Musical Soundtrack Research Articles

Cortical Deafness: A Case of Selective Auditory Agnosia, Amusia and Word Deafness (P07.177)

Objective: To understand the neurological basis in the cortical appraisal of auditory stimuli. Background This paper presents a sixty-four year old ex-soldier with word deafness, auditory agnosia for environmental sounds and selective amusia. Studies demonstrate perceptual channels for amplitude-modulated frequencies in the auditory cortex. Design/Methods: The imaging demonstrated a left-sided middle cerebral artery infarct affecting predominantly the temporal lobes on top of a three year old right-sided temporal infarct. A functional MRI tractography was performed. The acoustic immittance testing and auditory evoked brainstem responses were normal in both ears. Acoustic reflex decay was not attempted, because acoustic reflexes were elevated. Consistent with occupation, audiometry found bilateral moderate-severe sensorineural hearing loss for high frequencies. Twenty environmental and music sound tracks were presented followed with a brief questionnaire after each track. Five subjects (M(age)=64) with normal hearing were also asked to complete the same task. Results: The patient was impaired for the environmental sounds (t=9.654, p= Conclusions: Collectively, the deficit pattern represents a selective agnosia and low frequency deafness. The sensorineural hearing loss describes the incomplete comprehension of high frequency environmental sounds. Frequency appraisals of auditory stimuli occur peripherally and centrally with hierarchical organization of auditory stimuli, cortically. Verbal and non-verbal stimuli are initially processed by the cortex, filtering a complex pattern of frequencies. Characterizing deafness as being verbal or non-verbal is inadequate. Thus, areas in the cortex must attribute quantitative, and not only the qualitative properties of auditory stimuli. Disclosure: Dr. Hasan has nothing to disclose. Dr. Mohammed has nothing to disclose. Dr. Hodgson has nothing to disclose. Dr. Silva has nothing to disclose.

Calling the Nation: Karl Hartl's F.P. 1 antwortet nicht (1932)

The article analyzes a rare German science fiction film produced at the end of the Weimar period, with special attention to its complex use of sound in the presentation of telecommunications and other new audio media in the context of a shifting geo-political climate. Produced just before Hitler assumed the chancellorship of Germany, Hartl's film, F.P. 1 antwortet nicht [F.P. 1 Doesn't Answer] draws on the military-industrial complex, public media practices, and advances in telecommunications and cinematic technologies to present the nation as a networked, "sonic" space. The film's portrayal of the design and construction of a landing platform in the Atlantic, told through a series of telephone calls, telegrams, telegraphs, and wireless transmissions, underscores linkages between geo-politics and telecommunications, while exploiting advances in cinematic sound recording, including the musical soundtrack. Although wireless communications (especially radio) may render physical frontiers obsolete and thereby serve to oppose national coherence, they simultaneously serve to reinforce the unity of national culture. Hartl's film likewise underscores the conflict between instability, impermanence, and unpredictability, on the one hand, and constancy, endurance, and prescription, on the other, between deterritorialization and normativity. These dual impulses are further embodied in the clash between the film's leading men: the pilot and the engineer. In the near-future of the film, the concept of Heimat or "home" is not a physical but an aural construction. Dominated by sound transmissions, the film neglects the visual spectacle of most science fiction, but thereby emphasizes the role of audio technologies in the construction of the nation.

Sound warrior

Dark Angel , a high-budget, American cyberpunk serial set in a near-future, post-apocalyptic and dystopic Seattle, has been grouped with a number of late 1990s and early 2000s television programmes as featuring powerful female heroes. Several academics have noted this significant wave in programmes that include Buffy the Vampire Slayer , Xena: Warrior Princess and La Femme Nikita . While analysis has focused predominantly on narrative and visual cues, the role of sound and music in constructing these ‘feminine’ warriors has been largely unexplored. This article analyses the Dark Angel series to illuminate how sound elements, including voice-over and music soundtrack, interplay with the visual to suggest gendered meanings in the text.

