Strukturell vermittelte Magie: Kognitionswissenschaftliche Annäherungen an Helmut Lachenmanns Pression und Allegro Sostenuto

This article tries to approach Helmut Lachenmann’s music from the perspective of the cognitive sciences. The first part examines important theoretical concepts developed in Lachenmann’s own writings such as »polyphony of allocations« (Polyphonie von Anordnungen), »structure sound« (Strukturklang), »family« (Familie), »screening process« (Abtast-Prozess), modes of listening (»(Hin-)Hören« vs. »Zu-Hören«) and points at their cognitive implications. The second part discusses interrelations between Lachenmann’s and Ludwig Wittgenstein’s concepts of »family«. These concepts share an anti-essentialist perspective and argue that »families« might assemble highly heterogeneous mixtures of components. Theories of cognitive categorization based on Wittgenstein’s notion of »family resemblance« include Irene Deliège’s concept of »cue-abstraction«, based on the identification of salient features in musical contexts and their similarity, and Adam Ockelford’s »zygonic model« that criticizes this emphasis on similarity-relations; according to Ockelford, members of a category (or family) do not necessarily share a single property (or essence), but might be connected by association or contiguity. In the third part, two analytical examples related to Lachenmann’s concept of a »musique concrète instrumentale«, Pression (1969/70) and Allegro Sostenuto (1986/88), exemplify the composer’s intuitive use of cognitive principles, based mainly on Gestalt laws. The consistency of cognitive features in Pression for solo violoncello provides counter evidence against Hans-Peter Jahn’s thesis that the order of sections in this piece is arbitrary. Allegro Sostenuto demonstrates Lachenmann’s inventive play with Gestalt principles that serve as tools for categorical transformation: reference pitches, for example, provide clear levels of listening orientation for sounds that metaphorically »extinguish« or »mask« each other. The conclusion argues that Lachenmann’s theoretical ideas and theories of cognitive categorization tend to converge and might be transformed into a theory of musical context that is crucial for an adequate understanding of Lachenmann’s works

Wie wissenschaftlich muss Musiktheorie sein?. Chancen und Herausforderungen musikalischer Korpusforschung

Korpusbasierte Forschung nimmt in der Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft schon seit Langem einen wichtigen Platz ein. In der Musikforschung dagegen gewann sie erst vor Kurzem an Bedeutung. Die Gründe für diese verspätete Akzeptanz sind vielfältig und mitunter einer tiefgreifenden Skepsis gegenüber der Anwendung statistisch-quantitativer Methoden auf Musik als Kunstobjekt geschuldet. Der vorliegende Beitrag motiviert musikalische Korpusforschung, indem er grundsätzliche Probleme herkömmlicher Repertoireforschung (intuitive Statistik, methodische Intransparenz, Urteilsheuristiken) und gegenwärtiger Korpusforschung (z.B. Stichprobenerhebung, mangelnde Korpora und Annotationsstandards) aufzeigt und anhand repräsentativer Studien in den Bereichen Harmonik, Kontrapunktik, Melodiebildung und Rhythmik/Metrik exemplarisch diskutiert. Der Beitrag schließt mit einem Plädoyer für die Einbeziehung quantitativer Ansätze in der Musiktheorie im Rahmen eines übergeordneten ›Mixed Methods‹-Paradigmas. Corpus-based research has long been occupying a prominent position in literary studies and linguistics. In musicology, by contrast, it is about to gain in importance only fairly recently. The reasons for this delayed acceptance are manifold. Among other things, they are rooted in a deep skepticism toward applying statistical-quantitative methods to music as an object of art. This article supports musicological corpus research by pointing out general problems inherent to traditional repertoire research (intuitive statistics, methodological non-transparency, and heuristics in judgment) as well as current corpus research (e.g., biased sampling, paucity of corpora, and lack of annotation standards). These problems are discussed in reference to prominent studies in the domains of harmony, counterpoint, melody, and rhythm/meter. The article concludes by making a case for the integration of quantitative approaches in music theory into the overarching framework of a ›mixed methods‹ paradigm

Das Arbeitsangebot von Müttern: ein Strukturgleichungsmodell zur Integration von individuellen Wertvorstellungen und Rollenverständnissen in klassischen Arbeitsangebotsschätzungen ; eine Analyse auf Basis des ISSP 2002

"Das Ausmaß der Erwerbsbeteiligung von Müttern wird von zahlreichen Faktoren beeinflusst. Mittels einer konfirmatorischen Faktorenanalyse soll geklärt werden, in welcher Form Werthaltungen und strukturelle Einflussfaktoren auf die Entscheidung für oder gegen eine Erwerbspartizipation von Müttern einwirken. Weiters wird der Frage nachgegangen, inwieweit diese Faktoren auf die Aufteilung der Haushaltsaufgaben wirken. Zudem werden Wechselwirkungen zwischen den Einflussfaktoren und zwischen den Zielgrößen Erwerbsarbeit und Haushaltsarbeit analysiert. Als Basis der Untersuchung dienen die Angaben der im ISSP 2002 zum Thema 'Familiy and Changing Gender Roles' befragten Mütter mit unter 15-jährigen Kindern." (Autorenreferat)Inhaltsverzeichnis: 1 Einleitung; 2 Das Arbeitsangebot von Müttern - das Grundmodell; 2.1 Das herkömmliche Modell: Der Arbeits-Freizeit-Abtausch; 2.2 Das Becker/Gronau-Modell: Produktive Freizeit; 2.3 Zum Endogenitätsproblem des Arbeitsangebots; 3 Verwendeter Datensatz; 4 Werte und Rollenbilder - das erweiterte Modell; 4.1 Latente Variablen auf der Werteebene; 4.2 Latente Variablen auf der Strukturebene; 4.3 Latente Zielvariablen; 4.4 Beziehungen der latenten Variablen; 4.5 Beurteilung des Gesamtmodells; 5 Zusammenfassung und Ausblick

