Quantitative Evaluation of Percussive Gestures by Ranking Trainees versus Teacher

International audienceIn this paper we characterize timpani gestures by temporal kinematic features, containing most information responsible for the sound-producing actions. In order to evaluate the feature sets, a classification approach is conducted under three main attack categories (legato, accent and vertical accent) and sub-categories (dynamics, striking position). Two studies are carried out: intra-subject and inter-subjects classification. Results are presented in terms of a quantitative ranking of students, using professional gestures as training set, and their gestures as test set

Sticking choices in timpani sight-reading performance

When sight-reading a score, a timpanist needs to decide in real-time which stick to use to play a specific note while interpreting the musical material. Our main point of inquiry seeks to understand which sticking patterns performers employ and how they are affected by rhythmic stability. This paper analyzes the bi-manual sequencing (i.e., sticking) patterns of 31 timpanists in a sight-reading task. We analyze their results compared to model sticking patterns common in percussion pedagogical literature. Results show that while hand dominance plays an essential role in an individual's sticking pattern, the stability of a rhythmic pattern may also dramatically influence the observed particular sticking strategies. In areas of rhythmic stability, performers largely adhered to one of two conventional sticking patterns in the literature (dominant hand lead & alternating). Where rhythmic patterns became more unstable, the performers separated into diverse sticking groups. Moreover, several performers demonstrated sticking patterns which were hybrids or an inverse of the model sticking patterns, without any impact on the success of their sight-reading abilities. Overall, no two individual performers demonstrated the same sticking pattern. In terms of percussion pedagogy, our findings suggest that performers may benefit from an awareness of the adaptability of model sticking strategies. Lastly, we make the case for further study of rhythmic stability and bi-manual sequencing by locating the difference between notational and aural complexity

Characterizing Movement Fluency in Musical Performance: Toward a Generic Measure for Technology Enhanced Learning

Virtuosity in music performance is often associated with fast, precise, and efficient sound-producing movements. The generation of such highly skilled movements involves complex joint and muscle control by the central nervous system, and depends on the ability to anticipate, segment, and coarticulate motor elements, all within the biomechanical constraints of the human body. When successful, such motor skill should lead to what we characterize as fluency in musical performance. Detecting typical features of fluency could be very useful for technology-enhanced learning systems, assisting and supporting students during their individual practice sessions by giving feedback and helping them to adopt sustainable movement patterns. In this study, we propose to assess fluency in musical performance as the ability to smoothly and efficiently coordinate while accurately performing slow, transitionary, and rapid movements. To this end, the movements of three cello players and three drummers at different levels of skill were recorded with an optical motion capture system, while a wireless electromyography (EMG) system recorded the corresponding muscle activity from relevant landmarks. We analyzed the kinematic and coarticulation characteristics of these recordings separately and then propose a combined model of fluency in musical performance predicting music sophistication. Results suggest that expert performers' movements are characterized by consistently smooth strokes and scaling of muscle phasic coactivation. The explored model of fluency as a function of movement smoothness and coarticulation patterns was shown to be limited by the sample size, but it serves as a proof of concept. Results from this study show the potential of a technology-enhanced objective measure of fluency in musical performance, which could lead to improved practices for aspiring musicians, instructors, and researchers

A Theatre of Applied Performativity: Play and the aesthetics of the Scripted Performance Workshop in Peer-facilitated Relationships and Sex Education

Originally grounded in psycho-social theory, this thesis theorises the performative practices manifest in a body of work within the field of classroom-based relationships and sex education. The interventions originated in the University of Exeter during the 1990s, operating under the aegis of ‘Apause’. The thesis focuses on how the interventions manifest as the ‘action matter’ of classroom workshops and argues that the incumbent theory base and discourse falls short of representing the subjects’ experiences and transformative processes. The three projects investigated - ‘Apause Peers’, ‘Get-WISE’ and ‘RAP’ - are facilitated by other, slightly older students, dubbed ‘peer-facilitators’, and play, as intrinsic to these events, has been hitherto unacknowledged. Deploying pedagogical, presentational and theatrical conventions, classroom action is highly participatory. Published evaluations establish Apause as uniquely effective at enabling young people to have greater control in their relationships and reduce their exposure to sexual health risks. Data is presented primarily as transcriptions of the action matter. By adopting post-structuralist practices as the means of analysing the interventions and juxtaposing these sensibilities with psycho-social constructs, an increasingly integrative model emerges. Groups of parameters are organised into two reciprocating frameworks - one regulative, one constitutive. The regulative framework is inscribed within the workshops’ scripted guidelines, codifying cultural, psycho-social and health prerogatives. The second framework comprises aesthetic parameters. Liminality, the collapsing of binaries and autopoiesis combine as play to effect durable transformations. These define the transformative interactions constituted within the time and spatially bounded liminal event. Having rubricised the nature and function of these frameworks, the wilfully ambiguous character of play threatens to confound and destabilize these parameters. Despite, or perhaps because of, these paradoxes, it is argued the Scripted Performance Workshop, is an enculturating event, achieving efficacy, utility and durability through the sanctioning of play

