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The Choir@Home project proudly presents its second Christmas video just in time for the festive season. „Jouluhymni“ was rehearsed under the musical direction of Markus Rohregger and sung by the participants of the laboratory choir in just a few rehearsal hours.

The special thing here too: Once again, the participants in the laboratory choir were „only“ connected digitally and took on the challenge of singing together in a choir with headphones, microphones and latency-reducing technology. The aim was to find out what hurdles are involved in this type of music-making and to test how choirmasters can proceed pedagogically when a choir has to interact without personal conducting. The results are impressive! See for yourself with our video. It is not only possible to produce a wonderful harmony, but also to create joy, cohesion and a sense of togetherness that is only slightly inferior to a presence choir.

The prerequisite is without question a technical openness, which all participants in the choir demonstrated with enthusiasm and commitment. Full of commitment and within just six sessions together, a complex choral ensemble was created that was able to tackle difficult pieces. „Jouluhymni“ also stood out as a Finnish Christmas carol with another language barrier that the digital choir had to overcome.

Everyone involved in the project is proud of the great video and is grateful for the choir’s work and willingness to explore new choral possibilities in an unusual way.

We would like to thank all the participants in the laboratory choir and wish them a happy and peaceful Christmas season.

Dr. Janine Hacker, Prof. Dr. Heike Henning, Prof. Dr. Alexander Carôt, Markus Rohregger, Eva-Maria Leeb and Susanne Häfner

 

Introducing prospective students to the department’s degree programs and research – this is what the Open Day at Anhalt University on June 1st is about. At this year’s event, the laboratory choir of the Erasmus research project showcased its talent, demonstrating how computer science and technology can be harnessed creatively and innovatively. With two pieces from its repertoire, the choir singers impressed audiences across national borders.

This illustrates that computer science can transcend boundaries, whether they be national, disciplinary, or mental barriers. The laboratory choir of the research project Choir@Home – in collaboration with the University of Liechtenstein, the Mozarteum in Innsbruck, and the expertise of Professor Carôt of Anhalt University – not only surpasses traditional choral music boundaries but also expands technical perspectives and the canon of information transmission, thus overcoming numerous boundaries in the process.

Labor Choir Performs at the University of Anhalt’s Information Day

Bringing future students closer to the studies and research focuses of the faculty – these are the tasks of the Information Day at the University of Anhalt. This year, the event was enriched by a special highlight: the laboratory choir of the Erasmus research project Choir@Home performed and impressively demonstrated how innovative technologies in computer science and technology can be creatively applied.

Musical High Tech

The performance did not only focus on choir management and outstanding sound but also on the technological advancements that enable the laboratory choir’s joint music-making. The digital laboratory choir’s performance was not only a musically enriching but also a wonderful example of what networking without data transmission delay can achieve. The visitors of the Open Day had the chance to enjoy to the diversity of computer science studies as well as the wide range of applications for computer scientists.

International and Interdisciplinary Cooperation

The choir is part of the research project Choir@Home, which was developed in close collaboration with the University of Liechtenstein, the Mozarteum in Innsbruck, and Professor Carôt from Anhalt University of Applied Sciences. This cooperation demonstrates how musical and technological disciplines can merge, opening up new, exciting perspectives. The laboratory choir’s work not only extends the traditional boundaries of choral music but also the technical possibilities of information transmission. By using modern technologies, a new canon is being created that enriches both art and science. The impressive performance of the laboratory choir vividly demonstrates the potential inherent in the networking of different disciplines and international collaborations. It offers an inspiring glimpse into the future of computer science and music and its transformative power. Anhalt University and the Erasmus research project Choir@Home have proved that together they are capable of paving innovative and creative paths for the future. The Open Day once again highlighted that Anhalt University is a great place for providing students with a base to explore their enthusiasm, interests and ideas.

 

 

This year’s Long Night of Research in Innsbruck on May 24 was a highlight for music and choir lovers and technology enthusiasts alike. With the performance of our cross-border online choir as a special treat.

