Instrumental Music Performance Research Articles

Proposal of Music Therapy Protocol for Ataxic Patients

Neurologic music therapy has been studied as an alternative methodology to stimulate neurological patients in a motor rehabilitation process. It uses music and its elements in a feedback-feedforward system, promoting an environment for neuroplasticity and re-learning of movements. Research to evaluate the use of neurologic music therapy in patients with ataxia due to Parkinson's and Stroke diseases has shown positive impacts on function rehabilitation, resulting in improvements in activities of daily living and life quality self-perception. The main goals for patients with ataxia described in available research are related to the positive impact on gait function, limb movements, speech, and postural impairment. The most commonly used techniques in neurologic music therapy research are Therapeutical Instrumental Music Performance (TIMP) and Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS). Literature indicates that both techniques are typically studied independently. Research on the application of neurologic music therapy to ataxic patients, whether due to genetic factors or acquired cerebellar damage, as well as protocols to assist music therapists in implementing these methodologies, are not available. The objective of this study is to propose a music therapy protocol for patients with ataxia from any disease or acquired, using neurologic music therapy and its techniques (TIMP and RAS), to measure the contribution in reducing impacts of ataxia in motor functions, improving patients’ autonomy in daily living activities and as a consequence higher life quality self-perception, also contributing to increasing literature availability regarding this theme. For protocol application feasibility and considering ataxia prevalence in the total population, an experimental group of 15 patients diagnosed with ataxia without impairment on auditory systems will be designed.

Audio Matters Too! Enhancing Markerless Motion Capture with Audio Signals for String Performance Capture

In this paper, we touch on the problem of markerless multi-modal human motion capture especially for string performance capture which involves inherently subtle hand-string contacts and intricate movements. To fulfill this goal, we first collect a dataset, named String Performance Dataset (SPD), featuring cello and violin performances. The dataset includes videos captured from up to 23 different views, audio signals, and detailed 3D motion annotations of the body, hands, instrument, and bow. Moreover, to acquire the detailed motion annotations, we propose an audio-guided multi-modal motion capture framework that explicitly incorporates hand-string contacts detected from the audio signals for solving detailed hand poses. This framework serves as a baseline for string performance capture in a completely markerless manner without imposing any external devices on performers, eliminating the potential of introducing distortion in such delicate movements. We argue that the movements of performers, particularly the sound-producing gestures, contain subtle information often elusive to visual methods but can be inferred and retrieved from audio cues. Consequently, we refine the vision-based motion capture results through our innovative audio-guided approach, simultaneously clarifying the contact relationship between the performer and the instrument, as deduced from the audio. We validate the proposed framework and conduct ablation studies to demonstrate its efficacy. Our results outperform current state-of-the-art vision-based algorithms, underscoring the feasibility of augmenting visual motion capture with audio modality. To the best of our knowledge, SPD is the first dataset for musical instrument performance, covering fine-grained hand motion details in a multi-modal, large-scale collection. It holds significant implications and guidance for string instrument pedagogy, animation, and virtual concerts, as well as for both musical performance analysis and generation. Our code and SPD dataset are available at https://github.com/Yitongishere/string_performance.

Virtual Instrument Performances (VIP): A Comprehensive Review

AbstractDriven by recent advancements in Extended Reality (XR), the hype around the Metaverse, and real‐time computer graphics, the transformation of the performing arts, particularly in digitizing and visualizing musical experiences, is an ever‐evolving landscape. This transformation offers significant potential in promoting inclusivity, fostering creativity, and enabling live performances in diverse settings. However, despite its immense potential, the field of Virtual Instrument Performances (VIP) has remained relatively unexplored due to numerous challenges. These challenges arise from the complex and multi‐modal nature of musical instrument performances, the need for high precision motion capture under occlusions including the intricate interactions between a musician's body and fingers with instruments, the precise synchronization and seamless integration of various sensory modalities, accommodating variations in musicians' playing styles, facial expressions, and addressing instrument‐specific nuances. This comprehensive survey delves into the intersection of technology, innovation, and artistic expression in the domain of virtual instrument performances. It explores musical performance multi‐modal databases and investigates a wide range of data acquisition methods, encompassing diverse motion capture techniques, facial expression recording, and various approaches for capturing audio and MIDI data (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). The survey also explores Music Information Retrieval (MIR) tasks, with a particular emphasis on the Musical Performance Analysis (MPA) field, and offers an overview of various works in the realm of Musical Instrument Performance Synthesis (MIPS), encompassing recent advancements in generative models. The ultimate aim of this survey is to unveil the technological limitations, initiate a dialogue about the current challenges, and propose promising avenues for future research at the intersection of technology and the arts.

