Analyzing relationships between color, emotion and music using Bayes' rule in Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1

A probabilistic approach to the perception of emotion and color in music is proposed and the application of Bayes' rule to predict previously collected data is investigated. Specifically, performances of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Book I were analyzed in terms of mode, tempo and intensity. Estimates of probabilistic relationships between features and emotion dimensions were used to predict listeners' associations with the music in terms of emotion and color. Predictions were particularly successful for emotion perception, although color was also reliably predicted for 14 out of 24 Preludes. If color was predicted directly from emotion perception, reliable prediction increased to 18 out of 24 Preludes

Ultrafast dynamics of neutral superexcited Oxygen: A direct measurement of the competition between autoionization and predissociation

Using ultrafast extreme ultraviolet pulses, we performed a direct measurement of the relaxation dynamics of neutral superexcited states corresponding to the nl\sigma_g(c^4\Sigma_u^-) Rydberg series of O_2. An XUV attosecond pulse train was used to create a temporally localized Rydberg wavepacket and the ensuing electronic and nuclear dynamics were probed using a time-delayed femtosecond near-infrared pulse. We investigated the competing predissociation and autoionization mechanisms for superexcited molecules and found that autoionization is dominant for the low n Rydberg states. We measured an autoionization lifetime of 92+/-6 fs and 180+/-10 fs for (5s,4d)\sigma_g and (6s,5d)\sigma_g Rydberg state groups respectively. We determine that the disputed neutral dissociation lifetime for the \nu=0 vibrational level of the Rydberg series is 1100+/-100fs.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

On the advantages of the disabled in space.

Since the start of the astronaut program in the 1960s, candidates have had to prove to be in prime physical shape before being granted clearance to fly, whereas those with physical disabilities such as blindness or deafness are automatically disqualified. The stigma that disabled persons are less qualified to succeed in a physically alien environment has persisted, though little research exists in revisiting the difficulties posed by allowing this group into the space program. This paper aims to reconsider the advantages and disadvantages of a disability-friendly space program, to include cost considerations, potential challenges, and the unique benefits posed by allowing this minority group into the astronaut program. Such advantages include unique health and mental advantages disabled persons acquire as a result of their disability. Suggestions to reconfigure the current space program into a disability-friendly one are introduced for consideration

On the fluidity of consonance and dissonance: The influence of musical context

The consonance/dissonance (C/D) level of a triadic chord is not a fixed or absolute value. Rather, it is fluid, since C/D depends both on a chord’s sonic characteristics and on the musical context in which it appears. To test the fluidity of C/D—the extent to which C/D perception is dependent on musical context—4 types of chords (major, minor, augmented, and diminished triads) were presented in isolation (“without musical context”) and as part of a short cadence (IV-V-I, “with musical context”). The C/D level of each chord was judged, as was the overall C/D and pleasantness/unpleasantness (P/U) level of the cadences. When isolated, major triads were considered most consonant, followed by minor and diminished triads, while augmented triads were judged most dissonant. In the context of a musical cadence, this rank order remained the same. However, evaluations of the dissonance of augmented and diminished chords varied depending on each chord’s functional position within the cadence. For instance, diminished triads were relatively consonant when on the subdominant, while augmented triads were relatively dissonant when on the tonic. These findings lend support to the hypotheses that: (a) the degree to which the harmonic function of a chord is familiar, and (b) the degree to which a chord’s stability (and hence also the listener’s expectation) is violated contribute to the perception of C/D

Letter of the guest editors of the special issue on “Music as a multimodal experience”.

This editorial introduces a collection of papers brought together under the heading of “Music as a Multimodal Experience.” This issue aims to bring to the foreground recent developments in our understanding of music as a multimodal experience

Teaching young musicians expressive performance: an experimental study

Twenty-nine pupils (aged 8–15) took part in an improvisation test and an experimental vs. control group teaching session. The aim of the improvisation test was to explore whether participants had knowledge about the use of expressive cues to convey basic emotions in improvisations. Assessments of the improvisations by four adjudicators indicated that most pupils in this sample could convey happiness, sadness and anger effectively in improvisations, providing a useful starting point for expressive music performance, which was examined in the experimental study. The experimental study investigated whether discussion of musical character is effective for improving pupils’ expressiveness, by comparing outcomes with a control teaching session that focused on accuracy and technical fluency. Participants’ performances of a ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ musical excerpt pre- and post-teaching were assessed by four adjudicators. Results indicated that the experimental teaching had been significantly more effective for improving expressiveness in the ‘sad’ extract than control teaching

