Koki Sakurai, Haruto Uenoyama, Akira Taniguchi
et al.
This study explores collaborative music generation using multiple symbolic music generation AI agents, grounding the process in the Systems Model of Creativity. We propose the Metropolis-Hastings Music Generation Game (MH-MuG), which integrates latent diffusion models (LDMs) and formulates the collaboration as a decentralized Bayesian inference process. In MH-MuG, agents with distinct musical knowledge (pre-trained on Classical and Jazz) alternate between composer and listener roles. This interaction functions as a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method, enabling agents to collectively sample from a joint distribution that integrates their knowledge. We compared two variants: one without fine-tuning (w/o f.t.), modeling a fixed-knowledge game, and one with fine-tuning (w/ f.t.), modeling mutual adaptation. Our experiments yielded two key findings: (1) The (w/o f.t.) variant, functioning as a collaborative music generation game, successfully generated high-quality, stylistically fused music. (2) Conversely, the (w/ f.t.) variant led to a significant reduction in diversity. We interpret this not as a failure, but as a computational demonstration of the “siloing” phenomenon that occurs when creative interactions are limited to a closed loop.
Women’s confidence can be represented in modern pop music through the selection of language style to overturn the traditional gender expectations in society. For all this time, women have been frequently haunted by beauty standards framed by media and culture that limit their courage to express themselves. This study investigates how women’s confidence is interpreted in the song lyrics of Mantra by Jennie Kim, using semiotics theory to unearth hidden meanings. This research aims to uncover the depiction of women expressing themselves in the song lyrics through the analysis of denotation, connotation, and myth. The discussion focuses on the portrayal of women’s confidence, delivered in certain choices of expressions. The results of this study seem to indicate that the song’s lyrics employ a number of strong images to express women’s self-reliance and courage. Moreover, domination and women's power are also emphasized, successfully opposing the gender expectations that have grown to be the basis of society’s mindsets. Through semiotics, the song Mantra serves as a spell that validates women’s self-confidence as a part of their empowerment. The lyrics’ use of styles in language attempts to generate and convey the meanings to the listeners.
Paula Pérez-Núñez, Clare O’Callaghan, Clare O’Callaghan
et al.
IntroductionInformal caregivers of elderly people with dependency (EPD) provide intensive care that can affect their quality of life (QoL). Psychosocial interventions such as music therapy are important to work on their self-care. The aim of this study is to analyze, with a mixed method approach, the experience of participating in a Songwriting Group Music Therapy (SGMT) intervention on informal caregivers of EPD.MethodsA total of 11 groups, with a convenience sample of 61 caregivers, received 10 SGMT sessions. Quantitative information related to QoL variables (anxiety, depression, spirituality, burden, and coping) was collected before and after the intervention and at 3 months of follow-up. Regarding qualitative data, an open-ended question about the experience of participating was asked.ResultsSignificant changes were shown, sustained over time, in trait anxiety and depression and subscales including inner peace, social functioning, and mental health. Three themes were generated from the thematic analysis, including that SGMT participation can enhance personal growth, bring out and enable work on emotions, and promote helpful interpersonal dynamics.DiscussionThe findings indicate that SGMT is a useful intervention for informal caregivers of EPD, promoting psychological adjustment, enhanced coping, emotional regulation, and social support. This study reinforces the findings with caregivers of other populations, providing new results and highlighting the benefits of SGMT for caregivers of EPD.
The study deals with historical, social, cultural, and anthropological
aspects of Roman Catholic liturgical music during the Second Vatican
Council. After the Council’s closure, the determination of the boundary
between sacred and secular music was postponed indefinitely. This was
significantly contributed to by the activities of the Council for the
Implementation of Decisions on the Holy Liturgy, professional church
musicians, and their interaction. Insights into the process of preparation,
Council’s decision-making, and implementation of the decisions in practice
justified the need for an interdisciplinary approach in examining church
music.
