Analysis on Using Synthesized Singing Techniques in Assistive Interfaces for Visually Impaired to Study Music

Tactile and auditory senses are the basic types of methods that visually impaired people sense the world. Their interaction with assistive technologies also focuses mainly on tactile and auditory interfaces. This research paper discuss about the validity of using most appropriate singing synthesizing techniques as a mediator in assistive technologies specifically built to address their music learning needs engaged with music scores and lyrics. Music scores with notations and lyrics are considered as the main mediators in musical communication channel which lies between a composer and a performer. Visually impaired music lovers have less opportunity to access this main mediator since most of them are in visual format. If we consider a music score, the vocal performer’s melody is married to all the pleasant sound producible in the form of singing. Singing best fits for a format in temporal domain compared to a tactile format in spatial domain. Therefore, conversion of existing visual format to a singing output will be the most appropriate nonlossy transition as proved by the initial research on adaptive music score trainer for visually impaired [1]. In order to extend the paths of this initial research, this study seek on existing singing synthesizing techniques and researches on auditory interfaces

A study, exploration and development of the interaction of music production techniques in a contemporary desktop setting

As with all computer-based technologies, music production is advancing at a rate comparable to ‘Moore’s law’. Developments within the discipline are gathering momentum exponentially; stretching the boundaries of the field, deepening the levels to which mediation can be applied, concatenating previously discrete hardware technologies into the desktop domain, demanding greater insight from practitioners to master these technologies and even defining new genres of music through the increasing potential for sonic creativity to evolve. This DMus project will draw from the implications of the above developments and study the application of technologies currently available in the desktop environment, from emulations of that which was traditionally hardware to the latest spectrally based audio-manipulation tools. It will investigate the interaction of these technologies, and explore creative possibilities that were unattainable only a few years ago – all as exemplified through the production of two contrasting albums of music. In addition, new software will be developed to actively contribute to the evolution of music production as we know it. The focus will be on extended production technique and innovation, through both development and context. The commentary will frame the practical work. It will offer a research context with a number of foci in preference to literal questions, it will qualify the methodology and then form a literature & practice review. It will then present a series of frameworks that analyse music production contexts and technologies in a historical perspective. By setting such a trajectory, the current state-of-the-art can be best placed, and a number of the progressive production techniques associated with the submitted artefacts can then by contextualised. It will terminate with a discussion of the work that moves from the specific to the general

Development of the African American Gospel Piano Style (1926-1960): A Socio-Musical Analysis of Arizona Dranes and Thomas A. Dorsey

DEVELOPMENT OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN GOSPEL PIANO STYLE(1926-1960): A SOCIO-MUSICAL ANALYSIS OFARIZONA DRANES AND THOMAS A. DORSEYIdella Lulamae Johnson, PhDUniversity of Pittsburgh, 2009African-American gospel music has long been recognized as a vocal music, and its piano accompaniment has also been an indispensable and important component in shaping and defining the genre. This dissertation traces and examines the historical and stylistic development of the gospel piano style from 1926 to 1960. Arizona Dranes and Thomas A. Dorsey are highlighted as two of the earliest and formidable practitioners who aided in codifying and promulgating the gospel piano style. The four primary areas of investigation include: 1) explicating the musical development of the piano style from 1926 to 1960 through the pianistic styles of twenty-three gospel pianists; 2) providing biographical information on over twenty-five gospel pianists; 3) examining the sacred versus secular dichotomy through musical similarities and differences that exist between the gospel piano style and other popular, African-American piano styles; and 4) presenting an ethnographic exploration of the musical and sociohistorical roles of gospel pianists. Each area of inquiry is informed by methods in Ethnomusicology and Musicology, and augmented by methodologies in African-American Studies, Anthropology, and Sociology. Wilson's work on conceptual approaches to African and African-American music-making (1974, 1984, 1992), and Gates' work on Signifying (1988) provide the major theoretical framework for the musical analysis.Fifty-five recordings of various gospel pianists, representing nine sub-styles, are transcribed and analyzed in order to define and delineate established practices, techniques, idiomatic harmonic movement, and shared motives, riffs, and "fill-ins" -- all which are important in establishing a stylistic and performance canon for the gospel piano style. Eleven motivic techniques that are endemic and idiomatic to the foundation and development of the gospel piano style are identified. The gospel piano style is grouped into three historical periods. Dranes and Dorsey define the first period with twenty-six musical characteristics, thirteen musical characteristics define the second period, and ten musical characteristics define the third

