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Introduction: In this study, we examined the cognitive processes and physiological responses involved in learning a flute piece by the composer Charles Koechlin among musicians of different expertise levels. Participants performed the piece four times consecutively, with a 2-min practice interval between the first and the second trial. Methods: Using data obtained from an eye tracker, respiratory sensors, and an audio recorder we assessed short-term improvement and the effect of musical structure and practice on key variables identified through a multivariate approach: eye-hand span (EHS), time index of EHS, thoracic and abdominal amplitude (breathing patterns) and pupil dilation. Results: The analysis revealed two main dimensions: one associated with EHS; and the other with embodied responses to music, closely linked to breathing patterns and pupil dilation. We found an effect of musical structure on all the variables studied, while the EHS improved with practice. Expert musicians demonstrated enhanced EHS and adapted their breathing patterns more effectively to the music's structure. Discussion: These insights support the hypothesis of a coupling between anticipation and breathing, emphasizing the role of perceptual and embodied components in music reading and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessment is a crucial aspect of music performance. In pedagogical contexts, an effective assessment process can measure student achievement and inform instructional decisions that contribute to improving teaching and learning. However, music performance assessment is particularly challenging due to its inherent subjectivity, involving personal expression and interpretation, which can lead to divergent opinions. In this PRISMA systematic review (registration DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/CSM8Q), we aimed to delimit and analyze solo music performance assessment systems found in the literature to date, including their corresponding evaluation categories and descriptive criteria, rating methodology, and target audience. A search in three main scientific databases (Web of Science, Scopus, ERIC) was conducted using keywords associated with the topic of assessment in the field of solo music performance. Ultimately, 20 papers were selected and examined, resulting in 26 original assessment systems for analysis. Regarding sample characteristics, we found that studies mainly focused on evaluating high school and university students, with music teachers and faculty members serving as primary evaluators. Many assessment systems were designed to be applicable across various instruments, although some were tailored to specific instruments (e.g., piano, voice) and families (e.g., brass, woodwind). Systems typically structured evaluation around technical, interpretative/expressive, and various musical feature categories (e.g., pitch, rhythm, intonation), further elaborated with descriptive items. While five-point Likert scales were commonly used, recent studies indicated a shift towards rubrics for detailed feedback, which aids examiners' understanding and supports student progress. No differentiation was found in assessment criteria based on students' learning stages, suggesting an area for improvement in refining these assessment methods. This study identifies gaps and proposes improvements in existing assessment systems, providing a foundation for educators and policymakers to enhance curriculum design and instructional practices in music education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By analyzing the K-POP industry, K-POP fandom, and Korea itself as complexly racialized spaces, I argue that the images of idols, constructed in part through their military-precise African-American-inspired performances and music, work as a form of national branding, framing South Korea as aligned with American pop cultural modernity while globally exporting examples of the South Korean state’s supposedly successful production of disciplined bodies. In this complex and ultimately affective process, Black fans find themselves freed from domestic cultural expectations while paradoxically trapped by legacies of racism that haunt them overseas, suggesting the tenuous and contradictory construction of Korea’s hegemonic social politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The usefulness of music analysis in memorisation is well attested in music‐performance scholarship, even though the methods and processes of analytical memorisation are rarely documented and difficult to assess, especially in a historical perspective. The newly accessible working papers of Yvonne Loriod (1924–2010), a pianist renowned for her phenomenal musical memory, contain a corpus of small, handwritten aide‐mémoires (which she called pense‐bêtes) that offer an exemplary opportunity to study memorisation processes from a documentary perspective. Rather than detracting from Loriod's reputation as a memoriser, the pense‐bêtes contribute to our understanding of the personal music‐analytical strategies that facilitated her expert memory. We begin by reading Loriod's pense‐bêtes as evidence of a performer negotiating the social and analytical challenges of memorisation, asking what these private documents reveal about a modernist performance culture in which memorisation was conceived as a precondition of mastery. Next, we examine the pense‐bêtes as instances of performers’ analysis tailored to memory‐related issues, first with examples showing how Loriod navigated ‘dangerous passages’ by devising schematic solutions in score annotations and pense‐bêtes. We then proceed to three extended case studies featuring full formal reductions of works by Mozart and Messiaen. Considering these documents as serious instances of music‐analytical thought productively and empirically expands our understanding of the scope of performer's analysis: they complement and enrich existing analytical readings, underline the role of analysis as a practice integral to modernist musical performance and suggest new pathways for understanding the cognitive processes involved in apprehending complex forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decades, the focus of brain research has expanded from using strictly controlled stimuli towards understanding brain functioning in complex naturalistic contexts. Interest has increased in measuring brain processes in natural interaction, including classrooms, theatres, concerts and museums to understand the brain functions in the real world. Here, we examined how watching a live dance performance with music in a real‐world dance performance setting engages the brains of the spectators. Expertise in dance or music has been shown to modify brain functions, including when watching dance or listening to music. Therefore, we recorded electroencephalography (EEG) from an audience of dancers, musicians and novices as they watched the live dance performance and analysed their cortical oscillations. We compared intrabrain oscillations when participants watched the performance (with music) or listened to the music