Case study: Active acoustics at the Barbara Streisand scoring stage

Scoring stages are recording studios large enough to accommodate an orchestra, and typically used to record music sound tracks for films. The acoustic properties and goals of scoring stages are reviewed, and compared with other venue types. Recently, an active acoustics system was installed in the Barbara Streisand scoring stage on the Sony lot in Culver City, California. The system was used to electronically vary the reflected sound and reverberation during the recording of several film scores. The objectives, design, and performance of the system in the room is reviewed. The range of settings and controls provided to the scoring mixer are described as well as the process used to select parameters for different aspects of the score. These had implications on the artist performance as well as the recording and mixing process. The resultant reverberation times achieved are compared with archetypical orchestral performance venues as well as other scoring stages.

Seeing or hearing the pianists? A synopsis of an early audiovisual perception experiment and a replication

The visual impact of musicians’ body movements has increasingly attracted research interest over the past twenty years. This article gives an overview of the main findings of this research and introduces and replicates one of the first experiments on visual information in music performance evaluations. In Behne’s study (originally published in German in 1990), a pianist was video-recorded performing compositions by Brahms and Chopin. Using an audiovisual manipulation paradigm, further pianists acted as doubles and pretended to perform the music to the soundtrack of the first pianist. Different groups of ninety-three musicians and non-musicians rated audiovisual presentations of the videos. Only one participant in the whole series of experiments supposed that the musical soundtrack was similar across different performers. Even musically trained participants strongly believed that they perceived differences between performances. Further findings suggest gender effects, such that male interpretations were perceived to be more precise and female interpretations to be more dramatic. The replication generally confirmed the results for a present-day audience. Potential consequences for music evaluations and theories of audiovisual music perception are discussed.

Interkulturelles Lernen mit Fatih Akins Gegen die Wand (2004)

This article explores the didactic possibilities of Fatih Akin's Gegen die Wand (2004) at multiple levels in the German classroom, from beginning language courses to advanced seminars, with particular attention to the intercultural perspective promoted by the film's own aesthetic vision. Provocative and challenging, this film offers students more than a simple text for listening comprehension, rather an invitation to intercultural engagement, enhanced by emotionally loaded imagery and an eclectic musical soundtrack, all of which will ensure a high level of student motivation. As such, this film offers itself as an excellent resource for advancement of students' understanding of the German language as well as contemporary German culture. In the appendices, various lesson plan samples and exercises are offered that are de‐signed to deepen students' lexical, grammatical, and cultural insights.

Integrating words, images, and text in BMGIM: Finding connections through semiotic intertextuality

An innovative application of the Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music (BMGIM) was researched involving six clients who had undergone complex cardiac surgery. This psychodynamic method led patients through a reflective and exploratory experience combining imagery, selected classical music, and sensitive verbal interventions into an experience rather like an unfolding waking dream with a musical soundtrack. Text produced during these audiotaped sessions was analyzed for semiotic meanings. The analytical framework drew upon a Jungian interpretive system working intertextually across several different kinds of narrative, identified within each patient's story. Text from 31 BMGIM sessions was used in the analysis. Findings indicate that this approach has the capacity to integrate all aspects of the BMGIM therapeutic session and deliver a depth of experiential meaning relevant to the therapeutic management of clients' post-surgical recovery. In doing so, it expanded our knowledge of BMGIM practice in the healthcare setting, and contributed further research capacity to this complex treatment modality.

‘Our home, our land… something to sing about’: an Indigenous music recording as identity narrative

A brief study examining specifically how 'Our Home, Our Land' produces and constructs an identity narrative is presented. The CD provides a socio-cultural and musical soundtrack and its goal is to encourage positive change in a group's access to power and its individuals' life-chances.

Contingent Spaces of Collective Action: Evoking Translocal Concerns

Contingent Spaces of Collective Action: Evoking Translocal Concerns

Attitudes towards documentary soundstracks - Between emotional immersion and critical reflection

Musical experience is often related to an emotional and imaginative engagement of the listener. Discourses of journalistic documentaries relate primarily to inferential knowledge systems in which the uses of background music as a communicative device become an object of epistemological critique. By listening to different voices – primarily from four focus group interviews – the article will discuss attitudes towards musical soundtracks in documentaries, attitudes being negotiated between emotional immersion and critical reflection, with the concept of manipulation as an underlying theme. In the end, the article will argue for the need for an acoustemological approach (Feld, 1996) to study the epistemological potential of sound in audiovisual media.

