Musical Gesture through the Human Computer Interface: An Investigation using Information Theory

This study applies information theory to investigate human ability to communicate using continuous control sensors with a particular focus on informing the design of digital musical instruments. There is an active practice of building and evaluating such instruments, for instance, in the New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) conference community. The fidelity of the instruments can depend on the included sensors, and although much anecdotal evidence and craft experience informs the use of these sensors, relatively little is known about the ability of humans to control them accurately. This dissertation addresses this issue and related concerns, including continuous control performance in increasing degrees-of-freedom, pursuit tracking in comparison with pointing, and the estimations of musical interface designers and researchers of human performance with continuous control sensors. The methodology used models the human-computer system as an information channel while applying concepts from information theory to performance data collected in studies of human subjects using sensing devices. These studies not only add to knowledge about human abilities, but they also inform on issues in musical mappings, ergonomics, and usability

Students’ Perceptions And Experiences: African American Students In Band And Orchestra Programs

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore how African American students in a South Carolina metropolitan area perceived their experiences in band and orchestra at their middle school. Fifty-one sixth through eighth grade students responded to an inventory that measured students’ predisposition to music, pedagogical preferences, and cultural awareness. Furthermore, seven of the fifty-one students engaged in individual, semistructured interviews that measured students’ personal connection to musical experiences within their culture and communities. This study examined the minimal rate at which African American students participated in music programs through the conceptual lens of African-Centered Pedagogy and Culturally Responsive Pedagogy. It was proposed that race, culture, musical preference, physiological needs, socioeconomic level, and community or family structures were variables that created significant inequities and lack of inclusion that influenced the recruitment and retention of African American students in school-based band and/or orchestra programs. The quantitative data was used to investigate students’ predispositions to music, pedagogical preferences, and cultural awareness. The following six themes emerged: (a) student/teacher relationships, (b) student self-awareness, (c) teacher cultural acceptance of students, (d) student desirability of instrumental music classes, (e) teacher community and cultural consciousness, and (f) student outside perception and influence. Furthermore, qualitative data collected through individual interviews was used to develop a profound understanding of African American students’ perspectives and experiences in school-based band and orchestra programs. The following five invariant constituents and themes emerged: (a) music preference implies listening and/or performing; (b) family, friends influence music listening, music performance, and instrument selection; (c) self-esteem, physiological needs and self-actualization in class; (d) class attentiveness, practice, and teacher feedback influence achievement; and (e) student preference to activities combining music and culture. This study also explored areas for action to expand research to identify what motivates academic success of African American students and broaden horizons of what motivates African American students to join and remain in band and orchestra programs. These areas of action are as follows: (a) individual awareness of the teacher, student, and school community; (b) district initiatives through professional development and band and orchestra framework; and (c) state curriculum to diversify music education and transform music studies

Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Live Coding

Open Access peer reviewed papers on live coding published at the 1st International Conference on Live Coding (ICLC) in Leeds

Music with Plants: Cultivating Bonds Between Grade-Schoolers and Nature Through Sound Design

Uma necessidade crescente para a consciencialização ambiental requer estratégias sensíveis que nos ajudem a repensar a forma como as interacções transformam o nosso habitat. As cidades modernas enfrentam agora o desaparecimento progressivo dos espaços verdes, do qual resulta a diminuição de oportunidades para as crianças brincarem (Costa & Costa, 2012; Ruggles, 2017). Esta dissertação propõe uma abordagem musical para nutrir os laços entre estudantes do ensino primário e a natureza.Como as plantas e os humanos experiência a vida em tempos muito diferentes, os últimos podem percepcionar as plantas como seres silenciosos e imóveis (Ruggles, 2017; Mancuso & Viola, 2016). A sua capacidade para sentir os elementos circundantes, para os quais não estamos despertos, tornam as plantas aliadas inestimáveis no caminho para uma relação mais consciente com o planeta que partilhamos. Campos de estudo como a ecologia acústica e a bioacústica das plantas começaram recentemente a florescer, inspirando artistas sonoros a explorar o mundo vegetal, combinando ciência e as artes (Patrão, Harvard University: Ex-centric Music Studies Conference, 2018).Na educação, por meio da brincadeira, as plantas poderão ter um papel significativo ao estimularem os sentidos e a ligação entre crianças que habitam os meios urbanos cada vez mais artificiais e o mundo dos seres vivos que as rodeiam (Costa & Costa, 2012).Este trabalho sugere que a música tem o potencial para intermediar estas interacções, proporcionando experiência significantes aos jovens participantes, trazendo para o mesmo espaço tecnologias digitais, música e plantas. Sendo que a música em si poderá ter a capacidade de fortalecer laços entre pessoas e promover e manter coesão de grupo. A música é "a cola social que amplia a cooperação e fortalece os sentimentos de união" (Honing, 2018).A growing need for environmental awareness requires sensitive strategies to help us rethink the way interactions transform our habitat. Modern cities are now faced with the progressive vanishing of green spaces, resulting in fewer opportunities for children to play (Costa & Costa, 2012; Ruggles, 2017). This work proposes a musical approach to nourishing the bonds between elementary-school students and nature. Since plants and humans experience life in very different time frames, humans might mistakenly perceive plants as quiet and motionless living-beings (Ruggles, 2017; Mancuso & Viola, 2016). The ability to sense elements of their surroundings to which we are unaware of, makes plants invaluable allies towards a more conscious relationship with the planet we share. Fields like acoustic ecology and plant bioacoustics have recently started to bloom, inspiring sound artists to discover the vegetal world combining science and the arts (Patrão, Harvard University: Ex-centric Music Studies Conference, 2018).In education, by the means of play, plants might perform a significant role in stimulating the senses and the connection between children inhabiting increasingly artificial cities and the world of living things that surrounds them (Costa & Costa, 2012). This dissertation suggests that music has the potential to intermediate these interactions and provide meaningful experiences to the young participants by bringing to common ground digital technology, music and plants. Being that music itself is thought to have capability to strengthen bonds between people, promote and maintain group cohesion. It is "the social glue that enhances cooperation and strengthens feelings of unity" (Honing, 2018)

