Musical Engagement Research Articles

Moods, Emotions, and Engagement in a Music Ensemble Course: A Mixed Method Study with Brazilian Undergraduate Students

This study explores the self-reported perception of moods, emotions, and engagement of Brazilian undergraduate students enrolled in a music ensemble course. A mixed method approach was used through a convergent design. Sixteen Brazilian undergraduate students enrolled in a music ensemble course participated in this research. The Present Mood States List (PMSL) was used as a quantitative data collection instrument before and after 15 encounters (14 classes and a final concert). Analysis of quantitative data showed that 15 differences in the mood state values were statistically significant when considering all encounters and 22 differences were statistically significant in specific encounters. The qualitative data collection procedures were (1) the application of a questionnaire on emotions and musical engagement after each encounter and (2) a semi-structured group interview carried out after the fourteenth class. The qualitative data were grouped into four categories: didactics, music repertoire, moods, and data collection. According to the results, participants presented mostly positive mood states and emotions both before and after the encounters. In general, the students’ mood states and emotions seemed to influence their musical engagement, and, at the same time, their sense of musical engagement seemed to influence the presence of positive experiences.

Quantifying tightness - Looseness of interactions with dynamical systems methods. A Comment on “Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose interpretability” by T. C. Rabinowitch

Quantifying tightness - Looseness of interactions with dynamical systems methods. A Comment on “Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose interpretability” by T. C. Rabinowitch

Mechanisms underlying the social effects of music: Comment on “Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose interpretability”

Mechanisms underlying the social effects of music: Comment on “Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose interpretability”

Listen Up: A case study examination of focused listening

Today, most everyday music listening is an accompaniment to other activities; it is far less common that listening is someone’s primary activity, receiving most of their attention. In this article, we present a case study, Listen Up, run by Indigo Project, a mental health organization in Sydney, Australia, in which we explored relationships between participants’ responses to the experience and their demographics and styles of music engagement. A sample of 187 Australian residents (aged 20–64 years) who attended Listen Up completed a survey measuring music engagement; emotional responses to the experience; perceived outcomes of the session; pre- and post-measures of stress, mood, and anxiety; and free-text responses to questions concerning their experiences of listening mindfully and any thoughts or feelings that arose during the session. Participants experienced an increased mood and decreased levels of stress and arousal after taking part in Listen Up. Their focused-listening experiences were not simply characterized by enjoying the music; rather, the emotions evoked were varied and complex. We characterized their emotional responses as negative, positive, evocative and expressive, and sad; in addition, participants characterized their own experiences as a cathartic journey resolving into a positive, peaceful, and calm state. Reported outcomes of participating in Listen Up included experiences described as being emotionally challenging, therapeutic, and physically uncomfortable. An affective music engagement style was positively associated with evocative and expressive and sad emotional experiences, and therapeutic outcomes. As a focused-listening experience, Listen Up provides participants with the opportunity not only to attend to music but also to reflect on and process their personal thoughts and feelings. This research provides evidence for the emotional and mental health benefits of focused music listening, such that, focused listening reflects opportunities for strong experiences with music in today’s listening landscape.

Music Engagement as a Source of Cognitive Reserve.

Music engagement is a ubiquitous activity that is thought to have cognitive benefits for the rapidly aging population. In the absence of robust treatment approaches for many age-related and neuropathological health issues, interest has emerged surrounding lifestyle-enriching activities, like exercise and music engagement, to build cognitive reserve across the lifespan and preserve neurocognitive function in older adults. The present review evaluates evidence of neurocognitive preservation arising from lifelong music engagement with respect to the cognitive reserve hypothesis. We collated a body of neuroimaging, behavioral and epidemiological evidence to adjudicate the benefits of music engagement for cognitive reserve. The findings suggest that music engagement should be considered in tandem with other well-established cognitive reserve proxies as a contributor to differential clinical outcomes in older populations at risk of age-related and neuropathological cognitive decline.

