Considering musical structure in location-based experiences

Locative music experiences are often non-linear and as such the final structure of the music heard is guided by the movements of the user. We note an absence of principles regarding how composers should approach the structuring of such locative soundtracks. For instance, how does one compose for a non-linear soundtrack using linear, pre-composed placed sounds, where fixed musical time is placed into the indeterminate time of the user’s experience? Furthermore, how does one create a soundtrack that is suitable for the location, but also functions as a coherent musical structure? We explore these questions by analyzing an existing ‘placed sound’ work from a traditional music theory perspective and in doing so reveal some structural principals from ‘fixed’ musical forms can also support the composition of contemporary locative music experiences

Considering musical structure in location-based experiences

Locative music experiences are often non-linear and as such the final structure of the music heard is guided by the movements of the user. We note an absence of principles regarding how composers should approach the structuring of such locative soundtracks. For instance, how does one compose for a non-linear soundtrack using linear, pre-composed placed sounds, where fixed musical time is placed into the indeterminate time of the user’s experience? Furthermore, how does one create a soundtrack that is suitable for the location, but also functions as a coherent musical structure? We explore these questions by analyzing an existing ‘placed sound’ work from a traditional music theory perspective and in doing so reveal some structural principals from ‘fixed’ musical forms can also support the composition of contemporary locative music experiences

“BE YOURSELF” (the Creation of a Music Composition)

An artistic workmanship is a creative work process of an artist in creating artworks. Artwork meant by the writer is "Be Yourself", which is related to the establishment of his self-characters that grown up in Sundanese culture. Life journey was a dynamic process and became the will of the Almighty. God's destiny and life journey made the writer as “urangsumando” (people related by marriage) in Minangkabau. Cross-cultural was a life journey to be (yourself) and the destiny he should do – being in two different culture positions. Such differences did not automatically make the writer soluble in integration – he existed in two conceptions. In the realization, how the concepts are able to deliver other offers which have contribution to the development of artistic creation. The discussion in this article is the artistic forms as the exploration, working material, and forms of performance

Sound archaeology: terminology, Palaeolithic cave art and the soundscape

This article is focused on the ways that terminology describing the study of music and sound within archaeology has changed over time, and how this reflects developing methodologies, exploring the expectations and issues raised by the use of differing kinds of language to define and describe such work. It begins with a discussion of music archaeology, addressing the problems of using the term ‘music’ in an archaeological context. It continues with an examination of archaeoacoustics and acoustics, and an emphasis on sound rather than music. This leads on to a study of sound archaeology and soundscapes, pointing out that it is important to consider the complete acoustic ecology of an archaeological site, in order to identify its affordances, those possibilities offered by invariant acoustic properties. Using a case study from northern Spain, the paper suggests that all of these methodological approaches have merit, and that a project benefits from their integration

Music, Myth and Motherland: Culturally Centered Music & Imagery

This study assessed ethnic identity in adults of Indian origin through Culturally Centered Music & Imagery (CCMI), a music-centered, psychotherapeutic technique that emphasizes socio-cultural context, identity and meaning. The purpose was to examine how participants’ native music, in the context of CCMI, could evoke identity-based imagery and assess ethnic identity in a globalized context. Five cisgender Indian men and women from Hindu backgrounds participated in one CCMI session each, including an interview and follow up discussions. The qualitative methodology of portraiture (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 1997) was used in this study. The results reveal how CCMI can access the cultural and ethnic unconscious, a relatively new area of consciousness in Jungian and GIM paradigms. The study also shows how CCMI can highlight the fluid and multiple nature of ethnic identity, revealing its intersection with other identities such as gender, sexual orientation, caste and religion. In addition, the data support the use of contextual and identity-based music selections in assisting participants to explore, recreate or gain a deeper understanding of their ethnic identity through image and metaphor. Major findings include new categories of ethnic identity such as Aesthetic, Ancestral, Philosophical, Mythological, Spiritual and Core Indian identities. Subthemes include experiences of Rebirth, Disconnection, Unconscious Divide, as well as other socio-cultural identities such as Kaleidoscopic, World Citizen and Global Nomad. These and other themes relate to American, global, spiritual, queer, socio-economic, caste, gendered, and individual contexts. The research also suggests that this technique may be effective in emotionally and psychologically supporting adults who are going through the process of immigration or acculturation

Making a scene: empowering third-grade students towards creative, independent, and collaborative musicianship in an after-school general music program

This project-thesis introduces an elementary general music curriculum designed to empower students towards creative music making. Building off the work related to creativity in music education by Green (2005), Hickey (2001), and Ruthmann (2008), this curriculum consists of two parts which highlight fundamental musical skill development and creative music making, respectively. The curriculum is rationalized in the contexts of a proposed local teaching environment and education policy, philosophy of music education, and current educational funding policies at the levels of state and federal governments, and non-governmental organizations

Annotated bibliography of community music research review, AHRC connected communities programme

This research review, consisting of a 90-entry annotated bibliography, was produced as part of an AHRC Connected Communities programme project entitled Community Music, its History and Current Practice, its Constructions of ‘Community’, Digital Turns and Future Soundings. It supports a 2,500 word report written with this same title for the AHRC

The Music Identity Project

At MayDay Group Colloquium 24 in East Lansing, MI, Sandra Stauffer (2012) charged that: If we want change, we need to start telling different stories . . . we work with beginning teachers, and we worry about teacher identities. We tell them a story...one that does not serve them well. A story that they will be prepared. Maybe we should tell stories of self-making, of re-making and replacing ourselves. Of preparation as a constantly evolving teacher story. Maybe then transformation can be the norm. Sandy’s comments of transformation resonated strongly with the very project I was presenting at the same colloquium on the lived-experiences and music identities of six preservice teachers in a Secondary Music Education Methods course during the spring semester of 2012. This paper emerged out of my presentation and it is my hope that by sharing the stories of these six preservice teachers, as well as my own, that we can show the type of self-making, re-making and replacing ourselves for which Sandy was advocating. [excerpt