Effects of Tonic Drone and Singing on the Pitch Accuracy of Middle and High School String Players

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of tonic drone, and tonic drone and singing on the intonation accuracy of middle school and high school string students in a classroom setting. Participants (N=58) in the study included middle and high school string players from two school districts in northern Mississippi. Tonic drone (n=22) and tonic drone and singing (n=36) groups were comprised of one middle school and one high school class each. One group performed pitch–matching exercises that include a tonic drone while the second group performed pitch-matching exercises that included the tonic drone and singing. A pretest and posttest were given to determine intonation accuracy prior to and following treatment. Three pitches, E, F-sharp, and G were addressed during the three-week treatment period. Analysis of collected data using repeated measures SPANOVA testing found no significant interaction between groups from pretest to posttest. Neither the tonic drone or the tonic drone and singing group showed significant positive improvement in pitch accuracy. T-tests indicated the drone only group was statistically more accurate when posttest scores were compared. Future study should extend the length of treatment

The Headphone and Loudspeaker Test – Part I: Suggestions for controlling characteristics of playback devices in internet experiments

In internet experiments on auditory perception, playback devices may be a confounding variable reducing internal validity. A procedure to remotely test multiple characteristics of playback devices does not currently exist. Thus, the main goals of this study were to (i) develop and (ii) evaluate a comprehensive, efficient, and easy-to-handle test procedure for the reliable control and identification of playback device characteristics in online experiments. Based on a counting task paradigm, the first part of the Headphone and Loudspeaker Test (HALT–Part I) was developed with which researchers can standardize sound level adjustments, detect stereo/mono playback, and assess lower frequency limits. In a laboratory study (N = 40), HALT–Part I was evaluated with four playback devices (circumaural and intra-aural headphones; external and laptop loudspeakers). Beforehand, the acoustical properties of all playback devices had been measured (e.g., sound pressure level, frequency response, total harmonic distortion). The analysis suggested that HALT–Part I has high test–retest reliability (rtt =.90 for level adjustment and rtt =.79 for stereo/mono detection) and is an efficient (3.5 minutes for completion) method to remotely test playback devices and listening conditions (sound level, stereo/mono playback). The procedure can help improve data quality in internet experiments. © 2022, The Author(s)

What Are The Cognitive Mechanisms That Underlie Our Theory Of Mind? Potential Insights From Information Theory

Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to infer mental states. The purpose of Study 1 was to reduce performance demands on a ToM test for forty (22 females) children (M age = 4.604; SD age = 1.128). Here, a low-uncertainty condition included a behaviour repetition manipulation, intended to increase success rate—but results did not confirm our hypothesis. Potential reasons for the results of Study 1 are discussed and tested in Study 2. The purpose of Study 2 was to determine the mechanism by which ToM operates in fifty-seven (26 females) adult participants (M age = 20.632; SD age = 3.368) by altering informational richness more directly. Results of Study 2 confirm that the mechanism by which ToM operates is via uncertainty reduction. These data motivate Study 3 in which child-appropriate vignettes will be used to address the limitations of Study 1 and implement the design of Study 2

Practicing at Home: Computers, Pianos, and Cultural Capital

Part of the Volume on Digital Young, Innovation, and the Unexpected Bourdieu focused attention on the role of education and the influence of status distinctions on the selection and valorization of particular forms of cultural capital. Although Bourdieu did not write about digital media, he was a keen observer of status distinctions in education and how these translate into job markets. Through an extended analogy between learning the piano and learning the computer, I demonstrate Bourdieu's relevance for an expanded vision of digital literacy -- one that would forefront the material and social inequalities in U.S. domestic Internet access and in public education. High Tech High School, supported by the Gates Foundation, provides a case of why it is important to examine current digital pedagogy in terms of unarticulated and implicit models of entrepreneurial labor, both because these set up unrealistic expectations and because they can express corporate norms rather than critical pedagogy

Musical Haptics

Haptic Musical Instruments; Haptic Psychophysics; Interface Design and Evaluation; User Experience; Musical Performanc