Music information modes and their situational relevance among musicians and music students

Musiikkiin liittyvä tietämys ei ole vain sanallista. Muusikon kehonkieltä, musiikin synnyttämää kuulokuvaa, nuotteja ja kirjoituksia musiikista voidaan kaikkia käyttää musiikillisen informaation lähteinä. Koska musiikkiin liittyvät merkkijärjestelmät eivät käänny ongelmattomasti toisiinsa, niillä voi olla erilaisia moodikohtaisia rooleja ja tulkintoja musiikillisessa viestinnässä. Tätä musiikillisen informaation erityispiirrettä ei ole riittävästi huomioitu aikaisemmassa musiikkitiedon hankinnan tutkimuksessa. Vaikka aikaisempi tutkimus osoittaa musiikkiäänitteet ja nuotit muusikoiden ja musiikin opiskelijoiden keskeisiksi tiedontarpeiksi, kysymys siitä miksi eri kohderyhmät tarvitsevat näitä musiikki-informaation moodeja on jäänyt tarkastelematta. Musiikkitiedon hankintaan kohdistuvan tutkimuksen informaatiokäsitettä tulisikin täsmentää. Musiikki-informaation eri moodit tulisi nähdä omina kokonaisuuksina, joilla on moodikohtaisia rooleja ja tulkintoja tiedonhankinnassa. Tämä väitöstutkimus tarkastelee eri abstraktiotasoisten musiikki-informaation moodien tilannerelevanssia tiedonhankinnassa. Tutkimuksen ensimmäisessä vaiheessa kehitettiin musiikki-informaation typologia, joka määrittelee musiikkitiedon hankinnan empiirisen tarkastelun kannalta relevantit musiikkiinformaation moodit. Musiikki-informaatiotypologian toimivuutta testattiin tarkastelemalla miten määritellyt moodit ovat läsnä ammattisäveltäjän kuvauksessa omasta sävellysprosessistaan. Toisessa empiirisessä tutkimuksessa analysoitiin esittävän säveltaiteen tohtoriopiskelijoiden havaintoja musiikki-informaatiomoodien tilannerelevanssista. Kolmannessa empiirisessä tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin, miten esittävän säveltaiteen tohtoriopiskelijat ja musiikkikasvatuksen ja musiikin teorian ja sävellyksen maisteriopiskelijat artikuloivat musiikki-informaatiomoodien tilannerelevanssin tehtäväperustaisen tiedonhankinnan eri vaiheissa. Väitöstutkimuksen tulokset lisäävät ymmärrystämme eri informaatiomoodien rooleista musiikkitiedon hankinnassa ja osoittavat että musiikki-informaation eri abstraktiotasojen huomiointi mahdollistaa aikaisempaa tarkemmat kuvaukset erilaisten kohderyhmien musiikkitiedon hankinnastaWithin the domain of music, knowledge resides not merely in written language, but also in diverse modes of information. Sources of music information may include the gestural language of music making, audible experiences of music, music notation and writings about music. The literature of musicology and musical semiotics suggests that different modes of music information may have roles and interpretations of their own and that it should not be assumed that a direct translation between them exists. As prior studies of musicians’ and music students’ information seeking often draw from humanist studies in general, they have not paid due attention to the modes of music information. Although music recordings and notation have been identified as information need types in prior studies of musicians and music students, the question of why these needs occur has not been examined so far. Thus, there is a need to elaborate on approaches to music information used in studies of musicrelated information seeking. Different music information modes should be defined as information types in their own right and subject to varying roles and interpretations in information seeking. This dissertation research is pioneering in its examination of the situational relevance of music information modes representing music information at varying levels of abstraction. The research began with the development of a typology specifying the modes of music information relevant to the empirical analysis of music-related information seeking. The typology’s accuracy and sufficiency were first examined empirically in a qualitative study focusing on how its information modes were reflected in a verbal description of the compositional process. The second empirical study examined how the situational relevance of the information modes was articulated by Doctor of Music students focusing on music performance. Finally, the third empirical study examined how the information modes were viewed as situationally relevant at different stages of information-seeking processes among Doctor of Music students focusing on music performance and master’s students representing music education and music theory and analysis. The findings of this dissertation research deepen our understanding of the role of varying music information types in information seeking for musical tasks. They suggest that approaching music information through its many layers provides more accurate descriptions of music-related information-seeking processes