The fundamental elements of rhethoric and their impact on music art

Relevance. Rhetoric, traditionally associated with effective speech, also deeply influences musical composition and interpretation, particularly in string and plucked instruments which are emblematic of Ukrainian national art. This article explores the significant interplay between rhetorical principles and musical expression, emphasizing its relevance in the context of contemporary performance art.Purpose. The study aims to investigate how rhetorical principles, specifically the inventio techniques, apply to musical expression and performance. It seeks to enrich the theoretical framework of Ukrainian musicology with innovative approaches to the application of rhetorical inventio in music.Methodology. The research is grounded in the linguistic musicology of B. Asafiev�s school and incorporates a detailed examination of the tone-sound specifics of expressive sound production in music. The methodology involves analyzing the inventio principles and their impact on the artistic components of instrumental playing.Results. The study identifies the intensity of the artistic component in instrumental music creation and performance, highlighting the role of rhetorical principles in shaping the expressive sound production and performer�s artistic stance. It also recognizes the theoretical innovation brought about by integrating rhetorical inventio into musicological discourse.Conclusions. The findings demonstrate that rhetorical principles, particularly inventio, significantly enhance musical expression and instrumental performance. This integration not only supports the improvisational skills of musicians but also contributes to a richer and more nuanced understanding of musical composition and its performance in the modern era. The research underscores the potential for further exploration and application of rhetoric in musicology, promising advancements in both theoretical and practical dimensions of musical art.

Research on Ancient Instrumental Music Performance

As we all know, primitive society is a long historical period. The main expression of primitive music is presented in the rich historical records of mankind, including documentary records, various legends, prehistoric remains and archaeological artifacts, etc. According to various studies, it is not difficult to find out that in the ancient society, poetry, music, and dance are integrated and inseparable from each other, and music occupies a dominant position in them. There are many famous figures about instrumental music performance in ancient times, who had a very positive and far-reaching influence on the development of instrumental music performance in ancient times. This paper discusses the issues related to instrumental music performances in the ancient times.

Combining Traditional Culture with Trends to Innovate the Way of Cultural Dissemination-Taking Henan Satellite TV as an Example

From Hanfu culture to traditional costumes of various ethnic groups, the national style has gradually become mainstream among Chinese young people in recent years. On We-media, many videos about traditional Chinese culture have become popular. From the performance of traditional Chinese musical instruments in streets and alleys around the world to Chinese dancers like Ma Jiaolong dancing Chinese folk dances around the world, Chinese traditional culture is reinterpreted in a novel way. And Henan Satellite TV has also been on Weibos hot search because of its unique traditional cultural programs. In the "Tang Palace Night Banquet" in the twelfth lunar month of 2020, Henan Satellite TV adopted the form of choreography to "live" the cultural relics displayed in the museum again, giving life to the cultural relics, and creating a new way of disseminating traditional culture. Taking Henan Satellite TV as an example, this paper will discuss the new way of spreading Chinese traditional culture in the new era based on the history of Henan itself. The integration of traditional culture and modern new communication methods, combined with the integration of modern audiences' artistic aesthetics, makes traditional culture adapt to contemporary communication styles, which is more conducive to the spread of traditional culture. This breakthrough by Henan Satellite TV provides new ideas for the more extensive and long-term dissemination of traditional Chinese culture.