The Constant Murmur of Data

The Constant Murmur of Data

Music interferes with learning from television during infancy

AbstractInfants are frequently exposed to music during daily activities, including free play, and while viewing infant‐directed videotapes that contain instrumental music soundtracks. In Experiment 1, an instrumental music soundtrack was played during a live or televised demonstration to examine its effects on deferred imitation by 6‐, 12‐, and 18‐month‐old infants. Transfer of information was indexed via deferred imitation of the target actions following a 24‐h delay. For half the infants, the music context was also reinstated at the time of test. Performance by experimental groups was compared to that of a baseline control group that participated in the test session without prior exposure to the demonstration. Imitation performance was above baseline for the live groups but not for the video groups regardless of age or the music context at test. In Experiment 2, we added matched sound effects to the video demonstration and infants performed above baseline. We conclude that the music track creates additional cognitive load, disrupts selective attention to the target actions and inhibits transfer of learning from television of the imitation task. Music may impair an infant's ability to translate information from a two‐dimensional to three‐dimensional world even if the auditory context remains the same. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sound targets: American soldiers and music in the Iraq war

The soundtrack of war in the iPod EraWords: american soundtrack, iraq soldiers, music in the, music soundtrack, soldiers iraq, soundtrack and, soundtrack theAuthor: Pieslak, Jonathan Publisher: Indiana University Press Illustration: N Language: ENG Title: Sound Targets: American Soldiers and Music in the Iraq War Pages: 00216 (Encrypted PDF) On Sale: 2009-06-01 SKU-13/ISBN: 9780253353238 Category: Music : General

Audiovisual Interactions: the Impact of Visual Information on Music Perception and Memory

PREVIOUS RESEARCH HAS DEMONSTRATED THAT MUSICAL soundtracks can influence the emotional impact, interpretation, and remembering of visual information. The present research examines the reverse relationship and whether visual information influences the perception and memory of music. In Experiment 1, listeners were presented with affectively ambiguous tunes paired with visual displays varying in their affect (positive, negative) and format (video, montage), or a control condition (no visual information at all). After each, participants were asked to provide a set of perceptual ratings that evaluated different melody characteristics and qualities of the visual displays. Results showed that both the affect and format of visual information differentially influenced the way a melody was perceived. Experiment 2 extended these findings by revealing that the affect of visual displays distorted melody recognition in a mood congruent fashion. These results are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for audiovisual processing.

‘Posh music should equal posh dress’: an investigation into the concert dress and physical appearance of female soloists

This study investigates the effects of concert dress and physical appearance on perceptions of female classical soloists’ musical abilities over a range of genres. Four female violinists were recorded playing three pieces, in four styles of dress of varying formality. Each combination of performer, piece and dress was recorded twice, once as the performer’s own interpretation and again with a master-track dubbed over the top. The master-track provided a constant musical soundtrack and allowed the investigation of observer perceptions based on changes in visual information alone. The clips were rated by 15 male and 15 female observers (age range 18—28) in terms of technical proficiency, musicality, appropriateness of dress and attractiveness of performer on six-point Likert scales. Significant effects of dress, performer and piece suggest that (1) observers have a strong concept of appropriate dress by genre of music; (2) inappropriate and body-focused dress may have a detrimental effect on perceptions of performers’ musical abilities; and (3) performers’ body movement style may also affect perceptions of their abilities.

The Effect of Music on Social Attribution in Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

High-functioning adolescents with ASD and matched controls were presented with animations that depicted varying levels of social interaction and were either accompanied by music or silent. Participants described the events of the animation, and we scored responses for intentionality, appropriateness, and length of description. Adolescents with ASD were less likely to make social attributions, especially for those animations with the most complex social interactions. When stimuli were accompanied by music, both groups were equally impaired in appropriateness and intentionality. We conclude that adolescents with ASD perceive and integrate musical soundtracks with visual displays equivalent to typically developing individuals.

