Listening to music – having time for the moment. Aesthetic perception, experience and education in the digital present

Der vorliegende Beitrag verdeutlicht, dass ästhetische Bildung Räume und Zeiten ermöglicht, in denen sich die Hingabe an die Erscheinungen der Gegenwart, an die Präsenz der Phänomene als Grundvoraussetzung für Bildung überhaupt, erst entwickeln kann. Ästhetische Bildung kann in diesem Sinne zu einem Korrektiv einer utilitaristischen und ökonomiegesteuerten Ausbildung von Kompetenzen und Qualifikationen werden. Theoretischer Ausgangspunkt dieser Überlegungen sind die Positionen des deutschen Philosophen und Vertreters der Frankfurter Schule Martin Seel. Illustriert werden sie an Beispielen aus der Musik, die Aufmerksamkeit für ihre gegenwärtige Präsenz verlangen: Steve Reichs „Piano Phase“, die Hip-Hop-Bewegung und das Projekt „Sounding D“. (DIPF/Orig.)This article explains that aesthetic education creates a space and time in which the dedication to present phenomena, to the presence of phenomena fundamental to education can develop. In this spirit, aesthetic education can become a corrective to a utilitarian and economic-driven development of competences and qualifications. The theoretical point of departure for these reflections are the positions of German philosopher and representative of the Frankfurt School Martin Seel. They are illustrated using examples from music that calls for attention to its present presence: Steve Reich‘s “Piano Phase,” the hip hop movement and the “Sounding D” project. (DIPF/Orig.

An isogeometric mortar method for the coupling of multiple NURBS domains with optimal convergence rates

We investigate the mortar finite element method for second order elliptic boundary value problems on domains which are decomposed into patches Ωk with tensor-product NURBS parameterizations. We follow the methodology of IsoGeometric Analysis (IGA) and choose discrete spaces Xh,k on each patch Ωk as tensor-product NURBS spaces of the same or higher degree as given by the parameterization. Our work is an extension of Brivadis et al. (Comput Methods Appl Mech Eng 284:292–319, 2015) and highlights several aspects which did not receive full attention before. In particular, by choosing appropriate spaces of polynomial splines as Lagrange multipliers, we obtain a uniform infsup-inequality. Moreover, we provide a new additional condition on the discrete spaces Xh,k which is required for obtaining optimal convergence rates of the mortar method. Our numerical examples demonstrate that the optimal rate is lost if this condition is neglected

Neurobiologie und Willensfreiheit

“Neuroscience shows that free will is an illusion” is what we hear from some prominent neurobiologists. Most philosophers, on the other hand, defend free will, albeit with different arguments. The core of the dispute consists of two different intuitions that seem to be in irreconcilable contradiction. On the one hand, the results of the natural sciences argue that all bodily movements (including our actions) follow the immutable laws of nature. In addition, a much-discussed experiment by Benjamin Libet seems to show that our supposedly free decisions are already made before we become aware of the decision-making process. On the other hand, there is the everyday experience that we (at least when we are not in prison or suffering from mental limitations) can act according to our will, that what we do is in accordance with our intentions and that we can consider and change these intentions and desires. This ability is also a prerequisite for us to be able to attribute responsibility to ourselves and others for the respective actions. In my paper, I try to show that natural determinism and free will are indeed compatible if we carefully analyse what we actually mean by free will. Neurobiology cannot take this clarification away from philosophy

Participant orientation in music education for adults. Making music together - improvising together

Die Autorin stellt eine teilnehmer*innenorientierte Methodik der musikalischen Erwachsenenbildung für Non-Professionals vor, die auf improvisatorischen Zugängen basiert. Mittels „Action Research“ können Musikbegeisterte ihre Lebenserfahrungen und künstlerischen Vorstellungen in ihr musikalisches Tun einbringen und so aktiv an künstlerischen Prozessen partizipieren. Sie selbst planen anhand eines zyklischen Modells die Ziele, die Ressourcen, den Prozess und die pädagogisch künstlerische Umsetzung des gemeinsamen Musizierens und reflektieren das Ergebnis. Teil des methodischen Vorgehens sind metakognitive Übungen, Selbstreflexion, Feedback, positive Selbstkritik und Transferübungen in die Lebenswelt. Nicht die Aneignung instrumentaler Kompetenzen, sondern Musik selbst (gemeinsam) zu erfinden, steht im Mittelpunkt. Das musikalische Ergebnis gibt den Teilnehmer*innen die Möglichkeit, die eigene musikalische Wirkmächtigkeit zu erleben. (DIPF/Orig.)The author presents a participantoriented method of music education for nonprofessional adults that is based on improvisatory approaches. With “action research”, music fans can integrate their life experiences and artistic ideas into the music they create to actively participate in artistic processes. Using a cyclical model, they plan the goals, resources, process and artistic implementation of making music together and reflect on the results. The methodological approach includes metacognitive exercises, selfreflection, feedback, positive selfcriticism and transfer exercises into the participant’s life. The focus is not on acquiring instrumental skills but on creating music itself (together). The resulting music gives participants the opportunity to experience their own musical agency. (DIPF/Orig.

A real algebra perspective on multivariate tight wavelet frames

Recent results from real algebraic geometry and the theory of polynomial optimization are related in a new framework to the existence question of multivariate tight wavelet frames whose generators have at least one vanishing moment. Namely, several equivalent formulations of the so-called Unitary Extension Principle (UEP) from [33] are interpreted in terms of hermitian sums of squares of certain nongenative trigonometric polynomials and in terms of semi-definite programming. The latter together with the results in [31, 35] answer affirmatively the long stading open question of the existence of such tight wavelet frames in dimesion d = 2; we also provide numerically efficient methods for checking their existence and actual construction in any dimension. We exhibit a class of counterexamples in dimension d = 3 showing that, in general, the UEP property is not sufficient for the existence of tight wavelet frames. On the other hand we provide stronger sufficient conditions for the existence of tight wavelet frames in dimension d ≥ 3 and illustrate our results by several examples

An isogeometric mortar method for the coupling of multiple NURBS domains with optimal convergence rates

We investigate the mortar finite element method for second order elliptic boundary value problems on domains which are decomposed into patches Ω_k with tensor-product NURBS parameterizations. We follow the methodology of IsoGeometric Analysis (IGA) and choose discrete spaces X_h,k on each patch Ω_k as tensor-product NURBS spaces of the same or higher degree as given by the parameterization. Our work is an extension of [12] and highlights several aspects which did not receive full attention before. In particular, by choosing appropriate spaces of polynomial splines as Lagrange multipliers, we obtain a uniform infsup-inequality. Moreover, we provide a new additional condition on the discrete spaces X_h,k which is required for obtaining optimal convergence rates of the mortar method. Our numerical examples demonstrate that the optimal rate is lost if this condition is neglected