104 research outputs found
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‘“It all fits together very well”: The interweaving of dance, Dalcroze Eurhythmics and craft in the therapeutic work of Priscilla Barclay’; roundtable ‘Re-evaluating lost dance-music relationships: three case studies restoring rhythm to dance studies’
No full textMaintaining the Entente Cordiale. Musicological Collaboration between the United Kingdom and France
Get PDFThis article looks at the presence of the Revue de musicologie in scholarship in the UK over the century. Britain has had a long fascination with French music, with
certain prominent musicologists and critics participating and collaborating in the efforts to promote French music in the UK from the end of the Great War until the present day. The article compares the establishment of musicology as
a discipline in both countries and the roles of the Royal Musical Association (RMA) and the Société française de musicologie (SFM) in this process. It also considers British scholarship on key French topics and individual composers, such as Berlioz, Debussy and Messiaen and its visibility in the Revue de musicologie. It explores themes of national versus international perspectives, generational
change and cross-Channel collaboration on musicological projects
Music performance anxiety in classical musicians – what we know about what works
No full textWhen pursued professionally, the demands of musical training and performance can interfere with musicians’ well-being and health. Music performance anxiety, while energising at optimal levels, impairs performance quality when excessive. A range of interventions has been explored to address it. However, the poor methodological quality of such studies and the complexity of this issue should mobilise further research resources in this direction
Vibrotactile Presentation of Musical Notes to the Glabrous Skin for Adults with Normal Hearing or a Hearing Impairment: Thresholds, Dynamic Range and High-Frequency Perception
Get PDFoai:repository.rncm.ac.uk:2Presentation of music as vibration to the skin has the potential to facilitate interaction between musicians with hearing impairments and other musicians during group performance. Vibrotactile thresholds have been determined to assess the potential for vibrotactile presentation of music to the glabrous skin of the fingertip, forefoot and heel. No significant differences were found between the thresholds for sinusoids representing notes between C1 and C6 when presented to the fingertip of participants with normal hearing and with a severe or profound hearing loss. For participants with normal hearing, thresholds for notes between C1 and C6 showed the characteristic U-shape curve for the fingertip, but not for the forefoot and heel. Compared to the fingertip, the forefoot had lower thresholds between C1 and C3, and the heel had lower thresholds between C1 and G2; this is attributed to spatial summation from the Pacinian receptors over the larger contactor area used for the forefoot and heel. Participants with normal hearing assessed the perception of high-frequency vibration using 1s sinusoids presented to the fingertip and were found to be more aware of transient vibration at the beginning and/or end of notes between G4 and C6 when stimuli were presented 10dB above threshold, rather than at threshold. An average of 94% of these participants reported feeling continuous vibration between G4 and G5 with stimuli presented 10dB above threshold. Based on the experimental findings and consideration of health effects relating to vibration exposure, a suitable range of notes for vibrotactile presentation of music is identified as being from C1 to G5. This is more limited than for human hearing but the fundamental frequencies of the human voice, and the notes played by many instruments, lie within it. However, the dynamic range might require compression to avoid the negative effects of amplitude on pitch perception
Understanding the wellbeing of professional musicians through the lens of Positive Psychology
Get PDFRecognizing the need to include musicians in mainstream wellbeing profiling and to move beyond a focus on debilitating factors of the music profession, this study aimed to understand how professional musicians experience wellbeing in the light of Positive Psychology. Guided by the PERMA model, the goal was to track enhancers and challenges for wellbeing in relation to the model’s five components: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishment. Participants included six professional musicians from six activities: solo, orchestral, choral, chamber, conducting and composing. Two interviews were conducted with each participant, separated by two weeks of diary record-keeping. Results point to high wellbeing. A clear sense of self appears as an overarching sustainer of wellbeing and the transition to professional life as the most challenging time regarding musicians’ flourishing. Positive emotions emerged as highly related to musical moments, while varying repertoire and experiencing different ensembles appeared as central sources of engagement. Meaning emerged as linked to the shared nature of music-making, and a sense of accomplishment was built on internal goals and oneness in performance with others. The key processes for positive functioning appeared to involve responses to, and regulation by, relationships. Implications are discussed in relation to the role of holistic training in educational settings
New Purcell Documents from the Court of King's Bench
Get PDFTwo legal documents recently discovered among The National Archives at Kew in London provide new information about Henry Purcell's final years. The only known instances of the composer's involvement with the law, these rare archival finds shed light on his familial relations and financial circumstances at that point in his career when he was turning his attention to the London stage. The first case involves Purcell's sister-in-law Amy Howlett, who owed him £40; and the second concerns his unpaid bill at an exclusive West End retailer's. The new material confirms beyond doubt the identity of Purcell's in-laws, and shows that he was not just short of money in the 1690s, but that he was actually in debt at the time of his death. Other areas of enquiry include the élite social milieu in which the Purcells increasingly moved, and their possible place of residence in 1691–3. These aspects are discussed in relation to Purcell's enhanced public profile at that time, and within the wider context of the culture of consumption and credit in late seventeenth-century England. The two lawsuits are transcribed and translated in full, and their legal implications explicated
How musical are primary generalist student teachers?
Get PDFCurrent inclusive pedagogical thinking advocates that learning should
begin with what the learner can already do. As children bring rich
musical experiences with them into school, primary generalist student
teachers also bring rich experiences of music and music-making into
their initial teacher education programmes. Yet debate still continues as
to whether primary generalists can teach music. The research reported
in this paper originated from the reflective practice of a primary
generalist teacher educator. Through anecdotal evidence in her
teaching, she found that the musical profiles of students undertaking a
one-year postgraduate primary teacher education programme were
changing. Younger students were beginning to discuss experiences of
widening participation opportunities when reflecting on their own
musical learning journeys. Moreover, the richness of musical experiences
reported by the primary generalist student teachers each year was
consistent. The current research resulted from a desire to document
these experiences, and also to find a way to gather this information
prior to the students starting their course in order to improve teaching;
by finding out what the students could already do, teaching could be
planned so as to practise and model effective inclusive pedagogy and
use the allocated time for music in the best possible way. The paper
opens with a review of recent research, raising new research questions
as a result of a potentially changing student musical profile. The
integration of reflective practice and research to form a research
methodology is discussed, and a theoretical framework of what is meant
by musical is given. The initial findings of the research are presented
and discussed; the paper closes with an overview of the next stages of
the research project and the implications for initial teacher education
are identified
