Competition Details

The Competition

Feel the Music seeks entries of University of Michigan teams to develop methods, technologies and devices that allow experiencing music in a different way. The final output of this competition is a prototype or demonstration of such a solution given to a panel.

This competition is brought to you by: Professors Jason Corey, Greg Wakefield, and Thomas Zurbuchen.

The Award

The total award disseminated is $10,000. The first prize is for $5000, the second prize is $2000 and prizes 3-5 are for $1000. The awards are unrestricted cash grants.

Selection Criteria

Competition entries are evaluated by a judge’s panel composed of UM students, faculty, staff and outside experts, including deaf people. Selections will be made based on the degree this project encompasses the following:

A vision for enlarging the experience of music for individuals
Interdisciplinary collaboration between people with different backgrounds, i.e., engineers, and musicians
Technical solutions which are reasonably scalable for broad deployment in a concert setting
Effectiveness of communicating a live musical experience to deaf individuals
Methods of interpreting music into a form that can be experienced without the use of sound
Integration of technology into some mobile or wearable form taking into account power requirements for at least 3 hours of use at a time

These are guidelines for the minimum requirement, but selection is based on the judge’s evaluation of relative merit among all entries.

Project Requirements

Teams must include at least two students who are enrolled as a full-time student at the University of Michigan in Fall 2008.

Projects must be accomplished by April 10th, 2009. Each team will submit a Wrap appropriate (a device, a working prototype, a DVD of a performance), and demonstrate the solution to the judge’s panel.

Students may receive academic credit or not, according to their arrangements with their faculty advisers.

Supporting Arrangements

Feel the Music will provide a central contact person for technical support with sensors, receivers etc. Each official team will have 2 hours of free support time available to them. Generally, we encourage students to use the tools and facilities made available through the Duderstadt Center.