인공지능(AI) 리터러시 함양을 위한 음악 내용요소 및 수행기대 개발

Objectives The purpose of this study was to develop content elements and performance expectations for integrating AI literacy with music, based on the emphasis on artificial intelligence utilization education in the revised 2022 curriculum.
 Methods Based on a literature review of AI literacy, this study extracted AI-related components from the “Elementary and Middle School Artificial Intelligence Education Content Standards” developed by the Ministry of Education. Subsequently, AI content elements relevant to music were identified and selected, and corresponding performance expectations for elementary and middle school levels were formulated. These content elements and performance expectations were categorized into principles and applications, aligned with the three domains of AI literacy: understanding, applying, and critiquing.
 Results In the “Understanding” domain, participants grasped principles related to ‘Collection and Exploration of Music Data’ and ‘Visualization and Prediction of Music Data,’ which were then applied to activities fostering an understanding of ‘Music Elements and Characteristics through AI Utilization.’ Within the “Applying” domain, principles grounded in ‘AI Advancements and Diverse Musical Applications’ were employed for activities involving ‘Performance, Creation, and Appreciation through AI-Driven Music Engagement.’ In the “Critiquing” domain, principles concerning ‘Understanding Bias and Promoting Diversity in Music Data’ and ‘Ethics and Responsible Usage of AI in Music’ were identified. This section further encapsulates content elements and performance expectations that can be utilized to comprehend broader aspects of life and careers coexisting with AI in music, extending to the ‘Copyright and Artistic Value of AI-Generated Music Works.’
 Conclusions The AI literacy-enriched music content elements and performance expectations developed in this study are expected to offer insights into the future direction of curriculum development and instructional strategies within the context of AI education. These contributions are anticipated to guide the implementation of music curricula that can effectively integrate with the evolving AI education landscape, shaping the trajectory of teaching and learning.

Coordinating actions as active agents in a dynamic musical environment: Comment on “Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose interpretability” by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch

Coordinating actions as active agents in a dynamic musical environment: Comment on “Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose interpretability” by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch

Additional aspects to the tight-loose in music model: Comment on “Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose Interpretability” by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch

Additional aspects to the tight-loose in music model: Comment on “Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose Interpretability” by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch

The music we march to: Beyond beat, floating intentionality and improvisation: A comment on “Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose interpretability” by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch

The music we march to: Beyond beat, floating intentionality and improvisation: A comment on “Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose interpretability” by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch

Knowledge clustering and the acquisition of creative expertise: Comment on “Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose interpretability” by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch

Knowledge clustering and the acquisition of creative expertise: Comment on “Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose interpretability” by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch

Connecting through music: A systematic review of the use of music to reduce loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic

Social interactions were limited due to COVID-19 restrictions resulting in a high prevalence of loneliness and social isolation. The purpose of this systematic review is to investigate the impact of engaging in music on the experience of loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. We included nine articles with a total of 16,176 participants, all of which reported upon the impact of musical engagement in the form of music listening or music-related activities on loneliness. The average age of participants was 43 ± 15 years, and 37% were male. Eight studies (88.9%) reported that music engagement reduced loneliness. This systematic review demonstrates that music may have had a beneficial impact on loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings suggest that the use of music is an accessible method to cope with feelings of loneliness and improve overall wellbeing during times of social isolation.

Intercultural Music Engagement over Electronic Bridges: Online Ethnography and Actions Research during COVID-19 Lockdown

This contribution details methodological adaptations of face-to-face ethnographic and participatory research approaches for the digital realm and examines emergent ethical concerns. It developed while a research team in Melbourne considered the implications of COVID-19 lockdown for their research on social connection through intercultural music engagement. Pursuing the proliferation of online music activity aimed at maintaining social bonds during the physical distancing of the first months of the pandemic, the team turned to digital platforms as the field of research. Projects included observation of audience engagement with YouTube music broadcasts during COVID-19 lockdown and a participatory action research project exploring asynchronous multitracking performance. The pandemic underlined the world’s increasing interconnectedness, where social ties can span the local to the global. Through an appraisal of the research and consideration of existing discourse about online research approaches and decolonizing methodology, the article also examines the implications of global interconnectedness for interdisciplinary inquiry and the study of different cultural identities and their music and dance practice.

Differential associations of leisure music engagement with resilience: A network analysis.

Several factors associated with resilience as the maintenance of mental health despite stress exposure can be strengthened through participation in leisure time activities. Since many people listen to or make music in their leisure time, the aim of the present study was to provide insights into the architecture of how resilience relates to passive and active music engagement. 511 participants regularly listening to and/or making music completed an online survey on resilient outcomes (i.e., mental health and stressor recovery ability), different resilience factors (e.g., optimism, social support), quantitative music engagement (i.e., time spent with music listening/making) and qualitative music engagement (i.e., use of music listening/making for mood regulation). Bivariate correlations showed that subjects spending more time with music making reported better stressor recovery ability and less mental health problems, while partial correlational network analysis revealed no unique associations for quantitative music engagement. Regarding qualitative music engagement, people using music-based mood regulation reported lower mental health, mindfulness, and optimism, but also higher social support. A more heterogeneous pattern emerged for single music-based mood regulation strategies. Our findings highlight the importance of the individual (mal-)adaptive use of music, painting a more nuanced picture of music engagement and resilience.

