scholarly journals Expert Western Classical Music Improvisers’ Strategies

2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Philippe Després ◽  
Pamela Burnard ◽  
Francis Dubé ◽  
Sophie Stévance
Keyword(s):  
Classical Music ◽  
The Body ◽  
Verbal Protocol ◽  
Recall Data ◽  
Data Collection Strategy ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Concert Halls ◽  
Thinking Processes ◽  
High Level ◽  
Western Classical Music

The growing interest in musical improvisation is exemplified by the body of literatures evidencing the positive impacts of improvisation learning on the musical apprentice’s aptitudes and the increasing presence of improvisation in Western classical concert halls and competitions. However, high-level Western classical music improvisers’ thinking processes are not yet thoroughly documented. As a result of this gap, our research addresses the following question: What strategies are implemented in the course of performance by Western classical music improvisers? To answer this question, semistructured interviews were conducted with five internationally recognized Western classical music expert improvisers. Each participant improvised, and immediately afterward, a retrospective verbal protocol with subjective aided recall data collection strategy was used to elicit the improvising musician’s strategies. After transcription, the interviews were coded and analyzed using NVivo 10 software, with a mixed (i.e., combining inductive and deductive coding) category approach. Our data revealed 46 improvisation strategies that were subsequently organized into five categories: preplanning, conceptual, structural, atmospheric and stylistic, and real time. Pedagogical implications arising from these findings are that (a) learners should be guided toward implementing various strategies and (b) the capacity to switch from one strategy to another according to the circumstances should be promoted.

scholarly journals Associations Between Music Training and the Dynamics of Writing Music by Hand

2020 ◽  
pp. 102986492097214
Author(s):  
Aurélien Bertiaux ◽  
François Gabrielli ◽  
Mathieu Giraud ◽  
Florence Levé
Keyword(s):  
Classical Music ◽  
Music Notation ◽  
Musical Score ◽  
Music Training ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
Musical Structures ◽  
Music Recognition ◽  
High Level ◽  
Bottom To Top ◽  
Western Classical Music

Learning to write music in the staff notation used in Western classical music is part of a musician’s training. However, writing music by hand is rarely taught formally, and many musicians are not aware of the characteristics of their musical handwriting. As with any symbolic expression, musical handwriting is related to the underlying cognition of the musical structures being depicted. Trained musicians read, think, and play music with high-level structures in mind. It seems natural that they would also write music by hand with these structures in mind. Moreover, improving our understanding of handwriting may help to improve both optical music recognition and music notation and composition interfaces. We investigated associations between music training and experience, and the way people write music by hand. We made video recordings of participants’ hands while they were copying or freely writing music, and analysed the sequence in which they wrote the elements contained in the musical score. The results confirmed experienced musicians wrote faster than beginners, were more likely to write chords from bottom to top, and they tended to write the note heads first, in a flowing fashion, and only afterwards use stems and beams to emphasize grouping, and add expressive markings.

scholarly journals Performance Anxiety in Western Classical Music: A Malaysian Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-230
Author(s):  
Rita Mardhatillah Binti Umar Rauf ◽  
Faezah Hamdan
Keyword(s):  
Classical Music ◽  
Performance Anxiety ◽  
The Body ◽  
Stage Fright ◽  
Important Relationship ◽  
The University ◽  
Western Classical Music ◽  
University Setting ◽  
Symptoms And Signs

Although performance anxiety is a common problem in life, there are only a few studies on this subject in Malaysia. This article presents the expansion to the body of literature on this important relationship between performance anxiety in Western Classical Music. Millions of people suffer and may experience from performance anxiety, which commonly called as ‘stage fright’. Worst of all, it may prevent a musician from doing what they enjoy or quit from performing which can effect the career. The knowledge affecting to symptoms and signs anxiety during adolescence among students could help if possible areas can be highlighted for the mediating and prevention on the subjects which may assist Malaysian youths in the university setting so they can control the emotions and reduce the anxiety

scholarly journals The conditions for learning musical interpretation in one-to-one piano tuition in higher music education