Orientalism in Outer-space

Several Hollywood science fiction films have recently appropriated Sanskrit mantras as a prominent feature in their musical soundtracks. Notably, Hollywood’s use of ‘SF Sanskrit’ tends to evoke a sense of militancy and war rather than tranquillity and peace, which has resounding Orientalist connotations. Nevertheless, it will be shown that the correlation between mantras and warfare actually has historical precursors within the Hindu tradition. To advance this thesis, two case studies are examined: (1) The Matrix Revolutions and (2) Star Wars Episode I—The Phantom Menace. It will be shown that each of these films presents mantras in cinematic contexts evoking militancy and war. Such positioning of Sanskrit in belligerent film space, however, raises interesting questions about evolving Orientalist stereotypes in popular culture: Why is Sanskrit associated with war in the SF industry? Is Hollywood’s appropriation of Hindu mantras a new ‘fad’ to market SF in ‘exotic’ Indian packaging or an effort to ‘spiritualise’ the genre? What does Hollywood’s use of Sanskrit tell us about emerging views of Hinduism in modern SF films, and about shifting views of the ‘Orient’ in popular culture?

<i>The Comedy of Errors</i>, and: <i>The Winter’s Tale</i> (review)

Reviewed by: The Comedy of Errors, and: The Winter’s Tale Arnold Preussner The Comedy of Errors Presented by the Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival at Iowa City, IA, High School, June 13–July 13, 2008. Directed by Kevin Harris. Costumes by Colleen Combs McGonegle. Set and Lighting by Paul Sannerud. Fights by Jason Tipsword. With Dennis Fox (Antipholus of Syracuse), Martin Andrews (Dromio of Syracuse), Tim Budd (Antipholus of Ephesus), Aaron Graham (Dromio of Ephesus), Leigh Williams (Adriana), Cristina Panfilio (Luciana), Ron Clark (Egeon, Dr. Pinch), Jody Hovland (Emilia), Bradley Mott (Solinus), R. Chris Reeder (Angelo), Patrick DuLaney (Balthazar), Adam Verner (Luce, a.k.a. Nell), and others. [End Page 144] The Winter’s Tale Presented by the Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival at Iowa City, IA, High School, June 20–July 11, 2008. Directed by Mark Hunter. Costumes by Colleen Combs McGonegle. Set and Lighting by Paul Sannerud. Musical Soundtrack by Don Chamberlain. With Dennis Fox (Leontes), Leigh Williams (Hermione), Liam Kaboli (Mamilius), Cristina Panfilio (Perdita), Tim Budd (Polixenes), Aaron Graham (Florizel), Bradley Mott (Camillo), R. Chris Reeder (Antigonus), Jody Hovland (Paulina), Ron Clark (Old Shepherd), Adam Verner (Clown), Patrick DuLaney (Autolycus), Martin Andrews (Time, Storyteller), and others. It was both auspicious and appropriate that the Riverside Theatre Shakespeare Festival chose two of Shakespeare’s shipwreck-themed plays for its summer 2008 repertory season. For, shortly before the plays were set to open in mid-June, severe flooding along the Iowa River led to the loss of the festival’s lovely quasi-Elizabethan open-air venue on city park land adjacent to the riverbank. The set was hastily struck and moved to higher (and drier) ground inside a local high-school auditorium, and the festival proceeded as planned. (Despite this heroic effort, the company’s main warehouse space in which its scene construction shop had been housed did fall victim to the flood waters.) That the company was taking their misfortune in stride was well indicated by the graphic design of the festival’s souvenir t-shirt, which depicted a hapless Elizabethan gentleman in a rowboat along with the caption, “Exit, pursued by a flood.” In its nearly decade-long existence, the festival has grown into a strong regional site for Shakespearean production, taking advantage of local theatrical training programs such as those at the University of Iowa and nearby Cornell College, and attracting actors with experience in regional theatre centers such as Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, and Kansas City. For the 2008 season, the festival drew on a combination of returning veterans from previous seasons and actors making their debut with the company in filling the twelve most important roles in each show. Minor roles were taken, and in all cases ably performed, by student “interns” from regional academic theatre programs. The festival is family-friendly, and under normal circumstances stages brief “green show” performances before the actual show in order to familiarize younger viewers with the basic plot design of the relevant play. At the same time, the festival takes its interpretive work seriously, as was well demonstrated this year in its delivery of a simultaneously humorous and thoughtfully executed Comedy of Errors and a dramatically effective if somewhat uneven Winter’s Tale. [End Page 145] Both productions used the same basic bi-level set design featuring a raised platform extending across the rear of the proscenium stage and accessible from either end by means of staircases. Flanking each side of the platform were two tall but relatively slender tower-like structures, or pedestals, which actors accessed by means of ladders placed behind them. The set remained uncluttered for the most part during The Winter’s Tale, with the notable exception of the sheep-shearing festival in act four, for which bundles of wool were placed about the stage. For Errors, a variety of rather large barrels, boxes, and other shipping containers covered most of the upstage area, bringing Ephesus to life as a port city. The Errors set also featured a large clock face installed at the central and highest point of the rear-stage platform. The hands of the clock spun intermittently to remind the audience of the passage of the hours during the play’s neoclassical...

Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller: Reframing the American West

Robert Altman has made a dozen films that can be called great in one way or another, but one of them is perfect, and that one is & Mrs. Miller. - Roger Ebert in The Great Movies. When he died in 2006, director Robert Altman left a rich legacy of films, from MASH, his breakthrough black comedy, through masterpieces like Nashville, Short Cuts, and Gosford Park. But many would agree that his crowning achievement was & Mrs. Miller, a daring down-beat film about a gambler and a prostitute. Robert Self now provides an illuminating new look at this long neglected classic. A snowbound version of High Noon, Altman's film has been described as a revisionist western, an antiwestern, and even a hippie western. Featuring cinematic icons Warren Beatty and Julie Christie at the zenith of their careers and a haunting soundtrack from legendary troubadour Leonard Cohen, it provided a new way of looking at the western and the West. Placing the film within the contexts of Altman's career, its critical and popular reception, and the history of American cinema, Self shows how Altman's idiosyncratic interplay between story and style reframed the American West for a new generation. Viewing McCabe as a kind of precursor to the New Western History, he argues that it both embraces and revises the conventions associated with the Western movie genre, especially with its antiheroic protagonist. He also highlights the film's portrayal of the contemporary counter-culture, pitting the loner against corporate power and mainstream religion and granting women a newfound voice. In addition, Self sheds light on the film's production, showing how its rare sequential filming reflected the seamless collaborative efforts of director, actors, cinematographer, and set designer. Here, too, are Altman's trademark overlapping dialogue, painterly visuals, signature pan and zoom shots, crowded and communal mise-en-scenes, and a musical soundtrack mirroring the narrative - all in the service of Altman's inimitable storytelling and indelible gallery of fascinating characters. Self's beautifully written, admiring, and insightful study of this great film should significantly enhance its reputation and reinforce Altman's place in the pantheon of American filmmakers.

Old Films, New Sounds: Screening Silent Cinema with Electronic Music

Les diverses circonstances qui entourent le visionnement d’un film dans un cours de cinéma influencent profondément la réaction des étudiants face à l’oeuvre en question. Que ce soit l’information fournie au sujet du film avant sa projection ou la qualité de la copie utilisée, les choix de l’instructeur peuvent avoir un impacte déterminant (et parfois imprévu) sur la réception du film. Cet article retrace les expériences d’un instructeur qui a tenté d’identifier les divers effets sur les étudiants de la musique d’accompagnement des films muets. Au cours d’un visionnement en particulier, une musique d’accompagnement électronique a été très efficace au près des étudiants. Cela a mené à une série d’expériences pédagogiques visant à déterminer si les étudiants répondent aux films muets plus favorablement si l’accompagnement est moderne plutôt que traditionnel. Cette recherche a été entreprise non seulement pour répondre à mon propre besoin d’améliorer mes méthodes d’enseignement, mais aussi pour fournir un modèle à d’autres instructeurs qui veulent diversifier leurs façons de présenter des films muets.