Music education in the United States has increasingly focused upon student creativity and practices such as improvisation. While such practices and changes are often conceptualized as flexible, inclusive reforms about making kinds of children, historically the curriculum has little to do with music and is instead concerned with taming uncertainty in the governing of child. We examine the Orff-Schulwerk pedagogy in the teaching of music, thought of as a progressive reform which emphasized improvisation and creativity. Exploring briefly Orff-Schulwerk’s production in the Weimar Republic as it travels and translated into the post-war United States, we consider the curriculum as formed through psychological research about rationality, choice, and creativity. The focus is on the system of reasoning embodied in the curriculum as generating principles about desired kind of persons in a stable, secure future related to salvation narratives- principles different in the Weimar Republic and US. The shifting design of people in Orff-Schulwerk curriculum and classroom instruments for learning of sound are, we argue, practices in governing of the body and soul. The fabricating and mapping in the music curriculum is about kinds of populations required as evidence of the progressive desires that simultaneously distributes differences.
Bu çalışma müzik öğretmenliği programı olan üniversitelerin ders paketleri incelenerek ilgili bölümlerde
müzik teknolojileri dersinin mevcut olma durumunu, ders saat dağılımını ve zorunlu/seçmeli olma durumunu
ortaya koyma amacını taşımaktadır. Araştırma nitel veri toplama tekniklerinin kullanıldığı betimsel bir
çalışmadır. Bu araştırmanın evrenini öğrencisi olan 32 üniversitedeki müzik öğretmenliği programı
oluşturmaktadır. 2018 öncesi ve sonrası bilgi paketi ve müzik teknolojileri dersi olan 7 üniversite örneklem
grubunu oluşturmaktadır. Veriler doküman inceleme yoluyla toplanmış ve içerik analizi ile çözümlenmiştir.
Yapılan inceleme sonucunda üniversitelerde 2018 öncesinde daha yaygın bir şekilde müzik teknolojileri
eğitimi verilirken, 2018 sonrasında dersin daha az verilmeye başlandığı, müzik teknolojileri dersinin
“Bilgisayar I ve Bilgisayar II” adı altında verildiği görülmüştür.
Background: The closure of all educational institutions and most rehabilitation centres represents a precautionary measure to face the COVID-19 pandemic, but the isolation and social distancing may be particularly challenging for children with special needs and disabilities (SEND), such as Rett Syndrome (RTT). The main aim of this study was to promote cognitive and social interactions among children with RTT through an interactive school program.Methods: The Interactive School palimpsest was composed of moments in which a teacher spoke directly to children with RTT and expected a response through eye gaze, and moments in which storeys-cartoon were presented while tracking the eye gaze of children. We investigated behavioural, social and cognitive parameters.Results: Children participated in both social and cognitive tasks with the spontaneous reduction of stereotypies and with increase in attention. They recalled more significant indexes when music or a song was presented together with a cartoon or a cognitive task.Conclusions: This study provides initial insights in promoting cognitive and social interactions and in the support needs of families with a child with RTT during the COVID-19 pandemic.
El videoclip musical supone un formato de referencia en el audiovisual contemporáneo, ya sea por sus estrategias transmedia, por la variedad de las interrelaciones entre videoclip original u oficial y sus híbridos procedentes de la comunidad fan o por los remakes o videos derivados. Las plataformas de vídeo se han convertido en la forma central en la que se consumen y comparten contenidos visuales para la música popular y una principal fuente de negocio empresarial; entre ellas, YouTube es la más conocida y estudiada. El trabajo presenta un análisis del videoclip musical con más me gusta en el canal Music Video Land de Vimeo, comisariado por autores de IMVdb (The Internet Music Video Database), principal plataforma especializada de archivo y comisariado de videos musicales de internet. Se aplica un análisis cuantitativo que combina los criterios clásicos –tipo de videoclip, tipo de relación música/imagen, tipo de relación imagen/texto y género musical– junto a un estudio de las técnicas específicas de realización y de animación. Se concluye que el videoclip conceptual de música dance/electrónica e indie, con una importante presencia de técnicas avanzadas de realización y composición de imagen, resulta el más elegido por los comisarios y usuarios del canal.
