are practicing [conducting] to the music, and the program is reacting to the speed of their hands,” Marinello said. “To have the program say that you slowed down and you’re able to hear it [in the music] is huge.”

Marinello, Magnuson and Fredstrom were inspired to create the program with the idea of finding more ways to incorporate technology into learning.

“As a music educator, I’m looking for new ways to leverage technology to help students learn more effectively,” Fredstrom said. “One of the things that has been historically challenging in teaching people to conduct is giving concrete feedback to students. We used to think that video recording was the way to go, which was great, but with this new technology we provide concurrent experience and feedback.”

While Marinello, Magnuson and Fredstrom are happy with their current product, they are reworking the program and hope to release a better version in the future.

“The program is working, and students are using it, and we are getting the feedback that we desire,” Magnuson said. “Now that the program is out, simultaneously I’m already reworking it. It looks totally different, has a lot more customization and is especially more user-friendly. It’s more extensible, meaning we will be able to add more to it easily. The next step is to have that version become the version that we are using.”

Magnuson hopes to have the next version of RibbonsVR available for student use in the spring semester.