Embodied choreography and performance of gender

Norms of fitting embodied behaviour for males and females, as promoted in Australian public arenas of popular culture and the everyday, disempower and marginalise those not inclined to embody in gendernormative and heteronormative ways.This thesis engages with concepts of embodiment as meaning the manner of physical deportment in which a physical practice is performed, and with concepts of gender as social constructions of femininity and masculinity. It investigates the demands and implications of dominant norms of gender embodiment for those whose embodied inclinations do not fit comfortably with such dichotomous models. It interrogates gender inequitable machinations of education and performance arts disciplines by which educators and arts practitioners train, teach, choreograph, and direct those with whom they work, and theorises ways of broadening personal and social notions of possible, aesthetic, and acceptable embodiment for all persons, regardless of biological sex or sexual orientation.This research is grounded in two major qualitative methods of enquiry. First, through an autoethnographic lens, it focuses on the impacts that social constructions of masculinity have on me, both as a person in the everyday and as a performance arts practitioner/educator. Through writing, illustration, choreography, and performance, as well as interviews with 3 members of my family, I analyse the delicacy of the relationship between social control/surveillance and personal agency over my embodiment of gender. Second, through empirical ethnographic fieldwork with some 400 high school students and 160 educators and performance arts practitioners, I utilise a combination of performance, discussion, practical workshop, and avenues for anonymous response to explore the potential of the performance arts in challenging inequitable notions of gender embodiment.My findings demonstrate that inherent ideologies in dominant discourses regarding the execution and display of feminine and masculine embodiment continue to work, overtly and covertly, as definitive and restrictive barriers to the realm of possibilities of embodied gender expression and appreciation in the everyday and in the performance arts. This thesis recommends drawing individuals&rsquo; attention to embodied gender inequities and enculturation processes, not ordinarily critiqued within mainstream society, as a key toward safeguarding the well-being of those whose embodied performance inclination is at odds with prescribed norms of behaviour. Performance arts arenas are powerful sites in which such deconstructive work can occur, both cognitively and practically. However, as this thesis explores and illustrates, performance arts practitioners/educators need to first scrutinise existing and hidden inequities regarding the embodiment of gender within their own habitus, perspectives, taste, and practices.<br /

Educational Research Conference 2006 and Cultural Inclusivity through Publishing Special Issue

Volume 8 Number 2 November 2007 Kevin Marjoribanks: A life in education in context Russell, A. Issues in language learning Keeves, J.P. and Darmawan, I.G.N. A tension for Spanish teachers' professional development: "skills to carry out your job" or continuing "�personal cultural knowledge and attributes"? Berniz, K. Key factors that influence recruiting young Chinese students Wang, Z. More than prize lists: Head teachers, student prize winners, school ceremonies and educational promotion in colonial South Australia Young, M. Multi-level selective classes for gifted students Henderson, L. Extending the multiple-goal perspective to tertiary classroom goal structures James, V. and Yates, S.M. Students amid pedagogic change: Partners or pawns? Haseloff, M. Cognitive concomitants of interactive board use and their relevance to developing effective research methodologies Geer, R. and Barnes. A. Can indicators on school websites be used to determine the level of ICT integration and ICT leadership in schools? Maio-Taddeo, C. DBRIEF: A research paradigm for ICT adoption Dix, K.L. Students' critical thinking skills in a Thai ICT schools pilot project Rumpagaporn. M.W. and Darmawan, I.G.N. Teachers' (mis) understandings of resilience Green, D., Oswald, M. and Spears, B. Planning for learning: An exploration of reception teachers' attitudes and practices around the South Australian School Entry Assessment Policy Lees, P.J. Educational investment in conflict areas of Indonesia: The case of West Papua Province Mollet, J.A. Professional socialisation of valuers: Program directors perspective Page, G. Creativity, problem solving and innovative science: Insights from history, cognitive psychology and neuroscience Aldous, C.R. Gender differences in mathematical problem solving patterns: A review of literature Zhu, Z. Learning content, physics self-efficacy, and female students' physics course-taking Zhu, Z. Teachers' perceptions of their professional learning activities Yates, S.M. Undergraduate nurse variables that predict academic achievement and clinical competence in nursing Blackman, I., Hall, M. and Darmawan, I.G.N. Is the Aggression Questionnaire bias free? A Rasch analysis Abd-El-Fattah, S.M. X-ray your data with Rasch Curtis, D.D. and Boman, P. A Rasch analysis of the Teachers Music Confidence Scale Yim, H., Abd-El-Fattah, S. and Lee, L. Inside The Contract Zone: White teachers in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands Schulz, S. Work and family roles of women in Ho Chi Minh City Tran, P.P. Growing physical, social and cognitive capacity: Engaging with natural environments Johnson, P. Prospective teachers' perspectives on teaching and social justice Boyd, R., Wadham, B. and Jewell, P. Family, learning environments, learning approaches, and student outcomes in a Malaysian private university Kek, M.A., Darmawan, I.G.N. and Chen, Y.S. Emergence of professional identity for the pre-service teacher Cattley, G. On how to solve the problem of the avoidance of phrasal verbs in the Chinese context Chen, J. Inspired Learning: Creating engaged teaching and learning environments for university and school students through university to school mentor programs Koerner, C. and Harris, J. Your place or mine? Evaluating the perspectives of the Practical Legal Training work experience placement through the eyes of the supervisors and the students Spencer, R. A Rasch analysis of the Academic Self-Concept Questionnaire Tan, J.B.Y. and Yates, S.M. Cultural Inclusivity through Publishing Special Papers Prospective teachers' knowledge: Concept of division Rizvi, N.F. and Lawson, M.J. Influence of the democratic climate of classrooms on student civic learning in North Sulawesi, Indonesia Mapiasse, S. Variation in learning styles in a group of Chinese English as a foreign language learners Wang, L. Students' pedagogical knowledge about teachers' use of questions Tran, T.A.T. and Lawson, M. Learning English outside the classroom: Case study of tuk-tuk drivers in Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya Wongthon, Y. and Sriwanthana, S. The comparison of students' use of metacognitive reading strategies between reading in Bahasa Indonesia and in English Vianty, M. Islamic view of nature and values: Could these be the answer to building bridges between modern science and Islamic science Faruqi, Y.M. Vocabulary acquisition strategies of Indonesian postgraduate students through reading Subekti, N.B. and Lawson, M.J

