Longitudinal research designs in Music Therapy: Recommendations from a study of people with dementia.

Longitudinal research studies in music therapy are not frequently reported within the music therapy literature despite the need for these within the discipline. This article aims to encourage music therapists to undertake longitudinal research, by providing information on aspects of this type of research design. The authors discuss some advantages of longitudinal research approaches, and present the challenges expected to be faced by those conducting longitudinal research studies. Reflections on the authors' experiences in investigating long term effects of music therapy on people with dementia are described, along with recommendations as to how future researchers might address or accommodate some of these challenges

Teaching Australian cello music to Intermediate students: An exploratory study of motivation through repertoire

This paper explores the motivational aspects of repertoire for intermediate student cellists. Research into interest and intrinsic motivation related to the learning of instrumental music has been limited to date. As a cello teacher interested in including contemporary and Australian music in my students' studies I started to research availability of Australian repertoire for intermediate cellists and found that there was limited accessibility to such pedagogical material at this level. This study emerged as a way of providing useful information to composers. It investigates intrinsic motivation by questioning students and their teachers about which aspects of music repertoire are most likely to inspire students to practice more and strive for excellence. This paper presents the findings of the purpose-designed questionnaire distributed to cello teachers in Queensland. A similar set of questions has been prepared for student cellists and information gathering from students is still underway. Musical aspects investigated include technique and its development, style, harmony, tempo (speed), and rhythm. The questionnaire gathered information on the most frequently used teaching repertoire and teachers' experiences in teaching contemporary and Australian repertoire. This information was balanced with questions regarding the technical developmental requirements perceived necessary for intermediate students as well as other motivational aspects. It is hoped that information collated from this research will be of benefit in the selection of motivational repertoire for intermediate student cellists and especially in promoting the composition of Australian pieces for intermediate cellists.

Queensland's music outcomes: building pedagogical bridges

This paper discusses the challenges surrounding the implementation of the Music strand of the new syllabus for secondary teachers within the context of emerging trends in pedagogical reform in Queensland, and identifies several areas where research is needed to inform classroom music teaching practice and to guide teacher training programs. Secondary music teachers (Years 8-10) have not had the same systemic, school-based curriculum guidance that was given to teachers in years 1-7. This has resulted in a plethora of teaching and learning practices in lower secondary classrooms, many of which may be more experiential than developmental in approach and which may have little reference to the types of music programs common in primary classrooms.

Faciltating the transition into motherhood through lullaby singing: A pilot study

This study explored how singing lullabies to babies impacts on first-time mothers' perceived coping and experience of mothering. Eighteen first-time mothers participated in a six-week lullaby intervention program. Data comprised of detailed diaries kept by the mothers over the six weeks in addition to semi-structured interviews with the mothers, pre and post-intervention. Results suggest that lullabies benefit mothers by relaxing and calming them, distracting them from other stressful thoughts, enhancing their experience of the bedtime task and enhancing their perception that they are good mothers. Results indicate that mothers' experience of the bedtime task and her transition to motherhood may be enhanced through singing lullabies to their babies at bedtime.

The effect of music on preoperative anxiety in day surgery

Aim. This paper reports a study to test the hypothesis that day surgery patients who listen to music during their preoperative wait will have statistically significantly lower levels of anxiety than patients who receive routine care. Background. Although previous day surgery research suggests that music effectively reduces preoperative anxiety, methodological issues limit the generalizability of results. Methods. In early 2004, a randomized controlled trial design was conducted to assess anxiety before and after listening to patient preferred music. Participants were allocated to an intervention (n = 60), placebo (n = 60) or control group (n = 60). Pre- and post-test measures of anxiety were carried out using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Results. Music statistically significantly reduced the state anxiety level of the music (intervention) group. No relationships were found between socio-demographic or clinical variables such as gender or type of surgery. Conclusion. The findings support the use of music as an independent nursing intervention for preoperative anxiety in patients having day surgery.

The effect of music therapy services on classroom behaviours of newly arrived refugee students in Australia

This pilot study examined the effects of a short-term music therapy program on the classroom behaviours of newly arrived refugee students who were attending an intensive 'English as a Second Language' secondary school. A cross-over design with two five-week intervention periods was employed with group music therapy sessions conducted one or two times per week. Data from the Behaviour Assessment Scale for Children were used to evaluate a range of positive and negative school behaviours. A significant decrease in externalising behaviours was found with particular reference to hyperactivity and aggression. No significant differences were found in other behaviours. Explanations and implications of these findings are discussed.

I-Spi: innovative shared practical ideas: a support guide for literacy and numeracy in the early years of schooling, for home tutor/supervisors in distance education

Innovative Shared Practical Ideas (I-Spi) is a guide to help you and your children learn together. It is designed to affirm, support and strengthen your role as home tutor/supervisors in your daily learning sessions with your children. In this guide particular emphasis is given to the value of talk, formal and informal early literacy and numeracy practices (including ideas from distance school lessons, from home tutor/supervisors, research, and beyond), assessment of these practices together with informal assessment ideas for gauging your children’s literacy and numeracy progress, and stepping in and building on strategies

Dynamic response: Real-time adaptation for music emotion

Music plays an enormous role in today's computer games; it serves to elicit emotion, generate interest and convey important information. Traditional gaming music is fixed at the event level, where tracks loop until a state change is triggered. This behaviour however does not reflect musically the in-game state between these events. We propose a dynamic music environment, where music tracks adjust in real-time to the emotion of the in-game state. We are looking to improve the affective response to symbolic music through the modification of structural and performative characteristics through the application of rule-based techniques. In this paper we undertake a multidiscipline approach, and present a series of primary music-emotion structural rules for implementation. The validity of these rules was tested in small study involving eleven participants, each listening to six permutations from two musical works. Preliminary results indicate that the environment was generally successful in influencing the emotion of the musical works for three of the intended four directions (happier, sadder & content/dreamier). Our secondary aim of establishing that the use of music-emotion rules, sourced predominantly from Western classical music, could be applied with comparable results to modern computer gaming music was also largely successfully.

Influencing the perceived emotions of music with intent

Music is an immensely powerful affective medium that pervades our everyday life. With ever advancing technology, the reproduction and application of music for emotive and information transfer purposes has never been more prevalent. In this paper we introduce a rule-based engine for influencing the perceived emotions of music. Based on empirical music psychology, we attempt to formalise the relationship between musical elements and their perceived emotion. We examine the modification to structural aspects of music to allow for a graduated transition between perceived emotive states. This engine is intended to provide music reproduction systems with a finer grained control over this affective medium; where perceived musical emotion can be influenced with intent. This intent comes from both an external application and the audience. Using a series of affective computing technologies, an audience’s response metrics and attitudes can be incorporated to model this intent. A generative feedback loop is set up between the external application, the influencing process and the audience’s response to this, which together shape the modification of musical structure. The effectiveness of our rule system for influencing perceived musical emotion was examined in earlier work, with a small test study providing generally encouraging results.