A semi-automated workflow paradigm for the distributed creation and curation of expert annotations

The creation and curation of labeled datasets can be an arduous, expensive, and time-consuming task. We introduce a workflow paradigm for remote consensus-building between expert annotators, while considerably reducing the associated administrative overhead through automation. Most music annotation tasks rely heavily on human interpretation and therefore defy the concept of an objective and indisputable ground truth. Thus, our paradigm invites and documents inter-annotator controversy based on a transparent set of analytical criteria, and aims at putting forth the consensual solutions emerging from such deliberations. The workflow that we suggest traces the entire genesis of annotation data, including the relevant discussions between annotators, reviewers, and curators. It adopts a well-proven pattern from collaborative software development, namely distributed version control, and allows for the automation of repetitive maintenance tasks, such as validity checks, message dispatch, or updates of meta- and paradata. To demonstrate the workflow's effectiveness, we introduce one possible implementation through GitHub Actions and showcase its success in creating cadence, phrase, and harmony annotations for a corpus of 36 trio sonatas by Arcangelo Corelli. Both code and annotated scores are freely available and the implementation can be readily used in and adapted for other MIR projects

Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse der Elementarbildungsausgaben in Österreich: der gesamtwirtschaftliche Effekt des Ausbaus der Kinderbetreuungsplätze im Zeitraum 2005 bis 2016

Die öffentlichen Ausgaben für Elementarbildungseinrichtungen sind kontinuierlich gestiegen. Insbesonders ab 2008 kam es aufgrund mehrerer Bund-Länder-Vereinbarungen zum verstärkten Ausbau von Krippen und Kindergärten. Die vorliegende Studie analysiert die volkswirtschaftlichen Rückflusseffekte dieser zusätzlichen Investitionen. Hat sich der Ausbau der Elementarbildungsinvestition etwa schon jetzt gerechnet

Towards a Unified Model of Chords in Western Harmony

Chord-based harmony is an important aspect of many types of Western music, across genres, regions, and historical eras. However, the consistent representation and comparison of harmony across a wide range of styles (e.g., classical music, Jazz, Rock, or Pop) is a challenging task. Moreover, even within a single musical style, multiple theories of harmony exist, each relying on its own (possibly implicit) assumptions and leading to harmonic analyses with a distinct focus (e.g., on the root of a chord vs. its bass note) or representation (e.g., spelled vs. enharmonic pitch classes). Cross-stylistic and cross-theory comparisons are therefore even more difficult, particularly in a large-scale computational setting that requires a common overarching representation. To address these problems, we propose a model which allows for the representation of chords at multiple levels of abstraction: from chord realizations on the score level (if available), to pitch-class collections (including a potential application of different equivalences, such as enharmonic or octave equivalence), to pitch- and chord-level functions and higher-order abstractions. Importantly, our proposed model is also well-defined for theories which do not specify information at each level of abstraction (e.g., some theories make no claims about harmonic function), representing only those harmonic properties that are explicitly included and inducing others where possible (e.g., deriving scale degrees from root and key information). Our model thus represents an important step towards a unified representation of harmony and its various applications.This research was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation within the project “Distant Listening – The Development of Harmony over Three Centuries (1700–2000)” (Grant no. 182811). This project is being conducted at the Latour Chair in Digital and Cognitive Musicology, generously funded by Mr. Claude Latour

Auswirkungen des beitragsfreien Kindergartens auf die Erwerbstätigkeit der Mütter: zum induzierten Arbeitsangebotseffekt der Elternbeiträge

Die Diskussion um die Sinnhaftigkeit beziehungsweise adäquate Höhe von Elternbeiträgen für Elementarbildungseinrichtungen wird bereits jahrzehntelang geführt. Oft wird argumentiert, dass gerade Elementarbildung ein gesellschaftliches Gut ist, das somit auch öffentlich zu finanzieren sei. Eine wesentliche weiterführende Frage ist der Effekt von Elternbeiträgen auf das Erwerbsverhalten der Mütter. Diese wird im vorliegenden Working Paper anhand ausgewählter quantitativ-empirischer Methoden behandelt

A novel SOD1 splice site mutation associated with familial ALS revealed by SOD activity analysis

More than 145 mutations have been found in the gene CuZn-Superoxide dismutase (SOD1) in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The vast majority are easily detected nucleotide mutations in the coding region. In a patient from a Swiss ALS family with half-normal erythrocyte SOD1 activity, exon flanking sequence analysis revealed a novel thymine to guanine mutation 7 bp upstream of exon 4 (c.240-7T>G). The results of splicing algorithm analyses were ambiguous, but five out of seven analysis tools suggested a potential novel splice site that would add six new base pairs to the mRNA. If translated, this mRNA would insert Ser and Ile between Glu78 and Arg79 in the SOD1 protein. In fibroblasts from the patient, the predicted mutant transcript and the mutant protein were both highly expressed, and despite the location of the insertion into the metal ion-binding loop IV, the SOD1 activity appeared high. In erythrocytes, which lack protein synthesis and are old compared with cultured fibroblasts, both SOD1 protein and enzymic activity was 50% of controls. Thus, the usage of the novel splice site is near 100%, and the mutant SOD1 shows the reduced stability typical of ALS-associated mutant SOD1s. The findings suggests that this novel intronic mutation is causing the disease and highlights the importance of wide exon-flanking sequencing and transcript analysis combined with erythrocyte SOD1 activity analysis in comprehensive search for SOD1 mutations in ALS. We find that there are potentially more SOD1 mutations than previously reporte