Recording and analysing physical control variables used in clarinet playing: A musical instrument performance capture and analysis toolbox (MIPCAT)

Measuring fine-grained physical interaction between the human player and the musical instrument can significantly improve our understanding of music performance. This article presents a Musical Instrument Performance Capture and Analysis Toolbox (MIPCAT) that can be used to capture and to process the physical control variables used by a musician while performing music. This includes both a measurement apparatus with sensors and a software toolbox for analysis. Several of the components used here can also be applied in other musical contexts. The system is here applied to the clarinet, where the instrument sensors record blowing pressure, reed position, tongue contact, and sound pressures in the mouth, mouthpiece, and barrel. Radiated sound and multiple videos are also recorded to allow details of the embouchure and the instrument’s motion to be determined. The software toolbox can synchronise measurements from different devices, including video sources, extract time-variable descriptors, segment by notes and excerpts, and summarise descriptors per note, phrase, or excerpt. An example of its application shows how to compare performances from different musicians.

Research on the Application of Online and Offline Blended Courses—Taking the Course of “Musical Instrument Performance–Erhu” of Sichuan Minzu College as an Example

Research on the Application of Online and Offline Blended Courses—Taking the Course of “Musical Instrument Performance–Erhu” of Sichuan Minzu College as an Example

The Aspect of Shenyang Normal University's Undergraduate: Thesis on Music Performance Study

This paper employed document analysis of specific thesis studies in musical instrument performance majors at Shenyang Normal University.The aim of this study was to study perspectives on topic selection, diversity, literature review, presentation ability, and thesis format.Thesis scope studies were chosen between 2016 and 2021.The thesis comprehensive bachelor's and master's thesis 116 as an analysis object, forming undergraduate students of 163 and 26 postgraduate students, totalling 189. On the basis of this research, it was found that the title and content were in a narrow group focusing on music practice studies, an initial analysis of music after developing knowledge integration and innovation, research literacy skills, and a thesis, which directly affected the title to the format of the thesis book, with factors affecting in terms of choosing a major, the level of understanding of the advisors, the importance of educational institutions, lack of relevant courses, students' educational level, students' writing attitude, and various observations were requested to be developed into criteria for evaluating music thesis and curriculum reform and music thesis experiment in order to be a manual for writing science in the future and contribute to the problems found as well as additional research by the authors and other experts.

Investigation of the Relationship Between Self-Perceptions of Fine Arts High School Students Towards Their Instruments and Their Music Performance Anxiety

In the study, it was aimed to examine Fine Arts High School (FAHS) students’ self-perceptions for their musical instruments and their music performance anxiety according to some variables. Also it was aimed to reveal the relationship between their self-perceptions for musical instrument and music performance anxiety. The sample of the research consisted of 273 music department students studying at Malatya Abdulkadir Eriş FAHS, Konya Çimento FAHS, Balıkesir T.C. Ziraat Bankası FAHS and Ayvalık Sebahat-Cihan Şişman FAHS. The data for the research were obtained by using the "Self-Perception Scale for A Musical Instrument" and the "Kenny Musical Performance Anxiety Scale". As a result of the study, it was determined that Ayvalık Sebahat-Cihan Şişman FAHS students had lower music performance anxiety than students of other schools. It was concluded that female students experienced more anxiety than male students. In addition, it was determined that as the duration of education increased, the level of self-perception for the musical instrument increased. A statistically significant negative weak correlation was found between self-perception for the musical instrument and musical performance anxiety values. In other words, it was concluded that as the students' self-perceptions for their musical instruments increased, their music performance anxiety decreased.