В статье рассматривается феноменологический подход с предварительным обращением к истории становления феноменологии как направления в философии XX в. Охарактеризованы идеи Э. Гуссерля, сыгравшие важную роль в философии и интерпретации музыки. Новым способом рассмотрения музыки стал не теоретический, а феноменологический анализ, направленный не на само музыкальное произведение, а на акты музыкального мышления, конституирующие его художественный смысл. Отмечена важность феноменологического исследования музыки А. Ф. Лосева, нацеленного на поиск эйдетического содержания в феноменах сознания, на постижение самой сущности музыки. Согласно исследованию А. Ф. Лосева, сущность музыки не может быть высказана, выражена в понятии, она выявляется в процессе непосредственного звучания и в акте восприятия. Определяется роль и задачи феноменологического метода в интерпретации музыкальных произведений, рассматривается понятие времени как внутреннее свойство музыки, являющееся не абстрактной длительностью, а живым и пульсирующим полем для развертывания собственно звукового интонационного процесса. Основная идея статьи заключается в том, что феноменологический метод не универсален, но он позволяет решить ряд исполнительских проблем, связанных с пониманием смысла нотного текста, а также приблизиться к смыслу через феномены восприятия, познать ощущения и чувства, рождающиеся в сознании на основе музыкальных переживаний. В этом заключаются преимущества феноменологического подхода к интерпретации музыкальных произведений.
CONFERENCE DETAILSISME Special Music Education and Music Therapy Commission pre-conferenceseminar ‘Music across the lifespan: The role of special music education and musictherapy’Mozarteum University, The Orff Institute12-14 July 2018, Salzburg, Austria
Between beats and rhymes: language fusion and identity in Portuguese urban music. The current urban music in Portugal is the meeting of different cultures and linguistic minorities. The linguistic repertoire of most of these artists includes different varieties of Portuguese, Creole (of Cape Verde and Sao Tome) and different African dialects (mostly Bantu languages of Angola). In this article, we analyse the bilingualism (code-switching and code-mixing) within the songs, produced by artists who reflect their multiculturalism in the lyrics of their songs. In fact, the performers alternate languages for the internal and external levels of the sentence. They also use a mixed style with a Portuguese matrix and lexicon of different languages, reflecting the urban vernacular languages and spreading their multiple identities.
Rezumat. Între ritmuri și rime: amestec de limbi și identitate în muzica urbană portugheză. Muzica urbană actuală din Portugalia este punctul de întâlnire pentru mai multe culturi și minorități lingvistice. Repertoriul lingvistic al majorității artiștilor include diferite varietăți ale limbii portugheze, limbi creole (din Capul Verde și São Tomé), precum și mai multe dialecte africane (preponderent limbi bantu din Angola). Ne propunem să analizăm bilingvismul (code-switching și code-mixing) în cântecele unor artiști care își exprimă multiculturalismul în versurile muzicii lor. Menționăm că artiștii alternează limbile la nivelul intern și extern al propoziției și că folosesc un stil hibrid cu o matrice portugheză și un lexicon din diferite limbi, ce reflectă varietățile lingvistice urbane și identitățile multiple.
Cuvinte cheie: sociolingvistică, muzică urbană, identitate lingvistică și culturală, multilingvism în muzică, bilingvism, code-switching, code-mixing.
Hedayat Jafari, Yadollah Jannati, Hassan Mahmoodi Nesheli
et al.