The Music Sound

A guide for music: compositions, events, forms, genres, groups, history, industry, instruments, language, live music, musicians, songs, musicology, techniques, terminology , theory, music video. Music is a human activity which involves structured and audible sounds, which is used for artistic or aesthetic, entertainment, or ceremonial purposes. The traditional or classical European aspects of music often listed are those elements given primacy in European-influenced classical music: melody, harmony, rhythm, tone color/timbre, and form. A more comprehensive list is given by stating the aspects of sound: pitch, timbre, loudness, and duration. Common terms used to discuss particular pieces include melody, which is a succession of notes heard as some sort of unit; chord, which is a simultaneity of notes heard as some sort of unit; chord progression, which is a succession of chords (simultaneity succession); harmony, which is the relationship between two or more pitches; counterpoint, which is the simultaneity and organization of different melodies; and rhythm, which is the organization of the durational aspects of music

Mashing through the Conventions: Convergence of Popular and Classical Music in the Works of The Piano Guys

This dissertation is dedicated to examining the symbiosis between popular music and Western classical music in classical/popular mashups––a new style within the classical crossover genre. The research features the works of The Piano Guys, a contemporary ensemble that combines classical crossover characteristics and the techniques from modern sample-based styles to reconceptualize and reuse classical and popular works. This fusion demonstrates a new approach to presenting multi-genre works, forming a separate musical and cultural niche for this creative practice. This dissertation consists of three chapters. The first chapter is further divided into two thematic discourses: genre and authorship. The research draws on Eric Drott’s (2013) position that contemporary genre definition is a heterogeneous product of technological and cultural shifts in creation, production and presentation of music. Following Thomas Johnson’s (2018) research on genre in post-millennial popular music, the first part of the chapter traces chronological developments of genre categorizations and attempts to place classical/popular mashups as a separate style within the contemporary genre framework. The second part investigates the transformations and the current state of authorship attributions in popular music and illustrates how group creativity and consumer participation prompt multiple authorial distributions in classical/popular mashups. Applying Topic Theory established by Robert Hatten (1985) and Kofi Agawu (1992) and concepts of intertexuality developed by Serge Lacasse (2000, 2018) to the works of The Piano Guys and other musical works of the same style, the second chapter presents a comparative analysis, revealing a multi-layered structure of signification different from the intertextual and topical relationships found in the works of other styles. In the third chapter the detailed exploration of three works by The Piano Guys places these methodological theories in dialogue with formal analysis to draw out a series of quantifiable technical, musical and interpretive characteristics that differentiate “classically originated” mashups from similar practices in other genres

The effects of brain trauma on the memory skills of musicians

The localization of function in terms of music processing in the brain has fascinated researchers in many disciplines for well over one hundred years. Is there a central location for this specialized and complex process or does it involve many different areas of the brain? Some researchers have thought that the processing of language and music are analogous, but does the processing of music occur in the same way as language (Damasio and Damasio, 1977), (Zatorre, 1984)? In recent years the use of non-invasive imaging techniques such as the PET scan (Positron Emission Tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) have proven to be most accurate in the demonstration of brain activity (Vollmer-Haase et aI., 1998) and have led researchers to agree that there is not a specific anatomical centre for music in the brain (Baeck, 2002), (Peretz, 2002). This thesis will examine in what way and to what degree various types of Traumatic Brain Injury in musicians affect music memory. A pilot study was conducted with musicians who have not experienced brain trauma. These musicians were asked to complete a questionnaire and then were interviewed in order to understand the process with which they utilize their musical memory. Six brain-injured musicians were also interviewed in the same manner. When possible, medical records were solicited and reviewed as a means of ascertaining specifics regarding the trauma. Using then, a qualitative framework in a case study format, the questionnaire and the focused interviews will provide the data. (London, 1982), (Psathas, 1972). This format will provide a perspective that has been neglected in many studies in Neuromusicology, that of allowing the musicians to speak for themselves. The interviews are a study of the personal reflections of the musicians who are commenting on their understanding of their own experiences of musical memory. While my interest does lie in the clinical evidence provided by researchers in the field of Neuromusicology and their insights into musical memory, there has not been any extensive work written which concerns itself with the personal experiences of musicians and their subjective interpretation of these memorization processes. The balance between -\ the clinical evidence needs to be contrasted with the subjective elements of a person's selfperception and understanding. It is my aim in this study to explore these perceptions in the context of real life situations. It should also be noted that the observations made are a reflection of the subject's personal experiences and their subjective view of these experiences

2009-2010 Course Catalog

2009-2010 Course Catalo

Proceedings of the 19th Sound and Music Computing Conference

Proceedings of the 19th Sound and Music Computing Conference - June 5-12, 2022 - Saint-Étienne (France). https://smc22.grame.f

2010-2011 Course Catalog

2010-2011 Course Catalo