Guru was founded under the desire to bridge the proven accessibility difficulty to music education in the UK. Our mission is to grant a platform of access to instrumental teaching for people from all socio-economic backgrounds, regardless of their facilities or financial constraints.
Our Aim
We aim to do this by creating a 3D virtual music tutor that, by means of AI programming, can give personalised feedback based on gestures made when playing an instrument. Musical performance behaviour from these gestures will be captured using technology found commonly on smart devices, such as biometric data and motion capture on smartphone cameras. This software is being developed by a guitar tutor, and designed based on qualitative data obtained from a wide variety of musicians and music tutors. RiffBot will use techniques that have found to be effective for a wide variety of student abilities and learning styles. This means that whether you are picking up a guitar for the first time, or needing to fine tune technique as a more experienced musician, RiffBot will tailor lessons to your ability and your progression aspirations.
We aim to do this by creating a 3D virtual music tutor that, by means of AI programming, can give personalised feedback based on gestures made when playing an instrument. Musical performance behaviour from these gestures will be captured using technology found commonly on smart devices, such as biometric data and motion capture on smartphone cameras. This software is being developed by a guitar tutor, and designed based on qualitative data obtained from a wide variety of musicians and music tutors. RiffBot will use techniques that have found to be effective for a wide variety of student abilities and learning styles. This means that whether you are picking up a guitar for the first time, or needing to fine tune technique as a more experienced musician, RiffBot will tailor lessons to your ability and your progression aspirations.
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Our Motivation
Access to music education is becoming difficult for low-income children/families (read Musicians Union 2018 report)
The Musician's Union's review of music education in England in 2019 found that despite proof of the positive impact that learning an instrument has on a child's development, there is a clear 'postcode lottery' degree of access to music education. In particular, this report highlighted 'overwhelmingly children from poorer backgrounds who do not have adequate access to music education.' The report also found that financial straightening for hubs and music services was a significant problem: leading to widespread compounding of instrumental teaching consistency, and therefore subsidised adequacy of deliverance. Such research highlights that there is an issue with support towards music education, as well as demand and access to that demand. This statistic inspired our founder, Chris, to find a solution to this nationwide problem.
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The 2023 Mintel Report found that 90% of participants (N=2000) owned a smartphone, compared to 86% in 2020. This finding supports the maintained high prevalence of smartphone ownership in UK households. This report also found that 24% of participants (N=2000) owned a smartwatch in 2023, compared to 15% in 2020. These statistics are promising in supporting the continued increase in access to smart devices, despite changes in the economic climate. These findings highlight the opportunity for a smart device compatible product as a medium for making instrumental teaching more accessible.
Modern wearables are giving us access and insights into nuanced music performance behaviours, which was previously ‘unseen’ without using these. Going forward, AI technology is predicted to be incorporated in our daily lives at an ever-increasing rate and it's utilisation in an educational tool would allow for a personalised experience tailored to each user's playing style, providing an immersive and interactive learning platform. |
With these findings in mind, and his academic expertise in musical composition and AI, Chris took to investigating ways in which personalised music tuition could be made accessible via commercially available technology. This would allow for limitations such as financial committment constraints to be alleviated, with the prevalence of smart devices across UK households being consistently high. This will further branch into working with music hubs and charities to ensure this technology is accessible to all prospective musicians.