AI analysis

Jeffrey Amazing, I like the way it opened up with positive feedback. As guitarists, it's always good to stroke our egos first 😉. I guess my question is, is it right?  For instance, number 2 specifically states in Measures 19-22 the diminished/chromatic arpeggio progression. Do those measures actually contain a chromatic progression? I'll have to give this a try just for fun.    

Jeffrey My apologies, Jeffrey,  if you found my comment offensive. I meant it only as a response to the video linked by Blaise Laflamme . The point being made there is that the worse one plays (intentionally, in Thomas' case) the greater the praise that is elicited from the AI, which provides plenty of encouragement, but no advice. I was not trying to suggest that this might have been your own experience with Gemini. (And I certainly didn't mean to imply that you yourself might want a 'cheerleader' rather than a teacher!) In fact, as you show, you received a lot of remarkably focused criticism from Gemini, and I thank you for sharing the actual feedback of the AI. One question I do have is whether you agree with the criticism - that is, do you think the AI was pointing out actual deficits in your performance? And if you do agree, do you find the practice tips useful? Thank you for bringing up this interesting application of AI. And please be assured that my comment on Thomas' video was not directed at you.

David Krupka You are saying here that AI is praising a worse performance. That re-enforces what I was saying that AI is sycophantic. It tells you what you want to hear. That' the way the algorithm is built. It wants you to keep coming back. Most people don't want to know the truth. 

Michelle Roper That's why I called AI (at least the version of it portrayed in the video featuring Thomas Viloteau) a 'cheerleader' rather a teacher. Whether AI can be employed as a legitimate learning tool for musicians is an open question, I would say. I haven't tried using it myself, although this thread has piqued my interest sufficiently to give it a try. (First, though, I need to learn how to use it!) I will certainly approach it as a skeptic, but hopefully one with an open mind. Anyhow, if I do encounter anything of interest, I will report back to the community.

David Krupka Michelle Roper While I'm certainly still on the fence about AI in this context,  I'm curious why you see it as being sycophantic or strictly a cheerleader. If you look at the response it gave Jeffrey it seems to provide a fair amount of constructive criticism. 

Jeffrey said:

While rubato is great for expressive moments, there are a few places where the tempo pushes or holds back slightly more than necessary, which breaks the steady "wave" effect typical of Bach preludes.
Tip: Try practicing with a metronome at a slow tempo to ensure every 16th note occupies equal rhythmic space before adding expressive elasticity back in.

In Bach's cellos suites, the low notes carry the structural harmony and melody line (implied counterpoint). Occasionally, the bass notes got a bit swallowed or quiet compared to the upper strings.
Tip: Let the root/bass notes linger and ring out slightly stronger to give the listener a solid harmonic anchor.

Around complex fingering shifts or chord changes, there were subtle hesitations or tiny string squeaks/damps.
Tip: Isolate those specific bar transitions (e.g., the dominant 7th roll or the pedal-point sections near the end) and practice just the finger movement smoothly without striking the strings first, then add the right hand back in.

There are subtle hesitations as your left hand navigates the positional shifts across middle frets.
Practice tip: Isolate the left-hand position changes without plucking—just practice planting your fingers cleanly on the target frets on the downbeat of each measure to build muscle memory.

A few notes here lose slight volume and clarity due to awkward finger stretches on adjacent strings.
Practice tip: Keep your left-hand thumb low and centered behind the neck to give your fingers maximum reach and curvature. Play this section staccato at 50% tempo to ensure each note speaks with equal volume before letting them ring over each other.

The repeating bass note occasionally overpowers or slightly drags the upper 16th-note rhythm.
Practice tip: Lighten the thumb stroke on the pedal note slightly and emphasize the top voice so the moving melodic line sits clearly above the anchor note.

Smooth execution of the full chord rolls without string squeaks during the rapid finger repositioning.
Practice tip: Make sure your right hand stays relaxed and glides through the arpeggio sequence in one continuous sweep rather than separate plucked motions.

Steve Price My characterization of AI as a cheerleader concerns the video featuring Thomas Viloteau, linked by Blaise Laflamme . Much of the AI feedback received by Jeffrey does appear to be useful, although to what extent it is relevant to his actual performance is impossible to judge from the sidelines. That is why I shall reserve judgement on the usefulness of AI as a tool for improving performance until I've given it a try myself. As I mentioned earlier, I'm a skeptic, but I'll be happy to be proven wrong!

Blaise Laflamme That's fair. But maybe the advice seems more useful to me since I'm still at the level where everything a teacher tells me is going to be basic and generic, lol. 

Blaise Laflamme I agree that the feedback seems rather generic, as I suspect is has to be - maybe I'm mistaken, but I don't believe that AI at present is much more than a highly sophisticated search engine. Perhaps it should be known as 'algorithmic' (rather than 'artificial') intelligence.

David Krupka Yes, that is my main concern too, whether it's generic advice or specific to the performance given. I've been experimenting with some old pieces I recorded, and it seems to be a mixed bag. The one thing it does very well is comparing things. It makes sense it would have lots of information on 1007 since there are thousands of recordings, but it struggled more with more modern pieces with few recordings. It's probably something I would use as a means to spur some new thinking about a piece, but not something I would rely on, and it certainly wouldn't replace any of the other resources I'm currently using. 

Steve Price In recent days, I've been asking Gemini questions (mostly concerning early music) whose answers I already know. I'm fairly impressed with the kinds of responses I'm getting. But this is the kind of thing that I imagine AI excels at. Competently evaluating a musical performance is quite a different matter though! I do plan to follow your lead and ask it to evaluate some of the obscure lute music that I enjoy playing.

Steve Price I am sorry but my response is simple. AI is not alive. AI is just a collection of ideas from various sources stored in a database. It does not have ears and it does not have eyes. Learning music IMHO is a creative skill gifted to we humans. And IMHO it should stay that way. When a human is replaced by a machine that is a sad day in history for the human race and for the creation of music. 

Why I say it is sycophantic is because it is. It is designed to keep you engaged. As a research tool it most likely can be useful. But it is well documented that AI is designed to make the user more and more reliant on it. It takes away critical thinking and problem solving skills. Nevertheless we are all individuals with our own ideas and beliefs and you are entitled to your opinion as am I.