Show me the way to Monte Carlo: density-based trajectory navigation

We demonstrate the use of uncertain prediction in a system for pedestrian navigation via audio with a combination of Global Positioning System data, a music player, inertial sensing, magnetic bearing data and Monte Carlo sampling for a density following task, where a listener’s music is modulated according to the changing predictions of user position with respect to a target density, in this case a trajectory or path. We show that this system enables eyes-free navigation around set trajectories or paths unfamiliar to the user and demonstrate that the system may be used effectively for varying trajectory width and context

MY EYES DUE SEE

My Eyes Due See is a multidimensional examination of the “black experience” in America. The installation is composed of a single-channel video, a music composition that utilizes music samples and live instrumentation, and sculptures made up of car parts and broomsedge grass. Each of these elements arranged in space share a nuanced and complicated view of blackness through the lens of a black man decoding personal history and American history simultaneously. Autonomy is the overarching theme throughout the work as it pertains to race, identity, urban and rural environments, and the relationship between generational trauma and nostalgia

The sounds of Zora Neale Hurston's Their eyes were watching God: blues rhythm, rhyme, and repetition

Although many critics have noted the blues themes, characters, and settings in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, none addresses the way Hurston recreates elements of blues music in her novel. This thesis aims to establish the ways Hurston uses blues musical techniques in Their Eyes Were Watching God, arguing that scholarship fails to address three critical components of blues music that Hurston weaves throughout the text: rhythm, rhyme, and repetition. The thesis argues that Hurston's use of blues music in the novel developed from her initial, focused research on sounds. Hurston's understanding of music evolved from her dedication to sound studies; her use of the rhythm and rhyme of blues music allowed her to capture the vernacular of the South on the page. My analysis shows how the blues of Hurston's novel not only manifests thematically, as others have argued, but that the vernacular prose is lyrical; it rhymes, moves, and sounds like a blues song

The Effect of Music on Body Sway When Standing in a Moving Virtual Environment

poster abstractMovement of the visual surrounding using virtual reality (VR) is an established tool for testing body sway for clinical and research purposes. There are, however, no conclusive studies showing the effects music can have on body sway especially if it is heard in conjunction with a shifting visual surrounding. For this study subjects stood quietly with their eyes closed, with their eyes open, and with their eyes open as they viewed a VR environment translating forward and backward at 0.1 Hz. In addition to these visual conditions, they simultaneously experienced “no sound” and music conditions. The music conditions consisted of their hearing a section of Mozart’s Jupiter and a section of the subjects’ self-selected popular music played normally and also modified so that the loudness and frequency shifted in sync with the VR movement. Body sway was assessed through analysis of center of pressure movement (COP) recorded with force plate, a commonly used device for assessing balance. To date, we have analyzed the body sway of one subject and have found, for that subject, that the addition music enhanced the effect of the translating scene on body sway as measured by increased COP variability, velocity, and a shift in median COP frequency. For this subject, however, it did not appear neither to make a difference whether the subject heard Mozart’s Jupiter or listened to their own self-selected music nor whether the music’s frequency or loudness was synced to the movement of the scene. Should these findings hold with further body sway analysis of more subjects, they would be of interest to clinicians and researchers examining the impact of sound on balance as well as to video game and computer graphics designers looking to create more immersive VR environments

MUSIC TO OUR EYES: ASSESSING THE ROLE OF EXPERIENCE FOR MULTISENSORY INTEGRATION IN MUSIC PERCEPTION

Based on research on the “McGurk Effect” (McGurk & McDonald, 1976) in speech perception, some researchers (e.g. Liberman & Mattingly, 1985) have argued that humans uniquely interpret auditory and visual (motor) speech signals as a single intended audiovisual articulatory gesture, and that such multisensory integration is innate and specific to language. Our goal for the present study was to determine if a McGurk-like Effect holds true for music perception as well, as a domain for which innateness and experience can be disentangled more easily than in language. We sought to investigate the effects of visual musical information on auditory music perception and judgment, the impact of music experience on such audiovisual integration, and the possible role of eye gaze patterns as a potential mediator for music experience and the extent of visual influence on auditory judgments. 108 participants (ages 18-40) completed a questionnaire and melody/rhythm perception tasks to determine music experience and abilities, and then completed speech and musical McGurk tasks. Stimuli were recorded from five sounds produced by a speaker or musician (cellist and trombonist) that ranged incrementally along a continuum from one type to another (e.g. non-vibrato to strong vibrato). In the audiovisual condition, these sounds were paired with videos of the speaker/performer producing one type of sound or another (representing either end of the continuum) such that the audio and video matched or mismatched to varying degrees. Participants indicated, on a 100-point scale, the extent to which the auditory presentation represents one end of the continuum or the other. Auditory judgments for each sound were then compared based on their visual pairings to determine the impact of visual cues on auditory judgments. Additionally, several types of music experience were evaluated as potential predictors of the degree of influence visual stimuli had on auditory judgments. Finally, eye gaze patterns were measured in a different sample of 15 participants to assess relationships between music experience and eye gaze patterns, and eye gaze patterns and extent of visual on auditory judgments. Results indicated a reliable “musical McGurk Effect” in the context of cello vibrato sounds, but weaker overall effects for trombone vibrato sounds and cello pluck and bow sounds. Limited evidence was found to suggest that music experience impacts the extent to which individuals are influenced by visual stimuli when making auditory judgments. The support that was obtained, however, indicated the possibility for diminished visual influence on auditory judgments based on variables associated with music “production” experience. Potential relationships between music experience and eye-gaze patterns were identified. Implications for audiovisual integration in the context of speech and music perception are discussed, and future directions advised

