Prof. Zachary Dietz and UCI Drama Tests Aloha Software to Reduce Music Latency

Students at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm - Credit: Mira Åkerman (Photo: Business Wire)

The World’s Leading Music Schools Turn to Aloha By Elk Real-Time Music Creation and Performance Service to Reconnect Teachers and Students 

Royal College of Music in Stockholm, University of California-Irvine, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, part of Birmingham City University and Saint Louis College of Music in Rome, Italy Line Up to Test Drive Aloha’s Real-Time, Remote Capabilities

October, 8, 2020

Excerpt from the feature:

Zachary Dietz, University of California-Irvine professor of musical theater and drama, and a musician/actor who spent 20 years in NYC on Broadway performing in various productions including “Wicked,” “The Lion King,” “School of Rock,” and “Mrs. Doubtfire,” comments on the potential of Aloha for music education, “Latency is a big problem for musicians and theater people. Since the pandemic, Irvine has been having serious conversations about the best way to present theater online and they were looking at Zoom and similar models that just don’t translate as well. Then we heard about Aloha. It ticked a lot of boxes for me both academically and for my research and side projects composing music and for musical theater. Aloha seems to remove barriers from an educational standpoint for music and vocal training and also offers benefits personally and professionally for musical storyboarding meetings where we, as musicians, can work in real time with minimal latency.”

Dietz shared that educators are reduced to sending instrumental tracks for students to record and work with. Dietz explains the shortcomings of teaching this way, “Because the student is forced to conform to the track, they miss many valuable components of a vocal lesson as opposed to working in the same space in real time with a teacher. Instrumental recordings don’t allow for the critical nonverbal nuances like breath, posture and body language, which are all critical components of vocal study and performance. Having a technology like Aloha mitigates all of that and allows teachers to give feedback in real time as a student sings or plays an instrument, which is critical in musical education.”

Read the entire feature here.