The deployment of equipment enabling distance music teaching has progressed to the testing phase in Kaustinen and Toholampi.
Partners of the Interreg Aurora funded ANSEL project (Access the North with the Speed of Light) from Centria and the City of Oulu visited the Kaustinen Music High School and the Folk Arts Centre. It would be hard to imagine a better environment for developing distance music education, as Kaustinen’s fiddle-playing tradition has even been included in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
During the spring, low-latency technology has been installed at the Kaustinen Music Music High School, the Toholampi municipal hall, and Centria’s Kokkola campus. This technology is now being tested and introduced into use. The near real-time system enables, for example, distance music teaching, as both audio and video are transmitted over the network without noticeable delay. The student and teacher do not need to be physically in the same space; instruction can take place remotely.
Thanks to this technology, instrumentalists and singers can perform together from different locations, provided the sites are connected via two remote stations using the system. This was tested in practice through a spontaneous singing session between the music school and the municipal hall—clapping even stayed perfectly in rhythm over the network.
The initial tests in Kaustinen may sound modest, but in Sweden the technology has already been used in music education and theatre production. Riksteatern, a partner in the ANSEL project, is also collaborating with several other organizations in the ACROSS project to make performing arts accessible to residents of the Swedish and Åland archipelagos. This may include, for example, distance music teaching.
Some may also recall the Three Rooms theatre production staged in Pietarsaari, where the technology was used to create a performance simultaneously on three stages in three different countries. This gives an indication of the possibilities the technology offers for remote teaching and cultural experiences in Central Ostrobothnia as well, as geographical distances become less significant.
The cross-border ANSEL project includes partners from Finland, Sweden, and Norway
In Central Ostrobothnia, Centria and the Kaustinen region are participating in the project. Each partner has acquired equipment and a remote station with project funding, enabling cross-border collaboration in music education and cultural productions.
During the spring, the setup was also installed at Oulu University of Applied Sciences, where it has already been put to practical use. Oulu’s cultural services, Oulu UAS, Riksteatern, and Uusi Teatteri from Sweden jointly produced two technology-enabled Stjärnhimlar theatre performances for students of the Swedish Private School in Oulu. The actors and audience were in different countries, but thanks to the technology, they were able to interact as if they were in the same room.
Senior Lecturer in Music Timo Roiko-Jokela testing a remote connection to Tromsø. Photo by Hanna Kenakkala.
Centria’s focus within the project is to explore how this technology could be utilized in game development. Another goal is to test it as part of music education. A preview of this was seen in early June, when a connection between the Kokkola campus and the University of Tromsø was tested through drumming in rhythm. Senior Lecturer in Music Timo Roiko-Jokela stated that he was very satisfied with the quality and speed of the connection. Despite the hundreds of kilometers between the locations, playing together was almost latency-free.
The coming summer and autumn look particularly interesting for the project. A demonstration event utilizing the technology is planned in connection with the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival, and more demos organized by project partners are expected in the autumn as part of teaching and creative processes.
ANSEL is a project co-funded by the European Union and financed through the Interreg Aurora programme.
We Work Across borders in ANSEL:
Lead Partner EU:
Centria-ammattikorkeakoulu Oy (Centria University of Applied Sciences)
Lead Partner Norway:
Universitetet i Tromsø – Norges arktiske universitet (The Music Conservatory at The University of Tromsø)
Project partners:
Lestijärven kunta (Kaustinen sub-region)
Riksteatern
Sundsvalls kommun (Sundsvalls municipality)
Oulun kaupunki (The City of Oulu with the Oulu Symphony Orchestra, the Oulu Conservatory, Oulu Theatre)
The Beaivváš Sámi Našunálateáhter
You can learn more about the project on this webpage https://net.centria.fi/hanke/ansel/