Representation of Pitch in Horizontal Space and Its Dependence on Musical and Instrumental Experience

Representation of pitch in horizontal space and its relationship to musical and instrumental experience was examined in three behavioral experiments. Each experiment investigated the influence of a task-irrelevant dimension (pitch or location) on the perception of a task-relevant dimension (location or pitch, respectively). Sine tones with nine different pitches were presented from nine locations, and participants estimated the pitch or location of the stimuli. Experiment 1 showed an influence of the (task irrelevant) pitch of presented stimuli on the perceived location of the stimuli in musically experienced participants only. This influence increased with the degree of musical training of participants. No influence was found of presented location on the perception of pitch. Experiments 2 and 3 investigated the influence of instrumental expertise comparing the responses of a group of flutists with a group of pianists. An interaction with instrumental expertise was found only in Experiment 3, where participants played shortly on their respective instruments before doing the perceptual judgments. The experiments indicate that musical training in general influence the pitch-location association, and pianistic experience in particular

Young musicians' learning of expressive performance : the importance of dialogic teaching and modeling

Until recently little was known through systematic research about effective teaching methods to enhance children's expressiveness in music performance. A previous experimental study indicated that a dialogic teaching approach, consisting of questions and dialogue, improves pupils' expressive performance. Developing from this, a participatory action research study was conducted with the following objectives: (1) To explore how dialogic teaching and learning of expressiveness can be used in weekly individual instrumental lessons; (2) to investigate whether instrumental tutors find a dialogic teaching approach useful for facilitating pupils' learning of expressiveness; and (3) to explore what other complementing instructional modes tutors would like to employ. (4) To investigate pupils' views on their learning of expressiveness; and (5) pupils' views on the instructional strategies used for teaching expressiveness. Five instrumental music tutors participated in this research with two or three of their pupils (11 girls in total, aged 8–15, playing various instruments) for 4 months. Pupils played in informal performance sessions at the start, middle, and end of the project. Lessons and performances were video-recorded. Music diaries, questionnaires and video-stimulated recall interviews were used to collect information about participants' views. Participating tutors used mainly dialogic teaching, modeling, and playing along with pupils. Tutors thought that teaching and learning expressiveness is a complex process wherein “everything is intertwined”; several methods can be used within a dialogic teaching approach for working on various teaching aims. Aural modeling combined with dialogic teaching was seen as especially useful. Pupils' accounts indicate that they had learned to think about the musical character and how to convey this in performance. Tutors' questions had stimulated pupils' reflection and raised their awareness of the musical meaning, while teachers' modeling had helped to build up an aural picture of the music which had facilitated pupils' learning. The dialogic teaching approach supported by modeling had generated improved expressiveness in lessons and contributed to a growing sense of achievement, confidence, self-efficacy, and musical agency. These findings demonstrate the importance of dialogic teaching supported by modeling for meaningful instrumental music education as this can stimulate pupils' thinking, thus facilitating their learning and enhancing their expressiveness

Creativity, collaboration and development in Jeremy Thurlow's Ouija for Peter Sheppard Skaerved

This paper documents and analyses a creative collaboration between the Composer Jeremy Thurlow and the violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved in the production of Ouija, a work for solo violin and laptop computer. The paper situates the account of this creative process within recent literature on distributed and collaborative creativity, and focuses on three aspects of the project: verbal interaction between the two musicians, analysed in terms of ‘creative-talk’ and ‘face-talk’, and the relationship between immediate and more contextual concerns (‘inside/outside the room’); a quantitative analysis of changes in the musical material, focusing on timing; and a qualitative analysis of the role of the violinist’s embodied and instrumental engagement with the music. The paper discusses the findings in relation to forward-oriented (process) and backward-oriented (product) conceptions of creativity, the operation of different social components in creative collaboration, and the relationship between craft, history and embodiment

Conceptions about teaching and learning of expressivity in music among Higher Education teachers and students

This work aimed to analyse factors related to conceptions and beliefs about expressivity in music among students and teachers. A questionnaire with 11 Likert-type items was developed covering the main factors included in the literature of teaching-learning of expressivity and emotion in music. Through exploratory factor analysis three factors were identified: expressive technique (ET), emotional expression (EE), and self-learning of expressivity (SLE). Comparisons between teachers and students showed that teachers had significant higher scores in EE with no differences in ET or SLE, although the effect size for SLE was high. The three factors are proposed as a tool for the assessment of conceptions of expressivity and its learning in both teachers and advanced students of music for teaching and research objectives