Noll Collection of Musical Instruments

Joan Paddock received a Student-Faculty Collaborative Research grant dedicated to creating a permanent display for a collection of Asian instruments in the Vivian Bull Music Center. This collection was donated to Linfield\u27s Department of Music over eight years ago by Paul and Bernice Noll. Due to insufficient space, the instruments were previously kept unseen in storage. With this grant, the instruments are now exhibited to the public and able to be used as educational tools

Of epistemic tools: musical instruments as cognitive extensions

This paper explores the differences in the design and performance of acoustic and new digital musical instruments, arguing that with the latter there is an increased encapsulation of musical theory. The point of departure is the phenomenology of musical instruments, which leads to the exploration of designed artefacts as extensions of human cognition – as scaffolding onto which we delegate parts of our cognitive processes. The paper succinctly emphasises the pronounced epistemic dimension of digital instruments when compared to acoustic instruments. Through the analysis of material epistemologies it is possible to describe the digital instrument as an epistemic tool: a designed tool with such a high degree of symbolic pertinence that it becomes a system of knowledge and thinking in its own terms. In conclusion, the paper rounds up the phenomenological and epistemological arguments, and points at issues in the design of digital musical instruments that are germane due to their strong aesthetic implications for musical culture

The cognitive organization of music knowledge: a clinical analysis

Despite much recent interest in the clinical neuroscience of music processing, the cognitive organization of music as a domain of non-verbal knowledge has been little studied. Here we addressed this issue systematically in two expert musicians with clinical diagnoses of semantic dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, in comparison with a control group of healthy expert musicians. In a series of neuropsychological experiments, we investigated associative knowledge of musical compositions (musical objects), musical emotions, musical instruments (musical sources) and music notation (musical symbols). These aspects of music knowledge were assessed in relation to musical perceptual abilities and extra-musical neuropsychological functions. The patient with semantic dementia showed relatively preserved recognition of musical compositions and musical symbols despite severely impaired recognition of musical emotions and musical instruments from sound. In contrast, the patient with Alzheimer’s disease showed impaired recognition of compositions, with somewhat better recognition of composer and musical era, and impaired comprehension of musical symbols, but normal recognition of musical emotions and musical instruments from sound. The findings suggest that music knowledge is fractionated, and superordinate musical knowledge is relatively more robust than knowledge of particular music. We propose that music constitutes a distinct domain of non-verbal knowledge but shares certain cognitive organizational features with other brain knowledge systems. Within the domain of music knowledge, dissociable cognitive mechanisms process knowledge derived from physical sources and the knowledge of abstract musical entities

On the Destruction of Musical Instruments

In this article, I aim to provide an account of the peculiar reasons that motivate our negative reaction whenever we see musical instruments being mistreated and destroyed. Stephen Davies has suggested that this happens because we seem to treat musical instruments as we treat human beings, at least in some relevant respects. I argue in favour of a different explanation, one that is based on the nature of music as an art form. The main idea behind my account is that musical instruments are not mere tools for the production of art; rather, they are involved in an essential way in artistic appreciation of music. This fact not only grounds our negative reaction to their mistreatment and destruction but also has a normative force that is lacked by the account proposed by Davies

"The finer the musician, the smaller the details": NIMEcraft under the microscope

Many digital musical instrument design frameworks have been proposed that are well suited for analysis and comparison. However, not all provide applicable design suggestions, especially where subtle, important details are concerned. Using traditional lutherie as a model, we conducted a series of interviews to explore how violin makers “go beyond the obvious”, and how players perceive and describe subtle details of instrumental quality. We find that lutherie frameworks provide clear design methods, but are not enough to make a fine violin. Success comes after acquiring sufficient tacit knowledge, which enables detailed craft through subjective, empirical methods. Testing instruments for subtle qualities was suggested to be a different skill to playing. Whilst players are able to identify some specific details about instrumental quality by comparison, these are often not actionable, and important aspects of “sound and feeling” are much more difficult to describe. In the DMI domain, we introduce the term NIMEcraft to describe subtle differences between otherwise identical instruments and their underlying design processes, and consider how to improve the dissemination of NIMEcraft

Non-destructive research on wooden musical instruments: from macroscale to submicron imaging with lab-based XCT systems

X-ray CT scanning is growing of age as a research tool and of essential importance in many disciplines, which is certainly true for the study of wood, given its inherent hierarchical structure. The study of wooden musical instruments is even more challenging since these objects need to be handled with care such that non-destructive imaging is vital. Moreover, the different dimensions of the musical instruments as well as the interest in assessment of the instruments at different scales necessitates flexible scanning modes and equipment. In the framework of COST Action FP1302 WoodMusick, a set of wooden musical instruments has been scanned at UGCT and part of them have been analysed to illustrate the potential of X-ray CT scanning in this field of research. By combining different lab-based systems, a wide range of instruments can be scanned, of which examples are given in this paper for violin and standard recorder. Examples of analysis of board and wall thickness for these instruments are given as well

Utilizing Minangkabau “Gandang Tambua” Traditional Music Repertoire in Engineering the New Genre of Ensemble and Outdoor Music “Gong Tambur

Gandang tambua is one of the Indonesian traditional music (esp. Minangkabau – West Sumatera) ensembles. It is primarily used in traditional activities and custom ceremonies performed out-door by their communities. The musical genre is potential to be improved become a new musical ensemble built based on several musical instruments and the arrangements of their tones horizontally and vertically. In addition, there are some new instruments to be completed in order to become a musical system and an ensemble. The ensemble is called Gong Tambur Madi. The ensemble can function as a musical expression based on the Indonesian local aesthetics, so that it becomes a global aesthetic commonly needed right now everywhere, especially in Indonesia. Key words: gandang tambua, improved, ensemble, out-door music, aesthetics

Nonlinear modes of clarinet-like musical instruments

The concept of nonlinear modes is applied in order to analyze the behavior of a model of woodwind reed instruments. Using a modal expansion of the impedance of the instrument, and by projecting the equation for the acoustic pressure on the normal modes of the air column, a system of second order ordinary differential equations is obtained. The equations are coupled through the nonlinear relation describing the volume flow of air through the reed channel in response to the pressure difference across the reed. The system is treated using an amplitude-phase formulation for nonlinear modes, where the frequency and damping functions, as well as the invariant manifolds in the phase space, are unknowns to be determined. The formulation gives, without explicit integration of the underlying ordinary differential equation, access to the transient, the limit cycle, its period and stability. The process is illustrated for a model reduced to three normal modes of the air column

The ixiQuarks: merging code and GUI in one creative space

This paper reports on ixiQuarks; an environment of instruments and effects that is built on top of the audio programming language SuperCollider. The rationale of these instruments is to explore alternative ways of designing musical interaction in screen-based software, and investigate how semiotics in interface design affects the musical output. The ixiQuarks are part of external libraries available to SuperCollider through the Quarks system. They are software instruments based on a non- realist design ideology that rejects the simulation of acoustic instruments or music hardware and focuses on experimentation at the level of musical interaction. In this environment we try to merge the graphical with the textual in the same instruments, allowing the user to reprogram and change parts of them in runtime. After a short introduction to SuperCollider and the Quark system, we will describe the ixiQuarks and the philosophical basis of their design. We conclude by looking at how they can be seen as epistemic tools that influence the musician in a complex hermeneutic circle of interpretation and signification