Musical Performance Research Articles

Influence of Blowing Musical Instruments on Geometrical Face Changes: 3D Evaluation Study.

This study examined changes in facial geometry while playing wind instruments. Nine musicians participated (6 men, 3 women, mean age 52 years) in part 1 of the study, and 3 musicians participated (3 women, mean age 41 years) in part 2. In part 1, the high and low notes of each instrument were selected as test sounds. Facial geometry data were recorded using a 3D scanner. In part 2, facial geometry data were recorded using a 4D scanner while a melody was played. Data were superimposed and analyzed using 3D analysis software. Numerical values and color maps of deviations were obtained. The results of part 1 revealed that the median 3D deviation was 1.1 mm (range 0.42-1.45 mm), indicating that facial geometry while playing high and low notes was varied. The results of part 2 showed that the stable part was the frontal region and dorsal part of the nose. The approach used in this study has potential applications for evaluating facial geometry during musical instrument performances.

The Juncture Of Musical Theatre And Theatrical Music: A Literature Review

This paper is a position paper that highlights the intersection of musical theatre and theatrical music, two art forms within the Ghanaian context that blend music and drama but with distinct orientations. The essence is to clarify blurred boundaries and lack of clear distinction between these two art forms, which often leads students of music to confusion or misinterpretation in composition and performance discourse, performance practices, and artistic production. The approach used is a review of some topical issues related to the topic to unravel the distinction to make contribution to knowledge in music composition and performance as well as other cognate disciplines such as ethnomusicology and theatre studies. It is seen that while musical theatre integrates music as a vehicle for storytelling within a staged performance, theatrical music emphasises music's dramatic qualities without necessarily conforming to theatrical conventions. The two concepts have shared elements such as narrative, emotional expression, and performance as well as some differences in structure. Understanding the two Chiasmus is key to composing works that identify the key juncture where these art forms converge, offering insights into their mutual influence in contemporary performance.

THEORETICAL FUNDAMENTALS OF UZBEK FOLK MUSIC PERFORMANCE

This article examines the history of traditional methods of Uzbek folk music performance, performance culture and musical works. Uzbek folk music is rich in its own methods and national musical instruments, and these art forms have been passed down from generation to generation. In this article, the preservation and development of folk music through teacher-disciple schools, which were brought up mainly on the basis of oral tradition, as well as the role of these traditions in modern performance are widely discussed. Genres of Uzbek folk music performance, their uniqueness and the role of musical traditions in society are analyzed.

Review: Duo Precipice: Contemporary Works for Oboe and Percussion. Ann Fronckowiak, oboe, and Cristian Zavola, percussion. April 6, 2023. School of Music Performance Hall, Texas A&M University, Kingsville, TX.

Review: Duo Precipice: Contemporary Works for Oboe and Percussion. Ann Fronckowiak, oboe, and Cristian Zavola, percussion. April 6, 2023. School of Music Performance Hall, Texas A&M University, Kingsville, TX.

Duo Precipice: Contemporary Works for Oboe and Percussion. Ann Fronckowiak, oboe, and Cristian Zavola, percussion. April 6, 2023. School of Music Performance Hall, Texas A&M University, Kingsville, TX.

Duo Precipice: Contemporary Works for Oboe and Percussion. Ann Fronckowiak, oboe, and Cristian Zavola, percussion. April 6, 2023. School of Music Performance Hall, Texas A&M University, Kingsville, TX.

Prevalence of Painful Temporomandibular Disorder Symptoms Among Professional and Student Musicians: An Online Survey.

