An Introduction to Musical Interactions

The article presents a contextual survey of eight contributions in the special issue Musical Interactions (Volume I) in Multimodal Technologies and Interaction. The presentation includes (1) a critical examination of what it means to be musical, to devise the concept of music proper to MTI as well as multicultural proximity, and (2) a conceptual framework for instrumentation, design, and assessment of musical interaction research through five enabling dimensions: Affordance; Design Alignment; Adaptive Learning; Second-Order Feedback; Temporal Integration. Each dimension is discussed and applied in the survey. The results demonstrate how the framework provides an interdisciplinary scope required for musical interaction, and how this approach may offer a coherent way to describe and assess approaches to research and design as well as implementations of interactive musical systems. Musical interaction stipulates musical liveness for experiencing both music and technologies. While music may be considered ontologically incomplete without a listener, musical interaction is defined as ontological completion of a state of music and listening through a listener’s active engagement with musical resources in multimodal information flow.

Time and Ensemble Dynamics in Indeterminacy: John Cage’s Concert for Piano and Orchestra

This chapter examines ensemble dynamics and time consciousness in indeterminate music, using John Cage’s Concert for Piano and Orchestra (1957–8) as a case study. Drawing on interviews and observational studies undertaken with the experimental music ensemble Apartment House, I examine the role of temporal indeterminacy in the socio-musical interactions that characterize performance, and its implications for the musicians’ experiences. In doing so, the chapter makes a broader contribution in its consideration of the ways in which issues of authorship and authority are negotiated in such temporal interactions, and how the dynamics of these negotiations present a sociality based on a ‘separate togetherness’, whereby performers play together (out of time) with one another.

What strategies did I use, as a music therapy student, to promote child-led cooperative play in an inclusive education setting?

<p>The fostering of inclusion in modern mainstream schools can be challenging. Student needs are becoming increasingly diverse, funding is scarce, and an attitudinal shift is necessary to value the contributions and identities of all learners. This study explores how music therapy can assist the process of inclusion by articulating the strategies I, a music therapy student, used when working to enhance musical play within a play-based learning environment. Findings have been generated using the methodology Secondary Analysis of Qualitative Data which involved thematic analysis of session notes and my reflexive diary. They describe the strategies I used to facilitate children’s developing social play skills, which varied from onlooker and solitary play, to parallel (alongside) and associative play (with some unorganised verbal and musical interactions), culminating in cooperative play (with children interacting directly to organise play and assign particular roles). I identified five themes reflecting levels of social participation in musical play; meeting individual needs, facilitating involvement, encouraging participation, encouraging interactions and supporting play stages. ‘Encouraging interactions’ was identified as the key theme relating to cooperative play, and the most significant in fostering pro-inclusive social skills. Musical and non-musical strategies are described and the significance of musical co-playing in facilitating pro-inclusive interactions is explored. The strategies identified are relevant for fostering inclusion in other play-based learning programmes and free play environments in both primary schools and pre-schools in New Zealand and globally.</p>

What strategies did I use, as a music therapy student, to promote child-led cooperative play in an inclusive education setting?

<p>The fostering of inclusion in modern mainstream schools can be challenging. Student needs are becoming increasingly diverse, funding is scarce, and an attitudinal shift is necessary to value the contributions and identities of all learners. This study explores how music therapy can assist the process of inclusion by articulating the strategies I, a music therapy student, used when working to enhance musical play within a play-based learning environment. Findings have been generated using the methodology Secondary Analysis of Qualitative Data which involved thematic analysis of session notes and my reflexive diary. They describe the strategies I used to facilitate children’s developing social play skills, which varied from onlooker and solitary play, to parallel (alongside) and associative play (with some unorganised verbal and musical interactions), culminating in cooperative play (with children interacting directly to organise play and assign particular roles). I identified five themes reflecting levels of social participation in musical play; meeting individual needs, facilitating involvement, encouraging participation, encouraging interactions and supporting play stages. ‘Encouraging interactions’ was identified as the key theme relating to cooperative play, and the most significant in fostering pro-inclusive social skills. Musical and non-musical strategies are described and the significance of musical co-playing in facilitating pro-inclusive interactions is explored. The strategies identified are relevant for fostering inclusion in other play-based learning programmes and free play environments in both primary schools and pre-schools in New Zealand and globally.</p>

The use of musical interactions to collaborate with teaching staff and specialist services at a special education school.

<p>This research aimed to investigate how a student music therapist used musical interactions to collaborate with teaching staff and specialist services at a special education school in New Zealand. Music therapists in this context are able to collaborate by assisting and supporting other therapy professionals and staff. I was particularly interested in how the ‘music’ served as a collaborative tool within the school and what was meaningful that developed from these musical interactions between school members. Through secondary analysis of my reflective clinical journal notes I was able to explore how I used musical interactions to collaborate. Data was coded, sorted into meaning units, and themes were then drawn out using thematic analysis. The findings suggested that musical interactions promoted staff experiences of music making with others as well as supporting student goals, by corresponding to the classroom learning agenda. Musical interactions gave support in resourcing staff to become facilitators of music in the classroom, as well as supporting the little moments when life at a special education setting can be challenging. Lastly, musical interactions were perceived to build a sense of community within the school. Music-making and facilitation of music in mostly informal settings seemed to support connecting and relationship building between students and staff.</p>

The use of musical interactions to collaborate with teaching staff and specialist services at a special education school.

