Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100469
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$442,327.00
Summary
Re-igniting 'artistic vibrancy' in the Australian opera ecosystem. This project aims to advance new methodologies for re-establishing 'artistic vibrancy' (a factor found to be lacking by the National Opera Review in 2014-16) within operatic practice in Australia. The project expects to generate new knowledge of vital, but hidden musical processes, using interdisciplinary approaches in order to rebalance and recalibrate the opera ecosystem. Expected outcomes include the revitalisation of operatic ....Re-igniting 'artistic vibrancy' in the Australian opera ecosystem. This project aims to advance new methodologies for re-establishing 'artistic vibrancy' (a factor found to be lacking by the National Opera Review in 2014-16) within operatic practice in Australia. The project expects to generate new knowledge of vital, but hidden musical processes, using interdisciplinary approaches in order to rebalance and recalibrate the opera ecosystem. Expected outcomes include the revitalisation of operatic practice and the establishment of clear parameters for responsible opera curation. Benefits include an enhanced awareness of artistic vibrancy within opera, and the creation of new practices, which will be of significant cultural and artistic benefit to the wider Australian community.Read moreRead less
To map and enhance Australian musical improvisation as a creative industry. The project maps transforming improviser networks in Australian music since 1970, to inform how cultural innovation develops and disseminates. Application of new statistical techniques (temporal network analysis) will combine with in-depth focus groups to show how improvisation excellence depends on a mix of artistic craft, networked collaboration and institutional support. This knowledge will assist music venues and ind ....To map and enhance Australian musical improvisation as a creative industry. The project maps transforming improviser networks in Australian music since 1970, to inform how cultural innovation develops and disseminates. Application of new statistical techniques (temporal network analysis) will combine with in-depth focus groups to show how improvisation excellence depends on a mix of artistic craft, networked collaboration and institutional support. This knowledge will assist music venues and industry in nurturing improvisation as a cultural force and commercial opportunity for export and tourism attraction post Covid-19. The novel method, integrating computational network analysis with qualitative research, will also inform and build capacity for future understandings of cultural fields and industries.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100961
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$456,000.00
Summary
The Musical Escape: Investigating Music and Imagination. Imagination plays a pivotal role in creativity as well as self-regulation. Yet, despite its important role throughout cognition, imagination is still ill-understood as it is notoriously difficult to systematically induce and measure. This project aims to deepen our understanding of imagination by using an innovative approach that combines quantitative, qualitative, and neuroscientific methodologies. It leverages the facts that music can re ....The Musical Escape: Investigating Music and Imagination. Imagination plays a pivotal role in creativity as well as self-regulation. Yet, despite its important role throughout cognition, imagination is still ill-understood as it is notoriously difficult to systematically induce and measure. This project aims to deepen our understanding of imagination by using an innovative approach that combines quantitative, qualitative, and neuroscientific methodologies. It leverages the facts that music can reliably induce imagination and that imagined orientation in time and space can be measured. Expected outcomes include free algorithmic tools capable of generating music that induce user-specified imagination to the benefit of informing the foundations of creativity and the phenomenology of imagination.Read moreRead less
The shock of the old: Rediscovering the sounds of bel canto 1700-1900. Bel canto—beautiful singing—describes a forgotten tradition (1700–1900), epitomising clear communication of expression and meaning of text. This project aims to generate new research-based knowledge of bel canto sound vocabulary, music, and history through implementation of a multi-modal method—working with an international community of singers—to produce multi-faceted outputs that inform future scholarship and creativity in ....The shock of the old: Rediscovering the sounds of bel canto 1700-1900. Bel canto—beautiful singing—describes a forgotten tradition (1700–1900), epitomising clear communication of expression and meaning of text. This project aims to generate new research-based knowledge of bel canto sound vocabulary, music, and history through implementation of a multi-modal method—working with an international community of singers—to produce multi-faceted outputs that inform future scholarship and creativity in singing. Modern classical singing fails to communicate the meaning of the text in bel canto repertory. Expected outcomes are revitalisation of global practices to produce classical singers better equipped to convey the text, increasing audience engagement, and the sustainability of the classical music industry.Read moreRead less
Deciphering nineteenth-century pianism. The project aims to investigate the nature of 19th-century piano playing and offer new and alternative ways of interpreting 19th-century repertoire. Current approaches to playing 19th-century piano music differ from evidence of historical practices. The project will address this with ideas on 19th-century piano practice, the relationship between music notation and performance, increased interpretive choices, and a method for historically informed performan ....Deciphering nineteenth-century pianism. The project aims to investigate the nature of 19th-century piano playing and offer new and alternative ways of interpreting 19th-century repertoire. Current approaches to playing 19th-century piano music differ from evidence of historical practices. The project will address this with ideas on 19th-century piano practice, the relationship between music notation and performance, increased interpretive choices, and a method for historically informed performance. Published multi-modal outputs will serve as industry models fostering diversity in performing styles.The project aims to bring social and psychological health benefits, increase wellbeing in our culture and society, and boost the music economy.Read moreRead less
