Navigating technological contexts and experience design in music education

For some time we have jokingly referred to our network jamming research with jam2jam as ‘Switched on Orff’ (Brown, Sorensen and Dillon 2002; Dillon 2003; Dillon 2006; Dillon 2006; Brown and Dillon 2007). The connection with electronic music and Wendy Carlos’ classic work ‘Switched on Bach’ was obvious; we were using electronic music in schools and with children. The deeper connection with Orff however was about recognising that electronic music and instruments could have cultural values and knowledge embedded in their design and practice in same way as what has come to be known as the Orff method (Orff and Keetman 1958-66). However whilst the Orff method focuses upon Western art music perceptual framework electronic instruments have the potential to have more fluid musical environments and even to move to interdisciplinary study by including visual media. Whilst the Orff method focused on making sense of Western art music through experience electronic environments potentially can make sense of the world of multi media that pervades our lives.

Music is a Wordless Knowing of Others : Resilience in Virtual Ensembles

Music making affects relationships with self and others by generating a sense of belonging to a culture or ideology (Bamford, 2006; Barovick, 2001; Dillon & Stewart, 2006; Fiske, 2000; Hallam, 2001). Whilst studies from arts education research present compelling examples of these relationships, others argue that they do not present sufficiently validated evidence of a causal link between music making experiences and cognitive or social change (Winner & Cooper, 2000; Winner & Hetland, 2000a, 2000b, 2001). I have suggested elsewhere that this disconnection between compelling evidence and observations of the effects of music making are in part due to the lack of rigor in research and the incapacity of many methods to capture these experiences in meaningful ways (Dillon, 2006). Part of the answer to these questions about rigor and causality lay in the creative use of new media technologies that capture the results of relationships in music artefacts. Crucially, it is the effective management of these artefacts within computer systems that allows researchers and practitioners to collect, organize, analyse and then theorise such music making experiences.

Experimental modelling of coupled water flow and associated movements in swelling soils

Modelling of water flow and associated deformation in unsaturated reactive soils (shrinking/swelling soils) is important in many applications. The current paper presents a method to capture soil swelling deformation during water infiltration using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). The model soil material used is a commercially available bentonite. A swelling chamber was setup to determine the water content profile and extent of soil swelling. The test was run for 61 days, and during this time period, the soil underwent on average across its width swelling of about 26% of the height of the soil column. PIV analysis was able to determine the amount of swelling that occurred within the entire face of the soil box that was used for observations. The swelling was most apparent in the top layers with strains in most cases over 100%.

Collaborative digital media performance with generative music systems

Music is inherently active and interactive. Like technologies before them, digital systems provide a range of enhanced music performance opportunities. In this paper we outline the educational advantages of ensemble performance in which generative media systems are integrated. As a concrete example, we focus on our work with the jam2jam system which uses generative music processes to enhance collaborative music making. We suggest that our research points toward a new class of activities that maintain the well established benefits of ensemble performance while adding cultural and pedagogical value by leveraging the capabilities and cachet of digital media practices.

Advanced mathematical modelling and experimental investigation of new torque arms for shaft-mounted drives

Shaft-mounted gearboxes are widely used in industry. The torque arm that holds the reactive torque on the housing of the gearbox, if properly positioned creates the reactive force that lifts the gearbox and unloads the bearings of the output shaft. The shortcoming of these torque arms is that if the gearbox is reversed the direction of the reactive force on the torque arm changes to opposite and added to the weight of the gearbox overloads the bearings shortening their operating life. In this paper, a new patented design of torque arms that develop a controlled lifting force and counteract the weight of the gearbox regardless of the direction of the output shaft rotation is described. Several mathematical models of the conventional and new torque arms were developed and verified experimentally on a specially built test rig that enables modelling of the radial compliance of the gearbox bearings and elastic elements of the torque arms. Comparison showed a good agreement between theoretical and experimental results.

