Search

In April 2014, a conference in Edinburgh honoring Simon Frith upon his academic retirement featured three days of paper sessions, enjoyable activities, and distinguished guests. For the benefit of colleagues who did not attend it, this article offers some description of and purposefully subjective commentary on the conference Studying Music. Particular attention is given to the themes highlighted in the call-for-papers: Frith's position in music scholarship, writing about music, the current relationship among the various disciplines that claim music as a subject of study, and boundaries between different categories of music (high/low, popular/art). Topics of highlighted papers include the socio-semantics of vocal timbre, the etymology of the term "popular music," historiography of celebrities, sociology of race relations, and a plethora of perspectives on music and technology. Studying Music presented several strengths, especially because its paper and panel sessions encompassed researchers from media, music, and sociology departments. The achievements of Simon Frith and popular music scholarship were duly celebrated, extended, and reconsidered in new ways. Yet, a persistent ideological suspicion of art music scholars and musical analysis among popular music scholars who were present troubled me, as a musicologist who researches French art music. Taking this antagonism as a point of departure, this article concludes with a reflection on both positive and negative social and political implications of art music scholarship based on my own experiences in academic life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Hellenic Journal of Music, Education & Culture is the property of Greek Association of Primary Music Education Teachers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper will focus on the communication theory applied in order to form the methodology used in revealing aspects of the Contemporary Classical Music landscape in Greece, in the digital era. The main goals were to structure the qualitative research and to create a conduct of communication in order to present all pieces of information recorded from three different sources: The Contemporary Classical Music Archive (scores and parts hosted at the National Radio-Television of Greece) combined with primary (Oral History Project) and secondary (bibliography) data. All these sources contained information about the compositions, facts about the composers' life as well as their idiom and way of thinking. Linking flexibly primary and secondary data and turning them into a valuable source for researchers and stakeholders, beyond any geographical limits, has been considered of utmost importance. Outcome of this research was the construction of a MySQL data base, designed to contain all afore-mentioned Linked Data, as well as a web platform open to controlled feedback. This new communication path might contribute to the re-definition of future artistic choices, relationships and directions of the composers and their audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music and mathematics have a very close relationship and over the years many professionals from these and other scientific fields have underscored the numerous connections between the two disciplines. Nonetheless, few contributions have been made as yet on a scientific and educational level with the aim of promoting a more integrated approach to learning music and mathematics, especially in the Spanish context. In order to cover this shortfall and, ultimately, to contribute to a more integrated and holistic kind of education, the implementation of the European Music Portfolio: Sounding Ways into Mathematics (EMP-M) project began in Spain and the other European countries involved in 2013. This paper is intended to summarise some of the most important contributions made by the EMP-M in the Catalan and Spanish panorama. To this end, we present the state of affairs of the current relationship between music and mathematics in education, first referring to the international perspective, then focusing on the Spanish context and later describing training strategies and transfer activities that have been carried out to enhance integrated work in both subjects among Catalan primary school teachers. This paper concludes with a reflection on how the EMP-M is helping to address the challenges of the Spanish educational landscape, not only with respect to music and mathematics education but also the process of change and educational improvement needed overall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the implementation of action research that investigates the use of film art as a teaching and learning instrument in school classrooms. It selects the concept of "refugee" and investigates whether and how cinema can adequately address sensitive social issues, foster empathy, and contribute to a better understanding of the situation that affects us. As a result of the continuous influx of refugees to the island of Rhodes in previous years, numerous students have repeatedly expressed concern regarding the arrival, motivations, and temporary settlement of these individuals in their place of residence. To reduce the prejudices that children had uncritically assimilated and reproduced, it was deemed imperative to implement the current research action. The negative predisposition towards the topic to be investigated, however, necessitated the use of a modern teaching instrument capable of attracting and retaining the interest of young students. Utilising the capabilities of new technologies, we aimed to improve the educational process while simultaneously addressing the refugee issue's knowledge gaps. Since modern society resides in a "culture of the image," film education was singled out. The findings of the study demonstrated that cinematic art is a magnet for students, who, through the screening of a film or their direct participation in a film shoot, have the opportunity to enjoy new learning dimensions while also strengthening their critical thinking regarding intercultural issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sonic and auditory cognitions associated with the sounds and language of the Byzantine Chant are a consequence of the Eastern Orthodox Church's world construction (externalization and objectivation) created through a complex filter of time, place, and identity. Considering varied influences from the European continent, Russia, and the Near East, this paper will explore how geography, culture, cosmogony, and empire conditioned the sonic and auditory developments and perceptions of this sacred chant. Using a cross-disciplinary platform of geo-historical