{"title":"Editorial","authors":"Jon Helge Sætre, L. Nijs","doi":"10.1386/jmte_00029_2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte_00029_2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Music Technology & Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47353569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The research presented in this article reports on the SWING project, a qualitative case study initiated by The Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen (AEC) into the use of LoLa (low-latency audio-visual streaming) for instrumental music teaching between conservatoires. LoLa is a software package that allows musicians to perform and interact together synchronously in real-time with high-quality audio, something not currently possible with standard videoconferencing platforms. LoLa is a relatively new technology and there is limited research available on how effective it is when used for instrumental music teaching. Trials of LoLa technology were conducted in three conservatoires in Austria, Italy and Slovenia in early 2019. Follow-up interviews were conducted with music teachers, students and technicians to understand their experiences of using the technology, what changes took place in the teaching, and to determine the potential and limitations of LoLa for teaching in conservatoires. Participants in the trials reported overall satisfaction with the system, with many being surprised at the high quality. The findings showed that LoLa can expand the possibilities for artistic development by facilitating synchronous interaction between teachers and students in different conservatoires. These possibilities include one-to-one lessons, group masterclasses, examinations, and opportunities to rehearse and perform synchronously with musicians from other institutions. This aligns with current research which calls for a reappraisal of the traditional one-to-one conservatoire studio lesson.
{"title":"Evaluating the use of LoLa in European conservatoires: The SWING project","authors":"Benjamin Redman","doi":"10.1386/jmte_00023_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte_00023_1","url":null,"abstract":"The research presented in this article reports on the SWING project, a qualitative case study initiated by The Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen (AEC) into the use of LoLa (low-latency audio-visual streaming) for instrumental\u0000 music teaching between conservatoires. LoLa is a software package that allows musicians to perform and interact together synchronously in real-time with high-quality audio, something not currently possible with standard videoconferencing platforms. LoLa is a relatively new technology and there\u0000 is limited research available on how effective it is when used for instrumental music teaching. Trials of LoLa technology were conducted in three conservatoires in Austria, Italy and Slovenia in early 2019. Follow-up interviews were conducted with music teachers, students and technicians to\u0000 understand their experiences of using the technology, what changes took place in the teaching, and to determine the potential and limitations of LoLa for teaching in conservatoires. Participants in the trials reported overall satisfaction with the system, with many being surprised at the high\u0000 quality. The findings showed that LoLa can expand the possibilities for artistic development by facilitating synchronous interaction between teachers and students in different conservatoires. These possibilities include one-to-one lessons, group masterclasses, examinations, and opportunities\u0000 to rehearse and perform synchronously with musicians from other institutions. This aligns with current research which calls for a reappraisal of the traditional one-to-one conservatoire studio lesson.","PeriodicalId":42410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Music Technology & Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49496115","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This case study looks at a self-directed learning process of a professional classical-trained musician adopting a previously unknown digital-material musical device. In order to achieve the desired artistic result, the musician has to modify his music-related action in favour of the device’s calls for action, which are shown to him by a preset session. For this purpose, a specific interface relation must be established in the connection between the user and the device. The case study is contrasted with data from its framing research project. Findings include aspects as affirmation or degrees of unfamiliarity and their respective impacts on the subject’s action repertoires. A model of learning in the context of digital media or interfaces is introduced and discussed. It offers a specific potential for identifying particularities of how meaning and functionality of digital-material musical devices are embedded into everyday artistic contexts.