alone without the dance. We found that dancers have stronger fronto‐central and parieto‐occipital theta phase synchrony (4–8 Hz) than novices when watching dance, likely reflecting the effects of dance experience on motor imagery, multisensory and social interaction processes. Also, compared with novices, dancers had stronger delta phase synchrony (0.5–4 Hz) when listening to music, and musicians had stronger delta phase synchrony when watching dance, suggesting expertise in music and dance enhances sensitivity or attention to temporal regularities in movement and sound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the mainstream view in the philosophy of music, the only way to authentically perform works of past centuries is according to the ideal of Historically Authentic Performance (HAP). This paper aims to show that, despite recent defences of the mainstream view, it lacks motivation, and hence should be abandoned or revised. As we shall see, first, there is no plausible account of HAP as a final and intrinsic value consistent with the work-focused teleology of work-performance. Second, a plausible account of the value of HAP in work-performance regards HAP as a way of performing works of past centuries convincingly. However, this approach does not support the mainstream view because this only leaves HAP as an interpretive option. Finally, an alternative defence of the value of HAP in the form of an indispensability argument is considered: HAP is indispensable to accurately comply with a work's score, and thus to perform it faithfully. This strategy supports the demands of the mainstream view, but we will see that, if we take this option seriously, HAP must be understood in a substantively different manner than the mainstream view does, such that it ultimately amounts to the second option analysed above. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews literature that followed from a political turn, starting in the 1980s, when new epistemological and disciplinary norms were established for articulating music and sound with politics. In an age of impotence, when neoliberal expansion led to pervasive political exhaustion, music and sound took on added potency as political forces in and of themselves. This wager rests on the presumption of music's capacity for politicization (its entry into and effect on the sphere of normative politics) under conditions of increasing depoliticization (the constraints placed on political participation). I have organized research on the politicization of music and sound into four primary categories: resistance and dissent, identity and recognition, affect and belonging, and power and dominance. The article concludes with recent wagers on music and sound to mitigate life's perils in the present and model "otherwise" possibilities for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across its history, K-pop has put traditional Korean elements to a diversity of uses, including in music, dance and visual style. This article investigates the use of traditional elements in the sub-genre of Korean hip hop and rap performance. In this strongly masculine sub-genre, the cultural meanings invoked in the incorporation and remediation of traditional Korean elements take on a more particular generic significance, one that highlights the hegemonic masculinity enjoyed by the referenced figure of the 'gentleman scholar' (seonbi). With this narrower scope of investigation, I argue that the use of traditional cultural elements in Korean popular music can simultaneously function as an element of attraction for global audiences, as has previously been argued, while still maintaining local, genre-specific meanings. In particular, I argue that the gentlemanliness of the 'gentleman scholar' comes from and expresses a position of power and privilege. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to social identity theory, individuals self-categorize into groups and then differentiate between groups based on stereotypical norms to create a perceived hierarchy to benefit their self-esteem. The purpose of this study was to explore the presence of social identities among adolescent musicians related to the career paths of music performance and music education and to determine whether self-categorization and differentiation regarding these career paths were a feature of these social identities. Participants were 821 adolescent musicians of varying experience and backgrounds. Results indicated that participants self-categorized and differentiated in favor of the music performance career path but allocated hypothetical resources in favor of the music education career path. Age, family income, performance setting, and intention to major in music were significant predictors of self-categorization, differentiation, and resource allocation. These findings indicate that participants who were older, had greater financial means, identified as soloists, or intended to major in music were more likely to be aligned with a music performance social identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vocalizations are a central resource for instructing in orchestra rehearsals. Conductors use them to make the musicians understand what they want to hear, i.e., through singing and rhythmic vocalizations they imitate or depict the envisaged musical qualities. In this contribution, I examine what vocalizations of orchestra conductors look like and how they are embedded in the instructional interaction between conductor and musicians. Based on a corpus of orchestra rehearsals in France and Italy, the paper uses multimodal conversation analysis to describe the vocal resources used by the conductors for singing, the interactional and sequential organization of vocalizations, as well as their functional properties. Vocalizing appears to often be accompanied by other semiotic resources, such as gestures and gaze, in order to form vocal-gestural demonstrations that embody musical aspects, e.g., tempo, phrasing, articulation, etc. The analysis reveals that vocalizations are employed by conductors for various purposes that exceed the simple action of imitating the music. Data are in French, Italian and English. • Conductors vocalize using arbitrary but similar syllables and onomatopoeic patterns. • Vocalizations are closely tied to and timed with prosodic and gestural events. • Vocal depictions provide gestalt-like information about music character. • Vocalizations indicate correctable aspects prospectively and retrospectively. • Vocal demonstrations specify verbal instructions and monitor musical performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article titled "SOOT. WE GROW MUSIC!" is a conversation between two fictional characters, FROX and THE SOMETIMES BALLOON, discussing the project WE GROW MUSIC! The project explores the experience and sound of playing a drum kit and delves into concepts such as attention, discrepancy, multiplicity, and ecology. The characters discuss how these concepts can be used as lenses to understand the complexity and structure of live music playing. The conversation also touches on the role of words, text, and writing in relation to the project. The text is fragmented and digressive, but the authors see these fragments as information that can contribute to a broader understanding. The conversation ends with a mention of prisms as a way to view different angles and details of the same subject. The text concludes with some notes about the project and its aim to stimulate action and question the practices of performing, playing, listening, writing, and imagining music. [Extracted from the article]

