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
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
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
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.
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