Fatigue is one of the main complaints of patients undergoing allogeneic and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Since nonpharmacological interventions are cost-effective and causes fewer complications, this study aimed to review the studies performed on the effects of nonpharmacological interventions on fatigue in patients undergoing HSCT during September 2016. MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scientific Information Database, IranMedex, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Magiran, and IRANDOC databases were searched using Persian and English keywords. A total of 1217 articles were retrieved, 21 of which were used in this study. Exercise is known as an effective intervention in alleviating physical and mental problems of patients undergoing stem cell transplant. This review-based study showed that nonpharmacological methods such as exercise might be effective in decreasing fatigue in patients undergoing stem cell transplant. There is a multitude of studies on some of the complementary and alternative therapy methods, such as music therapy, yoga, relaxation, and therapeutic massage. These studies demonstrated the positive effects of the aforementioned therapies on reduction of fatigue in patients undergoing stem cell transplantation. All the investigated methods in this study were nonaggressive, safe, and cost-effective and could be used along with common treatments or even as an alternative for pharmacological treatments for the reduction, or elimination of fatigue in patients undergoing stem cell transplantation. Given the advantages of complementary and alternative medicine, conducting further studies on this issue is recommended to reduce fatigue in patients after stem cell transplantation.
This article aims to discover the concept of Lareh Kotopiliang: Power Systems and Bronze Music in a Study of the Concept of Musical Aesthetics in Luhak Nan Tigo Minangkabau. Lareh Kotopiliang is oriented towards a royal or autocratic system of power, in which the primary figure holds the title of Dt. Katumangguangan. A legendary figure, Dt. Katumangguangan is believed to be the one who first implemented this autocratic system of power or leadership. There are two types of bronze music, namely oguang and talempong. From the aspect of performance, there are two different concepts: (1) oguang (a gong ensemble); and (2) talempong bararak (processional music). As an ensemble, oguang is played on top of a frame (rea), with gandang palalu and paningkah, six talempong, and two gongs. Talempong bararak is performed in procession – in declaration of the title of a headman, and musically is made up of three pairs of talempong – talempong jantan, talempong paningkah, and talempong pangawinan. Each of the talempong pairs plays a different rhythmic pattern, and the combination of the three patterns forms the characteristic melody of talempong bararak. The problems addressed in this article are: first, the traditional historiography of Lareh Koto Piliang as part of the trilogy of power in Luhak Nan Tigo Minangkabau; second, Lareh Koto Piliang and the concept of bronze music; and third, the musical concept of talempong bararak.
Post 9/11 the ‘invisibility’ of political prisoners as part of the ‘war on terror’ has had a direct correlation with the concealment of abusive treatment of detainees in the detention camps at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. Details of these abuse scandals have indicated that there has been a notable shift away from the optical towards the sonic as a form of punishment and torture, with accounts of detainees being subjected to rock music played for prolonged periods at excruciating volumes (Smith, 2008). Addressing a number of key concerns – sound and phe- nomenology, sound and the ethics of spectatorship, sound and the experience/intensification of confinement, sound as a (potential) mode of resistance/control – this paper will investigate the use of sound in cinematic depictions of imprisonment including A Man Escaped (Bresson, 1956), Hunger (McQueen, 2008) and Zero Dark Thirty (Bigelow, 2012). The aim is to explore how an auditory perspective might complicate previously held ocularcentric conceptions of power in penal institutions (Foucault, 1977) and to examine how this experience of sound is represented on screen. The essay also considers how sound design can bridge the distance between self and other, and align the spectator emotionally, ethically and politically with a film’s characters. The essay thus proposes that an ethical spectatorship may require cinematic auditors to listen more critically, and it claims that a better understanding of the fundamental role that sound and listening play in the articulation and recognition – or indeed, disavowal – of the subjectivity of prisoners within these narratives may lead to an increased awareness of the politics of aesthetics of individual films. The essay concludes by suggesting that the field of sound studies creates further opportunities for research that explores these important questions about representation, spectatorship and ethics from a range of disciplinary perspectives.