The physics and art of expressive performance on wind instruments. This project aims to understand the non-linear physics underlying how musicians produce beautiful, expressive phrases. Elegant, expressive playing is much more than just the right notes. Using techniques unique to this team, we will give a deeper understanding of how breath pressure, mouth geometry and forces, tongue action and finger motions interact to communicate expression in musical phrases on a wind instrument. The outcome ....The physics and art of expressive performance on wind instruments. This project aims to understand the non-linear physics underlying how musicians produce beautiful, expressive phrases. Elegant, expressive playing is much more than just the right notes. Using techniques unique to this team, we will give a deeper understanding of how breath pressure, mouth geometry and forces, tongue action and finger motions interact to communicate expression in musical phrases on a wind instrument. The outcome will be the understanding of how varying control parameters interact at the physical level and how this communicates expression to listeners. Understanding interactions that expert players perform unconsciously will have significant benefits to music learning and teaching.Read moreRead less
Hearing the music of early New South Wales, 1788-1860 . This project aims to restore the musical sound world of early New South Wales, from local Aboriginal songs to imported European settler music. It aims to develop new creative research methodologies applicable to the study, teaching and understanding of musical interactions in the early colony. By digitally embedding the recorded outcomes and documentary materials within an accessible web repository, the project aims to disseminate new knowl ....Hearing the music of early New South Wales, 1788-1860 . This project aims to restore the musical sound world of early New South Wales, from local Aboriginal songs to imported European settler music. It aims to develop new creative research methodologies applicable to the study, teaching and understanding of musical interactions in the early colony. By digitally embedding the recorded outcomes and documentary materials within an accessible web repository, the project aims to disseminate new knowledge of musical soundscapes. The project expects to transform the way we talk about and understand the sound worlds of Indigenous and settler musical cultures, with benefits for academic, music professional and amateur researchers.Read moreRead less
Maintaining active minds and bodies through adult music education. This project aims to investigate how instructional design can enhance learning and wellbeing for older adults who are studying a musical instrument for the first time. Music is a highly valued cultural activity in this age group, yet teaching strategies are seldom modified from that for young learners. This project expects to generate fundamental knowledge of improvisation as a learning stimulus, and of the possible barriers of ....Maintaining active minds and bodies through adult music education. This project aims to investigate how instructional design can enhance learning and wellbeing for older adults who are studying a musical instrument for the first time. Music is a highly valued cultural activity in this age group, yet teaching strategies are seldom modified from that for young learners. This project expects to generate fundamental knowledge of improvisation as a learning stimulus, and of the possible barriers of musical notation and the physical demands of an instrument. Intended outcomes include uptake of results by music professionals, aged-care and older-adult education service providers, leading to significant benefits in the social, cultural, and physical health and wellbeing for this growing population.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE230100693
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$457,350.00
Summary
Emergence: Examining gender equity in music via a new contemporary opera. This DECRA will investigate one of Australia’s significant art-forms: opera. Led by an established Australian composer, it aims to develop new technologies and methods for composition and collaboration. The expected outcomes include new analysis of contemporary, international operatic practice and an original Australian opera that focuses on gender equity in music as its subject, translating data on this topic into creativ ....Emergence: Examining gender equity in music via a new contemporary opera. This DECRA will investigate one of Australia’s significant art-forms: opera. Led by an established Australian composer, it aims to develop new technologies and methods for composition and collaboration. The expected outcomes include new analysis of contemporary, international operatic practice and an original Australian opera that focuses on gender equity in music as its subject, translating data on this topic into creative-practice. The DECRA's significance is to create new, more inclusive frameworks for opera that centre women and gender-diverse music creators and can extend to other musical genres. Benefits include the investigation of urgent issues arising now in Australian workplaces and amplification of the voices of the marginalised.Read moreRead less
Music can speak for you: making music with a deep net partner. This project aims to develop and evaluate a novel computational partner to aid composers and non-musicians to make personal music. One computational component learns to output musical structures that another component moulds towards user-desired features while encouraging innovation and exploration. Listeners’ evaluation of the musical outputs in terms of affect will be analysed, potentially allowing us to extend current music genera ....Music can speak for you: making music with a deep net partner. This project aims to develop and evaluate a novel computational partner to aid composers and non-musicians to make personal music. One computational component learns to output musical structures that another component moulds towards user-desired features while encouraging innovation and exploration. Listeners’ evaluation of the musical outputs in terms of affect will be analysed, potentially allowing us to extend current music generation software considerably. The expected outcomes will be a tool for musicians, but also for untrained people, young and older, allowing such untrained people to make personalized music. The tool can thus provide benefits to the creative arts, and to the educational and wellbeing support sectors.Read moreRead less