Within the fields of medicine and music, increasing attention is given to evidence indicating music performance being an occupational risk factor for temporo-mandibular disorders (TMD). Assessment of self-reported painful TMD symptoms among student and professional musicians. Using Survey Monkey software, the German version of the 'TMD-Pain-Screener' was distributed electronically to professional and student musicians in Europe. Supplementary questions addressed age, gender, daily playtime, instrument type and type of professional practice. Results are presented as median [interquartile range]. The TMD-pain-screener was completed by 492 participants. Among them, 96 (19.5%) reported painful TMD (Pain_pos) and 396 did not experience pain (80.5%, Pain_neg). Pain_pos participants were significantly younger (Pain_pos: 34 years [26; 46], Pain_neg: 44 years [30; 56], p = 0.0003), had less work experience (Pain_pos: 15.5 years [6; 25], Pain_neg: 20 years [10; 32], p = 0.009), had fewer performances/year (Pain_pos: 20/year [10; 45], Pain_neg: 30/year [12; 53.5], p = 0.03) and were predominantly female (OR = 3.22 [1.87, 5.74], p < 0.0001). Comparisons among music performance types revealed no statistical significance in the overall test (p = 0.13), although 'keyboard' (OR = 2.99 [0.58, 30.12]), 'upper string' (OR = 2.31 [0.43, 23.63]) and 'singer' (OR = 2.14 [0.44, 20.75]) stood out compared to the reference group 'lower string' (OR 1.00). Organ players formed the largest group and showed a comparatively low prevalence of Pain_pos (16%), compared to other keyboard instruments (Pain_pos 30.2%). Prevalence of TMD pain was highest among young inexperienced female musicians. Playing keyboard instruments (other than organ) or upper strings instruments were frequently associated with painful TMD screening. An improved understanding of causes, implementation of preventive measures, professional guidance and a biopsychosocial health care perspective may decrease this occupational risk while maintaining the health benefits of music.

SOME GENRES AND FORMS OF EARLY MUSIC IN MODERN DOMESTIC PRACTICE

The presented scientific research analyzes the performance activities of contemporary artists specializing in harpsichord art at relevant festivals, among which the powerful annual Bach-fest (Sumy) and the Festival of Early Music in Lviv stand out. Throughout its history, the Bach-fest (Sumy) has brought together Ukrainian performers and leading artists from various countries in Europe, America, and Asia. This festival is practically a peer of the Ukrainian harpsichord school, with many musicians from Kyiv and Lviv honing their skills by performing on its stages and participating in its masterclasses. In turn, the Festival of Early Music in Lviv almost immediately became a creative platform for the establishment and development of historically informed performance in Ukraine. These musical meetings of like-minded individuals have become a point of intersection between the European and Ukrainian harpsichord schools, promoting active professional contacts among early music performers. It should be noted that the scholarly comprehension and artistic exploration of the genre panorama of Baroque keyboard music opens new creative perspectives for Ukrainian musicians.

Research on the development direction of Korean popular music performances

Research on the development direction of Korean popular music performances

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&amp;apos;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.

What Is Music For? The Power of Community Music Programs

Drawing from Small’s notion of musicking, I invite readers to recognize the transformative power of community music programs in fostering societal cohesion and personal growth. Central to this discussion is the idea that musicking extends beyond mere musical performance to encapsulate a complex network of relationships among participants, which reflects broader societal interactions as envisaged by those involved. I propose the cyclic nature of building and rebuilding within community music programs and advocate for continuous reflection on the fundamental question: “What is music for?” This paper aims to deepen our understanding of music’s role within our communities.