{"title":"Technology-centred learning processes as digital artistic development: On the reciprocal effects of conceptual models, metaphors and presets","authors":"T. Neuhausen, Carsten Wernicke, Michael Ahlers","doi":"10.1386/jmte_00027_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte_00027_1","url":null,"abstract":"This case study looks at a self-directed learning process of a professional classical-trained musician adopting a previously unknown digital-material musical device. In order to achieve the desired artistic result, the musician has to modify his music-related action in favour of the\u0000 device’s calls for action, which are shown to him by a preset session. For this purpose, a specific interface relation must be established in the connection between the user and the device. The case study is contrasted with data from its framing research project. Findings include aspects\u0000 as affirmation or degrees of unfamiliarity and their respective impacts on the subject’s action repertoires. A model of learning in the context of digital media or interfaces is introduced and discussed. It offers a specific potential for identifying particularities of how meaning and\u0000 functionality of digital-material musical devices are embedded into everyday artistic contexts.","PeriodicalId":42410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Music Technology & Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44853583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study examined the recording session management approaches of two music producers, Phil Harding and Greg Haver, to ascertain if and how their different approaches impact the outcomes of music production projects. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each producer to gain insight into their approaches generally, and also, as a point of comparison, their work on the educational Gus Dudgeon Foundation/Joint Audio Media Education Support (GDF/JAMES) summer recording sessions specifically. Thematic analyses of the interviews revealed that the producers’ respective approaches are influenced by the genres in which each predominantly works. Harding, a pop producer, is very systematic. Haver, who is better known for his work in rock, uses an organic approach. Consequently, there were some clear differences in their decision making and organizational strategies at the GDF/JAMES sessions. The producers used different criteria to choose a project/artist. Each used distinctive approaches in pre-production (i.e. work on song arrangements and other technical musical decisions), production (recording) and mixing. Still, both produced pop recordings that largely conform to pop norms. Both recordings have similar pop arrangements and meet commercial standards. Findings provide new understanding of session management techniques that can benefit both music production education and practitioners.
{"title":"Pop vs rock: A comparison study of managing sessions in the recording studio and the influences of genre","authors":"Philip H. Harding, M. N. Lefford","doi":"10.1386/jmte_00020_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte_00020_1","url":null,"abstract":"This study examined the recording session management approaches of two music producers, Phil Harding and Greg Haver, to ascertain if and how their different approaches impact the outcomes of music production projects. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each producer to gain\u0000 insight into their approaches generally, and also, as a point of comparison, their work on the educational Gus Dudgeon Foundation/Joint Audio Media Education Support (GDF/JAMES) summer recording sessions specifically. Thematic analyses of the interviews revealed that the producers’ respective\u0000 approaches are influenced by the genres in which each predominantly works. Harding, a pop producer, is very systematic. Haver, who is better known for his work in rock, uses an organic approach. Consequently, there were some clear differences in their decision making and organizational\u0000 strategies at the GDF/JAMES sessions. The producers used different criteria to choose a project/artist. Each used distinctive approaches in pre-production (i.e. work on song arrangements and other technical musical decisions), production (recording) and mixing. Still, both produced pop recordings\u0000 that largely conform to pop norms. Both recordings have similar pop arrangements and meet commercial standards. Findings provide new understanding of session management techniques that can benefit both music production education and practitioners.","PeriodicalId":42410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Music Technology & Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42363690","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article discusses a proposed design and sound tool teaching and learning approach, with interesting solution-based challenges not immediately associated with traditional DAW instruction. By stepping outside of the usual boundaries of DAW use, music production teaching is presented with a number of novel learning challenges. There is potential for DAWs, especially in educational settings, to be used to enhance the discipline, encourage experimentation and stimulate design-based ideas that promote DAW use beyond the mixing and engineering type contexts. By shifting DAWs into areas of sound-based music, as proposed by Landy, this innovative approach, facilitates deeper, experiential learning where sound is treated as the basic musical unit, therefore allowing for a potentially greater range of designed outputs.
