Project management and music in education and related fields

Project Management (PM) is a well-established field of research with the scope of inquiry now ranging far beyond the industrial and corporate sectors from which it first emerged. Starting from the premise that PM expertise is a valuable professional attribute and life skill of relevance to many if not all educational disciplines, questions emerge both as to how relevant techniques can be most effectively applied in educational contexts, and how insights might potentially be drawn from the study of different disciplines to enrich the PM profession. This paper focuses initially on higher education (specifically university level study) within the United Kingdom (UK) and other countries, and provides a contextual analysis of the discourse and practice of PM in undergraduate degree subjects. Discussion then narrows in on the discipline of music, as a specific context for consideration of PM through the educational and professional continuum. Identifying a relative absence of explicit PM theory or terminology in the vast majority of degree subjects at least in the UK, there is, nevertheless, an underlying presence of project-based activity at least implicit in all university education and music, in particular, presents a distinctive example of a creative, cultural, educational, where PM is an integral component and experience of subject and discipline. This paper concludes by identifying significant value in the development of a more explicit approach to PM in educational contexts and considerable scope for the development of professional relationships between PM organizations and the higher education sector in particular

An Autoethnicographic Approach to Composing Japanese American Music

When I say “Asian American music,” I usually get the impression that people do not have much of a sense of what that means, regardless of if they are Asian Americans,1 musicians, or both. Yet, I have found that there is no straightforward answer to the question of how exactly to define Asian American music. It could be defined in terms of Asian American people, Asian American meaning, Asian American sounds, or some combination of those factors. Considering and exploring several definitions of Asian American music, I present here one possible conception of Japanese American/Asian American music in fundamentally integrated theory and practice. The basic premise of this integration is autoethnography, or the study of oneself or one’s own group. As I read existing literature on Asian American music and classical Japanese music, I wrote a series of autoethnographic reflections, connecting the scholarship to my own personal experiences of being a mixed second generation Japanese American from small town Ohio. I then used these reflections to compose, perform, and record three pieces of music UR Volume 2 | Issue 2 | Summer 2022 • 66 that engage the theoretical concepts I encountered in specific and intentional ways. In addition to this Asian American content of the compositions, I created Asian American form by drawing on the music of the shakuhachi (Japanese vertical bamboo flute). The body of this paper comprises description of and commentary on the compositions and the ideas with which they interact

Raising argument strength using negative evidence: A constraint on models of induction

Both intuitively, and according to similarity-based theories of induction, relevant evidence raises argument strength when it is positive and lowers it when it is negative. In three experiments, we tested the hypothesis that argument strength can actually increase when negative evidence is introduced. Two kinds of argument were compared through forced choice or sequential evaluation: single positive arguments (e.g., “Shostakovich’s music causes alpha waves in the brain; therefore, Bach’s music causes alpha waves in the brain”) and double mixed arguments (e.g., “Shostakovich’s music causes alpha waves in the brain, X’s music DOES NOT; therefore, Bach’s music causes alpha waves in the brain”). Negative evidence in the second premise lowered credence when it applied to an item X from the same subcategory (e.g., Haydn) and raised it when it applied to a different subcategory (e.g., AC/DC). The results constitute a new constraint on models of induction

Experimentation in Psychology--Rationale, Concepts and Issues

An experiment is made up of two or more data-collection conditons that are identical in all aspects, but one. It owes its design to an inductive principle and its hypothesis to deductive logic. It is the most suited for corroborating explanatory theries , ascertaining functional relationship, or assessing the substantive effectiveness of a manipulation. Also discussed are (a) the three meanings of 'control,' (b) the issue of ecological validity, (c) the distinction between theory-corroboration and agricultural-model experiments, and (d) the distinction among the hypotheses at four levels of abstraction that are implicit in an experiment

Split Chords: Addressing the Federal Circuit Split in Music Sampling Copyright Infringement Cases

This Note offers a comprehensive analysis of the current circuit split regarding how the de minimis doctrine applies to music sampling in copyright infringement cases. Since the Sixth Circuit\u27s 2005 landmark decision in Bridgeport Music Inc. v. Dimension Films, critics, scholars and even judges have dissected the opinion and its bright line rule of “get a license or do not sample.” In May 2016, the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in VMG Salsoul v. Ciccione. The Ninth Circuit explicitly declined to follow Bridgeport, holding that analyzing a music sampling copyright infringement case requires a substantial similarity analysis, including applying a de minimis analysis. The Ninth Circuit’s decision created a circuit split and an unsettled area of intellectual property law. This Note seeks to promote critical analysis of this contested area of law by exploring the underpinnings of the substantial similarity and de minimis doctrines, as well as the holdings of each case and their arguments. The Note offers three proposals regarding how courts should handle the circuit split, and in doing so creates a distinctive way of looking at the music sampling issue to help the federal judiciary frame the problem in a more expansive way

Debussy's string quartet in the Brussels salon of "La Libre Esthetique"