While project manager Janine Hacker gave visitors an update on the project via livestream about the current status of the project, including the hurdles and challenges, choirmaster Markus Rohregger explained in person how latency – the time delay in transmission – prevents performing music together when using traditional technology. Our laboratory choir shone with several selected pieces, for which the singers only had a very limited amount of time to rehearse. The visitors were c

learly amazed by this modern form of choral experience and followed the performance with keen interest.

A revolutionary concept: Choir@Home

As part of the Choir@Home project, the online choir has specialized in experimenting with the boundaries of traditional choral music as well as breaking new ground in the field of digital music performance. Presenting the results at the Long Night of Research has been the perfect way of letting a diverse audience experience what it is like when technology and traditional art forms are in sync – and results in innovative and impressive concert experiences.

Texts and intonation were learned, rehearsed in voice groups, and coordinated in the entire choir. In six intense rehearsals, the nuances were fine-tuned and coordinated with the pianist – not in person as is usual for a choir, but online using the ultra-low latency software Soundjack. This innovative approach was the central task of our laboratory choir within the framework of the cooperative Erasmus project Choir@Home, implemented in collaboration with the Mozarteum Salzburg in Innsbruck, and the University of Liechtenstein and the University of Applied Sciences Anhalt.

Live for the first time

As part of the Vocal Pedagogy Symposium in Munich „In (Kon-)Takt – Generationen durch Musik verbinden“ on March 22 – 23, the choir was able to perform live for the first time and play in front of an audience. This performance marked the first major premiere of our project.

The project team is proud to have successfully mastered the experiment and extends heartfelt thanks and congratulations to our choir! They embraced the challenge of live performance and excelled at it. While the pianist was present in Munich, the sound of her e-piano was synchronized online with the channels of the individual singers and output as a unified sound. This meant a particular technical challenge for the pianist Alexandra Milborn, who had to stay a step ahead of the singing, but also for the choir director Markus Rohregger. For him, it meant leaning back during the performance and enjoying the results of the intense preparations, as direct choreographic input was at this stage no longer possible.

Live collaboration

But that was not all – the second premiere was also impressive. The Ohm Choir of the Technische Hochschule Nürnberg Georg Simon Ohm was present live and sang together with the digital laboratory choir. To top it all off, the audience also participated in this unique experiment. At the technical end of things everything ran smoothly, with Professor Alexander Carôt in charge of the technical adjustments and balancing the voices equally with those of the live choir. The project team is delighted with the outcome of this very special challenge in such a short amount of time. The entire experiment confirmed that innovative technologies and dedicated collaboration across borders can create surprising and impressive musical experiences. As project team, we look forward to the next steps in our project and are excited to share similarly thrilling premieres with you in the future.

 

It is the first time that all project members are in one room and technically connected non the less. In addition to reflecting on and discussing the organizational direction of the project, the launch of LabChoir 2.0 was celebrated. Once again, some new singers met in the virtual space to work on the new pieces and rehearse them in the best possible way, away from each other but still together. The fact that choirmaster Markus Rohregger was in the same room as project coordinator Dr. Janine Hacker and Professor Heike Henning, who lent their voices to the choir, was absolutely unique. Professor Alexander Carôt provided the technology and took care of the fine-tuning with the necessary sensitivity, supported by Susanne Häfner (with the camera). All 30 participants in the digital laboratory choir 2.0 had been sent the FastMusicBox in advance so that they could form the choir together using the appropriate hardware and the low-latency Soundjack software.

A great project, from which the participating institutions – University of Liechtenstein, Mozarteum Salzburg in Innsbruck and the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences – expect not only great joy, but also a lot of knowledge. What problems arise in virtual, low-latency music-making? What do the music teachers have to be prepared for and what do the participating singers have to expect?

The first laboratory choir has already gained a wealth of knowledge about being a digitale low-latency choir, which is being put to immediate use.