The Promised Novelty of Mussorgsky's Folk Dramas

Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina are folk dramas, for the composition of which the composer prepared as for the main creative achievements, exploring the artistic style and honing his skills on previous and simultaneously created works. The goal was "new shores &amp;lt;…&amp;gt; of boundless art". M. Mussorgsky's decisive call "to new shores!" is unforgettable in the memory of descendants. However, not everyone knows the full statement of the composer, who strived to "seek these shores, seek tirelessly, without fear and embarrassment", to seek in order to "stand firmly on the promised land" [5]! Referring the reader to the biblical story, the image of the "promised land" can in no way be interpreted as having appeared for the sake of a "catchphrase", since the outlines of the "new shores" are associated with the "deification of the word" in Mussorgsky’s creative work. The composer treated verbal speech in an evangelical manner so responsibly that he considered it to be the source of truth in creativity and in life; he was able to reproduce it on stage as it was not only in external events but also in the internal spiritual dimension. Wemean the divine principle by spirituality. Mussorgsky’s operatic works continue the process of “catechism” of the opera genre started by M. Glinka [11]. In the history of the arts, the secular genre of opera, conciliar in terms of expressive means, occupies a position exceptionally close to the aims of worship. Opera owes its birth to such a situation in the cultural life of “man and humanity”, in which a strong spiritual and educational impact on the listener and viewer was sought. In our Fatherland, the formation of the genre was completed in Glinka’s works with the opera’s acquisition of a meaning-forming for Russian culture faith-centredness. The content of Glinka’s theatrical works is aimed at educating the public according to the evangelical understanding of love. It is what “catechism” of the genre consisted of. A. Dargomyzhsky, M. Mussorgsky, and P. Tchaikovsky were the continuers of Glinka’s work. The works of the 19th century geniuses of Russian opera can be assessed as belonging to the style of “spiritual realism” [14]. Today, despite the still-existing inertial obstacle of the last century to cancel the spiritual principle as the fundamental source of culture, there is a need to return the full content laid down by the authors to opera classics. It also concerns the masterpieces of Mussorgsky, whose personality is associated with the protest novelty of creative work. In relation to the means of musical expression, the composer can truly be called a revolutionary. However, the semantic content of his works belongs firstly to the evangelical character traditional for Russian culture. This “promised” component of Modest Mussorgsky's work is still waiting for its researchers and performers, on whom musical and theatrical life depends, as well as listeners, since opera is a genre that requires preparation of perception. Opera is the art of recognition, which is all the more impressive, the more the listener understands the content of the musical performance. In Mussorgsky's work, it is associated with the evangelical meaning - the "new shores &amp;lt;...&amp;gt; of the promised land".

Perlindungan Hukum Hak Cipta Terhadap Pemutaran Lagu dalam Live Music Performance Perspektif Undang-Undang Hak Cipta dan Hifz Al-Mal di Kafe Purwokerto

Purwokerto has several cafes that use live music to attract customers. In live music, the performers present other people's songs in public with commercial purposes or to seek profit from the song. On the other hand, there are regulations governing the use of other people's creative works. The purpose of this study is to determine the procedure for playing songs at live music performances in cafes in Purwokerto and how the legal protection for playing songs in live music in cafes in Purwokerto is from the perspective of Copyrights Act and hifz al-mal. This study uses an empirical legal approach to analyze the cafe's compliance with economic rights in copyright. The type of research is field research. The results of the study indicate that copyright infringement is more relevant and serious in the context of large concerts that have a significant financial impact, where the use of songs without permission can substantially harm the copyright owner. In contrast, live music performed in cafes with minimal income and driven by humanitarian intentions to entertain or support the community is not considered a significant copyright infringement from a humanitarian perspective and the principle of hifz al-mal. This is due to its small financial impact and underlying good intentions, however, efforts are still needed to respect copyright in the long term in accordance with the principles of justice and protection of property in Copyrights act and hifz al-mal.

Race against Time

Abstract This article attempts to think race, sexuality, and temporality together in modern Iran. By analyzing modern Iranian literature, cinema, and media, it argues that the figure of the Indian evokes difference embodied in physiognomy, language, and sexuality in the Iranian imagination. Moreover, the Indian is temporally out of place and appears as a specter of the premodern Persianate past shared by Iran and India, haunting the modern, nationalist present. After examining racialized depictions of Indians in premodern Persianate texts, the article considers the raced, sexualized, heterotemporal figure of the Indian in popular novels like Dear Uncle Napoleon (1973), Savushun (1969), and The Patient Stone (1966); films like Qarun’s Treasure (1965); and various musical performances from the 1970s to the 2010s. The article contends that for Iranians, the Indian’s uncanny combination of similarity and alterity provokes anxieties about sexuality and racial modernity by seemingly disrupting the temporality of the present.