Contemporary take on deconstructed Medea : a review

THEATRE: The New Dead: Medea Material. By Heiner Muller. Stella Electrika in association with La Boite Theatre Company, Brisbane, November 19. THERE has been a lot of intensity in independent theatre in Brisbane during the past year, as companies, production houses and producers have begun building new programs and platforms to support an expansion of pathways within the local theatre ecology. Audiences have been exposed to works signalling the diversity of what Brisbane theatre makers want to see on stage, from productions of new local and international pieces to new devised works, and the results of residencies and development programs. La Boite Theatre Company closes its inaugural indie season with a work that places it at the contemporary, experimental end of the spectrum. The New Dead: Medea Material is emerging director Kat Henry's interpretation of Heiner Muller's 1981 text Despoiled Shore Medea Material Landscape with Argonauts. Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. Muller is known for his radical adaptations of historical dramas, from the Greeks to Shakespeare, and for deconstructed texts in which the characters - in this case, Medea - violently reject the familial, cultural and political roles society has laid out for them. Muller's combination of deconstructed characters, disconnected poetic language and constant references to aspects of popular culture and the Cold War politics he sought to abjure make his texts challenging to realise. The poetry entices but the density, together with the increasing distance of the Cold War politics in the texts, leaves contemporary directors with clear decisions to make about how to adapt these open texts. In The New Dead: Medea Material, Henry works with some interesting imagery and conceptual territory. Lucinda Shaw as Medea, Guy Webster as Jason and Kimie Tsukakoshi as King Creon's daughter Glauce, the woman for whom Jason forsakes his wife Medea, each reference different aspects of contemporary culture. Medea is a bitter, drunken, satin-gowned diva with bite; Jason - first seen lounging in front of the television with a beer in an image reminiscent of Sarah Kane's in-yer-face characterisation of Hippolytus in Phaedra's Love - has something of the rock star about him; and Glauce is a roller-skating, karaoke-singing, pole-dancing young temptress. The production is given a contemporary tone, dominated by Medea's twisted love and loss, rather than by any commentary on her circumstances. Its strength is the aesthetic Henry creates, supported by live electro-pop music, a band stage that stands as a metaphor for Jason's sea voyage, and multimedia that inserts images of the story unfolding beyond these characters' speeches as sorts of subconscious flashes. While Tsukakoshi is engaging throughout, there are moments when Shaw and Webster's performances - particularly in the songs - are diminished by a lack of clarity. The result is a piece that, while slightly lacking in its realisation at times, undoubtedly flags Henry's facility as an emerging director and what she wants to bring to the Brisbane theatre scene.

The effectiveness of a short-term group music therapy intervention for parents who have a child with a disability

Background The relationship between positive parent-child interactions and optimal child development is well established. Families with a child with a disability may face additional challenges to establishing positive parent-child relationships. There are limited studies addressing the effectiveness of interventions which seek to address these issues with parents and young children with a disability. In particular, prior studies of music therapy with this group have been limited by small sample sizes and the use of measures of limited reliability and validity. Objective This study investigates the effectiveness of a short-term group music therapy intervention for parents who have a child with a disability and explores the factors associated with higher outcomes for participating families. Methods The participants were 201 mother-child dyads, where the child had a disability. Pre and post intervention parental questionnaires and clinician observation measures were taken on a range of parental wellbeing, parenting behaviours and child developmental factors. Descriptive data, t-tests for repeated measures and a predictive model tested via logistic regression are presented. Results Significant improvements pre to post were found for parent mental health, child communication and social skills, parenting sensitivity, parental engagement with child and acceptance of child, child responsiveness to parent, and child interest and participation in program activities. There was also evidence that parents were very satisfied with the program and that it brought social benefits to families. Reliable change on six or more indicators of parent or child functioning was predicted by attendance and parent education. Conclusions This study provides positive evidence for the effectiveness of group music therapy in promoting improved parental mental health, positive parenting and key child developmental areas. Whilst several limitations are discussed, the study does address some of the gaps in the music therapy evidence base in this area.

Online social networks as an emerging opportunity for entrepreneurship : a study of the music industry

The explosion in use of online social networks is an important phenomenon that provides a new set of entrepreneurial opportunities. Emerging musicians have been among the first to exploit this new market opportunity – and indeed, many have used it successfully. A recent study Carter (2009) reveals that artists who earned the most returns had an online presence on multiple social online sites and services such as MySpace and Facebook. These web pages are leveraged to build fan bases and develop different types of revenue streams. Yet, little is currently known about discovery or exploitation of such opportunities.

