Controlling interactive music performance: enhancing live performances by human musicians and algorithmic computer systems. This project will investigate techniques for the control of computer music systems during performances with a musician. It will identify and evaluate parameters and patterns for expressive variation of music algorithms, contribute new theories of music representation, and provide insights into human interactions with semi-autonomous technologies.
Understanding motivation and practice quality in elite music performance. This project examines motivation and practice quality in elite music performance. It applies major theoretical explanations from other domains where optimising motivation and practice quality has consistently been found to increase performance, persistence, learning, creativity, and wellbeing. The expected outcomes of the project address the competitiveness of Australian musicians, particularly in light of significantly lo ....Understanding motivation and practice quality in elite music performance. This project examines motivation and practice quality in elite music performance. It applies major theoretical explanations from other domains where optimising motivation and practice quality has consistently been found to increase performance, persistence, learning, creativity, and wellbeing. The expected outcomes of the project address the competitiveness of Australian musicians, particularly in light of significantly lower funding for music institutions compared to international counterparts. The research endeavours to inform understandings about the nature of motivation and practice more generally, by extending conceptions that have until now been formed largely through research in non-artistic domains of human accomplishment.Read moreRead less
Enhancing the impact of Australian performing arts: virtual scenography and opera for the 21st century. Digitally created scenography has the potential to create immersive stage environments that are designed for 21st century visual impact, and to re-model the economics of live performance by reducing the cost of touring. Deakin Motion.Lab and the Victorian Opera aim to work together to design, test and evaluate the artistic and economic value of virtual scenography for touring performing arts c ....Enhancing the impact of Australian performing arts: virtual scenography and opera for the 21st century. Digitally created scenography has the potential to create immersive stage environments that are designed for 21st century visual impact, and to re-model the economics of live performance by reducing the cost of touring. Deakin Motion.Lab and the Victorian Opera aim to work together to design, test and evaluate the artistic and economic value of virtual scenography for touring performing arts companies. This project aims to enable opera companies to present large scale productions in previously inaccessible regional and rural areas, enhancing both artistic experience and access to this cultural experience for audiences. These outcomes aim to be transferable to other theatre forms such as ballet and theatre that require large-scale set production.Read moreRead less
The Western Australia New Music Archive: 1970 - today: finding, accessing, remembering, performing. This project sees the creation of the Western Australian New Music Archive, a digital repository of and interface to Western Australian music composed from 1970 to the present day. A partnership between peak state and national bodies, the project will also involve the performance and recording of works from the archive.
Providing a theoretical and empirical foundation for the role of technical practice in the acquisition of musical mastery. Cecilia Bartoli, world-renowned mezzo-soprano, credits her phenomenal vocal technique to daily individual attention from her teacher. Such intensive individualised attention is financially impossible for most musicians so the value of teacher contact hours must be maximised through evidence-based, self-directed technical practice (TP). This multidisciplinary project will ap ....Providing a theoretical and empirical foundation for the role of technical practice in the acquisition of musical mastery. Cecilia Bartoli, world-renowned mezzo-soprano, credits her phenomenal vocal technique to daily individual attention from her teacher. Such intensive individualised attention is financially impossible for most musicians so the value of teacher contact hours must be maximised through evidence-based, self-directed technical practice (TP). This multidisciplinary project will apply world-leading technology to discover the principles of TP required for vocal mastery. By using these principles, teachers and performing arts institutions can maximise the effectiveness of musical instruction in a financially cost effective way, thereby consolidating our place as a world leader in musical performance and in performing arts research.Read moreRead less
The genetic basis of singing ability. This project aims to explore the heritability of music ability, focusing on singing and the contribution of genetic and environmental influences. Research suggests that deliberate practice (more than 10,000 hours) produces skilled musicianship, with minimal investigation of genetic influences. Mapping the human genome has opened up a new scientific frontier, and this project’s findings are expected to lead to the discovery of genes for singing. This will hel ....The genetic basis of singing ability. This project aims to explore the heritability of music ability, focusing on singing and the contribution of genetic and environmental influences. Research suggests that deliberate practice (more than 10,000 hours) produces skilled musicianship, with minimal investigation of genetic influences. Mapping the human genome has opened up a new scientific frontier, and this project’s findings are expected to lead to the discovery of genes for singing. This will help design and deliver music education programmes that take individual differences into account, differentiating between heritable aspects of musicianship and those more influenced by training.Read moreRead less
Loudness moves! Roles of changing acoustic intensity in the perception of music. Changing loudness of a sound is an urgent cue for object location, and an emotional cue in speech and music. With new empirical techniques, we will identify roles of loudness in perception of structure, arousal and emotion in music. The work has application in inter-personal communication, sonic information display and, and in music selling online.
Laboratory Adelaide: Accounting for Cultural Value in the Arts, Cultural Organisations and Events. This project partners major Adelaide cultural organisations with a multi-disciplinary research team to develop and refine complementary quantitative and qualitative methods to accurately measure cultural and institutional value. Through survey-based methodologies and embedded participant case studies the project aims to model the relationship between cultural value, measurement and reporting. Mixed ....Laboratory Adelaide: Accounting for Cultural Value in the Arts, Cultural Organisations and Events. This project partners major Adelaide cultural organisations with a multi-disciplinary research team to develop and refine complementary quantitative and qualitative methods to accurately measure cultural and institutional value. Through survey-based methodologies and embedded participant case studies the project aims to model the relationship between cultural value, measurement and reporting. Mixed methodologies ensure the metrics of cultural value are contextualised and rendered significant to practitioners through description and narrative. The methodologies intend to be evaluated and fine-tuned in the specific cultural geography and economy of Adelaide before being potentially transferable to the arts and cultural sector nationally.Read moreRead less
Vocal Quality, Projection and Perception. This project will quantify the vocal features of projection and loudness in experienced operatic soloists and actors and will examine how these features relate to emotional expression and how each of these qualities are perceived by the performers and by others. We will determine which respiratory and laryngeal techniques are associated with the ability to communicate emotional connection and to produce certain sound qualities, in particular associated ....Vocal Quality, Projection and Perception. This project will quantify the vocal features of projection and loudness in experienced operatic soloists and actors and will examine how these features relate to emotional expression and how each of these qualities are perceived by the performers and by others. We will determine which respiratory and laryngeal techniques are associated with the ability to communicate emotional connection and to produce certain sound qualities, in particular associated with the performer's ability to project a powerful voice unamplified within a large theatre, as well as over an orchestra.Read moreRead less
Redefining conceptions of child and adolescent emotional responses to music using time-series analysis. The National Review of Music Education recognizes the need to understand more fully how musical experiences impact on children's emotional and general development. Australian researchers are leaders in the field of continuous response to emotion in music. Our international leadership on this critically important issue will result in new ways of understanding music and teaching music to childre ....Redefining conceptions of child and adolescent emotional responses to music using time-series analysis. The National Review of Music Education recognizes the need to understand more fully how musical experiences impact on children's emotional and general development. Australian researchers are leaders in the field of continuous response to emotion in music. Our international leadership on this critically important issue will result in new ways of understanding music and teaching music to children through to adults because our explanations of affective aspects of music will be framed within a scientific perspective which moves beyond learning the purely technical and subjective aspects of music appreciation.Read moreRead less