Neurologic music therapy combined with EEG-tDCS for upper motor extremity performance in patients with corticobasal syndrome: Study protocol for a novel approach

BackgroundCorticobasal syndrome (CBS) is an atypical parkinsonian disorder that involves degeneration of brain regions associated with motor coordination and sensory processing. Combining transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with rehabilitation training has been shown to improve upper-limb performance in other disease models. Here, we describe the protocol investigating whether tDCS with neurologic music therapy (NMT) (patterned sensory enhancement and therapeutic instrumental music performance) enhances functional arm/hand performance in individuals with CBS. MethodsStudy participants are randomly assigned to six 30-min sessions (twice per week for 3 weeks) of NMT + either sham tDCS or active tDCS. We aim to stimulate the frontoparietal cortex, which is associated with movement execution/coordination and sensory processing. The hemisphere contralateral to the more affected arm is stimulated (total stimulation current of 2 mA from 5 dime-sized electrodes). Individualized NMT sessions designed to exercise the upper limb are provided. Participants undergo gross/fine motor, cognitive and emotional assessments at baseline and follow-up (one month after the final session). To investigate the immediate effects of tDCS and NMT training, gross /fine motor, affective level, and kinematic parameter measurements using motion sensors are collected before and after each session. Electroencephalography is used to collect electrical neurophysiological responses before, during, and after tDCS+NMT sessions. The study participants, neurologic music therapist and outcome assessor are blinded to whether participants are in the sham or active tDCS group. ConclusionThis noninvasive and patient-centered clinical trial for CBS may provide insight into rehabilitation options that are sorely lacking in this population.

Performing the ecstasis: An interpretation of Katharine Norman’s Making Place for instrument/s and electronics

Katharine Normans’ work Making Place for instrument/s with live electronics (2013/16) combines recorded sounds, images, text, live interactive processing and instrumental music performance to create a unique experience of place. As the performer, I can choose a location, collect photographic images and recorded sounds, and interpret and re-create the score. The score is semi-improvisatory, consisting of many composed and freely pitched musical gestures which trigger text, visual animations and sound processing. This exposition traces the re-conceptualization, adaptation and performance of Making Place for alto flute. A multi-layered experimental methodology evolved that encompassed practice, discussion, description and reflection, with the performance itself forming the pivotal event, the epoché. To begin I share pre-performance thoughts – ideas of re-conceptualization and the construction of method. I follow with an account of pre-performance activities – the walk, collecting materials, transposing the music for alto flute, inserting new artefacts into the software, and rehearsals. Next come descriptions of the performance, and finally, I offer a reflective conclusion to the project. This project illuminated the quotidian through sound, image and text, transforming the everydayness of a walk along a disused railway track, turned walking/cycling track, in Victoria, Australia, into an extraordinary musical work, creating a shift from a knowing about to a knowing from within, from playing and doing to reflective awareness.

Self-designed hierarchical network based hand shape intelligent recognition and evaluation for Chinese zither performing

A proper hand shape is the foundation for professional musical instrument performance. In this paper, the image recognition technology based on artificial intelligence is introduced into the hand shape recognition of performing Chinese zither, which is referred to as Zheng in Chinese, for the first time to realize the function of hand shape intelligent evaluation and the self-designed hierarchical network is proposed to recognize and evaluate correct hand shape for Zheng performing. The intra-class difference is larger than the inter-class difference for Zheng performing hand shape image, which belongs to fine-grained image. Therefore, we use the first layer network to determine four classes of images acquired from different viewpoints. Meanwhile, the feature maps from different convolutional blocks of this layer are concatenated as the input of the second layer, which performs fine classification of Zheng performing hand shape images. Consequently, the learning ability of the network can be improved and the complexity of the network can be reduced at the same time. We design an experimental paradigm for instrumentalist hand shape performance evaluation, formulate a Zheng hand shape evaluation merit based on image recognition, and construct a Chinese zither hand shape Dataset (CZ-dataset V3) for the real scene. The experiments show that the method proposed in this paper can effectively improve the recognition accuracy of fine-grained hand shape images and the result is consistent with the evaluation of professional advisors, which realizes the perfect combination of the intelligent image recognition and the hand shape evaluation for Chinese traditional instrument performing.