Bridging musical gaps: creating educational songs with thematic learning for primary school students

This study investigates how elementary school teachers without musical backgrounds create educational songs to support thematic learning under Indonesia's Kurikulum Merdeka. Thematic learning aims to integrate various subjects into cohesive themes, fostering student-centered learning (SCL) and emphasizing active engagement and critical thinking. Although the government provided the guiding textbooks, teachers face challenges in implementing SCL. Eventually, they often revert to conventional, teacher-centered methods. Previous research indicates that songs can serve as effective educational tools, but there is still a lack of thematic songs that align with the curriculum's specific themes. Using a case study approach, this research involved classroom observations, document analysis, and interviews with two first-grade teachers who developed songs for an environmental theme. The study found that teachers could create educational songs by deriving lyrics from teaching materials and improvising melodies, although they needed formal musical notation skills. Teachers and students then used these songs in classroom instruction, engaging in singing and physical activities. Despite inconsistencies in musical performance, the findings indicated that students were enthusiastic and better understood the material through these songs. The study highlights teachers' adaptive nature in leveraging available resources to meet educational objectives and emphasizes the importance of integrating arts, particularly music, into educational practices. The research contributes to the broader discourse on educational innovation, suggesting that even teachers without musical training can effectively create and use educational songs to enhance learning. Empowering teachers with resources and training in songwriting could further enrich thematic learning, fostering creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration among students. This approach aligns with the goals of the Kurikulum Merdeka, supporting holistic educational reforms and improving learning outcomes in Indonesian elementary education.

On the Significance of Classical Instrumental Performance Style in Contemporary Times

The paper explores the significance of classical instrumental performance style in contemporary music,By analyzing the musical structure, emotional expression and playing skills of the classical period, the profound influence of classical music on contemporary music creation and performance is studied.,Discuss the inheritance and innovation of classical music style in neoclassical works based on examples. The research results show that the classical instrumental performance style plays an important role in contemporary music education, the integration of technology and aesthetics, and cross-cultural music exchange, promoting the development and integration of global music and art.Therefore, the classical instrumental performance style has important educational significance and practical value in contemporary times, and can provide players with dual guidance of technology and art.

Influencing Factors and Countermeasures to Improve the Expressive Power of Guzheng Artistry

As one of the traditional Chinese musical instruments, guzheng has a deep cultural heritage and unique artistic charm. The improvement of guzheng's artistic expression is of great significance to the inheritance and development of guzheng culture. This paper analyses the factors affecting the guzheng's artistic expression from the aspects of players' skill level, emotional commitment, music selection and arrangement, as well as the playing environment, and puts forward corresponding countermeasures to improve the performance. Firstly, to improve the players' professionalism, including skills training and music theory learning. Secondly, to cultivate the players' musical emotion, so as to make the performance more infectious. Thirdly, innovate music arrangement and performance techniques to meet the needs of different audiences. Finally, improve the playing environment and equipment to provide good material conditions for playing. Through empirical analyses, this paper verifies the effectiveness of the proposed countermeasures and provides useful insights for the future enhancement of guzheng's expressive power.

The Normative Space of Musical Performance: Expertise and the Symbolic Body

Abstract This article proposes a communicative, imitative, and reflective account of musical learning and expertise. It starts from an affirmative yet critical reading of Høffding and collaborators, notably their idea of a musical arch, meant to bridge distinctions between low-level procedural enactment and high-level reflective cognition. While we embrace much of their analysis, we argue that they uphold tensions between these levels. Drawing on recent enactivist thought, phenomenological and hermeneutic resources, and developmental psychology, we propose a ‘linguistic turn’ that allows us to situate the enactive body in what has been called an ‘original communication-situation’. The original communication-situation encompasses procedural proto-linguistic behaviour and a reflexive level of linguistic co-intentionality procedurally coupled with other bodies. From this perspective, musical co-creation within the normative space of the musical arch is a dialectical actualization of vertical and horizontal experience, reflecting transformative accomplishments of symbolic bodies within a linguistic field of participatory sense-making. The normative space of musical performance is the result of emergent features of music as embodied social practice.

Effects of social support on music performance anxiety among university music students: chain mediation of emotional intelligence and self-efficacy.