{"title":"Using DAWs as modelling tools for learning design sound-based applications in education","authors":"H. Boon","doi":"10.1386/jmte_00028_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte_00028_1","url":null,"abstract":"This article discusses a proposed design and sound tool teaching and learning approach, with interesting solution-based challenges not immediately associated with traditional DAW instruction. By stepping outside of the usual boundaries of DAW use, music production teaching is presented\u0000 with a number of novel learning challenges. There is potential for DAWs, especially in educational settings, to be used to enhance the discipline, encourage experimentation and stimulate design-based ideas that promote DAW use beyond the mixing and engineering type contexts. By shifting DAWs\u0000 into areas of sound-based music, as proposed by Landy, this innovative approach, facilitates deeper, experiential learning where sound is treated as the basic musical unit, therefore allowing for a potentially greater range of designed outputs.","PeriodicalId":42410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Music Technology & Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41317175","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Online collaboration between musicians in 2020 is a rapidly developing practice due to a range of environmental, epidemiological and creative motivations. The technical facility to collaborate in a variety of different formats exists via file-sharing services, video conferencing suites and specialist music services such as Splice and Auddly. Yet, given this proliferation of technologies, little attention has been paid into how creative musicians can most meaningfully utilize these new collaborative opportunities within their working practice. In this article, we wish to share some reflections from a case study of online music collaboration gained through our experience of facilitating three online songwriting camps with students from Leeds Conservatoire in the United Kingdom and Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Denmark. This article will particularly focus on the importance of managing roles, the impact of communication tools and the requirement for time management when collaborating online before proposing a set of guidelines derived from this study to help enable productive online creative collaboration.
{"title":"Strategies for facilitating creative music collaboration online","authors":"Adam Martin, Morten Büchert","doi":"10.1386/jmte_00021_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte_00021_1","url":null,"abstract":"Online collaboration between musicians in 2020 is a rapidly developing practice due to a range of environmental, epidemiological and creative motivations. The technical facility to collaborate in a variety of different formats exists via file-sharing services, video conferencing suites\u0000 and specialist music services such as Splice and Auddly. Yet, given this proliferation of technologies, little attention has been paid into how creative musicians can most meaningfully utilize these new collaborative opportunities within their working practice. In this article, we wish to\u0000 share some reflections from a case study of online music collaboration gained through our experience of facilitating three online songwriting camps with students from Leeds Conservatoire in the United Kingdom and Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Denmark. This article will particularly focus\u0000 on the importance of managing roles, the impact of communication tools and the requirement for time management when collaborating online before proposing a set of guidelines derived from this study to help enable productive online creative collaboration.","PeriodicalId":42410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Music Technology & Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66732634","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this article, we investigate the effectiveness of a purposely built Digital Tabletop Musical Instruments (DTMI) in helping novices and casual users to explore music composition. Our participants explored how melodic similarity and contrast can convey narrative through musical structure in sessions involving one participant and one tutor to guide the session. We structured the sessions as a combination of open-ended discussions and increasingly open-ended music-making exercises, culminating in the main task: Invent a short story and compose a melody to describe it. We found that the combination of a structured tutor-led activity and an approachable technology allowed our participants to explore the relationship between their ideas of similarity and contrast, the ways these concepts are manifested in melody, and the ways they can help describe a narrative. The hands-on activities provided adequate scaffolding for discussing the concepts and contextualizing them within music. Lastly, by not requiring any formal musical or instrumental training, the DTMI allowed the participants to make music while discussing similarity and contrast in a comfortable and continuous way.
{"title":"Sketching music: Exploring melodic similarity and contrast using a digital tabletop","authors":"Andrea Franceschini, R. Laney, C. Dobbyn","doi":"10.1386/jmte_00014_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte_00014_1","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we investigate the effectiveness of a purposely built Digital Tabletop Musical Instruments (DTMI) in helping novices and casual users to explore music composition. Our participants explored how melodic similarity and contrast can convey narrative through musical structure in sessions involving one participant and one tutor to guide the session. We structured the sessions as a combination of open-ended discussions and increasingly open-ended music-making exercises, culminating in the main task: Invent a short story and compose a melody to describe it. We found that the combination of a structured tutor-led activity and an approachable technology allowed our participants to explore the relationship between their ideas of similarity and contrast, the ways these concepts are manifested in melody, and the ways they can help describe a narrative. The hands-on activities provided adequate scaffolding for discussing the concepts and contextualizing them within music. Lastly, by not requiring any formal musical or instrumental training, the DTMI allowed the participants to make music while discussing similarity and contrast in a comfortable and continuous way.","PeriodicalId":42410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Music Technology & Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2020-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85291173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The benefits of ensemble performance are well recognized; notation supports group performance, but cuts in music education and changing musical cultures mean that notation is increasingly perceived as a barrier to entry. In an extended participatory design (PD) project, we co-designed and developed a software system for networked notation called Syncphonia with the aim of enhancing access to and experience of notation-based ensemble performance. In previous work, our formal evaluation and informal observations and feedback revealed a wide range of benefits. In this article, we are concerned with articulating the knowledge generated and insights gained through this extended PD process. To do so, we employ a framework for systematic reflection that has been designed to support investigation into the tacit knowledge generated in participatory design. Through this method, we focus inward and share three insights into the value of networked notation in contemporary musical cultures; we also look outward and articulate five approaches to PD with musical ensembles that might benefit others adopting this rich research method. A pluralistic and inclusive vision of notation is espoused and speculation is submitted that a dynamic, networked notation might ameliorate the boundaries between composing, improvising and performing to the benefit of all three.
