scholarly journals Syncphonia: Understanding the value of participatory design in developing music technology to support musical ensembles that use notation

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-77
Author(s):  
Ed Hughes ◽  
Alice Eldridge ◽  
Chris Kiefer

The benefits of ensemble performance are well recognized; notation supports group performance, but cuts in music education and changing musical cultures mean that notation is increasingly perceived as a barrier to entry. In an extended participatory design (PD) project, we co-designed and developed a software system for networked notation called Syncphonia with the aim of enhancing access to and experience of notation-based ensemble performance. In previous work, our formal evaluation and informal observations and feedback revealed a wide range of benefits. In this article, we are concerned with articulating the knowledge generated and insights gained through this extended PD process. To do so, we employ a framework for systematic reflection that has been designed to support investigation into the tacit knowledge generated in participatory design. Through this method, we focus inward and share three insights into the value of networked notation in contemporary musical cultures; we also look outward and articulate five approaches to PD with musical ensembles that might benefit others adopting this rich research method. A pluralistic and inclusive vision of notation is espoused and speculation is submitted that a dynamic, networked notation might ameliorate the boundaries between composing, improvising and performing to the benefit of all three.

Author(s):  
Marina Gall

In this chapter, adopting an autobiographical perspective, I reflect upon the use of music technology within English school classrooms during the last 50 years. The chapter illustrates that this has become so important—particularly for creative work—that formal music technology examination syllabi for older students now exist alongside courses that focus on “traditional” music skills. The chapter also discusses the less positive position of information communications technology within the music curricula for primary school children and secondary students aged 11–14, and offers thoughts on the future of music technology within the English education system. As a backdrop to the discussion the chapter presents a short reflection on music technological developments in society during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The chapter also includes the perspectives of music educators from a wide range of European countries, during the period 2008–2011, on the position of music technology within their own educational contexts.


Author(s):  
Barbara Freedman

This chapter addresses three themes in the Core Perspectives. First, it argues that preservice teachers should be trained in music technology and technology pedagogy as one would train preservice teachers on brass, woodwinds, percussion, or piano. Second, she suggests that in-service teachers are the experts in their classrooms, regardless of their preexisting competence with any individual subdomain—brass, percussion, or, in this case, technology. Just as experienced band teachers have no problem asking their advanced trumpet player students to help the beginning trumpet player students, teachers can similarly capitalize on students with technological competence. Third, the chapter argues that the U.S. music education system, K-university, is implicitly skewed toward middle to upper economic class culture and, by nature, disinherits those who seek to engage in other musical cultures. Technology, she suggests, is an excellent way to better meet the needs of all students.


Photonics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 255
Author(s):  
Marie Tahon ◽  
Silvio Montresor ◽  
Pascal Picart

Digital holography is a very efficient technique for 3D imaging and the characterization of changes at the surfaces of objects. However, during the process of holographic interferometry, the reconstructed phase images suffer from speckle noise. In this paper, de-noising is addressed with phase images corrupted with speckle noise. To do so, DnCNN residual networks with different depths were built and trained with various holographic noisy phase data. The possibility of using a network pre-trained on natural images with Gaussian noise is also investigated. All models are evaluated in terms of phase error with HOLODEEP benchmark data and with three unseen images corresponding to different experimental conditions. The best results are obtained using a network with only four convolutional blocks and trained with a wide range of noisy phase patterns.


Author(s):  
Matthew D. Thibeault

In this article, I explore John Philip Sousa’s historic resistance to music technology and his belief that sound recordings would negatively impact music education and musical amateurism. I review Sousa’s primary arguments from two 1906 essays and his testimony to the US Congress from the same year, based on the fundamental premise that machines themselves sing or perform, severing the connection between live listener and performer and thus rendering recordings a poor substitute for real music. Sousa coined the phrase “canned music,” and I track engagement with this phrase among the hundreds of newspapers and magazines focused on Sousa’s resistance. To better understand the construction of Sousa’s beliefs, I then review how his rich musical upbringing around the US Marine Band and the theaters of Washington DC lead to his conception of music as a dramatic ritual. And I examine the curious coda of Sousa’s life, during which he recanted his beliefs and conducted his band for radio, finding that in fact these experiences reinforced Sousa’s worries. The discussion considers how Sousa’s ideas can help us better to examine the contemporary shift to digital music by combining Sousa’s ideas with those of Sherry Turkle.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-169
Author(s):  
Roghayeh Farsi