analysis, musical theory, and linguistic philosophy, this paper will consider the following questions: Why does the Eastern Church perceive the monophonic character of this eight-tone (octoechos) chant as the most authentic modus operandi for expressing the language or liturgy of worship? Where does it come from? How was it created? What are its metaphysical, historical, and linguistic roots? How is one called to listen to its sounds? In what ways are the melodic formula, rhythms, and tonality of this chant inextricably linked to specific liturgical texts, human geography, and metaphysical context? The Byzantine Chant illustrates well the connections of sound, tone, and language to Eastern Orthodoxy's inter-civilizational conceptualization and cognition of worship and identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basis for music and language can be found deriving from the same net. On the basis of the analysis of phrase structure and phonological properties of musical and linguistic utterances, language and music have evolved from a common ancestor, a ”musilanguage” stage, presented as five alternative choices within the theory of Brown (2000). Music conveys the musically meaningful emotive meanings and language conveys for propositional phrases and referential meanings, when observed as purely acoustic embodiments of a sound from which a verbal song is formed. Our voices can serve the most primitive brain structures. When breathing and when singing, the primitive brain and the new brain function simultaneously, harmonizing their powers of control. When considering of theories for music teaching, one must know, how a child’s holistic and musical development and the ongoing musical and holistic learning events are structured and connected, based on philosophies of music education, musical structures and components and the bodily, mental and cognitive effects of music working in the brains, starting prenatally. In this paper, it is described, what it is about music that impacts us, and how does it work – to make us better understand the underlying musical processes to support a child’s learning, and to find the suitable and best ways of planning the teaching and to set the goals for it, having music as a support in learning. In a deep learning event, emotions, body and reason are working together, the experiences connected in the limbic system of the brain. Music and language are both tools for human communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debussy composed La Mer, in the summer of 1905. It was performed for the first time the same year in Paris. The reception of the public and the critics was biased. The critique, written by Amédée Boutarel, in Le Ménestrel, France's longest running music journal (1833-1940), dismisses La Mer very openly. La Mer wasn't reproduced in Paris till 1908 and then was a success. The most intriguing part of this success was the review of Amédée Boutarel again in Le Ménestrel, this time still with some reservation but clearly more appreciative and treating the performance as it were a premiere. This paper presents possible reasons for the shift in Amédée Boutarel's perception and thus the standpoint of the magazine from a Bourdieuian point of view. According to Bourdieu not only the artists (writers, composers) and performers, but also the agents (publishers, critics, journals) contribute directly to the production of the field of art, which has its own dynamics. For that purpose the magazine's marketing & sales strategy is analysed by taking its content, visual design, and writers, specifically Boutarel, into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ο κατάλογος του αρχείου του There has been a growing interest in digital archive development in academic music libraries over the past years in national and international level. Traditional and new descriptive cataloging standards have changed the way libraries and cataloging agencies formulate their bibliographic metadata in general and music metadata in particular. Music archives and special collections with emphasis on Hellenic music collect documents of any form or format from various composers, performers, scholars and so on. Yet, the music library community both in and out of Greece is still faced with unique descriptive issues regarding printed and manuscript music among others. Moreover, by taking into account that the vast majority of music sources in Greece, dated from the 9th to the 20th century, record music of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine eras, a sacred music repertory of distinctive characteristics in terms of modality, notation and performance practice, makes the descriptive endeavour even more complicated. Within this frame, the paper aims at: a) providing a basic set of guidelines and best practices for describing and providing access in regard with print and manuscript music archival resources in general, as well as with Hellenic music in specific, through the example of the collection of Byzantine music manuscripts of Nikolaos Mavropoulos, b) bringing out interoperability issues between Byzantine Musicology and Music Librarianship, c) stressing the importance of Muscat (RISM's international database) for the dissemination of Byzantine music across the world, and d) emphasizing on issues regarding the necessary professional experience and knowledge to accomplish efficiently such tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst being interviewed by Brynjulf Stige for the Nordic Journal of Music Therapy (volume 10, issue 1), Kenneth Aigen said “I do not think it is reasonable to think that we could automatically work with someone from a very different culture” (Aigen 2001: 90). Standing alone, this passage spoken by Aigen may give a negative impression. This paper will aim to put the above statement in context and think carefully about what Aigen might be suggesting. Through an honest and open exploration of the questions the statement raises, a realistic and more optimistic dialogue which was hidden beneath the words is unearthed. Through the deconstruction of Aigen’s statement this paper investigates our attitudes as music therapists towards culture and music and the preconceptions and assumptions which may arise. This paper will stress how a willingness to explore and broaden not only our attitudes towards culture, but also the confines of our musical ability, can result in an expansion of our knowledge, awareness and receptiveness. This, in turn, could lead to a practice of music therapy which is more fruitful and successful, one in which we are clinically open and prepared for whatever our clients might bring to or need from their sessions.