Note sequence morphing algorithms for performance of electronic dance music

This paper describes algorithms that can musically augment the realtime performance of electronic dance music by generating new musical material by morphing. Note sequence morphing involves the algorithmic generation of music that smoothly transitions between two existing musical segments. The potential of musical morphing in electronic dance music is outlined and previous research is summarised; including discussions of relevant music theoretic and algorithmic concepts. An outline and explanation is provided of a novel Markov morphing process that uses similarity measures to construct transition matrices. The paper reports on a ‘focus-concert’ study used to evaluate this morphing algorithm and to compare its output with performances from a professional DJ. Discussions of this trial include reflections on some of the aesthetic characteristics of note sequence morphing. The research suggests that the proposed morphing technique could be effectively used in some electronic dance music contexts.

Experimental study of the concentration field of discharge from a boat propeller

Two-stroke outboard boat engines using total loss lubrication deposit a significant proportion of their lubricant and fuel directly into the water. The purpose of this work is to document the velocity and concentration field characteristics of a submerged swirling water jet emanating from a propeller in order to provide information on its fundamental characteristics. The properties of the jet were examined far enough downstream to be relevant to the eventual modelling of the mixing problem. Measurements of the velocity and concentration field were performed in a turbulent jet generated by a model boat propeller (0.02 m diameter) operating at 1500 rpm and 3000 rpm in a weak co-flow of 0.04 m/s. The measurements were carried out in the Zone of Established Flow up to 50 propeller diameters downstream of the propeller, which was placed in a glass-walled flume 0.4 m wide with a free surface depth of 0.15 m. The jet and scalar plume development were compared to that of a classical free round jet. Further, results pertaining to radial distribution, self similarity, standard deviation growth, maximum value decay and integral fluxes of velocity and concentration were presented and fitted with empirical correlations. Furthermore, propeller induced mixing and pollutant source concentration from a two-stroke engine were estimated.

Producing better outcomes : music and public services

Music has played an important role in social life for thousands of years, and its varied forms of communication have significantly influenced the types of public services reported in this book. It is now time for practitioners and academics to sing songs of resilience that reinvigorate the public’s understanding of the positive role music can play in all of our lives, and for public services to better resource music projects. The last twenty years have seen major advances in studies of music and its affects on the brain’s neuroplasticity, but as yet no one has managed to provide a comprehensive response to Oliver Sachs’ (2006) question: why does music, for better or worse, have so much power? This chapter seeks to demonstrate the power of those music making experiences that bridge the gap between the physicaland social sciences across commercial, social and cultural contexts.

Resourcing resilience through recreational music programs

Many music programs in Australia deliver a United States (US) package created by the Recreational Music-Making Movement, founded by Karl Bruhn and Barry Bittman. This quasi-formal group of music makers, academics and practitioners uses the logic of decentralised global networks to connect with local musicians, offering them benefits associated with their ‘Recreational Music Program’ (RMP). These RMPs encapsulate the broad goals of the movement, developed in the US during the 1980s, and now available as a package, endorsed by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), for music retailers and community organisations to deliver locally (Bittman et al., 2003). High participation rates in RMPs have been historically documented amongst baby boomers with disposable income. Yet the Australian programs increasingly target marginalised groups and associated funding sources, which in turn has lowered the costs of participation. This chapter documents how Australian manifestations of RMPs presently report on the benefits of participation to attract cross-sector funding. It seeks to show the diversity of participants who claim to have developed and accessed resources that improve their capacity for resilience through recreational music performance events. We identify funding issues pertaining to partnerships between local agencies and state governments that have begun to commission such music programs. Our assessment of eight Australian RMPs includes all additional music groups implemented since the first program, their purposes and costs, the skills and coping strategies that participants developed, how organisers have reported on resources, outcomes and attracted funding. We represent these features through a summary table, standard descriptive statistics and commentaries from participants and organisers.

Using computers in the music classroom

Computers are now being widely used in the making of music and the extent of computer use in the music that we hear is farlarger than most people realise. This paper will discuss how computer technology is used in music, with particular reference to music education.

In silico experimental modeling of cancer treatment

In silico experimental modeling of cancer involves combining findings from biological literature with computer-based models of biological systems in order to conduct investigations of hypotheses entirely in the computer laboratory. In this paper, we discuss the use of in silico modeling as a precursor to traditional clinical and laboratory research, allowing researchers to refine their experimental programs with an aim to reducing costs and increasing research efficiency. We explain the methodology of in silico experimental trials before providing an example of in silico modeling from the biomathematical literature with a view to promoting more widespread use and understanding of this research strategy.