<p>This research aimed to investigate how a student music therapist used musical interactions to collaborate with teaching staff and specialist services at a special education school in New Zealand. Music therapists in this context are able to collaborate by assisting and supporting other therapy professionals and staff. I was particularly interested in how the ‘music’ served as a collaborative tool within the school and what was meaningful that developed from these musical interactions between school members. Through secondary analysis of my reflective clinical journal notes I was able to explore how I used musical interactions to collaborate. Data was coded, sorted into meaning units, and themes were then drawn out using thematic analysis. The findings suggested that musical interactions promoted staff experiences of music making with others as well as supporting student goals, by corresponding to the classroom learning agenda. Musical interactions gave support in resourcing staff to become facilitators of music in the classroom, as well as supporting the little moments when life at a special education setting can be challenging. Lastly, musical interactions were perceived to build a sense of community within the school. Music-making and facilitation of music in mostly informal settings seemed to support connecting and relationship building between students and staff.</p>

The music teacher in ‘on-the-spot’ musical interactions: A practitioner research study

This practitioner research, conducted by a secondary school music teacher, deals with two complementary questions: the conceptual question how one could define the ‘artistry’ of a music teacher in the context of his teaching practice, and the empirical question in how far the music teacher’s actions can determine the quality of the musical interactions with his students. The paper elaborately describes the institutional context for this (doctoral) practitioner research study, and integrates two premises, one regarding the negative image of the school subject music, and another about the vagueness and the ongoing discussions about the required competences of a ‘good’ music teacher. The first question is dealt with in a theoretical way, resulting in a working definition for a music teacher’s ‘artistry’: ‘a music teacher’s “artistry” lies within the extent to which he can apply his musical competences in “immediate” teaching situations’. The second question is studied empirically using a set of qualitative data sources, derived from the practitioner researcher’s teaching practice, that were analysed by means of a self-developed ‘three-dimensional matrix of the music teacher’s real-time teaching actions’. This results in a set of 10 categories in which the music teacher clearly demonstrates ‘unprepared non-routinisedroutinized musical actions’.

How Do Music Therapy Methods & Techniques Contribute To Adolescent and Young Adult Student Confidence At A Special School In New Zealand?

<p>This exploratory study investigates how methods and techniques employed in ‘client centered’ music therapy contributed to student confidence, during individual and group sessions, with young adolescents and young adults who have delays in various areas of development. Secondary analysis of twenty weeks of clinical documentation of music therapy session notes, including a student reflective journal were used to identify methods and techniques at play. A thematic analysis was applied to analyse and interpret the details of musical interactions. The analysis of the musical interactions has helped the researcher to understand and articulate the methods and techniques that contributed to confidence. Four themes that emerged from the student music therapist’s application of music therapy that appeared to contribute to student confidence were: 1. making meaningful relationships; 2. participating in practical work; 3. creativity; and 4. providing affirming input. Within these themes there was an array of interactions where methods and techniques were visible and these are described in a findings and discussion section. Although findings from this qualitative study cannot be generalized they do suggest that the student music therapist could contribute to the confidence of the young people through a reflexive, humanistic approach to practice, and by keeping an appreciation to student abilities.</p>

How Do Music Therapy Methods & Techniques Contribute To Adolescent and Young Adult Student Confidence At A Special School In New Zealand?

<p>This exploratory study investigates how methods and techniques employed in ‘client centered’ music therapy contributed to student confidence, during individual and group sessions, with young adolescents and young adults who have delays in various areas of development. Secondary analysis of twenty weeks of clinical documentation of music therapy session notes, including a student reflective journal were used to identify methods and techniques at play. A thematic analysis was applied to analyse and interpret the details of musical interactions. The analysis of the musical interactions has helped the researcher to understand and articulate the methods and techniques that contributed to confidence. Four themes that emerged from the student music therapist’s application of music therapy that appeared to contribute to student confidence were: 1. making meaningful relationships; 2. participating in practical work; 3. creativity; and 4. providing affirming input. Within these themes there was an array of interactions where methods and techniques were visible and these are described in a findings and discussion section. Although findings from this qualitative study cannot be generalized they do suggest that the student music therapist could contribute to the confidence of the young people through a reflexive, humanistic approach to practice, and by keeping an appreciation to student abilities.</p>

Sound Reflexes: Micro-Analysis of Meaningful Moments with Children Receiving Music Therapy

<p>This study investigates meaningful moments in improvised music created during individual music therapy sessions with children who have delays in various areas of development. Secondary analysis of clinical records (session notes and video footage) was used in this music centred research to identify meaningful moments in the music. Six meaningful moments were chosen, each from a different child, and subsequently the musical interactions of the child and student music therapist were transcribed in detail. An ethnographic, microanalysis approach was applied to analyse and interpret the observable features of the music. The analysis of what was happening in the music helped the researcher to understand and articulate the meaningful moments. Meaningful moments were found to be shared experiences in the co-creation of music, which provided opportunities to foster a responsive interpersonal relationship between the child and therapist. They occurred because the music provided a framework for structure and change through synchronicity and regularity/flow as well as variation, tension, suspension, expectation and anticipation. The meaningful moment was facilitated by musical elements: rhythm, tempo, pitch/melody, harmony, timbre and volume/dynamics; and musical techniques: imitation, pause, space, repetition, anacrusis and gestural actions. A review of the literature was undertaken to examine the use of improvisation and the importance of meaningful moments, in music therapy. The findings are discussed drawing from the related literature and the theory of expectation. The strengths and limitations of the study are stated along with the implications for training and further research in this field.</p>