Music attending to linear constituent structures in tonal music

This article investigates the perception of constituent linear structures of tonal musical pieces, using a divided attention paradigm combined with a click-detection technique. Two experiments were run so as to test whether the boundary of a linear constituent appears as a focal point in the perception of musical structure. In Experiment 1, musicians and non- musicians listened to open foreground prolongations in phrases with clicks located at different points of their constituent structures. Significant differences in response times were found that depended on click position in relation to the boundary; participants were faster in detecting clicks at constituent boundaries, and slower for clicks located before boundaries, with no effect of rhythmic factors. Experiment 2 used the same experimental design to explore perception of open linear foreground prolongations, with the assumption that an effect of branching (left to right, or vice versa) could orient attention differently to the boundary region. Results were similar to those of Experiment 1. Overall, the evidence supports the idea that linear constituency is a significant feature of the perception of tonal musical structure. Dominant events become cognitive reference points to which the focus of attention is allocated, and subordinate, dependent events that are associated to the former, orient expectations of continuation and/or closure.Laboratorio para el Estudio de la Experiencia Musica

Expressive alignment with timbre: changes of sound-kinetic patterns during the break routine of an electronic dance music set

Background: Expressive alignment (Leman, 2016) refers to the synchronization of human movement patterns with musical patterns. On the one hand, Solberg and Jensenius (2017) found that dancers share a movement pattern during the break routine (BR) of electronic dance music (EDM) tracks (sound pattern formed by breakdown-build up-drop sequence which constitutes a formal articulation of EDM set). On the other hand, although a number of timbral dimensions have been established which organize auditory perception (Alluri, 2012), expressive alignment with timbral patterns have not been studied yet. In this work we studied the timbral relevance of the acoustic changes during BRs of EDM’s sets, and assume that these changes form musical patterns that, in turn, afford changes in human movement patterns. Aims: To describe the changes of sound-kinetic patterns during the BRs on an EDM party video, resulting from the expressive alignment between human movement patterns and sonic patterns of music. Methods: Stimulus: an EDM party audiovisual record. Sound analysis: (1) Aural identification, description and temporal location annotation on Elan 5.0 timeline of all the BRs of the EDM set. (2) Processing of its acoustic signal, and extraction of features related to timbre, rhythm and pitch with MIRToolbox. Movement analysis: (1) Detection of movement patterns formed by arms, head and shoulders of all people completely visible on the video during 15 BRs. (2) Laban Movement Analysis (Laban, 1950) video annotation on Elan 5.0 of effort-shape elements of each movement pattern. (3) Comparative analysis of the movement patterns of each person. Results: Sound analysis results show that the BR is defined by an acoustical pattern, in which some timbral features play a relevant role. With regard to movement analysis; (1) we identified changes on movement patterns during BRs, especially at the drop moment ; (2) we noted that people develop personal movement patterns, differentiated from those of others by the organization of effort-shape elements; and (3) changes in the dancers´ personal style of movement patterns occur at the same time. Conclusions: In this work we observed that EDM dancers develop expressive alignments during the BR. From a musical point of view, the changes in acoustical features related to timbre during the BR modify the sonic environmental conditions, and the consequent expressive alignment of the dancers. Although people keep their personal styles of movement, they all change their movement patterns in phase with the changes of music, producing a shared sound-kinetic pattern. References: Alluri, V. (2012). Acoustic, Neural, and Perceptual Correlates of Polyphonic Timbre (Doctoral Thesis). University of Jyväskylä: Jyväskylä. Laban, R. (1950). The Mastery of Movement. Binsted: Dance Books. Leman, M. (2016). The Expressive Moment. How Interaction (with Music) Shapes Human Empowerment. Massachusetts: MIT Press. Solberg, R.T. y Jensenius, A.R. (2017). Arm and head movements to musical passages of electronic dance music. Book of Abstracts, 25th ESCOM. Gent: ESCOM.Trabajo publicado en Parncutt, R. & Sattmann, S. (eds.) (2018). Proceedings of ICMPC15/ESCOM10. Graz, Austria: Centre for Systematic Musicology, University of Graz.Facultad de Bellas Arte