Copyright of Hellenic Journal of Music, Education & Culture is the property of Greek Association of Primary Music Education Teachers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

One of the most advanced current technology that is increasingly used in e education, is social networking. We want to point out that e learning platforms tend to be closed and inflexible for users. Its use is limited to the settings defined by the administrator. The role of the student is passive. Passing a content often does not provide consulting teachers in response to the materials under study. This leads to the creation of an environment, which is not interesting for students. Important characteristics of online social networks, such as content sharing, collaboration and criticism catalyze the formation of active and stimulated environment for students. Our research is held, through an experiment at ICT College, in order to define main social networks that can be used for e learning improvement, and to show that social media tools (wikis, blogs, video sharing, image, video meetings and video conferences) are a powerful tools that can be used instead of classic e-learning platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including Byzantine chants, the use of internet games to teach music and an interview with American flutist and music educator Barbara Allen.

There is a place for improvisation in any musical genres of the world. While improvisation means the most natural way to express through music, to some it means high levels of proficiency in music. However, the term free improvisation describes a different genre. The genre free improvisation has a unique approach to music. Musicians have a freedom from any predetermined features of music. Genres, styles, scales, rhythmical structures, playing techniques and many more things can be modified through musician's will. Originated from free-jazz, free improvisation is now considered as a different genre. After a brief introduction to definition of free improvisation, the article will focus on free improvisation from two different perspectives. At first, the topic will be approached from ethnomusicological perspective, in the introduction part. Through a historical perspective, the relationship between musical creativity and improvisation will be discussed. The main approach to this topic will focus on the relationship of free improvisation and music education. For introduction, some known techniques with improvisatory sections by famous composers and educators will be explained. Main focus of the second section will be the queries. Visual and musical results of performance-based surveys will show how boundaries can effect on an individual's creative process. In the last part of the education section, results from private piano classes that involve improvisatory sections will be explained. Results from two groups of students will be compared to each other, and to students in the control group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the familiarity and usefulness of mindfulness to music therapists who work in a clinical setting, and it aims to examine plausible similarities between presently known concepts of mindfulness and the conventionally established therapeutic attitude as portrayed in this paper. Seven music therapists working in London took part in this study. Four attended a focus group and three were interviewed over the telephone. The findings show that most participants were familiar with the concept and had some experience of mindfulness, and stated that it enhanced their clinical work. Participants described some practices they do to prepare themselves for sessions, and they explained how they experienced silences as well as nonmusical components within music therapy. Their opinions about the familiarity of mindfulness in their profession varied. The findings suggest an overall positive view on mindfulness; however, as the sample number is small, I would suggest that my research questions and findings could be used as a platform for future research initiatives.