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-131
Author(s):  
Carl Holmgren
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Piano Students ◽  
Conditions For Learning ◽  
Musical Interpretation ◽  
One To One ◽  
High Level ◽  
Western Classical Music

Research has indicated that one-to-one teaching in higher music education in Western classical music typically favours technical over interpretive aspects of musicianship, and imitation of the teacher’s rather than the student’s explorative interpretation. The aim of the present study is to investigate students’ and teachers’ understandings of how musical interpretation of Western classical music is learned in this context. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with six piano students and four teachers in Sweden were conducted and hermeneutically analysed using haiku poems and poetical condensations. The analysis found that the conditions for learning musical interpretation centred upon students achieving a high level of autonomy, as affected by three key aspects of teaching and learning: (1) the student’s and the teacher’s understandings of what musical interpretation is, (2) the student’s experience of freedom of interpretation as acknowledged by the teacher, and (3) (expectations of) the student’s explorative approach. As none of these aspects were reported as being explicitly addressed during lessons, there might be a need for both teachers and students to verbalise them more clearly to support piano students’ development.

Nutrients Mediate Bioavailability and Turnover of Proteins in Mammals

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 661-665
Author(s):  
Cunxi Nie ◽  
Fei Xie ◽  
Ning Ma ◽  
Yueyu Bai ◽  
Wenju Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Biologically Active ◽  
Nitrogen Excretion ◽  
Dietary Proteins ◽  
Restricted Diet ◽  
Nutritional Interventions ◽  
Body Tissues ◽  
Utilization Of Protein ◽  
High Level ◽  
Protein Restricted Diet

As a major component of biologically active compounds in the body, proteins contribute to the synthesis of body tissues for the renewal and growth of the body. The high level of dietary protein and the imbalance of amino acid (AA) composition in mammals result in metabolic disorders, inefficient utilization of protein resources and increased nitrogen excretion. Fortunately, nutritional interventions can be an effective way of attenuating the nitrogen excretion and increasing protein utilization, which include, but are not limited to, formulating the AA balance and protein-restricted diet supplementing with essential AAs, and adding probiotics in the diet. This review highlights recent advances in the turnover of dietary proteins and mammal’s metabolism for health, in order to improve protein bioavailability through nutritional approach.

Being True to Works of Music

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Dodd
Keyword(s):  
Work Performance ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Christine Korsgaard ◽  
Historical Authenticity ◽  
Constitutive Norm ◽  
Western Classical Music

This book argues that the so-called ‘authenticity debate’ about the performance of works of Western classical music has tended to focus on a side issue. While much has been written about the desirability (or otherwise) of historical authenticity—roughly, performing works as they would have been performed, under ideal conditions, in the era in which they were composed—the most fundamental norm governing our practice of work performance is, in fact, another kind of kind of authenticity altogether. This is interpretive authenticity: being faithful to the performed work by virtue of evincing a profound, far-reaching, or sophisticated understanding of it. While, in contrast to other performance values, both score compliance authenticity (being true to the work by obeying its score) and interpretive authenticity are valued for their own sake in performance, only the latter is a constitutive norm of the practice in the sense introduced by Christine Korsgaard. This has implications for cases in which the demands of these two kinds of authenticity conflict with each other. In cases of genuine such conflict, performers should sacrifice a little score compliance for the sake of making their performance more interpretively authentic.

scholarly journals Harm Reduction for Adolescents and Young Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Community Care in Reach

2021 ◽  
pp. 003335492199939
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Noyes ◽  
Ellis Yeo ◽  
Megan Yerton ◽  
Isabel Plakas ◽  
Susan Keyes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Harm Reduction ◽  
Community Care ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Adolescents And Young Adults ◽  
People Who Use Drugs ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Infection Control Measures ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
High Level