Emotional Analysis and Personalized Recommendation Analysis in Music Performance

Music performance belongs to music recreation activities, is through singing, musical instrument performance, and vocal conductor, including a variety of artistic means, to convey music to the audience with real sound effects that can be felt, and can play its social function. Emotional state is a part of the whole attitude, which is consistent with introverted feelings and intentions in attitude, and is a complex and stable physiological evaluation and experience of attitude in physiology. This paper first introduces the concepts of music performance from the perspective of music appreciation and music ability. Then based on the emotional feature learning of matrix factorization constrained nonnegative matrix factorization and model optimization algorithm are used to analyze the emotional aspects of music. Finally, through the experimental comparison of the difficulty of emotion in various artistic creations, a conclusion is drawn. The research involves matrix decomposition, mathematical modeling, model optimization, digital audio technology application, and other fields. In the third part of this paper, the constrained nonnegative matrix factorization, the constrained nonnegative matrix factorization with external information, and the model optimization algorithm are used to study the mathematical modeling.

Neurologic Music Therapy Improves Participation in Children With Severe Cerebral Palsy.

Positive effects after neurologic music therapy (NMT) have been described regarding the motor function of children with severe cerebral palsy (CP). This study aimed to quantify improvements in participation, as well as complexity on task-related manual activities in children with severe bilateral CP. This analytic quasi-experimental study exposed 17 children with severe cerebral palsy to 13 NMT sessions to improve motor learning through therapeutic instrumental music performance (TIMP), using principally percussion musical instruments. Hoisan software video recording was used to quantify participation involved in creating music. In addition, the number of active movements performed in each NMT session was quantified. Significant improvements were found in the participation variables “visual contact,” “motor participation” and “motor participation repetitions.” Significant differences were also found in the subcategory “reaching and stroke,” “hitting with the hand” and “grasping and hitting.” The use of therapeutic of TIMP in children with severe CP improves participation during manual activities utilizing percussion instruments, therefore increasing the intensity of the psychomotor intervention.

Involvement of global coordinative structure in achieving the local pendulum swinging task.

In the literature on inter-limb coordination, the coordination among ‘‘focal’’ body parts (i.e., the two limbs) directly engaged in a pendulum swinging task has been studied by immobilizing other body parts to reduce “noise,” while putting aside questions of how one maintains posture while performing the task. However, in practical performance of musical instruments, for example, performers must coordinate different body parts in sync with the music while maintaining the whole body’s balance. This study demonstrates the effectiveness and necessity of understanding inter-limb coordination in whole-body coordination. Participants were asked to move two pendulums either in sync or alternatively with metronome beeps under two conditions: immobile (fixed forearms) and mobile (forearms not fixed). The explorative analyses focused on whether and how coordinative structures emerged and whether the degree of task achievement differed according to the phase mode, frequency, and mobility conditions. The motion similarity and phase difference between different parts and the pendulums showed that task-specific coordinative structures emerged in both immobile and mobile conditions. In the in-phase mobile condition, the emergent coordinative structure may have improved task achievement, shown by the phase difference between the left and right pendulums. These findings suggest that the global coordinative structure is involved in achieving the local pendulum swinging task.

Development and Evaluation of a Musical Instrument Performance Support System Using Smart Glasses

Development and Evaluation of a Musical Instrument Performance Support System Using Smart Glasses

Challenges and Optimization Paths of Guzheng Professional Education in Colleges under Big Data Era.

As a treasure among Chinese national musical instruments, guzheng is an important part of traditional Chinese music. As the art of national music goes to the world, the art of guzheng has been widely promoted. As the best form to carry forward the art of guzheng, the teaching of guzheng majors in colleges is significant in teaching and continuously improves guzheng art accomplishment. Oral teaching and step-by-step music theory and technique teaching are typical ways of teaching musical instrument performance in colleges. However, under big data, Chinese education is undergoing a profound change, and the combination of big data and education has become a new contemporary education method. This work studies the guzheng professional education in colleges under big data. First, this work aims at the existing outstanding issues of guzheng teaching in colleges and studies the challenges and optimization paths of guzheng professional education in colleges under big data. Second, this work proposes a multiscale residual attention fusion network (MSRAFNET) to evaluate the teaching quality of guzheng majors in colleges in the era of big data. The feature extraction of the network model is mainly completed by the residual module, which is composed of several multiscale residual learning units. Adding an attention mechanism to the multiscale residual learning unit can enhance the feature extraction of key information by the network and reduce the interference of redundant information, which is more conducive to the learning of data features. It adopts the design of GAP and Dropout to reduce spatial parameters in network training, and the effect of antioverfitting is better. Third, this work systematically evaluates the optimization path of Guzheng education and MSRAFNET, and the systematic experiments verify the superiority of the designed method.

