Exciting Instrumental Data: Toward an Expanded Action-Oriented Ontology for Digital Music Performance

Musical performance using digital musical instruments has obfuscated the relationship between observable musical gestures and the resultant sound. This is due to the sound producing mechanisms of digital musical instruments being hidden within the digital music making system. The difficulty in observing embodied artistic expression is especially true for musical instruments that are comprised of digital components only. Despite this characteristic of digital music performance practice, this thesis argues that it is possible to bring digital musical performance further within our action-oriented ontology by understanding the digital musician through the lens of Lévi-Strauss’ notion of the bricoleur. Furthermore, by examining musical gestures with these instruments through a multi-tiered analytical framework that accounts for the physical computing elements necessarily present in all digital music making systems, we can further understand and appreciate the intricacies of digital music performance practice and culture

Animated performance: 'Better' music means larger movements

The Arts: 3rd Place (The Ohio State University Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum)A study was carried out to determine the effect of the amount of performer movement on judgments of performance quality. The movements of eight live solo performances were captured (two each for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello). From each original recording, three stick figure animations were created: one with augmented performance motion, one with the original motion, and one with diminished motion. The three animations were combined into single dynamic videos that allowed participants to continuously adjust the range of motion in the animation via a slider — from diminished through original to augmented motion. Participants were instructed to adjust the overall amount of performance motion to create the best musical performance. Consistent with the hypothesis, participants elected to significantly augment the motions of the performers.A one-year embargo was granted for this item

Discussion and analysis of a graduate recital: an examination of Gary Burton's "Chega De Saudade," Steve Reich's "Marimba Phase," Michael Gordon's "XY," John Cage's "In a Landscape," Minoru Miki's "Time for Marimba," and Milton Babbitt's "Homily"

Master's Project (M.Mu.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017This paper discusses some of the many facets of percussion music through the examination and analysis of the following works: Gary Burton's Chega De Saudade for solo vibraphone; Steve Reich's Marimba Phase for two marimbas; Michael Gordon's XY for five drums; the author's own arrangement for multiple-percussion setup of John Cage's In a Landscape; Minoru Miki's Time for Marimba for solo marimba; and Milton Babbitt's Homily for solo snare drum. As the repertoire and performance practices of percussion continue to develop, there are many issues of note to the studying percussionist. These range from technical concerns, to issues of interpretation. Each work exemplifies certain of these issues, and this paper seeks to glean better understanding of those through analysis and study of the works

Discussion and analysis of a graduate recital: an examination of Gary Burton's "Chega De Saudade," Steve Reich's "Marimba Phase," Michael Gordon's "XY," John Cage's "In a Landscape," Minoru Miki's "Time for Marimba," and Milton Babbitt's "Homily"

Master's Project (M.Mu.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017This paper discusses some of the many facets of percussion music through the examination and analysis of the following works: Gary Burton's Chega De Saudade for solo vibraphone; Steve Reich's Marimba Phase for two marimbas; Michael Gordon's XY for five drums; the author's own arrangement for multiple-percussion setup of John Cage's In a Landscape; Minoru Miki's Time for Marimba for solo marimba; and Milton Babbitt's Homily for solo snare drum. As the repertoire and performance practices of percussion continue to develop, there are many issues of note to the studying percussionist. These range from technical concerns, to issues of interpretation. Each work exemplifies certain of these issues, and this paper seeks to glean better understanding of those through analysis and study of the works

Auditory and cognitive performance in elderly musicians and nonmusicians

Musicians represent a model for examining brain and behavioral plasticity in terms of cognitive and auditory profile, but few studies have investigated whether elderly musicians have better auditory and cognitive abilities than nonmusicians. The aim of the present study was to examine whether being a professional musician attenuates the normal age-related changes in hearing and cognition. Elderly musicians still active in their profession were compared with nonmusicians on auditory performance (absolute threshold, frequency intensity, duration and spectral shape discrimination, gap and sinusoidal amplitude-modulation detection), and on simple (short-term memory) and more complex and higher-order (working memory [WM] and visuospatial abilities) cognitive tasks. The sample consisted of adults at least 65 years of age. The results showed that older musicians had similar absolute thresholds but better supra-threshold discrimination abilities than nonmusicians in four of the six auditory tasks administered. They also had a better WM performance, and stronger visuospatial abilities than nonmusicians. No differences were found between the two groups\u2019 short-term memory. Frequency discrimination and gap detection for the auditory measures, and WM complex span tasks and one of the visuospatial tasks for the cognitive ones proved to be very good classifiers of the musicians. These findings suggest that life-long music training may be associated with enhanced auditory and cognitive performance, including complex cognitive skills, in advanced age. However, whether this music training represents a protective factor or not needs further investigation

Affordance of vibrational excitation for music composition and performance

Mechanical vibrations have typically been used in the performance domain within feedback systems to inform musicians of system states or as communication channels between performers. In this paper, we propose the addi- tional taxonomic category of vibrational excitation of mu- sical instruments for sound generation. To explore the va- riety of possibilities associated with this extended taxon- omy, we present the Oktopus, a multi-purpose wireless sys- tem capable of motorised vibrational excitation. The sys- tem can receive up to eight inputs and generates vibrations as outputs through eight motors that can be positioned ac- cordingly to produce a wide range of sounds from an ex- cited instrument. We demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed system and extended taxonomy through the de- velopment and performance of Live Mechanics, a compo- sition for piano and interactive electronics

Music as Evidence for a Creator

Throughout history, mankind has made music. While music is artistic, it is also scientific and informed by natural occurrences within the physical world. Mathematical relationships between frequencies, the harmonic series, the materials necessary to build musical instruments, and naturally measured time provide bases for the musical elements of pitch, timbre, and rhythm. Though scientific discovery can inform the practice of music, the origin of music cannot be explained through scientific or evolutionary means because music is not a necessity for survival. The fact that music does exist and has natural bases suggests that music is designed, and its elements were placed in the physical world by a Creator who is beyond that which is physical

Designing for Conversational Interaction with Interactive Dance Works

In this paper we describe ongoing work, which explores the physicality of human-computer interaction in dance works. The use of physical simulations in the interface to connect with the performers and audiences lived experience of the physical world is discussed. Drawing on past work with musicians, we argue that this approach is effective in encouraging creative, `conversational interactions in live performance