Exploring African tone scales

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Towards the tangible: microtonal scale exploration in Central-African music

This proposal presents TARSOS, an easy-to-use platform for automated pitch analysis especially designed to explore non-Western music. Two considerations were the starting point of this research: i) thnomusicology is mainly performed from an anthropological and ethnographical approach, and ii) current Music Information Retrieval (MIR) applications are biased towards Western music and are thus not suitable to the particularities of other musical cultures. This research tries to develop an unbiased approach by a flexible interface for detection and representation of tone scales. No predispositions towards a certain music theory or pitch organization are made. Our goal is to document an aspect of the endangered musical heritage of African oral cultures, namely tone scale diversity

Diverse Aging and Health Inequality by Race and Ethnicity

Although gerontologists have long embraced the concept of heterogeneity in theories and models of aging, recent research reveals the importance of racial and ethnic diversity on life course processes leading to health inequality. This article examines research on health inequality by race and ethnicity and identifies theoretical and methodological innovations that are transforming the study of health disparities. Drawing from cumulative inequality theory, we propose greater use of life course analysis, more attention to variability within racial and ethnic groups, and better integration of environmental context into the study of accumulation processes leading to health disparities

Exploring the impact of group work and mentoring for multiple heritage children's self-esteem, well-being and behaviour

Findings are reported from a study of an innovative Multiple Heritage Service in Sheffield (UK) which provides, inter alia, individual mentoring for young people and school-based group sessions on cultural heritage, dealing with racism and enhancing well-being. Groupwork, undertaken between November 2005 and December 2006, was evaluated by a before/after design with 43 children aged from eight to fifteen attending five different groups (response rate 77 per cent), using three well-established and validated measures. There were improvements on the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale from 31.415 to 33.024 (p =0.005) with more improvement among younger children and boys (p=0.004 and p=0.001); and well-being as measured by the GHQ12 improved from 1.460 to 0.8378 (p=0.111) with more improvement among older children (p=0.026). On the third measure, of problem behaviour (the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) there was an improvement from 12.4 to 12.1 (p=0.716) but there was no improvement at all for girls. Mentoring was evaluated by telephone interviews between June and October 2006 with 14 mothers whose children had just completed, or were nearing completion of, mentoring (response rate 70 per cent). Overall the mothers’ evaluations were highly positive: two-thirds commended the service on the positive impact on their children’s well-being and happiness (including all the mothers of daughters); a half reported positive impacts on identity; mothers commended the positive role model effect same-sex mentors had on their children’s behaviour; but only a third said mentoring had boosted their children’s self-esteem

The Transcendental Character of Temporality and the Buddhist Contribution to Time-Consciousness

Enriching the parallel between transcendental phenomenology and enactivism, I briefly discuss the compatibility of the Buddhist perspective with Gallagher\u2019s contribution to time-consciousness. Grounded in his meditative practice and heartfelt engagement with Buddhist philosophy, Varela de-constructed representationalism and its underpinning metaphysical dualism, building up the generative concept of enaction. His approach has been deeply inspired by Madhyamika Buddhism, which describes time-consciousness as that double illusion that frames phenomena as either becoming or permanent

A Study of Music: Music Psychology, Music Therapy, and Worship Music

There are three specific fields related to music: the psychology of Music and how it affects human brain and functions, the methodology of Music Therapy and how it affects individuals undergoing treatment, and the psychological effects of Worship Music and how it can be used in music therapy. Music therapy is a growing field in which the therapeutic outcomes greatly benefit the patients. The overall purpose is to create a greater understanding of music and music therapy in order to a provide a system for introducing group worship services into music therapy to ultimately bring spiritual healing to individuals

The Relationship between Principal Leadership Behaviors and School Climate

The No Child Left Behind Act (2001) revised the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 by making substantial modifications in the major federal programs that support schools‘ efforts to educate all children (U.S. Department of Education, Office of the Deputy Secretary, 2004). Since the inception of this law, demand for greater accountability for student achievement from politicians and legislators has increased exponentially (Carnoy, Elmore, & Siskin, 2003). Strict accountability measures, developed and implemented with limited if any consent or involvement of educators, were imposed on students, teachers, schools, and school districts (Waite, Boone, & NcGgee, 2001). The increased emphasis on accountability heightened the demands on teachers and administrators more than ever before in the history of education in the United States (Carnoy et al., 2003). As increased accountability became the norm, school leadership became more challenging and demanding in order to achieve the newly stipulated accountability (Salazar, 2008)

Work-related psychological health and psychological type among lead elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches in the United Kingdom

Building on a series of recent studies concerned with assessing work-related psychological health and psychological type among various groups of church leaders, this study reports new data provided by 134 Lead Elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches in the United Kingdom who completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales (FPTS) together with the two scales of the Francis Burnout Inventory (FBI) concerned with emotional exhaustion and satisfaction in ministry. Compared with other groups of church leaders, Lead Elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches reported lower levels of emotional exhaustion and higher levels of satisfaction in ministry. Compared with other groups of church leaders, there was a higher proportion of extraverts among Lead Elders within the Newfrontiers network of churches. There was only a weak association between psychological type and burnout

Generalized Tonnetze and Zeitnetze, and the topology of music concepts

The music-theoretic idea of a Tonnetz can be generalized at different levels: as a network of chords relating by maximal intersection, a simplicial complex in which vertices represent notes and simplices represent chords, and as a triangulation of a manifold or other geometrical space. The geometrical construct is of particular interest, in that allows us to represent inherently topological aspects to important musical concepts. Two kinds of music-theoretical geometry have been proposed that can house Tonnetze: geometrical duals of voice-leading spaces and Fourier phase spaces. Fourier phase spaces are particularly appropriate for Tonnetze in that their objects are pitch-class distributions (real-valued weightings of the 12 pitch classes) and proximity in these space relates to shared pitch-class content. They admit of a particularly general method of constructing a geometrical Tonnetz that allows for interval and chord duplications in a toroidal geometry. This article examines how these duplications can relate to important musical concepts such as key or pitch height, and details a method of removing such redundancies and the resulting changes to the homology of the space. The method also transfers to the rhythmic domain, defining Zeitnetze for cyclic rhythms. A number of possible Tonnetze are illustrated: on triads, seventh chords, ninth chords, scalar tetrachords, scales, etc., as well as Zeitnetze on common cyclic rhythms or timelines. Their different topologies – whether orientable, bounded, manifold, etc. – reveal some of the topological character of musical concepts.Accepted manuscrip