A Methodological Framework for Assessing Social Presence in Music Interactions in Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) brings radical new possibilities to the empirical study of social music cognition and interaction. In the present article, we consider the role of VR as a research tool, based on its potential to create a sense of “social presence”: the illusory feeling of being, and socially interacting, inside a virtual environment. This makes VR promising for bridging ecological validity (“research in the wild”) and experimental control (“research in the lab”) in empirical music research. A critical assumption however is the actual ability of VR to simulate real-life social interactions, either via human-embodied avatars or computer-controlled agents. The mediation of social musical interactions via VR is particularly challenging due to their embodied, complex, and emotionally delicate nature. In this article, we introduce a methodological framework to operationalize social presence by a combination of factors across interrelated layers, relating to the performance output, embodied co-regulation, and subjective experiences. This framework provides the basis for the proposal of a pragmatic approach to determine the level of social presence in virtual musical interactions, by comparing the outcomes across the multiple layers with the outcomes of corresponding real-life musical interactions. We applied and tested this pragmatic approach via a case-study of piano duet performances of the piece Piano Phase composed by Steve Reich. This case-study indicated that a piano duet performed in VR, in which the real-time interaction between pianists is mediated by embodied avatars, might lead to a strong feeling of social presence, as reflected in the measures of performance output, embodied co-regulation, and subjective experience. In contrast, although a piano duet in VR between an actual pianist and a computer-controlled agent led to a relatively successful performance output, it was inadequate in terms of both embodied co-regulation and subjective experience.

Dmitry Shostakovich’s suite for two pianos as a musical novel (on the issue of manifestation of epos in the composer’s legacy)

In Shostakovich’s creative work, metaphoric completeness becomes the most important constant of any concept, in which the orientation to the depth of the audience’s penetration into the controversial music whole prevails. Naturally, different metaphoric states are enclosed in definite, prevailing metaphoric layers: epos, lyrics, and drama with typical for them various emotional shades and the ways of narrative development. The research object in the article is the suite for two pianos created by the composer in 1922, which reflects the composer’s state of mind after his father’s death. It explains the images and themes in the composition, which  are connected with epos and the epic form of a novel. For the first time, the study of art considers a suite as a musical novel: the author parallels between a novel as a genre of literature and a novel as a possible form of narration and development of a piece of music. It represents the scientific novelty of the article. The author proves that due to its special form of narration, the suite has the features new to the field of piano duet: polysynthetism of the form of the whole, variety of drama “fractures”, diversity of artistic and musical metaphors, and, consequently, the virtuosity of performance. In its turn, it has predetermined the allocation of thematic structures, considerably new for the genre.   

A construção de diferentes imaginários pelo sonoro de Maurice Ravel e as imagens de Tom Scott: o caso particular da Suite Ma mère l’Oye.

Originally written as a five-movement piano duet, Ma mère l’Oye, composed by Maurice Ravel in 1910, it’s a musical Suite. Dedicated to the Godebski children, the piece was transcribed for solo piano by Jacques Charlot the same year as it was published (1910). Both piano versions bear the subtitle “cinq pièces enfantines” (five children’s pieces). Sleeping Beauty and Little Tom Thumb are based on the tales of Charles Perrault, while Little Ugly Girl and Empress of the Pagodas is inspired by a tale (The Green Serpent) by Madame d’Aulnoy. In 1911, Ravel orchestrated the work. This form is the most frequently heard today. Later the same year, 1911, he also expanded it into a ballet, separating the five initial pieces with four new interludes and adding two movements at the start, Prélude and first framework- Danse du rouet et scène. More recently, we have the animated proposal by Tom Scott.In our proposal, it is our intention to understand how the imaginary soundscape is up to date by the animation proposal by Tom Scott in order to elucidate his contents, but we also intent two understand how the musical work transforme the discourse of Tom Scott. Additionally, and because the musical piece has four versions, we want to analyze the differences between the original work for piano, the orchestral proposal, the little ballet and the last one – the animation by Tom Scott.

Modern piano duet: a retrospective analysis of performing arts

The subject of this research is the evolution of the art of piano duets since the middle of the XX century to the present day. Leaning on the retrospective analysis of ensemble uniqueness, an attempt is made to determine the key trends in artistic activity of piano duets of that time. The goal of this work consists in the analysis of the types of professional duet ensembles and their peculiarities, substantiated by the mobile form of concerts; study of the relevant questions of renewal of the repertoire; classification of piano duets by “performing specialization”: educational and theatricalized or "eccentric"’ as well as outlining the development prospects of duet performing arts. Research methodology is based on the comparative, logical, and retrospective methods. The retrospective method allowed defining the criteria for ensemble specialization of piano duets in accordance with the duet or duo principle, as well as the variety of educational duets based on the repertoire preferences. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that retrospective analysis applicable to modern duet performance, on the one hand revealed a tendency towards preserving and augmenting best traditions in performing culture of the piano due, while on the other – towards seeking of new, creative in their idea forms of ensemble art. For the first time the source of the new repertoire, which includes original compositions for four-handed ensemble, is presented by annotated catalogue of the American scholar K. McGraw (revised 2016 edition). The conclusion is made that tremendous potential of the genre (the ability to multi-level dialogue, theatrical expressiveness of visual image of the ensemble, and its special telegenic skills) contributes to the successful development of piano duet in music industry. Expanding the boundaries of the traditional concert space, members of the ensemble appose to the aesthetics of show or performance, which testifies to the experimental nature of piano duets in the first decades of the XXI century. As the development prospects, the author outlines the pursuit of new ways for popularization of the genre, research work on broadening the existing duet repertoire, and as well as potential creation of the Internet platform for centralizing the global repertoire of piano ensembles.