Pentecostal Pedagogy and Musical Engagement: A Narrative Portrait

Abstract This narrative portrait of Michelle, a Bahamian elementary music teacher working in the southeastern United States, illustrates how Emdin's (2016) Pentecostal pedagogy might apply to music education. An element of Emdin's broader reality pedagogy, Pentecostal pedagogy emphasizes ways in which a teacher engages students in educational content by connecting with them emotionally, balancing structure and improvisation, utilizing knowledge about students’ backgrounds and interests to present material in meaningful ways, and fostering a sense of community. We chose narrative portraiture (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997) as a means to illustrate the vibrancy, flexibility, and holistic embodiment evident in Michelle's classroom. The research process was generative and iterative, with attention to elements of portraiture including context, voice, relationship, emergent themes, and the aesthetic whole. The portrait illustrates ways that Michelle exemplified tenets of Pentecostal pedagogy, including offering expressions of love juxtaposed with fierce musical expectations; using a variety of voice inflections and facial expressions to maintain student attention; emphasizing context; creating community; sequencing material to facilitate student openness to unfamiliar concepts; using call and response to assess and energize students; balancing structure and improvisation; and teaching for musical, intellectual, physical, and emotional transformation. This portrait depicts nuanced differences between merely teaching students “their” music within a traditional, Eurocentric pedagogy versus teaching a broad variety of genres with an engaging approach. Findings pave the way for broader discussions about how teachers from a variety of backgrounds might work with a variety of students.

Buskers as agents of change in Hong Kong

While busking can provide entertainment and contribute to community development, it can also stimulate discussions and debates within the community, prompting individuals to reflect on political and social crises. This is the case of post-pandemic Hong Kong, where citizens’ lives are tightly controlled; following a series of social movements, public gatherings have been prohibited due to questionable social distancing measures and the closure of pedestrian zones. This article presents a case study that examines the role of buskers as agents of change through community music engagement. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with three buskers, participant observation and field notes taken during busking events. The findings from the conversation analysis revealed that buskers and citizens’ participation in busking activities helped cultivate their creative expression of ideas, empowering them to transcend the rigid societal structure and unequal power relations between authorities and citizens, enabling social advocacy efforts such as reclaiming lost public space, expanding the community into the online realm, and fostering a cultivated mindset of ‘becoming’ that sustains the possibilities of autonomy within the community.

Musical engagement at any cost? Community music leaders’ embrace of technology-enabled music-making during the COVID-19 pandemic

In an alternative universe to popular music (PM) education, many community music (CM) educators turned to technology during unprecedented pandemic disruptions, attempting to maintain group music-making and social connections. This study investigates CM technology-aided pandemusicking, drawing from case studies of twelve Canadian leaders, and finding that music fields, values and goals were blurred. These leaders often used recorded and live internet music-making, which required adopting digital technologies that align more closely with PM fields than their traditional practices. Pandemusicking was often a difficult solution, but leaders were aided by increased consumption and skill-partnerships. Nuanced considerations from literature on media culture counter utopian rhetoric about tech-enabled democracy, consumption and participation while prompting reflections on broader implications of a technological world that leaves some music participants and educators behind. This outcome has vital implications for leaders with inclusive goals, who work with wide age ranges, and it suggests potential roles of PM education and educators.

Playing Musically: Developing Healthy and Expressive Singing Instrumentalists

When working with beginning instrumentalists, many music educators emphasize executive skills specific to the mechanics of playing an instrument. However, beginning students can also benefit from focused vocal instruction as a complement to their musical growth in the instrumental setting. Because instrumental music educators may feel ill equipped to implement vocal strategies, it is important to arm instrumental music teachers with practical tools specific to students’ singing voices. In this article, we share the benefits of vocal instruction in the instrumental music classroom, considerations for the changing voice, and specific strategies for applying singing activities to help students’ musical development. The activities and strategies provided opportunities for students to create, perform, and respond to music in a variety of ways while developing their singing voices and strong musicianship skills and knowledge, promoting lifelong music engagement.

