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The practice of a musical instrument requires fine dexterity, repetitive, fast, and precise movements, as well as important efforts to set the instrument into vibration, while adopting postures often unnatural for the human body. As a result, musicians are often subject to pain and musculoskeletal disorders. In the case of plucked string instruments and especially the concert harp, the plucking force is directly related to the strings' tension. Consequently, the choice of the strings has to be made based on both, the musician feel while playing, and the musculoskeletal consequences. This paper investigates how the string properties and the playing dynamics affect the finger and wrist muscle activity during harp playing. This study first emphasized the noteworthy recruitment of the flexor and extensor muscles (42% and 29% of MVC, respectively). Findings outlined further that the fingering choice, the adopted playing dynamics and the string's material govern the muscular activity level and the playing control. Such results are a first step to better understand how the harp ergonomics may affect the player's integrity and help them decide the most suitable stringing for their practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Magazine of Historical Studies & Archaeology is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) 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.)

By means of a case study, the submitted article describes the solution of a single part of a larger research task. In the submitted article, we deal with the process of creating 3D models of three selected cultural heritage objects (ceramic vase of Pozdišovce, traditional mangle board and traditional music instrument - jaw harp) using two different methods - manual modelling and photogrammetry. As a conclusion, we need to find the method, the use of which leads to better and higher quality results, taking into account the time consumption and other factors. We will use the created virtual 3D equivalents of real objects later in the next phase of research when they will become part of a small test scene of a „virtual museum“. In the museum, the final 3D objects will be presented to the participants in the following phase of our research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the article is to trace the peculiarities of the development of Christ the Good Shepherd iconography from the samples of the Early Christian Era (3-4th centuries) to later interpretations in the West European art of 15-17th centuries. Scientific novelty. the article is the first attempt to unify and comprehend the iconography of Christ the Good Shepherd at all stages of its development, including an allegorical image originated from the ancient prototype and symbolical depiction of Jesus Christ with a lamb on his back popular in the West European art of 15-17th centuries. Methodology. The work on the article was studied with the use of the method of formal art analysis. The symbolism of the works in terms of their sacral meaning was studied with the use of the iconographic method. The hermeneutical method was used for outlining the origin and development of the iconography of Christ the Good Shepherd from the viewpoint of the controversy between Christianity and Paganism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. Conclusions: Based on the images of the early Christian period and West European art of the 15-17th centuries, four types of images were singled out: 1. A Good Shepherd as a barefaced young man with the lamb on his back; 2. The barefaced young shepherd with a crook, harp, or bucket of water standing next to the flock of sheep; 3. Jesus Christ as the Pantocrator, an adult man with the lamb on his back; 4. Jesus resurrected, often bare, with the wounds on his legs and arms, with the lamb on his shoulders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Before surgery, people can become concerned about risks that may arise, experiencing fear and stress. It is possible to implement nonpharmacological interventions to reduce fear and preoperative stress using expressive arts, including music therapy.Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of live harp music and compare it with that of recorded harp music in reducing preoperative stress and fear and changes in blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR).Design: The study was a pilot study, with a quasi-experimental design.Setting: The study took place in a surgery unit's clinic, held weekly, in a teaching hospital in Milan, Italy.Participants: Participants were 46 people undergoing day surgery, divided into 2 groups: 24 in the intervention group and 22 in the control group. No one dropped out of the study.Intervention: The intervention group listened to live harp music and the control group listened to recorded harp music, immediately before a surgical intervention. The research team had defined a musical protocol based on the theoretical principles of harp therapy.Outcome Measures: Before and after the musical intervention, the research team investigated each patient's level of fear and stress, using the same self-evaluation questionnaire (HR) and blood pressure (BP).Results: Of the 46 participants, 46% were male, and 54% were female. Fear values were reduced significantly and in equal measure in the intervention (P = .001) and control (P = .0001) groups. The live harp music was more effective in reducing HR (P = .001) and diastolic BP (P = .007), than was recorded harp music, with P = .151 and P = .164, respectively. Based on the results, the research team determined that a randomized controlled trial (RCT) would require 90 patients for both the intervention and control groups.Conclusions: Harp therapy brought benefits by significantly reducing fear and stress and HR and BP. It would be useful to perform a multicenter RCT to confirm these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to describe, summarize, and evaluate the main contributions of a translation of the Psalter titled Harp of Israel, made by Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos Saraiva, an old professor of Mackenzie College. The translation was published in 1898 by Rev. George W. Chamberlain. The article is not mainly a historical assessment of the subject, but an exegetical appraisal of the translation and the so-called discrepancies between the Portuguese translation of Antônio Pereira de Figueredo (based on the Vulgate) and Saraiva's translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firefly Elegy uses a 12-note melodic theme, which through the course of the piece undergoes a series of transformations - mirroring the metamorphosis that takes place over a firefly's brief life span. The piece comprises four sections that reflect the four life stages of the firefly. During the motionless egg stage, some types of fireflies glow dimly; the opening section of the piece (following a short fanfare of flashing-light) is likewise static and calm, while at the same time features an internal motion hinting at subdued energy. The following groovy section is at times aggressive, not unlike the firefly during its larva stage, when it is hunting and digesting insects using special enzymes. The firefly hibernates through the pupa stage - reflected in the third section of the piece by seemingly everlasting sustained chords in the strings. Like a flash of light, each new phrase begins with an ascending scale, while the harp provides groups of repeated notes, recalling the synchronized flashes that are found in groups of tropical fireflies. Firefly Elegy ends with an elegy in which the now mature firefly looks back at its life. It has gone through such an extensive journey but only long enough to mate and lay eggs, sometimes without feeding during its adult stage. In the summertime, I often watch the firefly in his lonely flutter, flashing about and looking for a mate so he can complete the sole purpose of his short life before dying away. He must sometimes look back and wonder: was it all worth it? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Aula (0214-3402) is the property of Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca 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.)

Since Luciano Berio's (1925–2003) Sequenza II (1963), many composers have tried to find new ways to approach the harp as a medium for contemporary music. When asked about writing for the harp, modern composers tend to express a reservation about the complexity of the mechanisms of the instrument itself. Do the very heavy aura and subtext that the instrument carries with it influence the composers as well? While the idioms of other classical instruments commonly used in contemporary music have already been analysed many times over, the uses of the harp in the modern repertoire have gone comparatively unexamined. Using analyses of recent compositions for harp by Heinz Holliger, Marc Andre, Ansgar Beste, Jonathan Bell, Georges Aperghis, as well as interviews with these composers, this study aims to examine how composers of the last fifty years deal with the suggestiveness of the harp in their use of the instrument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]