Therapeutic Instrumental Music Training and Motor Imagery in Post-Stroke Upper-Extremity Rehabilitation: A Randomized-Controlled Pilot Study

ObjectiveTo investigate the potential benefits of 3 therapeutic instrumental music performance (TIMP)-based interventions in rehabilitation of the affected upper-extremity (UE) for adults with chronic poststroke hemiparesis. DesignRandomized-controlled pilot study. SettingUniversity research facility. ParticipantsCommunity-dwelling volunteers (N=30; 16 men, 14 women; age range, 33-76 years; mean age, 55.9 years) began and completed the protocol. All participants had sustained a unilateral stroke more than 6 months before enrollment (mean time poststroke, 66.9 months). InterventionTwo baseline assessments, a minimum of 1 week apart; 9 intervention sessions (3 times/week for 3 weeks), in which rhythmically cued, functional arm movements were mapped onto musical instruments; and 1 post-test following the final intervention. Participants were block-randomized to 1 of 3 conditions: group 1 (45 minutes TIMP), group 2 (30 minutes TIMP, 15 minutes metronome-cued motor imagery [TIMP+cMI]), and group 3 (30 minutes TIMP, 15 minutes motor imagery without cues [TIMP+MI]). Assessors and investigators were blinded to group assignment. Main Outcome MeasuresFugl-Meyer Upper-Extremity (FM-UE) and Wolf Motor Function Test- Functional Ability Scale (WMFT-FAS). Secondary measures were motor activity log (MAL)–amount of use scale and trunk impairment scale. ResultsAll groups made statistically significant gains on the FM-UE (TIMP, P=.005, r=.63; TIMP+cMI, P=.007, r=.63; TIMP+MI, P=.007, r=.61) and the WMFT-FAS (TIMP, P=.024, r=.53; TIMP+cMI, P=.008, r=.60; TIMP+MI, P=.008, r=.63). Comparing between-group percent change differences, on the FM-UE, TIMP scored significantly higher than TIMP+cMI (P=.032, r=.57), but not TIMP+MI. There were no differences in improvement on WMFT-FAS across conditions. On the MAL, gains were significant for TIMP (P=.030, r=.54) and TIMP+MI (P=.007, r=.63). ConclusionTIMP-based techniques, with and without MI, led to significant improvements in paretic arm control on primary outcomes. Replacing a physical training segment with imagery-based training resulted in similar improvements; however, synchronizing internal and external cues during auditory-cMI may pose additional sensorimotor integration challenges.

Introduction to the Musical Acoustics technical area

The field of musical acoustics encompasses all aspects of the design, construction, and performance of musical instruments (including the voice), as well as the physical and cultural environment in which they are played, with the goal of understanding how these elements contribute, separately or together, to the acoustic characteristics. While the general acoustic behavior of most musical instruments can be explained in terms of fundamental principles governing waves in strings, pipes, and plates, there is a high degree of complexity in the mechanical motion and the resulting sound that enables a rich variety of tonal character and musical expression. This presentation will provide an overview of current research areas that address the complexity and variety of musical instruments and the listener experience, including nonlinear effects, flow-structure interaction, computational modeling and machine learning, measurement techniques, performer-instrument interaction, and recording/playback technology. Along the way, the relevance of other technical areas of acoustics will be noted, including physical acoustics, structural acoustics, signal processing, computational acoustics, and psychological and physiological acoustics.