AbstractThe academic field of Qurʾānic Studies employs a wide range of approaches, each one of which helps to open up a new perspective on the Qurʾānic text. The Holy Book was revealed to guide people; it is thus of relevance to all aspects of people’s lives. This article focuses on the way social actors are represented in one Meccansūra, entitled “Ya-Sin”, and employs a case-study approach to do so. The analysis carried out includes the socio-semantic processes that thesūrauses in order to represent social actors either by behavior (action) or meaning (reflection), and it also analyzes the actors as they are represented in processes such as activation and passivation. The methodology adopted is eclectic and analytic. It is a hybrid of Swales’ move analysis, El-Awa’s identification of shift-markers, and Halliday’s and Van Leeuwen’s theories of social actor representation. This study shows how such an analysis can contribute to understanding the apparently fragmented and non-linear nature of “Ya-Sin”.


Cells ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgia Schena ◽  
Michael J. Caplan

The beta-3 adrenergic receptor (β3-AR) is by far the least studied isotype of the beta-adrenergic sub-family. Despite its study being long hampered by the lack of suitable animal and cellular models and inter-species differences, a substantial body of literature on the subject has built up in the last three decades and the physiology of β3-AR is unraveling quickly. As will become evident in this work, β3-AR is emerging as an appealing target for novel pharmacological approaches in several clinical areas involving metabolic, cardiovascular, urinary, and ocular disease. In this review, we will discuss the most recent advances regarding β3-AR signaling and function and summarize how these findings translate, or may do so, into current clinical practice highlighting β3-AR’s great potential as a novel therapeutic target in a wide range of human conditions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 183 ◽  
pp. 02049
Author(s):  
Pascal Forquin ◽  
Reem Abdul-Rahman ◽  
Dominique Saletti

Mode II shear fracture process can be observed in plain-concrete structures exposed to intensive loadings such as shock, blasting or projectile-impact. It is the reason why the quasi-static and dynamic shear fracturing properties of concrete need to be investigated. In previous works performed by Forquin and coauthors a passive confining cell was applied to PTS (Punch-Through-Shear) specimens in a similar way than in quasi-oedometric compression tests where metallic ring are used as passive confinement. However the change of confining level during the sample loading constitutes a main drawback of this technique. In the present work a novel testing method is proposed based on a pre-stressing of the sample. To do so, the concrete specimen is inserted into pre-stressed metallic cell. During the unloading stage confining stresses are transferred to the ligament of the sample. In a second stage, a differential displacement applied to the central part of the sample toward the side parts produces a shearing of the ligament. The experiments performed in static and dynamic conditions (SHPB testing) allow the shear response of concrete to be determined over a wide range of strain-rates. In the present communication, the testing technique and obtained results are compared to the obtained data with the previous experimental method.


Author(s):  
Vidhi Shah

Abstract: This research was conducted to gather data and understand the perception what the Indian population holds when it comes to investing in cryptocurrency. To do so, a survey was designed using the UTAUT model and was circulated by the means of google forms. A wide range of parameters were considered to avail the maximum possible accuracy for the data collected. Parameters like, the ease of investing crypto, short term and long term benefits, monetary benefits, social benefits were considered. All of these parameters were supposed to be answered on a scale of 5. After collecting all the data, the results were analyzed and evaluated using which the hypothesis made were proved. Keywords: Cryptocurrency, UTAUT, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, perceived monetary benefits, perceived safety, social influence, adoption intension.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas M Bietti ◽  
Federico U. Bietti

Researchers have been interested in the investigation of the social functions of questions in conversational contexts. However, limited research has been conducted on the social functions of questions in embodied collaborative work, i.e. work that involves the manipulation of physical objects. The aim of this study was to identify the social functions of questions in embodied collaborative work and to determine whether such functions correlate with performance outcomes. To do so, we conducted qualitative and quantitative analyses of a dataset of 1751 question-answer sequences collected from an experimental study where pairs of participants (N=134) completed a collaborative food preparation task. Qualitative analysis enabled us to identify three functions of questions: Anticipation questions, exploration questions and confirmation questions. Quantitative analyses revealed that there was no correlation between the types of questions and group performance. However, they showed that groups that contributed the most to performance presented a similar distribution of question types. The identification of such patterns is a first step towards the design and implementation of interaction-focused interventions aimed at increasing group productivity in embodied collaborative work.


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