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
The role of piano music, and the piano manufacturing industry in Australia's cultural history. This project aims to re-examine Australia's cultural heritage through a study of the history of the piano. The study will research the Australian piano manufacturing industry; the piano roll recording industry and a significant group of pianist composers.
Rediscovering Australia's Musical Achievements: Creating Critical Editions of Significant Scores. Many Australian music manuscripts languish in archives and collections unperformed, unrecorded, and little known. The project aims to create critical editions of selected manuscripts, consolidating and making available work I have already done. Scholarly editing of manuscript scores is not copy editing, but a highly skilled process requiring extensive knowledge of musical styles and an informed abil ....Rediscovering Australia's Musical Achievements: Creating Critical Editions of Significant Scores. Many Australian music manuscripts languish in archives and collections unperformed, unrecorded, and little known. The project aims to create critical editions of selected manuscripts, consolidating and making available work I have already done. Scholarly editing of manuscript scores is not copy editing, but a highly skilled process requiring extensive knowledge of musical styles and an informed ability to interpret composer's intentions. The need is urgent. Many manuscripts are in a serious state of deterioration. It is through the dissemination of our music in printed form that performers, scholars, and educators - nationally and internationally - can give it deserving attention.Read moreRead less
Towards efficient real-time generation of detectable musical macrostructure. Efficient generation of detectable large scale musical structure is needed for commercial audiovisual applications, and for creative music making. But computer mediation of music has focused elsewhere: on sound synthesis and sequencing, editing, mixing and notation. I will apply computational processes like the handling of chunks of genetic information in evolution, to generate large scale musical structure. I will con ....Towards efficient real-time generation of detectable musical macrostructure. Efficient generation of detectable large scale musical structure is needed for commercial audiovisual applications, and for creative music making. But computer mediation of music has focused elsewhere: on sound synthesis and sequencing, editing, mixing and notation. I will apply computational processes like the handling of chunks of genetic information in evolution, to generate large scale musical structure. I will control segmentation; framing of internal segments; spatialisation; and the overlaying of separable musical streams. Expert cognitive assessment of the resultant structures will be investigated, and theories of segmentation, streaming and their relationships with expression and affect developed and tested.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal song cycles from the Simpson Desert and the Cooper: an integrated linguistic and musicological study. The project will produce a detailed linguistic analysis of four previously undocumented Wangkangurru song cycles from the Simpson Desert, recorded by the applicant in the nineteen sixties, including a study of the singer's comments on esoteric meanings. It also involves similar work with the Nguninta ?travelling ceremony? from the upper Cooper. Integrated with this will be an ethno-m ....Aboriginal song cycles from the Simpson Desert and the Cooper: an integrated linguistic and musicological study. The project will produce a detailed linguistic analysis of four previously undocumented Wangkangurru song cycles from the Simpson Desert, recorded by the applicant in the nineteen sixties, including a study of the singer's comments on esoteric meanings. It also involves similar work with the Nguninta ?travelling ceremony? from the upper Cooper. Integrated with this will be an ethno-musicological study aimed particularly at showing the distribution of song-styles and the way songs were transmitted.Read moreRead less
Role of form information in motion processing. The study of the mind, and its relationship to the brain, is currently at the forefront of new developments in science. In the international setting, visual psychophysics is playing a major role in this development. The present project will help maintain Australia's international competitiveness in this rapidly growing field. Also, given how important being able to accurately perceive motion is to our ability to safely interact with the world, there ....Role of form information in motion processing. The study of the mind, and its relationship to the brain, is currently at the forefront of new developments in science. In the international setting, visual psychophysics is playing a major role in this development. The present project will help maintain Australia's international competitiveness in this rapidly growing field. Also, given how important being able to accurately perceive motion is to our ability to safely interact with the world, there are a number of potential applied benefits of the proposed research. These benefits range from areas like road safety to clinical neuropsychology.Read moreRead less
Sounds of Empire: Popular Politics and Music in the Nineteenth Century. This research will critically locate Australia within a global system of cultural transmission and showcase a significant innovation in methodology through an interdisciplinary approach. This will provide an opportunity to bring to light Australia's role in the transmission of popular politics and culture to a broader international audience. It will make a direct and immediate contribution to Australian studies by examining ....Sounds of Empire: Popular Politics and Music in the Nineteenth Century. This research will critically locate Australia within a global system of cultural transmission and showcase a significant innovation in methodology through an interdisciplinary approach. This will provide an opportunity to bring to light Australia's role in the transmission of popular politics and culture to a broader international audience. It will make a direct and immediate contribution to Australian studies by examining in depth the transmission, adaption and encounter of musics in the making of the nation. Many of the ideas that shape our modern democracy were brought informally in speeches and songs. A better understanding of the ways and means of their transmission brings us to a deeper appreciation of Australia's past and present.Read moreRead less
Chanted tales from Highland New Guinea: a comparative study of oral performance traditions and their role in contemporary land politics. In parts of Highland PNG there are flourishing traditions of epic-like chanted tales. Often dealing with relationships between people and land, these are a highly valued cultural resource. From the perspective of comparative poetics they are one of the clearest known examples of measured verse that has developed independently of alphabetic or syllabic writing. ....Chanted tales from Highland New Guinea: a comparative study of oral performance traditions and their role in contemporary land politics. In parts of Highland PNG there are flourishing traditions of epic-like chanted tales. Often dealing with relationships between people and land, these are a highly valued cultural resource. From the perspective of comparative poetics they are one of the clearest known examples of measured verse that has developed independently of alphabetic or syllabic writing. This project brings together an interdisciplinary team of investigators to analyse the wide range of styles in which these narratives are performed, and further the understanding of their implications for cross-cultural study of verbal art and the politics of land ownership in present-day Papua New Guinea.Read moreRead less
Perceiving and tracking moving objects. Processing and tracking moving objects poses challenges for human perception. To succeed, visual processing must accumulate analyses of the object from its different positions. Perceptual experiments will reveal human limits and yield insights into the underlying mechanisms, providing a basis for understanding object tracking in tasks like driving.
Form and motion interactions in human motion perception. Vision works efficiently to detect the motion of both ourselves and other objects by combining motion and pattern information. This project will determine how the visual system achieves this and also create a detailed model that will be directly applicable to areas ranging from clinical neuropsychology to the analysis and design of visual displays.