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has challenged the ability of harm reduction programs to provide vital services to adolescents, young adults, and people who use drugs, thereby increasing the risk of overdose, infection, withdrawal, and other complications of drug use. To evaluate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on harm reduction services for adolescents and young adults in Boston, we conducted a quantitative assessment of the Community Care in Reach (CCIR) youth pilot program to determine gaps in services created by its closure during the peak of the pandemic (March 19–June 21, 2020). We also conducted semistructured interviews with staff members at 6 harm reduction programs in Boston from April 27 through May 4, 2020, to identify gaps in harm reduction services, changes in substance use practices and patterns of engagement with people who use drugs, and how harm reduction programs adapted to pandemic conditions. During the pandemic, harm reduction programs struggled to maintain staffing, supplies, infection control measures, and regular connection with their participants. During the 3-month suspension of CCIR mobile van services, CCIR missed an estimated 363 contacts, 169 units of naloxone distributed, and 402 syringes distributed. Based on our findings, we propose the following recommendations for sustaining harm reduction services during times of crisis: pursuing high-level policy changes to eliminate political barriers to care and fund harm reduction efforts; enabling and empowering harm reduction programs to innovatively and safely distribute vital resources and build community during a crisis; and providing comprehensive support to people to minimize drug-related harms.

scholarly journals Linking musical metaphors and emotions evoked by the sound of classical music

2021 ◽  
pp. 030573562199123
Author(s):  
Simon Schaerlaeken ◽  
Donald Glowinski ◽  
Didier Grandjean
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Empirical Method ◽  
Mixed Effects Models ◽  
Musical Meaning ◽  
Linear Mixed Effects ◽  
Generalized Linear Mixed Effects ◽  
Perceptual Characteristics ◽  
Valence And Arousal ◽  
Western Classical Music

Musical meaning is often described in terms of emotions and metaphors. While many theories encapsulate one or the other, very little empirical data is available to test a possible link between the two. In this article, we examined the metaphorical and emotional contents of Western classical music using the answers of 162 participants. We calculated generalized linear mixed-effects models, correlations, and multidimensional scaling to connect emotions and metaphors. It resulted in each metaphor being associated with different specific emotions, subjective levels of entrainment, and acoustic and perceptual characteristics. How these constructs relate to one another could be based on the embodied knowledge and the perception of movement in space. For instance, metaphors that rely on movement are related to emotions associated with movement. In addition, measures in this study could also be represented by underlying dimensions such as valence and arousal. Musical writing and music education could benefit greatly from these results. Finally, we suggest that music researchers consider musical metaphors in their work as we provide an empirical method for it.

Making Up 3D Bodies

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Kiona Hagen Niehaus ◽  
Rebecca Fiebrink
Keyword(s):  
Software Tool ◽  
The Body ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Artistic Practice ◽  
Human Form ◽  
Modeling Systems ◽  
Exploratory Approach ◽  
Disability Status ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Impact

This paper describes the process of developing a software tool for digital artistic exploration of 3D human figures. Previously available software for modeling mesh-based 3D human figures restricts user output based on normative assumptions about the form that a body might take, particularly in terms of gender, race, and disability status, which are reinforced by ubiquitous use of range-limited sliders mapped to singular high-level design parameters. CreatorCustom, the software prototype created during this research, is designed to foreground an exploratory approach to modeling 3D human bodies, treating the digital body as a sculptural landscape rather than a presupposed form for rote technical representation. Building on prior research into serendipity in Human-Computer Interaction and 3D modeling systems for users at various levels of proficiency, among other areas, this research comprises two qualitative studies and investigation of the impact on the first author's artistic practice. Study 1 uses interviews and practice sessions to explore the practices of six queer artists working with the body and the language, materials, and actions they use in their practice; these then informed the design of the software tool. Study 2 investigates the usability, creativity support, and bodily implications of the software when used by thirteen artists in a workshop. These studies reveal the importance of exploration and unexpectedness in artistic practice, and a desire for experimental digital approaches to the human form.

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