A importância do corpo na praxis musical: execução, interpretação e percepção

A importância do corpo na praxis musical: execução, interpretação e percepção. A forma como o corpo está envolvido em toda a prática musical tem vindo a despertar cada vez mais curiosidade em diferentes áreas de investigação. Através destas abordagens científicas os músicos ganham consciência deste facto intimamente ligado a todo o processo que vai desde a preparação de uma obra até à performance musical. Este trabalho oferece uma visão geral de como o corpo e o movimento corporal contribuem para uma maior eficácia na comunicação musical e, consequentemente, melhor qualidade na performance, do ponto de vista do público; ### Abstract: The importance of the body in musical praxis: execution, interpretation and perception. The way how the body is involved in all musical practice has been increasing the curiosity in different fields of research. Through these scientific approaches musicians gain consciousness of this fact that is intimately linked to the entire process that starts with the preparation of a piece and ends with the musical performance. This work offers a general view on how the body and bodily movement contribute to a higher effectiveness in musical communication and, consequently, higher quality in performance, from the audience’s point of view

Gesture in Karnatak Music: Pedagogy and Musical Structure in South India

This thesis presents an examination of gesture in Karnatak music, the art music of South India. The topic is approached from two perspectives; the first considers Karnatak music structure from a gestural perspective, looking both at the music itself and at the gestures that create it, while the second enquires into the role played by physical gesture in vocal pedagogy. The broader aims of the thesis are to provide insight into the musical structure of the Karnatak style, and to contribute to wider discourses on connections between music and movement. An interdisciplinary approach to the research is taken, drawing on theories and methods from the fields of ethnomusicology, embodied music cognition, and gesture studies. The first part of the thesis opens with a discussion of differences between practical and theoretical conceptions of the Karnatak style. I argue for the significance in practice of svara-gamaka units and longer motifs formed of chains of such units, and also consider the gestural qualities of certain motifs and their contribution to bhāva (mood). Subsequently, I present a joint musical and motoric analysis of a section of Karnatak violin performance, seeking to elucidate the dynamic processes that form the style. The second part of the thesis enquires into the role played by hand gestures produced by teachers and students in vocal lessons, looking at what is indexed by the gestures and how such indexing contributes to the pedagogic process. This part of the thesis also considers how gestures contribute to the formation and maintenance of common ground between teacher and student. The final chapter brings the two strands of this thesis together to discuss the connections that exist between musical and physical gesture in Karnatak music

Elucidating musical structure through empirical measurement of performance parameters

The differences between a musical score and an instance of that music in a performance, communicates a performer’s view of the information contained in that score. The main hypothesis in this thesis is that by measuring quantifiable parameters such as tempo, dynamics and motion from live performance, the performer’s interpretation of musical structure can be detected. This will be tested for pieces for which the structure is explicit and obvious, and then used to discover musical structure from looking at patterns of aural and visual performance parameters in performances of more ambiguously structured pieces. This thesis is in two strands. The first part covers the acquisition of multi-modal parameters in piano performance. This will explore current technologies in acquiring MIDI information such as accurate onset timings and key velocities as well as motion tracking systems for measuring general body movements. A new cheap, portable and accurate system for tracking the intricacies of pianists’ finger movement is described as well as methods and tools available for analysis and visualisation of musical data. The second strand of this thesis will explore uses of these capture systems in empirically measuring performance parameters to elucidate musical structure. Two experiments follow which test the hypothesis of detecting musical structure from parameters such as tempo, dynamics and movement, before using these patterns as a basis for discovering structure in performances of the finale of Chopin’s B flat minor sonata. Body movement is discovered as an indicator of phrasing boundaries, which when combined with the measured aural parameters provides interpretations of the performed music. Phrasing boundaries are identified correctly for the control piece (Chopin’s Prelude in A major Op.28, No.7) and consequently for the first test piece (Chopin’s Prelude in B minor Op.28 No.6). The proceeding experiment identifies performers’ style of phrase endings through performances of the control piece and tests them against patterns found in the second test piece (Chopin’s B Flat minor Sonata Finale). Five out of the six performers confirm the musicological hypothesis that bar 5 is not the entry of a new theme but the continuation of the the theme beginning in bar 1

Designing performance systems for audience inclusion

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 154-168).We define the concept of the Hyperaudience and a unique approach towards designing real-time interactive performance systems: the design of these systems encourages audience participation and augments the experience of audience members through interconnected networks. In doing so, it embraces concepts found in ubiquitous computing, affective computing, interactive arts, music, theatrical tradition, and pervasive gaming. In addition, five new systems are demonstrated to develop a framework for thinking about audience participation and orchestrating social co-presence in and beyond the performance space. Finally, the principles and challenges that shaped the design of these five systems are defined by measuring, comparing, and evaluating their expressiveness and communicability.by Akito Van Troyer.S.M

Body Movement in Music Information Retrieval

We can see many and strong links between music and human body movement in musical performance, in dance, and in the variety of movements that people make in listening situations. There is evidence that sensations of human body movement are integral to music as such, and that sensations of movement are efficient carriers of information about style, genre, expression, and emotions. The challenge now in MIR is to develop means for the extraction and representation of movement-inducing cues from musical sound, as well as to develop possibilities for using body movement as input to search and navigation interfaces in MIR. contexts