Measurement of student conductors' movements Aiming for improving their skill

In Japanese mandolin ensembles conducted as extracurricular activities, student conductors usually lead performances without the guidance of professional conductors or instructors. While this provides educational value, these students must acquire conducting techniques independently within a limited timeframe. To support their learning, this study focuses on the fundamental “tataki” motion used to indicate tempo and proposes a method for extracting its characteristics from video data. Based on established conducting pedagogy, such as Saito’s method, the ideal motion is modeled as a uniformly accelerated downward movement followed by an upward acceleration at the beat point, with the upper arm kept relaxed except at the moment of striking. We first developed a model of this motion and calculated the vertical wrist position and velocity at different tempi (40, 80, and 140 bpm). Subsequently, motion data were collected from three student conductors using MediaPipe. The results showed that the ideal motion cannot be realized through passive dynamics alone, especially at slower tempi, and requires active muscular control. Furthermore, more experienced conductors exhibited wrist velocity patterns that more closely matched the ideal model at 80 bpm. These findings suggest that video-based feedback may help beginners improve their practice efficiency.