A Handfull of Scenarios: 10 Years from now (part 1 of 3)

This is the first scenario out of three, which I found on the website of "www.soundandmusiccomputing.org"

"The scenarios represent visions of how life would be when a few reachable (though not necessarily easy) scientific/technological targets are hit removing identified roadblocks and gaps" (Which are more specificaly explained on the website)

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Sound and Music Computing 10 years from now
The scenarios presented in this chapter represent visions of how life would be when a few reachable (though not necessarily easy) scientific/technological targets are hit removing identified roadblocks and gaps and meeting the challenges exposed in Chap. 5 on page §.

These scenarios represent global environments and tasks like our everyday life soundscapes, some professional perspectives as musicians, and general music appreciation. As such, there is no one–to–one correspondence with any single key issue reported in Chap. 4 on page §. Rather, they provide a hint of how the world could be if and when Sound and Music Computing research would have achieved the multi–disciplinarity and transversality proposed in this Roadmap


Background
Current portable mp3 players have - despite their simplicity – already massively changed human music listening behaviours. Also, first web-based music information systems are emerging that provide contextual information about music by simply connecting already existing services (such as Wikipedia, CDDB, lastFM,etc.), without any musical expertise.

Based on current trends in SMC research, such systems are likely to further develop in the direction of multi-modal, interactive, open, and adaptive systems that support both beginners and experts from different cultures in accessing music and music-related information.

My new musical friend
I take my expert music companion with me anywhere, anytime, because I love music. The companion does not just play music, it provides me with a lot of other information about the music – from "practical" things such as transciptions of instruments and harmonies, to animated visualisations of the structure of the music, contextual information such as style, historical and cultural relations, or the relationship of the piece to other, related pieces and styles.

My device is easy to use. I can talk to it, I can shake it to show it the kinds of rhythms I like. It is aware of the music being played on radio stations and available in music databases world-wide, and it finds new music that I like in a particular situation. I can point it at music played by a street band, and it will tell me what it is. It understands my intentions, it learns my musical preferences. Sometimes it will surprise me, teaching me something new about music and my taste. And by the way: having had the small (and painless) implant of nano-sized loudspeakers in my ear, I listen to my music without bothering with bulky headphones and earplugs.

My music companion also helps me out in social contexts. When I am desparately looking for a date, my companion alerts me that there is a dance party around the corner with people having a similar interest in Brazilian music. When I enter the club, my companion contacts the DJ system and sends it some of my favourite pieces (rare Brazilian stuff). The lady in the corner just goes “Wow”.

My music companion is no longer an isolating device the runs playlists, but rather a friend that enhances my musical abilities, reflects my personality and helps me to socialise.


From http://www.soundandmusiccomputing.org