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, selfefficacy 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Background Objectives Methods Results Conclusions 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The relevance of the research topic is due to the enrichment of the musical language and methods of performing works of the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as a significant update in the means of their transmission to the listener. The study aimed to reveal the tendencies of modern pianism in the context of Western (Italy) and Eastern (China) traditions, which contribute to the realisation of its uniqueness in the process of formation of high‐level professionals. This study is based on theoretical and practical methods. Theoretical methods include analysis, comparison and synthesis. Practical methods are online monitoring with systematisation and questioning. In China, the reliance on folklore is manifested in 85%, the philosophical interpretation of the content of musical works and their interpretation in 80%, the perfection of the mastery of performance technique in 95% and the synthesis of the achievements of Chinese and world performance practice in 80%. The spiritual and semantic aspect of piano performance in the framework of both countries is meaningful in 85%, the material and technical basis in 80% and ethnic self‐identification in 82%. The present findings can be used both in pedagogical and performance practices of different countries, traditions and cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study aimed to explore the correlation between psychological capital and music performance anxiety among Chinese college students majoring in music. Additionally, the study evaluated the chain mediating effects of self-esteem and flow experience. Methods: Three hundred twenty-nine college students pursuing a music major from institutions in Eastern China participated in the study. They were asked to complete the Psychological Capital, Self-Esteem, Flow Experience, and Music Performance Anxiety Scales. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis were performed, and sophisticated mediation models were created. Results: The results suggest that self-esteem and flow experience play a role in connecting psychological capital and music performance anxiety. Moreover, the ultimate model elucidates significant connections linking psychological capital to self-esteem and flow experience in music performance anxiety. Conclusion: This study offers useful insights for future interventions aimed at mitigating music performance anxiety through the cultivation of students' psychological capital, self-esteem, and flow experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Music strongly modulates our autonomic nervous system. This modulation is evident in musicians' beat-to-beat heart (RR) intervals, a marker of heart rate variability (HRV), and can be related to music features and structures. We present a novel approach to modeling musicians' RR interval variations, analyzing detailed components within amusic piece to extract continuousmusic features and annotations of musicians' performance decisions. Methods: A professional ensemble (violinist, cellist, and pianist) performs Schubert's Trio No. 2, Op. 100, Andante con moto nine times during rehearsals. RR interval series are collected from each musician using wireless ECG sensors. Linear mixed models are used to predict their RR intervals based on music features (tempo, loudness, note density), interpretive choices (Interpretation Map), and a starting factor. Results: Themodels explain approximately half of the variability of the RR interval series for allmusicians, with R-squared = 0.606 (violinist), 0.494 (cellist), and 0.540 (pianist). The features with the strongest predictive values were loudness, climax, moment of concern, and starting factor. Conclusions: The method revealed the relative effects of different music features on autonomic response. For the first time, we show a strong link between an interpretation map and RR interval changes. Modeling autonomic response to music stimuli is important for developing medical and non-medical interventions. Our models can serve as a framework for estimating performers' physiological reactions using only music information that could also apply to listeners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the challenges of applying for and receiving music funding for Canadian music workers identifying as Indigenous, Black, or as a person of colour (IBPOC). Using survey data from the Canadian Live Music Association we find evidence of a racialized gap in music funding. Interviews with IBPOC music workers reveal the causes and consequences of the racial funding gap: there are limitations to worker agency wrought by gaps in knowledge of funding opportunities; perceived bias in favour of majority White-racialized music genres; and bureaucratic contradictions in funding applications that disadvantage IBPOC applicants. We argue that the conceptual tenets of racialized organizations and theories of racial inequality in cultural policy and creative organizations explain why gaps in funding persist, despite stated efforts to the contrary. We conclude by outlining a model of how music funding organizations exemplify racializing processes and offer policy implications for scholars and practitioners of arts funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustained use of ‘Western’ style orchestration in Bombay film music can be attributed to the trajectory of two kinds of musical practices, one tethered to the leisure economies developed by the colonial rule from the 19th century onwards, and second, the robust and frequent presence of travelling jazz bands from the early twentieth century. As a period of intense transformation, the decade of the 1940s saw musicians from different parts of the subcontinent move to Bombay to find work in the film industry. This process often involved adapting to new performance contexts, genres and instruments. Studios in the Bombay film industry became fecund spaces where musicians and arrangers trained in Western classical music came in heady contact with the jazz men of Bombay’s nightclubss. Focusing on the late 1960s as another transitional moment, this article traces R.D. Burman’s affective encounters with these ‘mobile musicking bodies.’ Biographies of his key musicians give us detailed accounts of their training and involvement in diverse sites of musical performance, before they arrived in the Bombay film industry. This detour informs my analysis of R.D. Burman and his team’s innovative film scores, underlining vocal effects, side rhythms and inclusion of edgy off-key sounds. Moving away from a song-driven approach, I focus on title tracks, background scores and extended instrumental set-pieces of crime and action genres that are now getting recirculated on the internet by R.D. Burman’s fans. Through a methodology that will combine textual analysis, internet ethnography and close listening, the article will argue that these new soundscapes carried the inscriptions of global music cultures and ‘extra-musical’ noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown that music expertise relates to the hemispheric lateralization of music reading among musicians and non-musicians. However, it remains unclear that how music expertise modulates the hemispheric lateralization of music reading along the music learning trajectory and how music expertise modulates the hemispheric lateralization of reading different musical elements. This study examined how music expertise modulates the hemispheric lateralization of music reading in pitch elements (e.g., pitch, harmony), temporal elements (e.g., rhythm), and expressive elements (e.g., articulation) among musicians, music learners, and non-musicians. Musicians (n = 38), music learners (n = 26), and non-musicians (n = 33) worked on a set of divided visual field sequential matching tasks with four musical elements, i.e., pitch, harmony, rhythm, and articulation, in separate blocks. An eye-tracker was used to ensure participants' central fixation before each trial. Participants judged whether the first and second target stimuli were the same as quickly and accurately as possible. The findings showed that for musicians, no significant differences were observed between the left visual field (LVF) and the right visual field (RVF), suggesting musicians' bilateral representation in music reading. Music learners had an RVF/LH (left hemisphere) advantage over the LVF/RH (right hemisphere), suggesting music learners tended to be more left-lateralized in music reading. In contrast, non-musicians had an LVF/RH advantage over the RVF/LH, suggesting non-musicians tended to be more right-lateralized in music reading. In addition, music expertise correlates with the laterality index (LI) in music reading, suggesting that the better the overall performance in music expertise task, the greater the tendency to be more left-lateralized in music reading. Nonetheless, musicians, music learners, and non-musicians did not show different visual field effects in any individual musical elements respectively, suggesting the cognitive processes involved might share similar lateralization effects among the three groups when only one particular musical element is examined. In general, this study suggests the effect of music training on brain plasticity along the music learning trajectory. It also highlights the possibilities that bilateral or left hemispheric lateralization may serve as an expertise marker for musical reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the twentieth century, contemporary music has been a source of controversial perceptions and standpoints. This study aims to explore young music students’ perception of the term ‘contemporary music’ and anticipate possible directions for improvement in music education in Armenia. Based on her pedagogical experience, and a scientific literature review, the author attempted to describe the issue in terms of perception and prejudices. A questionnaire was used to conduct the survey among music students to gather data from respondents about their insights on the subject. The findings indicate it is mostly a combination of mixed ideas of contemporary academic and popular music formed as a result of the learner's personal musical experience. The result reveals that it is possible to change the attitude of students to a positive one by actively gaining the experience of contemporary music performance. The author has also formulated observations and recommendations, which should be taken into account for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the artistic and scientific practices of Lander Gyselinck, focusing on the hybridisation of jazz and beat-based electronic dance genres. The research investigates how cross-fertilisation can stretch boundaries and break conventions in rhythm, harmony, and texture. Through an integrated approach of art and research, Gyselinck examines the symbiosis between man and machine to inspire new creative processes. Employing a cyclical methodology of discovery, listening, transcribing, studying, creating, and composing, Gyselinck reveals a dynamic interplay between inspiration and systematic practice. This process has enriched his artistic-creative practice, resulting in a new musical language and techniques. The composition Sun Salutations from the album Disleksikon exemplifies these innovative rhythmic and textural elements, illustrating how the Footwork genre has influenced Gyselinck's drumming. This article reflects on Gyselinck's artistic journey, offering insights into the genesis of his music and methodologies. By documenting these processes, the work contributes to the on-going hybridisation and evolution of music, providing valuable perspectives for other musicians to enrich their own practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Most of the anxiety disorders, particularly social anxiety, seem to develop either during childhood or adolescence. Adolescent singers who experience physical, mental and emotional changes along with voice change are particularly prone to the development of MPA. However, adolescence also seems to be an opportune time to instil healthy behaviours in singing students as they are more likely to remember these coping strategies, owing to the release of dopamine and the 'reminiscence bump'. As this period of a singer's life is wrought with inevitable anxiety development, the additional aim of the study was to develop a coaching framework which can be used by singing teachers in their practice. Mindset training for adolescents seems crucial to help them continue singing through puberty so they do not drop out of singing lessons or choir during voice change and identity development. Methods: The study aimed to determine if Acceptance and Commitment coaching could be used with adolescent singers with MPA and to record and analyse rich qualitative data in the form of semi-structured participant interviews and questionnaires. Results: When their perception of MPA symptoms and physiological and psychological arousal before a performance changed, their behaviour and reactions changed accordingly. The change took place over a period of time, which was characterised by discoveries about themselves, confusion in understanding new concepts and letting go of old habits. Interestingly, by the end of the coaching sessions, their preoccupation with pleasing the audience and appearing perfect on stage was replaced by a new-found delight in pursuing values and goals related to their singing. Along with this came the acceptance of themselves and others as individuals with the potential for growth and change and the capacity to learn from