The primary goal of this research is to investigate the relationship between social support and music performance anxiety in the context of social cognitive theory and stimulus-organization-response theory among music university students in China. The study involved both postgraduate and undergraduate students. The suggested framework consisted of three independent variables: parental support, teacher support, and peer support, two mediators: emotional intelligence and self-efficacy, and one dependent variable: music performance anxiety. A survey of 483 students was undertaken, and the data was analyzed using path analysis and structural equation modeling. The study discovered that all three forms of parental, teacher, and peer support were positively associated to both self-efficacy and emotional intelligence, with postgraduate students experiencing the strongest effects. Furthermore, self-efficacy and emotional intelligence had a negative significant effect on music performance anxiety, with the association being stronger among postgraduate students. Finally, self-efficacy and emotional intelligence emerged as significant mediators of the relationship between social support and music performance anxiety. These results add to our knowledge of the mechanisms by which social support influences music performance anxiety.

Putting the Mockers On: The Rutles, The Beatles, Rock Biopics and Parody

Many accounts of film genre reiterate a familiar narrative of growth to “classic” maturity and subsequent parody and/or deconstruction, and the biopic is no exception. However, rock music biopics have reversed this narrative, so that the genre begins in parody and only gets serious later. This is partly because rock and roll music began as parody, mainly by white people imitating African Americans, what is known as blackface minstrelsy, in which music and humour are necessarily (because of racism) mixed. In turn, the 60s rock counterculture took many of its cues from this untimely birth, appropriating African-American marginality in modes that were at once serious (concerns about authenticity) and ironic (mockery of Establishment values). This collision of opposites helps explain both the counterculture’s preference for documentary, especially of live performance, over Hollywood fiction, and its predilection for mockery of both (for example, mockumentary). As the single most influential proto-rock act, whose inventive wit and comic antics, rendered in newsreel, direct cinema, cartoon, and on record, were keys to their commercial and critical success, The Beatles were the perfect subjects for such ironic canonisation. Their filmic career highlights the intersection of documentary and comedy, as well as reality and fiction, via musical performance, a mode which can problematise documentary/comedy, and reality/fiction distinctions. In line with this argument, I have focused on key live performances from the Beatles’ career, and how they are parodied in The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978) henceforth The Rutles, which doubles as the first filmic biography of the Beatles and the first rock mockumentary. The Beatles’ later career saw their public image shift from intentional to unintentional comedy, a shift mapped in the The Rutles, which gradually moves from parody towards satire. It is argued that The Rutles is open to a range of audience identifications and readings: it is at once a text for “true fans”, a playful deconstruction of their investments, but also one with real-world reverberations (some of its predictions came true). In this sense, it is a “media savvy”, peculiarly contemporary text that questions the priority of reality over fiction.

The Social Intervention Function of Chinese Pop Music Performance and Its Macro Sociological Analysis

Pop music is a product of human consciousness and widely exists in all known human cultures. Music is not a necessity for human survival, why is it so important to humans? For a long time, social connections have been considered an important function of music and a major factor influencing the evolution of human musicality. The recent hypothesis of music social connection provides a framework for understanding the biological and cultural evolution of music. It suggests that music can coordinate emotions, behaviors, and ideological perspectives among individuals, strengthen intimate relationships between individuals, and thus enhance social cohesion. Pro social behavior is a manifestation of human social connections, which refers to the beneficial behavior of individuals towards others, groups, and society, such as helping behavior. Although studies have shown that listening to prosocial songs and their associated prosocial emotions can promote individual prosocial behavior, it remains unclear whether the music itself and its corresponding emotional experiences are sufficient to influence prosocial behavior after excluding the influence of lyrics. In addition, although some studies suggest that prosocial behavior is related to factors such as individual psychological theory ability and cognitive ability, the mediating effect of music on prosocial behavior through psychological theory ability and cognitive ability has not been verified. Therefore, based on the classic two-dimensional emotional model, this study systematically examines whether music and its induced emotional experiences affect individual prosocial behavior decisions, and further explores the mediating role of psychological theory and cognitive ability.