Building community through higher music education: a training program for facilitating musical engagement among older adults.

Preparing music students to design and carry out community-based initiatives can be an effective way to enhance their employability and their wellbeing. With a large body of evidence now pointing to the benefits of musical engagement for older adults, both for individuals and for society as a whole, there is considerable opportunity and value in training aspiring professional musicians to work with and on behalf of those in their third and fourth age. This article describes a seminar designed by a Swiss conservatoire in collaboration with local nursing homes involving residents and music university students in a 10-week group music making program. On the basis of the positive results to emerge in terms of health, wellbeing and career preparation, we aim to provide information relevant for colleagues to replicate this seminar in other higher music education institutions. Moreover, this paper aims to shed light on the complexity of designing music students' training so that they acquire the competences needed to deliver meaningful, community-based initiatives alongside their other professional training commitments, and to provide directions for future research. The development and implementation of these points could foster the increase and sustainability of innovative programs beneficial for older adults, musicians and local communities.

Music Engagement and Episodic Memory Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A National Longitudinal Analysis.

The objective of this study was to examine associations between music engagement and episodic memory for more than 12 years in a nationally representative sample of middle- and older-aged adults in the United States. This study is based on a secondary analysis of data from a sample (N = 5,021) of cognitively normal adults from the Health and Retirement Study (2006-2018). Episodic memory was measured by immediate and delayed recall tasks. Music engagement was classified as none, passive (i.e., listening to music), active (i.e., singing and/or playing an instrument), or both (i.e., listening to music and singing or playing an instrument). Compared with those with no music engagement, respondents who reported both passive and active engagement performed 0.258 points better at baseline on episodic memory tasks. This group also performed better across time with scores that declined by 0.043 points fewer per study visit. Additionally, compared to those with no music engagement, participants with passive music engagement had scores that declined by 0.023 points fewer per visit. There were no significant differences in performance at baseline for those with passive or active music engagement, or across time for those with active engagement. The results of this study suggest that engaging in both passive and active music engagement may be superior to engaging with music only passively or actively and that engaging in music both ways may be able to protect against age-related declines in episodic memory. Future research should examine whether community-based music engagement interventions can affect this trajectory of decline.

The Development of a UK Culturally Adapted and Modified Version of the Person Attuned Musical Interactions Manual: Protocol for a 2-Phase Mixed Methods Study

Previous research has suggested that care home interactions need significant improvements, especially those between staff and residents with dementia. Reasons for the lack of interactions are staff time pressures and residents' language impairments. Although residents may experience reduced language abilities, they can continue to communicate through other forms, including nonverbal communication and music. Person Attuned Musical Interactions (PAMI) is a staff training tool that provides staff with music therapy skill-sharing to promote high-quality interactions between staff and residents using nonverbal communication and music. The tool was originally developed in Denmark. To ensure that the tool is appropriate for UK care homes, a team of researchers in the United Kingdom have modified and culturally adapted the tool. This study aims to investigate the appropriateness of the adapted and modified manual for UK care homes and to explore the impact of PAMI on residents with dementia and care staff. The project consists of 2 phases, a qualitative field-testing study and a mixed methods evaluation study, which have been developed following the Medical Research Council's guidelines for complex interventions. Care staff and residents with dementia will be recruited from care homes in Lincolnshire, where the care staff will be trained in the PAMI intervention before implementing the intervention in their daily routines. Fortnightly reflective sessions will be provided throughout the phases to provide supervision and monitoring. The qualitative methods include interviews, reflective session transcripts, diary entries, and resident experience questionnaires. The quantitative outcome measures are residents' music engagement, staff's dementia competence, residents' quality of life, and staff burden. The resident's music engagement will be administered at 9 fortnightly time points. Staff's dementia competence, resident's quality of life, and staff burden will be administered at preintervention and postintervention time points. The study has been funded by The Music Therapy Charity as part of a PhD studentship. The study began recruiting in September 2021. The research team aims to publish the results of the first phase in July to September 2023 and those of the second phase in October to December 2023. This study will be the first to investigate the modified version of PAMI. Therefore, it will provide feedback on the appropriateness of the manual for UK care homes. The PAMI intervention has the potential to offer high-quality music intervention training to a larger population of care homes who may currently be restricted by finances, the availability of time, and a lack of training opportunities. DERR1-10.2196/43408.