mistakes. Discussion: This study marks the first investigation into the effectiveness of using of ACC as an intervention for MPA in adolescent singers undergoing puberty by a singing teacher. The results are promising and suggest that ACC is an effective MPA intervention for adolescent singers to cope with inevitable developmentrelated anxieties and keep them engaged in the activity of singing during their pubertal years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few decades, a growing number of studies have used wearable technologies, such as inertial and pressure sensors, to investigate various domains of music experience, from performance to education. In this paper, we systematically review this body of literature using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) method. The initial search yielded a total of 359 records. After removing duplicates and screening for content, 23 records were deemed fully eligible for further analysis. Studies were grouped into four categories based on their main objective, namely performance-oriented systems, measuring physiological parameters, gesture recognition, and sensory mapping. The reviewed literature demonstrated the various ways in which wearable systems impact musical contexts, from the design of multi-sensory instruments to systems monitoring key learning parameters. Limitations also emerged, mostly related to the technology's comfort and usability, and directions for future research in wearables and music are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article shines a light on the musical contents of a "book of births", the Liber Nativitatum or Albubather, written by the Persian Astrologer Abu Bakr al‐Hassan ibn al‐Khasib in the ninth century, translated into Latin at the beginning of the thirteenth century, and published in Venice in 1501. "Books of births" served to show how an individual's fortune and personal traits could be ascertained from the position of the celestial bodies throughout the individual's gestation period. A significant portion of these traits pertain to loquacity, hearing, musical skill and the likelihood of a musical profession. Thanks to the connotations each celestial body bore – positive and negative – and the traits they are described as imparting, the Liber Nativitatum makes it possible to identify the skills and traits requisite for good musical performance, as well as those traits which might inhibit it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"William Byrd: Consort Music" by Anne Martin is a comprehensive analysis of Byrd's thirty-three textless consort compositions, a category of instrumental music often overlooked in Byrd scholarship. The book discusses the sources, genres, and historical context of these compositions, making it a valuable resource for viol players, performers interested in early instrumental music, and those studying Byrd's music. The book fills a gap in Byrd scholarship and offers new perspectives on the renowned English composer. Additionally, the volume consists of twenty-eight essays organized into five parts, with a central theme of the relationship between music and poetry. Despite the diverse contributions, the book maintains a cohesive structure and explores common themes and motifs, providing valuable insights into nineteenth-century music. [Extracted from the article]

A-R Editions has published a collection of descriptive piano fantasias, edited by Halina Goldberg and Jonathan D. Bellman. The collection features fourteen works from 1788 to 1910 that directly describe specific occurrences. These pieces offer a glimpse into the keyboard skills expected of domestic music buyers during that time and showcase the compositional characteristics and sophistication of the era. The edition includes detailed introductions and notes on each composition, providing historical context and performance suggestions. [Extracted from the article]

This article uses the concept of diaspora aesthetics to examine how South Asians use traditional culture, such as music, to negotiate belonging during their integration process in Hong Kong. Music is an embodied aesthetic practice through which diaspora materialises, shaping identity and belonging in ethnic minorities. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic observations of South Asians in Hong Kong, this article explores how expressions of South Asian-ness become embodied in people who participate in music performance at socio-cultural and religious events. While the South Asians have long been experiencing marginalisation in Hong Kong, the discussion of diaspora aesthetics demonstrates how music performance can concurrently demonstrate hybrid forms of belonging, intercultural dialogue, and a sense of integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Music has the potential to produce several performance-enhancing effects on the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and power output, and these effects may be influenced by exercise intensity. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the effects of music on RPE, peak and mean power during high-intensity intermittent exercise. Methods: The databases searched for relevant studies included PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, SportDiscuss, and PsycInfo, from their inception until December 2022. Results: A total of 318 were found, 9 studies attained the eligibility criteria and were included in the final analyses. Eight studies applied a sprint interval exercise protocol and one applied a long-duration high-intensity interval exercise. Out of the six studies that measured the RPE, four reported no effect of music on this parameter. Four in six studies showed that music improved peak power and two in seven studies reported that music led to an improvement in mean power when compared to control conditions. Conclusion: Therefore, music does not seem to reduce the RPE or increase mean power, but it appears to have the ability to increase peak power during high-intensity intermittent exercise. The choice of music and timing of the intervention are important considerations when manipulating music during high-intensity intermittent exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the acoustics of multi-purpose colonial theaters in Algeria, those of Algiers and Bejaia, are studied to evaluate their acoustic conditions (suitability for music and speech) in view of their architecture's evolution. To do, acoustics measurements were performed inside them according to the ISO 3382-1 Standard in unoccupied conditions. The average values of acoustic parameters (EDT, T30, C80, and D50) are reported in frequency domain from 125 to 4 kHz. Furthermore, maps of spatial distribution of T30, C80 at the frequency of 1 kHz, and STI are reported. Results show that the Algiers theater is the more appropriate venue for multipurpose performances (with a fairly low RT of 1.5 s in average mid-frequencies), whereas the Bejaia theater is only suitable for musical performances (with a high RT of 2.5 s in average mid-frequencies). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Studies of performance intonation and musicians' own statements suggest that classical string instrumentalists often deviate in their intonation from equal temperament for expressive purposes. However, it is not clear to what extent corresponding perceptual preferences for intonational deviations might rely on listeners' instrumental expertise or such contextual aspects as the metrical placement of tones. We investigated higher-education music students' perceptual preferences for melodic intonation of local leading tones in unaccompanied classical violin performances. Recordings of 12 excerpts were manipulated in the size of ascending semitones (110, 90, or 70 cents) leading to tones that were more stable in the tonal context. Groups of violin students and music education students listened to pairs of excerpts differing only in the size of semitones and chose the intonation variant that they preferred. In the comparison between 90- and 110-cent semitones, violin students showed a stronger group consensus for preferring 90 cents. However, greater instrumental expertise did not result in a stronger overall preference for the sharpest 70-cent variant. Instead, the violin students showed an expertise-related connection between intonation preference and meter, which was not observed for the music education students. In particular, the violin students more often preferred 70-cent intonation (i.e., the sharpest leading tones) in metrically unaccented than in accented positions. In effect, this is to prefer an expressive intonation that colors the music while not challenging the harmonic structure at metrically salient tones. It is argued that understanding expressive intonation in musical performance requires consideration of the metrical context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study assessed how exposure to slow (SBM) versus fast beat music (FBM) during high-intensity rowing intervals affects performance, heart rate (HR), lactate levels, relative perceived exertion (RPE), and recovery. Methods: The A/B crossover design involved 21 participants performing 5 × 500 m rowing intervals under two conditions: FBM and SBM. Primary endpoint was the difference in total rowing time. Secondary endpoints included average HR, average RPE as well as rowing interval times, RPE, and HR per interval. For exploratory purpose, HR and lactate drop during the initial 5 min post completion was analyzed. Results: Listening to FBM resulted in significantly shorter total rowing times (p = 0.009, rB = 0.59), especially during the 1st interval. The 1st interval was also significantly faster than intervals 2-5 (p < 0.001), with the greatest performance drop between the 1st and 2nd interval during FBM. Average HR was significantly lower when listening to SBM (p = 0.03, rB = 0.48), while average RPE showed no significant difference (p = 0.47, rB = 0.02). Lactate values after interval 5 were significantly lower in SBM (p = 0.05, rB = 0.41), but no significant difference was found for lactate drop (p = 0.21, rB = 0.21). However, participants exhibited a higher HR drop rate with SBM (p = 0.05, rB = 0.42). Conclusion: FBM improved performance without increasing RPE, while SBM proved superior for recovery. Systematic customization of music based on intended training stimuli holds broad potential for the competitive sports, fitness, and health sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study investigated the relationship between personality traits and MPA in the course of a specific performance. Methods: For this purpose, symptoms of MPA, functional coping with MPA and performance-related self-efficacy of a sample of 393 musicians including 23% professional, 49% non-professional orchestra musicians and 28% singers in amateur choirs were categorized and then used to analyze differences in the personality traits. The questionnaires used were the NEO-FFI and the PQM. Results: The results showed that professional orchestra musicians had significantly higher openness and conscientiousness than non-professional orchestra musicians and amateur choir singers. Musicians who had few symptoms of MPA, positive coping with MPA and high self-efficacy across a specific performance (Type 1) have low neuroticism in their personality traits. Regarding MPA, the personality traits were correlated with all MPA scales after the performance but less with MPA scales before and during the performance. Discussion: Results could indicate that personality traits play a particularly important role in the processing of performance experiences after the performance and suggest focusing on the situation after the performance in particular with professional orchestra musicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anxiety and depression are highly prevalent disorders among individuals undergoing chronic haemodialysis. For patients with kidney disease, the haemodialysis process often exacerbates these conditions. This study aims to investigate the effects of listening to live classical music on anxiety and depression scales during haemodialysis sessions. Methods: A randomised clinical trial was conducted with a group of patients who listened to live classical music during haemodialysis sessions, while the control group received treatment as usual. Anxiety and depression levels were assessed at baseline and after 4 weeks of listening to live music. The study comprised 90 patients. Results: The results demonstrated a significant decrease in anxiety and depression among the intervention group, who listened to music, compared to the control group, who did not receive this intervention. Specifically, the intervention group, presented a decrease in score on the anxiety scale of -5.35 (p < 0.001) points on average and a decrease in score on the depression scale of -5.88 (p < 0.001) points on average, while in the control group the levels worsened with the progression of time. Conclusion: It is concluded that listening to live classical music during haemodialysis sessions reduces anxiety and depression levels in HD patients. This conclusion adds value to listening to live music in the hospital context, specifically in this case, in haemodialysis rooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent does the sense of touch matter in cultural consumption? After an extended period of limited social gathering due to COVID-19, it is vital to assess the importance of physical contacts in cultural events. Focused on the live music industry, our paper addresses the following question: How important is the perception and experience of tactile value amongst festival- and concertgoers? For this purpose, we conducted a survey between September and November 2021 and collected 142 exploitable questionnaires. Our goal was to detect structural relationships between latent variables related to touch through a Structural Equation Model. The latter reveals the relative pleasantness of tactile value experienced by our respondents, with effects on their live music experience. In view of the importance of tactile value in live music events, we formulate several recommendations to practitioners and cultural policy in order to further take into account this variable in decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research discusses that cognitive processes such as memory, attention and creativity differ in students and professionals, among musicians and non-musicians, dealing with musical performance. The purpose of the study was to evaluate and compare the role of memory, attention and creativity as cognitive processes in musical performance, focusing on the differences between non-musicians and musicians. The sample involved 400 individuals, students and professionals, specialising in music and economics. The research instruments used by the scholars were the Wechsler Memory Scale, the Conners Performance Test, and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. Musical students possessed better-developed auditory and short-term memory, while professional musicians had better auditory, visual working and short-term memory. Analysis of attention reveals that music students score better than non-musicians on all four aspects: inattention, impulsivity, sustained attention, and vigilance. For professionals, the key aspects are impulsivity and sustained attention with better results revealed in musicians. Creative thinking was the only factor where the differences were statistically significant in all five scales and the findings proved that creativity was better developed among musicians. This study provides an in-depth analysis and adds new knowledge to existing literature and empirical data on the cognitive processes associated with musical performance, focusing on memory, attention and creativity. By examining the differences between non-musicians and musicians, as well as students and professionals, the study provides insight into how musical performance can be used as a way to develop these cognitive processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vocal performance is based on a variety of colours and shades influenced by the musical ear and vocal apparatus development. The research aim is to apply a problem-based approach to online music education with a special emphasis on vocal singing with piano accompaniment. The scholars used the oscillation coefficient to identify the main advantages of the singing and piano accompaniment performed at the same time. The results showed that the proposed approach to music performance influenced the development of the musical ear (0.22), improved vocal skills and piano playing skills (0.19). The musician's individuality has not been influenced greatly but holds all the elements mentioned above. The research developed a specialised training programme with three modules for online musical and theoretical training, the development of practical skills, and the development of artistic skills. The research found that 83% of students admitted high effectiveness of the training programme for concert performances and musical competitions. The research's practical significance can be explained by the possibility of developing vocal and instrumental data during the online learning process. The research is important for a comparative analysis to identify the training effectiveness among different groups of vocalists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & objective: Perioperative anxiety affects 25-80% of all surgical patients. It has a negative impact on postoperative recovery, potentially increasing morbidity and mortality. The anxiolytic effects of music therapy are well recognized, but its cognitive implications are unknown. We examined the effects of 440 Hz and 432 Hz music therapy on pre-operative anxiety and cognitive functions in patients scheduled for surgery. Methodology: The study took place in the operating room of our hospital. Following ethical committee approval, the study was launched. It was a prospective observational study comprising 66 ASA I, II, and III patients, between the ages of 18 and 65, scheduled to undergo surgery. They were divided into three groups: Control Group (CG), music therapy at 440 Hz (MG440), and music therapy at 432 Hz (MG432). Music therapy was administered to MG440 and MG432, but not to CG. Patients took the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and the Beck Anxiety Scale (BAS). MoCA and BAS were assessed before surgery, one hour and at 24 hours following surgery. Results: In both groups, preoperative music therapy significantly reduced anxiety (P < 0.001). Anxiety levels following surgery were comparable in all groups. Postoperative one-hour cognitive performance in music therapy groups was lower than in controls (P < 0.001), but increased and became significantly higher than in the control group at 24 h (P < 0.001). There was no substantial difference between the 440 Hz and 432 Hz groups. Conclusions: Preoperative music therapy reduced anxiety; it initially lowered postoperative cognitive performance; nevertheless, within 24 hours, therapy groups had enhanced cognitive skills when compared to controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music is integrated into daily life when listening to it, playing it, and singing, uniquely modulating brain activity. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), celebrated for its ecological validity, has been used to elucidate this music–brain interaction. This scoping review synthesizes 22 empirical studies using fNIRS to explore the intricate relationship between music and brain function. This synthesis of existing evidence reveals that diverse musical activities, such as listening to music, singing, and playing instruments, evoke unique brain responses influenced by individual traits and musical attributes. A further analysis identifies five key themes, including the effect of passive and active music experiences on relevant human brain areas, lateralization in music perception, individual variations in neural responses, neural synchronization in musical performance, and new insights fNIRS has revealed in these lines of research. While this review highlights the limited focus on specific brain regions and the lack of comparative analyses between musicians and non-musicians, it emphasizes the need for future research to investigate the complex interplay between music and the human brain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I investigate intersections between music and mobilities as manifested in songwriter and musician Anthonie Tonnon's Rail Land tour of 2019–20. These concerts celebrated New Zealand's passenger rail heritage through not only performance but also by mobilising the audience to travel by train to the concert venue. The curation of both journey and destination amounted to a subtle activism. In influencing the way people travelled to his shows, Tonnon effectively remobilised a consideration of train travel in which the journey was arguably as memorable as the destination. As such, the artist was contributing to a re‐entwining of music, identity and place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the case of grassroots-level live music in Japan during the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Despite imposing restrictions on cross-border movement, the Japanese government refrained from