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- Volume 4, Issue 1, 2011
Journal of Music, Technology & Education - Volume 4, Issue 1, 2011
Volume 4, Issue 1, 2011
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Mapping a beautiful voice: The continuous response measurement apparatus (CReMA)
More LessThis article follows work published in this Journal that drew on a range of diverse literatures to clarify those elements that are perceived to constitute a ‘beautiful’ sung performance. The text rehearsed key findings from existing literatures in order to determine the extent to which particular elements might appear the most salient for an individual listener and also ‘quantifiable’ (in the sense of being open to empirical study). The article concluded with a theoretical framework for the elements that are likely to construct and shape our responses to particular sung performances. Herein, the development of a novel research apparatus and an empirical evaluation of this research framework are being presented. This research framework is believed to provide evidence about the robustness of the emergent theoretical taxonomy of underlying contributory factors by subjecting it to empirical evaluation through a multifaceted investigation into the psycho-acoustic and context-specific interpretation of sung performance quality.
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Clave-direction analysis: A new arena for educational and creative applications of music technology
More LessMusic Information Research abounds with work on the recognition of style, genre, composer and singer, and the detection of beat, tempo, metre and even emotion. However, some musical attributes remain unexplored. One of these, clave direction, is a rhythmic principle found throughout Latin American music. The purpose of this article is to introduce the significance and potential pedagogical role of automated clave-direction identification, to propose a system-level implementation and to suggest application areas that may benefit performers, educators, students and industry. Clave direction is an inherent feature of rhythmic patterns, not just of the standard sequences commonly associated with clave. Technological aids to composition, arranging, education, search and music production are needed for a growing population of musicians. Existing and developing methods of music technology can be used to fulfil this need. Target applications include rhythmtraining equipment, recording and sequencing software, auto-accompaniment and automated querying of databases or the Internet.
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Problem-solving strategies and processes in musical composition: Observations in real time
Authors: Dave Collins and Michael DunnThis article draws on previous empirical studies that have used methodological strategies such as think-alouds (verbal protocol analysis), computer-based digital data collection and video observations to explore the process of music composition in real-time. A paradigm of music composition as a form of problem solving was assumed. Three higher education students composed short pieces and, using the above data collection methods, outputs were mapped against theoretical models of creative thinking and a hypothetical model deriving from a previous longitudinal, four-year single-case study. The real-time tracking of the music composition process in the present study observed a linear cycle of problem-solving strategies and nonlinear, recursive musical structuring. The study indicates that the real-time data collection tools were useful in eliciting added understandings of cognition in music composition and further insight into the act of musical structuring at a macro and micro level.
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Rethinking the creative process: The systems model of creativity applied to popular songwriting
More LessThis article addresses innovation and creativity in compositional practice and music production by focusing on the creative processes exemplified in popular songwriting. It does so using a cross-disciplinary approach that encompasses the perspectives of psychological, sociological and popular music studies. The research on which the article is based is an ethnographic study of contemporary western popular music songwriting using participant observation, artefact and document analysis, and an extensive set of interviews with local, national- and international-level songwriters. It examines one confluence model of creativity developed within the discipline of psychology at Chicago University, that is, the systems model of creativity that the author considers to be similar in some significant and primary ways to the ideas on cultural production developed by the empirical sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. The study concludes that the author/genius model of creativity is highly problematic and provides evidence to suggest that the creativity involved in songwriting comes about from the confluence of a domain of knowledge, a field or a social organization that understands and uses the domain of knowledge and an individual person who makes novel variations to domain information.
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REVIEWS
Authors: Matthew Barnard, David Plans and Mark SlaterINTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER MUSIC, NICK COLLINS (2010) West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 396 pp., ISBN: 978-0-470-71455-3, Paperback, £36.99 THE MUSIC BUSINESS AND RECORDING INDUSTRY, GEOFFREY P. HULL (2010) 3rd ed., New York: Routledge, 370 pp., ISBN: 978-0-415-87561-5, Paperback, £39.99 UNDERSTANDING RECORDS: A FIELD GUIDE TO RECORDING PRACTICE, JAY HODGSON (2010) New York: Continuum, 252 pp., ISBN: 978-1-4411-5607-5, Paperback, £16.99
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