moon chunks: creating musical meanings

In literature studies several authors have been researching on how text (verbal) and image (visual) can relate to each other, and words like "synergy" and "imagetext" have been used in the attempt to describe the narrative discourse, which so often appear in picture storybooks. In musical research, narrative deals with several questions linked either to musical: perception, reception, composition or performance. The starting point of this investigation was Wie schmeckt der Mond? by Michael Grejniec, a children's picture book. This paper explores the way the book was written and illustrated, and how a new music orchestral piece moon chunks was composed. By focusing on specific compositional ideas, the piece was shaped to highlight different aims, and the musical narrative was used in a plural musical-verbal-visual interaction, in order that the new music language would better communicate with the younger audience. Conclusions were drawn from the analysis of the composer's own artistic practice and 8 interviews held with random children in the audience

Editorial "The Toy Piano Takes the Stage" Dossier

Editorial for the dossier on Toy Piano [editor-in-chief's note]

Occupied reflections: audience as performers

New music is often perceived as challenging, and many times generates controversial opinions. Nevertheless, it allows for some non-obvious relationships between composers, performers, and listeners. Finding more effective ways to engage listeners into new music could be an alternative way to reach out to further audiences. This paper aims to discuss and give examples of how the audience was integrated as a performer in a new music performance, more specifically in the piece "occupied mirrors" , for toy piano and audience (composed by the author of the paper). The piece was thought through and planned in such a way that it invited the audience to become active performers, part of the musical plot as music makers. Conclusions suggest that what was asked from the audience opened up a unique new music experience, as they had to follow instructions and actively participate in the construction of the sound

Adaptation from standing genetic variation and from mutation

Dissertation presented to obtain the Ph.D degree in Evolutionary BiologyUnderstanding the genetic basis of adaptation is crucial to explain the emergence and maintenance of the multitude of life forms we find on Earth today. Perhaps even more importantly, gaining knowledge about how fast organisms can cope with environmental changes may prove crucial in a world being altered at increasing speed due to the human actions. The study of adaptive evolution may therefore have major implications (and applications) in Agriculture, Conservation of endangered species and even Human Health. Natural selection has long been appreciated as one of the predominant evolutionary mechanisms and it enjoys a solid theoretical framework regarding its requirements, its effects and its limitations. Empirically, however, it has proved quite challenging to study. In wild populations natural selection is particularly difficult to characterize and measure since in these settings other evolutionary mechanisms (such as genetic drift or gene flow) often occur simultaneously. In addition to this, the different evolutionary mechanisms may vary greatly in time and in space with respect to their relative influences on the evolutionary dynamics of populations.(...

Image analysis as a basis to the design of wheelchair rugby sportswear

Sportswear clothing plays a very important part in athletes’ performance. Inappropriate fit puts at risk not only the outcome of the sports event but also the safety of athletes. Wheelchair rugby is a good example of athletes wearing sportswear that is inappropriately fitted. The purpose of this study is to analyse, by means of videos and photographs, the patterns of activity and movements performed by the athletes during a set of wheelchair rugby training sessions. This analysis serves not only to inform on the movements and body postures but also on the problems and difficulties caused by the items of sportswear worn by the athletes. From the analysis it was observed that gloves are causing the most problems with performance, whilst tops and bottoms have more impact on comfort

Ritual and transgression: a case study in new music

This research lies on the concepts of ritual and narrative as applied in a case study of a musical theatre piece. In traditional musical narrative the focus is on construction, and one could speak of fields around which hierarchies, systems and rules of musical language are built. In this piece we find unpredictable transgressive musical gestures, acted out by performers, combined with conventional narrative procedures. This study aims to demonstrate that the concepts of musical narrative and ritual cannot be seen as isolated objects but as entities of transformation by composers, and how the trilogy composer/performer/listener (audience) is associated with narrative and ritual. Ritual and transgression can thus be linked to traditional concepts of musical narrative connecting composing, performing, and listening activities