Transnational and cross-cultural choreographies: the politics of cultural transmission in Australian dance, 1970 - 2000. This project will highlight the rich cultural diversity of Australian dance and choreography. Its methodology will facilitate critical debate about cross-cultural dynamics in the performing arts with national and international dance artists and cultural scholars. The research outcomes will give a distinctively Australian focus to international dance studies and generate new kn ....Transnational and cross-cultural choreographies: the politics of cultural transmission in Australian dance, 1970 - 2000. This project will highlight the rich cultural diversity of Australian dance and choreography. Its methodology will facilitate critical debate about cross-cultural dynamics in the performing arts with national and international dance artists and cultural scholars. The research outcomes will give a distinctively Australian focus to international dance studies and generate new knowledges about the recent cultural history of Australian dance. And they will give global prominence to the unique transnational influences that shape Australian culture. As a result, the project will shift dance studies in Australia from an embryonic field of scholarly interest to a significant field of cultural research.Read moreRead less
Vocal Emotional Communication. Understanding vocal emotional communication (VEC) has health, social, educational, economic and political benefits. Outcomes include: Development of an Australian test of sensitivity to emotional signals in (prosody) speech phythms; Characterisation of emotional signals in music and speech; Understanding congenital impairments in music and speech prosody; Elucidating the cognitive basis of motor planning and facial expressions in VEC; and internationalisation of mo ....Vocal Emotional Communication. Understanding vocal emotional communication (VEC) has health, social, educational, economic and political benefits. Outcomes include: Development of an Australian test of sensitivity to emotional signals in (prosody) speech phythms; Characterisation of emotional signals in music and speech; Understanding congenital impairments in music and speech prosody; Elucidating the cognitive basis of motor planning and facial expressions in VEC; and internationalisation of motion capture research. Potential benefits include training programs in VEC for individuals with social adjustment problems or for people involved in sensitive cross-cultural interactions; enhancement of music pedagogy programs; and construction of effective warning and alert signals.Read moreRead less
Expecting the Unexpected: Learning Complex Temporal and Rhythmic Relations. Music is one of the most accessible routes to experience, and to learn about, cultures other than our own. A new implicit method for learning complex rhythm and underlying metre promotes inter-group understanding and communication. We hypothesize that implicit learning (IL) of unfamiliar complex metres through music generalizes to spoken language built on similar metres; IL facilitates segmentation of previously unfamili ....Expecting the Unexpected: Learning Complex Temporal and Rhythmic Relations. Music is one of the most accessible routes to experience, and to learn about, cultures other than our own. A new implicit method for learning complex rhythm and underlying metre promotes inter-group understanding and communication. We hypothesize that implicit learning (IL) of unfamiliar complex metres through music generalizes to spoken language built on similar metres; IL facilitates segmentation of previously unfamiliar spoken language and enhances recognition of English spoken with the stress pattern of a 'foreign' metre. Future intervention programs based on implicit learning of temporal relations will benefit people with reading difficulties or timing problems characteristic of cerebellar and basal ganglia patients.Read moreRead less
Preserving Australia's endangered heritages: Murrinhpatha song at Wadeye. This project will produce authoritative, thorough and archivally sound musicological and linguistic documentation of one of Australia's most vibrant indigenous song traditions, the public dance songs of Murrinhpatha people at Wadeye, NT. We will work with traditional owners to document three song genres (Dhanba, Wurlthirri, and Malkarrin) in the light of their historical and contemporary interrelationships with other local ....Preserving Australia's endangered heritages: Murrinhpatha song at Wadeye. This project will produce authoritative, thorough and archivally sound musicological and linguistic documentation of one of Australia's most vibrant indigenous song traditions, the public dance songs of Murrinhpatha people at Wadeye, NT. We will work with traditional owners to document three song genres (Dhanba, Wurlthirri, and Malkarrin) in the light of their historical and contemporary interrelationships with other local genres. More broadly, we will assess the song corpus as endangered cultural heritage of national and international significance, and will develop and apply appropriate electronic media interfaces to ensure longterm conservation and accessibility of the research within the community and outside.Read moreRead less
Staging Sappho: investigating new methodologies in Classical Performance Reception. This project will make a significant contribution to Australia's profile as a research innovator in Arts and Humanities. It is the first research project of its kind to integrate theories of Classical reception and textual transmission with performance theory and practice. As such, it will further the knowledge base of the discipline of Classical Reception Studies by introducing a new methodology to the field, an ....Staging Sappho: investigating new methodologies in Classical Performance Reception. This project will make a significant contribution to Australia's profile as a research innovator in Arts and Humanities. It is the first research project of its kind to integrate theories of Classical reception and textual transmission with performance theory and practice. As such, it will further the knowledge base of the discipline of Classical Reception Studies by introducing a new methodology to the field, and will also benefit the community in terms of cultural engagement.Read moreRead less
Local Noise: Indigenising Hip hop in Australasia. The research will lead to an increase in public understanding of the cultural, linguistic, social and pedagogical importance of hip hop culture in general, and particularly among youth of indigenous, Pacific and non-Anglo background in Australasia. Particular emphasis will be placed on the empowering aspects of hip hop as a means of asserting confidence among youth from indigenous and migrant backgrounds, and the educational applications of hip h ....Local Noise: Indigenising Hip hop in Australasia. The research will lead to an increase in public understanding of the cultural, linguistic, social and pedagogical importance of hip hop culture in general, and particularly among youth of indigenous, Pacific and non-Anglo background in Australasia. Particular emphasis will be placed on the empowering aspects of hip hop as a means of asserting confidence among youth from indigenous and migrant backgrounds, and the educational applications of hip hop, providing new material for multicultural and indigenous programs in schools, along with fostering the employment of hip hop artists in schools and community centres to teach, disadvantaged young people. Read moreRead less
Investigating listening and performance strategies for microtonal composition. This project is important because it offers a new theoretical framework for understanding music independent of contemporary cultural boundaries. It opens up a new musical enquiry that will apply across quite different performance traditions and builds on recent collaborative initiatives by Australian musicians and researchers, the most recent collaboration involving counterparts from India. In addition to a major publ ....Investigating listening and performance strategies for microtonal composition. This project is important because it offers a new theoretical framework for understanding music independent of contemporary cultural boundaries. It opens up a new musical enquiry that will apply across quite different performance traditions and builds on recent collaborative initiatives by Australian musicians and researchers, the most recent collaboration involving counterparts from India. In addition to a major publication and conference proceedings in both creative and scientific disciplines, research findings will result in new approaches to composition, performance as well as an innovative musical instrument design that is informed by a new empirically derived approach to tuning.Read moreRead less