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
Making Music Work: Sustainable Portfolio Careers for Australian Musicians. This project plans to explore the conditions and strategies needed for musicians to sustain successful portfolio careers. Most musicians have ‘portfolio careers’, combining aspects of performance, recording, creation, music direction, teaching, community activities, health, retail and a presence in online environments. This phenomenon — often across music genres — is widespread but not well understood. The project involve ....Making Music Work: Sustainable Portfolio Careers for Australian Musicians. This project plans to explore the conditions and strategies needed for musicians to sustain successful portfolio careers. Most musicians have ‘portfolio careers’, combining aspects of performance, recording, creation, music direction, teaching, community activities, health, retail and a presence in online environments. This phenomenon — often across music genres — is widespread but not well understood. The project involves surveys and 12 in-depth case studies of individual musicians or ensembles that will aim to identify key success factors and obstacles. This information is intended to inform opportunities for training, development and support.Read moreRead less
Agile opera: chamber opera in a new era. Chamber Made Opera and university researchers will explore new production and audience models that engage a digitally enabled society. This project will support the creation of innovative performance works, enable the engagement of new audiences, and provide outcomes that promote the sustainability of arts organisations in the digital age.
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.
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.
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
Pedagogies of expertise in musical thought and practice. This project aims to research the pedagogy and environmental features that underpin the development of early expertise in music. Previous studies of musical expertise have studied instrumental expertise developed in individual contexts. The project will study choral singing, where children (age 6 – 17) attain a standard of expertise unique to that domain and acquired in a collective setting. Through studying expert practice in children’s c ....Pedagogies of expertise in musical thought and practice. This project aims to research the pedagogy and environmental features that underpin the development of early expertise in music. Previous studies of musical expertise have studied instrumental expertise developed in individual contexts. The project will study choral singing, where children (age 6 – 17) attain a standard of expertise unique to that domain and acquired in a collective setting. Through studying expert practice in children’s choirs that reflect diverse socio-cultural settings (sacred, secular, male, female, Indigenous choirs), the project intends to inform pedagogical practices and learning environment design for children and young people in and beyond music.Read moreRead less
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.
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