Developing awareness, exploration and expression of emotionally sensitive issues can be difficult for some clients in music therapy. They may find it hard to express emotion through improvised music and may turn instead to the perceived security of the repetition of known songs.This paper presents the results from a completed research PhD, a qualitative case study based on naturalistic clinical practice, which examined the song choices of one woman in a medium-secure forensic unit over the three-year course of her music therapy. A descriptive narrative account was subjected to analysis according to a modified form of therapeutic narrative analysis (Aldridge and Aldridge 2002), resulting in the abstraction of a series of generative metaphoric images, framed within a chronological series of events. Crucially, these images were found to be humanised figures, yet they were also emotionally decentred or depersonalised. When approached from the philosophical and methodological perspective of behaviourism, which views these as conditioned responses associating music with life experiences as part of a process of developing self-identity, such images can be seen to provide an unspoken voice for the client’s feelings to be expressed in a manner that is personally revealing, socially acceptable, culturally accessible and therapeutically constructive.I assert that using these third-person characters as a form of proxy facilitates mutual reference and experimentation, and places music firmly at the heart of a socially constructed process of music therapy.

This paper constitutes a reflective account of inclusive approaches in two children’s music projects, both aiming to foster group creativityalongside cross-cultural awareness and understanding. The first of these projects involved sharing songs composed by children and youngpeople from a special needs school in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, with a primary school choir in Edinburgh, Scotland. The second project, inSarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, focused on group song-writing and performance involving three groups of children from ethnically separated schools, alongside a choir from a school for children with visual impairments. On reflection, we discuss cross-cultural musical collaboration as an effective means of bringing children togetheracross social and cultural divides in order to share new experiences while building respect for differences. We hope projects such as these may represent the first step towards the ultimate goal of encouraging and nurturing more inclusive friendships between children who might not otherwise have opportunities to interact with each other.

The use of therapeutic boundaries is an essential aspect of music therapy work internationally. However, the influence of cultural and training factors on the use of boundaries has not been explored in-depth yet. This paper presents a small qualitative study, which investigates the use of boundaries in music therapy by Greek therapists, by taking into consideration how their use is influenced by their own cultural and training backgrounds. For the purposes of this study, online email interviews with three Greek music therapists working in Greece were conducted. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse the data that was collected through the interviews. The main findings show that Greek music therapists use boundaries in their music therapy practice according to the professional European standards.However, therapists spoke of flexibility and variations in the use of boundaries to adapt to cultural differences in their own local settings and to meet individual clients’ needs.

This paper explores the nature of the client-therapist relationship through the presentation of a case study. In this case study I aim to show how our processes within the therapy had strong parallels and how through being personally affected by my client this enabled me to work therapeutically more effectively and help him on his journey. The case study demonstrates how I was prepared to try new techniques at the same time as my client became more experimental, and also reveals how the client’s experience was related to my own mental health history. I examine how this affected the way I worked and the way our therapeutic relationship developed. I ask the question of whether it is helpful for the therapist to be personally involved in the therapeutic process and how this can either aid or interfere with the work.Through reference to the work of Carl Jung in particular, I conclude that it is not only helpful, but essential for the therapist to be prepared to be part of the therapeutic process. By examining the nature of the wounded healer archetype and its relevance for the client-therapist relationship, it becomes clear that the therapist cannot help but be personally involved in some way, and that being conscious of this can be a very helpful part of our work. This is especially the case in music therapy, where the therapist usually participates in the co-creation of music, and therefore cannot stand totally outside it. It is this balance of being both outside and inside the process that is crucial to our work.

The article presents an interview with American flutist and music educator Barbara Allen who discusses the use of the aesthetic realism as a teaching method, the aesthetic aspect of teaching the flute and the importance of ensemble in music.