implementing the ‘lockdowns’ seen elsewhere. As such, this study provides an opportunity to examine what happens when infection prevention measures are delegated to the community level. Using qualitative data gathered from ethnographic fieldwork, this case study of punks in the northern city of Sapporo affords a ‘real life’ view of live music practice under such circumstances. Given that governments and policy makers are keen to avoid ‘lockdowns’ or similar measures should there be a future pandemic, a consideration of what actually happens in such a case becomes imperative. Qualitative analysis of this ethnographic case study reveals that whether an audience is able to sufficiently ‘control’ themselves in order to follow infection prevention guidelines is dependent on the social trajectories of those within it, and to what extent they are willing and able to employ their personal (sub)cultural capital to influence the emergent event. For policy makers, this suggests that any ‘community-level’ approach to infection prevention necessitates engagement with the group in question that is simultaneously ‘bottom up’ and ‘top down.’ [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Music identification is widely regarded as a solved problem for music searching in quiet environments, but its performance tends to degrade in TV broadcast audio owing to the presence of dialogue or sound effects. In addition, constructing an accurate dataset for measuring the performance of background music monitoring in TV broadcast audio is challenging. We propose a framework for monitoring background music by automatic identification and introduce a background music cue sheet. The framework comprises three main components: music identification, music–speech separation, and music detection. In addition, we introduce the Cue‐K‐Drama dataset, which includes reference songs, audio tracks from 60 episodes of five Korean TV drama series, and corresponding cue sheets that provide the start and end timestamps of background music. Experimental results on the constructed and existing datasets demonstrate that the proposed framework, which incorporates music identification with music–speech separation and music detection, effectively enhances TV broadcast audio monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the pursuit of developing expressive music performance models using artificial intelligence, this paper introduces DExter, a new approach leveraging diffusion probabilistic models to render Western classical piano performances. The main challenge faced in performance rendering tasks is the continuous and sequential modeling of expressive timing and dynamics over time, which is critical for capturing the evolving nuances that characterize live musical performances. In this approach, performance parameters are represented in a continuous expression space, and a diffusion model is trained to predict these continuous parameters while being conditioned on a musical score. Furthermore, DExter also enables the generation of interpretations (expressive variations of a performance) guided by perceptually meaningful features by being jointly conditioned on score and perceptual-feature representations. Consequently, we find that our model is useful for learning expressive performance, generating perceptually steered performances, and transferring performance styles. We assess the model through quantitative and qualitative analyses, focusing on specific performance metrics regarding dimensions like asynchrony and articulation, as well as through listening tests that compare generated performances with different human interpretations. The results show that DExter is able to capture the time-varying correlation of the expressive parameters, and it compares well to existing rendering models in subjectively evaluated ratings. The perceptual-feature-conditioned generation and transferring capabilities of DExter are verified via a proxy model predicting perceptual characteristics of differently steered performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Music Performance Self-Efficacy Scale (MPSES) is an important scale designed to reflect the four sources of self-efficacy of Bandura by Zelenak, and has been used in many studies of music education in the international literature in recent years. This study was carried out to ensure the validity and reliability of the Turkish translation of the MPSES. Participants (N = 613) were students (men n = 291; women n = 322) in undergraduate-level music education programs in Turkey. The translation process included the following steps, which were performed by a translation group: (1) translation into Turkish, (2) back translation into English, and (3) cross-cultural adaptation. First and second-level confirmatory factor analysis results showed good model-data fit (for one main dimension and four sub-dimensions). Therefore, the Turkish version of MPSES produced satisfactory internal consistency coefficients (α =.75–.91). Additionally, t -test results and item-total score correlation coefficients also revealed that the items re distinctive. Accordingly, The Turkish version of MPSES is a valid and reliable tool for determining the sources of music performance self-efficacy for those who will do research in Turkish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this text, we discuss the "Beyond Quantum Music" project, which inspired pianists, composers, researchers, and innovators Sonja Lončar and Andrija Pavlović (LP Duo) to go beyond the boundaries of classical and avant-garde practices to create a new style in composition and performance on two unique DUALITY hybrid pianos that they invented and developed to create a new stage design for multimedia concert performances and establish a new musical genre as a platform for future musical expression. "Beyond Quantum Music" is a continuation of the groundbreaking art and science project "Quantum Music", which began in 2015; we envisioned it as a long-term project. In order to build an experimental dialogue between music and quantum physics, we created the DUALITY Portable Hybrid Piano System. This innovative instrument was essential for expanding the current sound of the classical piano. As a result, new compositions and new piano sounds were produced using various synthesizers and sound samples derived from scientific experiments. The key place for this dialogue between music and science was the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, where Andrija Pavlović, as a Kavli artist in residence, and Sonja Lončar, as an expert, spent several months in 2022 collaborating with scientists to compose new music. Later on, we collaborated with the visual artist "Incredible Bob" to develop the idea for the multimedia concert "LP Duo plays Beyond Quantum Music" to be performed at various locations, including the Scientific Institute MedILS Split (Croatia), the Theater Hall JDP Belgrade (Serbia), the Congress Hall TU Delft (the Netherlands), and open-air concerts at the Kaleidoskop Festival (Novi Sad, Serbia) and Ars Electronica Festival in Linz (Austria). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]