Emotionface: Prototype facial expression display of emotion in music

Presented at the 10th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD2004)EmotionFace is a software interface for visually displaying the self-reported emotion expressed by music. Taken in reverse, it can be viewed as a facial expression whose auditory connection or exemplar is the time synchronized, associated music. The present instantiation of the software uses a simple schematic face with eyes and mouth moving according to a parabolic model: Smiling and frowning of mouth represents valence (happiness and sadness) and amount of opening of eyes represents arousal. Continuous emotional responses to music collected in previous research have been used to test and calibrate EmotionFace. The interface provides an alternative to the presentation of data on a two-dimensional emotion-space, the same space used for the collection of emotional data in response to music. These synthesized facial expressions make the observation of the emotion data expressed by music easier for the human observer to process and may be a more natural interface between the human and computer. Future research will include optimization of EmotionFace, using more sophisticated algorithms and facial expression databases, and the examination of the lag structure between facial expression and musical structure. Eventually, with more elaborate systems, automation and greater knowledge of emotion and associated musical structure, it may be possible to compose music meaningfully from synthesized and real facial expressions

Volume 64, Number 11 (November 1946)

Artistic Temperament H.R.H. Princess Elizabeth Becomes a Bachelor of Music Music Rhythms Affect Brain Rhythms How Peace Came to Zdeborice How Melodies Come (interview with Oscar Straus) What is American Music Wit and Humor of Musicians Piano Fundamentals And So to Music: A Delightfully Quaint and Picturesque Glimpse of Music in England in the Seventeenth Century as Seen Through the Eyes of Samuel Pepys Developing Technique (interview with Simon Barere) Flowers of Puerto Rico Americans Spend Billions for Music Cellist Looks Ahead (interview with Edmund Kurtz) . . . Right Good Partners, Too (Gilbert & Sullivan)https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/etude/1188/thumbnail.jp

Differential effects of wakeful rest, music and video game playing on working memory performance in the n-back task

The interruption of learning processes by breaks filled with diverse activities is common in everyday life. We investigated the effects of active computer gaming and passive relaxation (rest and music) breaks on working memory performance. Young adults were exposed to breaks involving (i) eyes-open resting, (ii) listening to music and (iii) playing the video game “Angry Birds” before performing the n-back working memory task. Based on linear mixed-effects modeling, we found that playing the “Angry Birds” video game during a short learning break led to a decline in task performance over the course of the task as compared to eyes-open resting and listening to music, although overall task performance was not impaired. This effect was associated with high levels of daily mind wandering and low self-reported ability to concentrate. These findings indicate that video games can negatively affect working memory performance over time when played in between learning tasks. We suggest further investigation of these effects because of their relevance to everyday activity.Peer Reviewe

Return to Sarah: for Orchestra

Return to Sarah is a work for orchestra inspired by the composer\u27s favorite novel depicted through programmatic, motivic, and introspective composition. The music renders the story through the eyes of the composer

Volume 41, Number 01 (January 1923)

Art of Keeping the Voice (interview with Giuseppe de Luca) Simple Facts in Developing a Musical Memory Ear Training for Beginners Teaching a Five-Year-Old Knowing the Scales How I Earned My Musical Education: A Series of Personal Experiences from Real Music Workers Memorizing Our Moods Sight Reading That Heavy Thumb When the Contralto Was a Curiosity Every-Day Pianistic Blunders and How to Cure Them Eyes and No Eyes Positive Results form Positive Routine Secret of Staccato Historic Musical Memories: How Famous Musicians Have Kept Immense Numbers of Musical Compositions in Their Minds for Long Periods of Time How to Laugh at Stage Fright Little Lesson in Conducting Deriving Pleasure from a Piano Recital Be Friendly Music in the Home Musical Proverbs Greatest Musical Fraud in History: Millions Swindled Out of the American Public by Fake Publishers: An Exposé of a Nation-Wide Bunco Game Is This the Music America Likes Best? Gleanings from Musical Annals Prodigious Memorieshttps://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/etude/1696/thumbnail.jp