This article focuses on the possible enrichment of music and art experiences of students by online gaming to learn music and English language in Music and Ballet School Solfeggio Education in Serbia. Although Solfeggio lessons are mostly in Serbian and in some schools in Hungarian language, there are indications that in the nearest future bilingual classes (e.g. Serbian - English) for music education will be organized. Today students have the opportunity to apply, take lessons and exams of international organizations, such as The Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) in "Isidor Bajić" Music School in Novi Sad, etc. Thus, by online gaming in classroom or at their spare time, students can learn and master their music, English language, and ICT skills in a pleasant and motivating learning environment. From the teaching methodology aspect the educational content applied in the free online games on two websites is presented: (1) "Classics for Kids" website of Cincinnati Public Radio ("Compose your very own music!", "Match the Rhythm", "Note Names" and "Composer Time Machine"), and (2) "New York Philharmonic Kidzone" website by New York Philharmonic, New York ("Minuet Mixer", "Instrument Frenzy", "Percussion Showdown", "Piccolo Pete Noterunner", "Orchestration Station", "Music Match Composer", "Music Match Instruments"). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated work on different parts of the curriculum is a major challenge for teachers who have been trained within a system that views the different subjects in isolation. This article describes the characteristics and criteria underlying the Continuous Professional Development courses for European teachers (lasting 30 hours), designed within the framework of the European Music Portfolio: A Creative Way into Languages Comenius Project in order to teach music and foreign languages together. Specifically, these courses have been developed using the training models applied in Switzerland and Catalonia (Spain) during 2011 and 2012. At the same time, the results of some in-depth interviews (conducted with participants on a course) are presented, which were intended to gain a deeper insight into the different ways teachers (from kindergarten to secondary education) cope with the challenges of integrated music and language teaching. The discussion highlights the usefulness of the feedback provided by the interviews as an inspiration for new ideas to develop more effective and higher quality professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the views of Greek School Advisors for Music Education on specific issues concerning the teaching of multicultural music in elementary school. The study seeks answers to what, when, and how to teach, focusing especially on contrasting approaches, implementation considerations, and dilemmas posed to the music teacher. The data were mainly collected through semi-structured interviews and classified into categories using content analysis. The results indicate that world musics should be taught from an early age alongside Greek music, which, however, will occupy the central place in the program. The instruction should involve students actively and also include appropriate non-musical information linking the music with its sociocultural context. The musical selections should, as a starting point, take into consideration the diverse backgrounds of the class, but ultimately they should go beyond them, expanding the students' experiences and horizons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, Greek traditional music does not play such an integral role in our society as it did years ago. As a result, its members and consequently pupils in primary and secondary schools do not realize its significance. Specifically, Greek traditional rhythms and dances have been traveling since antiquity, and have influenced contemporary and modern music. The present study reported here of classroom teacher research is a qualitative one. It aims to identify to what extent a 12 -lesson music course based on Greek traditional music can (trans)form adolescents' dispositions about this genre of music. Research data was gathered from the diaries of a teacher and four external observers. Information from recordings and questionnaires (pre-test, post-test and followup study) was collected as well. The data analysis indicates that a number of the pupils not only changed their views on Greek traditional music by the end of the course, but they also kept the same opinion after a period of time. Interestingly, even pupils who still had a negative view toward this genre of music, appreciated it and understood how it is important for Greek society and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article delineates the complex history of Kurdish music recordings in Turkey by dividing it into seven periods. The first period begins with the very first recording of Kurdish music, in 1902. Political events demarcate the remaining periods, embracing the founding of the Turkish Republic, three military coups, the initial legalization of Kurdish language use and further easing of restrictions on broadcasting. The recordings discussed here include those recorded in, manufactured in, or imported to Turkey, both legally and illegally. In addition to the legal environment, the evolution of sound recording and distribution technology also shaped access to and use of Kurdish musics. It is hoped that further research be undertaken urgently, before the remaining sound recordings of the 20th century disappear, and the people who understand their history leave us. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]