Assisting in-service grade R teachers to nurture the holistic development of the five to seven year old child through music : a participatory approach

Music’s significant contribution to the holistic development of the young learner is uncontested and confirmed by views of seminal scholars, such as Nzewi 2003, Reimer 2003, Nussbaum 2001, Elliot 1994 and Merriam 1964, amongst others. As such, music education supports basic values of self-growth, self-knowledge and enjoyment. This study argues for the vital importance of music education in Grade R in the South African schooling system where teachers can successfully implement the curriculum. In post-apartheid multicultural and multi-musical South Africa music education in Grade R is the sole responsibility of the generalist Grade R teacher. However, due to inadequate training and minimal, unproductive in-service initiatives, the vast majority of Reception Year teachers assumingly do not have the required competences to teach music in a way that maximally enhances the holistic development of their learners. Findings revealed that teachers exhibited limited, if any, musical knowledge and per se, they are insufficiently skilled in the effective delivery of the curriculum in terms of music. This study acknowledges the need to equip in-service Grade R teachers with the required competences to effectively implement the national school and teach music with confidence. The lack of successful and effective continuing professional teacher development initiatives from the Department of Education and Department of Basic Education to assist Grade R teachers in teaching music, was a serious concern to me. This concern reinforced the motivation to embark on this project. In this thesis, I report on an intervention strategy aimed at enabling three Grade R practitioners at one peri- urban township school in the Eastern Cape to improve their music education competencies. These three Coloured ladies only held a Certificate in Early Childhood Development, rating at an NQF level 4 and 5. None of these practitioners had any prior music experience in music training, music making or music teaching. I utilised a Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR). PALAR combines research with development and is thus highly suitable when addressing multifaceted problems in rapidly changing environments, such as South Africa. In my study, the participants were thus actively involved in identifying problems and creating solutions. A number of collaborative interactions and qualitative data generation strategies such as Focus Group Interviews, Observations, Drawing, Interviews, Narrative Inquiry, Case Study and Reflective Journals were implemented. Findings indicated that the practitioners experienced transformation on both a professional and personal level as they discovered and tapped into their own innate musical competences. This enabled them to explore ways to teach music that enhanced the holistic development of their learners, developing them physically, cognitively emotionally, socially, and musically. Learners likewise benefitted from the intervention as they experienced social cohesion in a multicultural classroom and gained the fruits of music’s remedial impact and therapeutic value in their lives

Women's Leadership in Music: Modes, Legacies, Alliances

Various modes of women's contemporary cultural, social and political leadership can be found in music. Informed by different histories and culturally bound social mores but also by a comparative perspective, the contributors of this volume ask what can be considered leadership in culture from women's point of view. They deconstruct the notion of leadership as corporative and career-related modes of success by showing how women's agency, power and negotiation in and through music can and should be considered as empowering, transformative and role-modeling. By interweaving several disciplinary perspectives - from ethnomusicology, musicology and cultural management to sociology and anthropology - this volume aims to substantially contribute to the study of women's leadership