Small-Group Interactions with Music and Others in Social Dance

Motivation. In musical environments, large groups of people synchronize on intra-personal, inter-personal, and inter-group levels (Clayton, 2013). Motion behaviour with music has been studied in personal, dyadic (Carlson et al., 2018), and large group’s levels in dance conditions. We aim at studying personal and interpersonal small-group level interactions with music in an electronic dance music (EDM) social context. Methodology. Stimulus: Audiovisual recording of an EDM party in La Plata City, Argentina. Musical analysis: musicological analysis of form. Movement analysis: Observation of a 4:26 minutes of Tech House track, interactive behaviour and microanalysis of legs’ motion patterns of 15 dancers. Results. Small-group interaction: people group together in circles (2-5 people each). Each group shows two kinetic behaviours: (i) a shared 2 beat/4 beat leg’s motion pattern in entrainment with musical metre; and (ii) a dyadic dance-together behaviour inside the small group with momentary inter-personal movement synchronisation, prompted by intentional body contact or mutual gazes. Personal behaviour: most people change their leg’s movement at the main themes’ beginnings (signalled mainly by the salience of the bassline and the high pitched percussions, among others timbral-textural features). Implications. Even though movements’ dancers show a common kinetic behaviour, and a personal, intentional kinetic alignment with musical features such as metric and timbral-textural changes of EDM musical style, interactions within small groups tend to be reduced to dyads, suggesting a transcendence of early traces of communicative musicality in adult social life.Laboratorio para el Estudio de la Experiencia Musica

Motion Patterns of Feet’s Movements and Metrical Structure in Electronic Music’s Dance Style

Motivation. In some dance styles, musical meter is encoded in the dancer’s space: some parts of the body go through the same spatial points on the same beats (Naveda and Leman, 2010), producing a metrically aligned motion-pattern (MP). As to electronic dance music (EDM), arms, chest and head movements seem to be highly spontaneous but still aligned with musical metre (Marchiano and Martínez, 2018). In this study we aim at extending the analysis to EDM feet movements to see whether and how MPs are metrically aligned. Methodology. Stimulus: Audiovisual recording of an EDM party in La Plata City, Argentina. Analysis: Microgenetic observational analysis of 27 minutes of 31 people’s feet’s movements, aiming at describing motion regularities and ways of synchronization with music metrical levels. Results. All subjects’ motions showed exclusively 2 looped MPs, both defined by the entrainment to the beat at the footstep level: (i) 2 (1-1) beat cycle (strong-weak/right-left foot alternation) stationary; and (ii) 4 (2-2) beat cycle (strong/weak right - strong/weak left foot alternation), with feet displacement on the horizontal axis. Implications. EDM’s dancers embody the metrical structure of the music through their feet’s spatiotemporal location. The presence of MPs in a dance style non-taught but still developed in parties, attest the social, non-verbal instantiation of musical features through embodied alignment with music.Laboratorio para el Estudio de la Experiencia Musica

Textural layers and polyphonic timbre links in electronic dance music

Polyphonic timbre refers to the overall timbral mixture in a music signal. Some of their most salient acoustic dimensions are the Sub-Band Fluxes. Our hypothesis is that there is a temporal alignment between Sub-Band Flux changes and perceived textural layers’ onsets and offsets in electronic dance music (EDM). (i) We asked to 15 professional musicians to record in Reaper every perceived textural layer’s onset or offset of 11 EDM’s tracks, (ii) and calculated the transitional temporal data between homogeneous and successive states of Sub-Band Flux from signals with MIRToolbox functions. Data (i) and (ii) are being correlated. We expect that acoustical timbral changes will show temporal coincidence with perceived textural layers’ onsets and offsets. Results are still in process, and will be discussed in reference to the EDM’s acoustic environment to mutually afford the perception of textural layers and polyphonic timbres.Trabajo publicado en SysMus18. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology. State University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, 2018.Facultad de Bellas Arte

Mapping Music Education Research in Brazil and Argentina: The British Impact

In this brief article we share with our colleagues around the world the British impact on the development of music education and psychology of music research in Brazil and Argentina. Although both countries are pursuing similar research policies, their research areas differ. Brazilian research on music education has had its focus on curriculum studies, evaluation, psychology of music, and media studies. Argentina on the other hand has a strong tradition in research in music education and psychology of music, in particular developmental and cognitive aspects of music perception and performance. Both countries are working towards the improvement of music research in South America and the continuation of the fertile partnership with British scholars and institutions.Facultad de Arte