The second performance of Debussy's String Quartet, given by the Ysaye Quartet on an all-Debussy program during the 1894 salon of "La Libre Esthétique" in Brussels, offers an ideal context for a critical reexamination of his musical and aesthetic affinities at this pivotal moment. In the first place, a view to the salon's other three concerts, which honored Beethoven alongside recent works by Societe Nationale composers, encourages reconsideration of Debussy's own response to the "great tradition" in the work he ironically designated "Opus 10." But at the same time, due regard to his other contemporaneous compositional obsessions, as exemplified in the works programmed alongside the Quartet, raises the question as to how such self-conscious dialogue with Classical models related to more pressing, post-Wagnerian musical negotiations. Pursuit of this question through analysis of the first movement's reconfigured sonata form ultimately suggests ways to distinguish, from amid the myriad post-Impressionist artists on view in the "Free Aesthetic" salon itself, those painters whose visual explorations most tellingly paralleled Debussy's own "games" with musical syntax and expression in the early 1890s

Elliott Antokoletz. The Music of Béla Bartók: A Study of Tonality and Progression in Twentieth-Century Music.

This paper reflects upon the results of Elliott Antokoletz's study of Bartok's music and the implications of his results. Elliott Antokoletz's study of Bartok's music focuses upon the symmetrical pitch collections and chordal constructions that permeate Bartok's music. The functional role that such formations play in the music of Bartok, Stravinsky, and the composers of the Second Viennese School has been demonstrated by numerous scholars, such as Babbitt, Jarman, Perle, van den Toorn, and Taruskin.. According to Antokoletz's preface, the field of Bartok analysis is in need of basic integrative concepts as a framework for the "diverse and often contradictory interpretations" that have heretofore prevailed. The study is based upon the premise that there does exist in Bartok's music an "all-encompassing system of pitch relations," and that this system can be located in the principle of "equal subdivision of the octave into the total complex of interval cycles." Furthermore, says Antokoletz, "the fundamental concept underlying this equal-division system is that of symmetry"

Run to the Beat: Sport and music for the masses

Run to the Beat is a half marathon event that is accompanied by live and pre-recorded music. The author was involved with the event as the lead consultant in the period 2007-2010. This case study examines the genesis of the event, the science on which it was predicated and how it was received by participating runners and the media. The primary driver for the event was the 2007 ban on personal listening devices by the International Amateur Athletics Federation, which outraged recreational runners. There is a corpus of work (approximately 100 studies) that has examined the effects of music on exercise and sport. The most conclusive findings from this work are that music reduces perceived exertion at low-to-moderate exercise intensities and, if well selected, enhances affect at all intensities. The Run to the Beat events received mixed reviews from participants, but were generally positively presented by the international media. The event continues today on an annual basis in London, UK and Basel, Switzerland

Ganymed's heavenly descent

Schubert's song “Ganymed” has attracted a great deal of interest from analysts due to its progressive tonal plan, often seen as a challenge to Schenkerian theories of tonal structure, and evocative text. This article draws upon a spatial theory of tonal meaning which helps both to resolve the epistemological impasse faced by reductive theories of tonal structure, and to better access Schubert’s interpretation of Goethe’s text through spatial metaphors that derive from the harmony of the song. It also highlights an allusion to Beethoven's Op. 53 “Waldstein” Piano Sonata in the song that has previously gone unremarked, and identifies this as part of a network of references to Beethoven’s sonata that act both as homage to and critique of Beethoven's middle-period style. These serve both as a window into the song, and into Schubert’s aesthetic stance vis-à-vis his most pre-eminent musical forebear. The theory of tonal space draws upon previous publications, but is re-explained in music-theoretical terms relating to diatonicity and triadicity here. It realizes latent directional metaphors in the diatonic sharp-flat and triadic dominant-subdominant dimensions, which are of hermeneutic value for tonal music. Such a theory helps us interpret Schubert’s tonal plan, explain his choices of keys, and better understand his reading of Goethe's text and aesthetic priorities in setting it to music.Accepted manuscrip

It\u27s Time for a Good Hard Look in the Mirror: The Corporate Law Example

This Article asserts that the move from the industrial age to the information age represents a fundamental change to our society on such a widespread basis that the legal order must reexamine the premises about how our society functions, assessing whether foundational elements of U.S. Common Law remain valid. This Article first confronts briefly the continuing acceptance of certain foundational premises in contract and intellectual property law, illustrating that such premises are no longer supported by the realities of modern society. With fundamental change challenging multiple areas of law in the information age, this problem is worthy of widespread inquiry by legal scholars in various fields. This Article then turns to a detailed analysis of the premises supporting shareholder primacy in corporate law, demonstrating that the historic justifications for allocations of ownership, control and duties no longer support these premises. Based on the relative needs of today’s businesses vis-à-vis the contributions of various other constituencies, this Article asserts that employees should also have certain duties owed to them. This Article concludes with a novel model for creating such a stake in the form of a springing right to profit sharing