{"title":"Syncphonia: Understanding the value of participatory design in developing music technology to support musical ensembles that use notation","authors":"E. Hughes, Alice C. Eldridge, C. Kiefer","doi":"10.1386/jmte_00016_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte_00016_1","url":null,"abstract":"The benefits of ensemble performance are well recognized; notation supports group performance, but cuts in music education and changing musical cultures mean that notation is increasingly perceived as a barrier to entry. In an extended participatory design (PD) project, we co-designed and developed a software system for networked notation called Syncphonia with the aim of enhancing access to and experience of notation-based ensemble performance. In previous work, our formal evaluation and informal observations and feedback revealed a wide range of benefits. In this article, we are concerned with articulating the knowledge generated and insights gained through this extended PD process. To do so, we employ a framework for systematic reflection that has been designed to support investigation into the tacit knowledge generated in participatory design. Through this method, we focus inward and share three insights into the value of networked notation in contemporary musical cultures; we also look outward and articulate five approaches to PD with musical ensembles that might benefit others adopting this rich research method. A pluralistic and inclusive vision of notation is espoused and speculation is submitted that a dynamic, networked notation might ameliorate the boundaries between composing, improvising and performing to the benefit of all three.","PeriodicalId":42410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Music Technology & Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2020-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73617421","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The aim of the current research was to investigate the nature of feedback when a digital technology system was introduced in the higher education (HE) piano studio alongside three teacher and student pairs in Brazil. Data were collected by using video-recorded observations of lessons, participant interviews, and also data related to the use of a specific technology. A thematic analysis of the resultant data suggests that participants used verbal and non-verbal feedback in three areas of lesson focus: music (score), performance (e.g. dynamics, articulation), and technology (Musical Instrument Digital Interface [MIDI] parameters). The application of technology seems to allow the focus of the lesson to become clearer, making students more aware of their performances and their learning processes. Data suggest that the engagement with technology varied across the three observed cases. There seems to be a valuable use for technology-mediated feedback; this could, in turn, optimize more traditional pedagogical approaches in HE piano learning and teaching, and also enrich private practice.
{"title":"The nature of feedback in higher education studio-based piano learning and teaching with the use of digital technology1","authors":"L. Hamond, E. Himonides, G. Welch","doi":"10.1386/jmte_00015_1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1386/jmte_00015_1","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of the current research was to investigate the nature of feedback when a digital technology system was introduced in the higher education (HE) piano studio alongside three teacher and student pairs in Brazil. Data were collected by using video-recorded observations of lessons, participant interviews, and also data related to the use of a specific technology. A thematic analysis of the resultant data suggests that participants used verbal and non-verbal feedback in three areas of lesson focus: music (score), performance (e.g. dynamics, articulation), and technology (Musical Instrument Digital Interface [MIDI] parameters). The application of technology seems to allow the focus of the lesson to become clearer, making students more aware of their performances and their learning processes. Data suggest that the engagement with technology varied across the three observed cases. There seems to be a valuable use for technology-mediated feedback; this could, in turn, optimize more traditional pedagogical approaches in HE piano learning and teaching, and also enrich private practice.","PeriodicalId":42410,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Music Technology & Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2020-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82667227","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}