Textural layers and polyphonic timbre links in electronic dance music

Polyphonic timbre refers to the overall timbral mixture in a music signal. Some of their most salient acoustic dimensions are the Sub-Band Fluxes. Our hypothesis is that there is a temporal alignment between Sub-Band Flux changes and perceived textural layers’ onsets and offsets in electronic dance music (EDM). (i) We asked to 15 professional musicians to record in Reaper every perceived textural layer’s onset or offset of 11 EDM’s tracks, (ii) and calculated the transitional temporal data between homogeneous and successive states of Sub-Band Flux from signals with MIRToolbox functions. Data (i) and (ii) are being correlated. We expect that acoustical timbral changes will show temporal coincidence with perceived textural layers’ onsets and offsets. Results are still in process, and will be discussed in reference to the EDM’s acoustic environment to mutually afford the perception of textural layers and polyphonic timbres.Trabajo publicado en SysMus18. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology. State University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, 2018.Facultad de Bellas Arte

Textural layers and polyphonic timbre links in electronic dance music

Polyphonic timbre refers to the overall timbral mixture in a music signal. Some of their most salient acoustic dimensions are the Sub-Band Fluxes. Our hypothesis is that there is a temporal alignment between Sub-Band Flux changes and perceived textural layers’ onsets and offsets in electronic dance music (EDM). (i) We asked to 15 professional musicians to record in Reaper every perceived textural layer’s onset or offset of 11 EDM’s tracks, (ii) and calculated the transitional temporal data between homogeneous and successive states of Sub-Band Flux from signals with MIRToolbox functions. Data (i) and (ii) are being correlated. We expect that acoustical timbral changes will show temporal coincidence with perceived textural layers’ onsets and offsets. Results are still in process, and will be discussed in reference to the EDM’s acoustic environment to mutually afford the perception of textural layers and polyphonic timbres.Trabajo publicado en SysMus18. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology. State University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, 2018.Facultad de Bellas Arte

Atributos de la variación como rasgos de estabilidad en el tango: patrones expresivos en el estilo compositivo y de ejecución de A. Troilo y O. Pugliese

La partitura anotada de una ejecución, en tanto dispositivo metarepresentacional que remite al contenido de la obra (Shifres 2013) puede oficiar como un mapa procedimental utilizado por el analista para dar cuenta de los aspectos narrativos del arreglo para orquesta típica en el tango. El texto anotado deja al descubierto los modos en que se elaboran narrativamente -mediante el uso de la técnica de variación- los componentes rítmico-melódicos, articulatorios, de la instrumentación y el control de la marcha general del despliegue tonal en una versión de la obra original. Sin embargo, existen otros aspectos que integran la práctica estilística en el tango que no quedan comprendidos en la elaboración de la superficie textual. Un supuesto que deriva de lo anterior indica que cuando el arreglo es ejecutado, los “patrones rítmico-melódico-articulatorios” mapeados en la anotación son a su vez microvariados temporal y dinámicamente. Por ende, todo análisis del tango debería interpretar las claves multimodales de la anotación y la ejecución identificando los rasgos que configuran la identidad estilística. En este trabajo se aborda el análisis de la superficie textual y sonora en el arreglo para orquesta típica recurriendo a las teorías de la estructura rítmica (Cooper y Meyer 1960), dirección tonal y estructura duracional de las frases (Schachter, 1999) y a la psicología de la ejecución (Repp, 1999) para encontrar elementos configurativos de identidad

Tocar el tango en estilo

El tango es un género sonoro-gestual complejo en el que la danza, la canción y la música instrumental se fueron combinando a través del tiempo. Por esta razón la gestualidad emergente de su práctica puede ser abordada a través del análisis del sonido y el movimiento de los instrumentistas. En el presente trabajo nos proponemos indagar acerca del complejo sonoro-kinético del tango en vinculación con el análisis gramatical del texto musical, entendido como guión de la performance (Cook, 2003) y con la pretensión de aportar explicaciones para comprender la experiencia musical del ejecutante de tango. Se describe el tratamiento a nivel local (dimensión compositiva) en Aníbal Troilo en combinación con el movimiento de los músicos cuando ejecutan las acentuaciones de los esquemas métricos (dimensión performativa), y el tratamiento a nivel global (dimensión compositiva) en Osvaldo Pugliese en vinculación con los acentos expresivos en el desarrollo del ritmo tonal y duracional (dimensión performativa). Se concluye que el análisis de los niveles métricos y la descripción de ciertos gestos sonoro-kinéticos de los ejecutantes dejan al descubierto una diferencia en la organización de la jerarquía métrica puesta en acción durante la performance, la cual contribuye a la identidad estilística-musical de cada autor