Auditory and visual interhemispheric communication in musicians and non-musicians.

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Woelfle, Rebecca; Grahn, Jessica A

2013-01-01

The corpus callosum (CC) is a brain structure composed of axon fibres linking the right and left hemispheres. Musical training is associated with larger midsagittal cross-sectional area of the CC, suggesting that interhemispheric communication may be faster in musicians. Here we compared interhemispheric transmission times (ITTs) for musicians and non-musicians. ITT was measured by comparing simple reaction times to stimuli presented to the same hemisphere that controlled a button-press response (uncrossed reaction time), or to the contralateral hemisphere (crossed reaction time). Both visual and auditory stimuli were tested. We predicted that the crossed-uncrossed difference (CUD) for musicians would be smaller than for non-musicians as a result of faster interhemispheric transfer times. We did not expect a difference in CUDs between the visual and auditory modalities for either musicians or non-musicians, as previous work indicates that interhemispheric transfer may happen through the genu of the CC, which contains motor fibres rather than sensory fibres. There were no significant differences in CUDs between musicians and non-musicians. However, auditory CUDs were significantly smaller than visual CUDs. Although this auditory-visual difference was larger in musicians than non-musicians, the interaction between modality and musical training was not significant. Therefore, although musical training does not significantly affect ITT, the crossing of auditory information between hemispheres appears to be faster than visual information, perhaps because subcortical pathways play a greater role for auditory interhemispheric transfer.

Evidence for enhanced interoceptive accuracy in professional musicians

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Katharina eSchirmer-Mokwa

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Interoception is defined as the perceptual activity involved in the processing of internal bodily signals. While the ability of internal perception is considered a relatively stable trait, recent data suggest that learning to integrate multisensory information can modulate it. Making music is a uniquely rich multisensory experience that has shown to alter motor, sensory, and multimodal representations in the brain of musicians. We hypothesize that musical training also heightens interoceptive accuracy comparable to other perceptual modalities. Thirteen professional singers, twelve string players, and thirteen matched non-musicians were examined using a well-established heartbeat discrimination paradigm complemented by self-reported dispositional traits. Results revealed that both groups of musicians displayed higher interoceptive accuracy than non-musicians, whereas no differences were found between singers and string-players. Regression analyses showed that accumulated musical practice explained about 49% variation in heartbeat perception accuracy in singers but not in string-players. Psychometric data yielded a number of psychologically plausible inter-correlations in musicians related to performance anxiety. However, dispositional traits were not a confounding factor on heartbeat discrimination accuracy. Together, these data provide first evidence indicating that professional musicians show enhanced interoceptive accuracy compared to non-musicians. We argue that musical training largely accounted for this effect.

Effects of practice and experience on the arcuate fasciculus: comparing singers, instrumentalists, and non-musicians

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Gus F. Halwani

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Structure and function of the human brain are affected by training in both linguistic and musical domains. Individuals with intensive vocal musical training provide a useful model for investigating neural adaptations of learning in the vocal-motor domain and can be compared with learning in a more general musical domain. Here we confirm general differences in macrostructure (tract volume and microstructure (fractional anisotropy (FA of the arcuate fasciculus (AF, a prominent white-matter tract connecting temporal and frontal brain regions, between singers, instrumentalists, and non-musicians. Both groups of musicians differed from non-musicians in having larger tract volume and higher FA values of the right and left AF. The AF was then subdivided in a dorsal (superior branch connecting the superior temporal gyrus and the inferior frontal gyrus (STG<–>IFG, and ventral (inferior branch connecting the middle temporal gyrus and the inferior frontal gyrus (MTG<–>IFG. Relative to instrumental musicians, singers had a larger tract volume but lower FA values in the left dorsal AF (STG<–>IFG, and a similar trend in the left ventral AF (MTG<–>IFG. This between-group comparison controls for the general effects of musical training, although FA was still higher in singers compared to non-musicians. Both musician groups had higher tract volumes in the right dorsal and ventral tracts compared to non-musicians, but did not show a significant difference between each other. Furthermore, in the singers’ group, FA in the left dorsal branch of the AF was inversely correlated with the number of years of participants’ vocal training. Our findings suggest that long-term vocal-motor training might lead to an increase in volume and microstructural complexity of specific white matter tracts connecting regions that are fundamental to sound perception, production, and its feedforward and feedback control which can be differentiated from a more general musician

Effects of practice and experience on the arcuate fasciculus: comparing singers, instrumentalists, and non-musicians.

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Halwani, Gus F; Loui, Psyche; Rüber, Theodor; Schlaug, Gottfried

2011-01-01

Structure and function of the human brain are affected by training in both linguistic and musical domains. Individuals with intensive vocal musical training provide a useful model for investigating neural adaptations of learning in the vocal-motor domain and can be compared with learning in a more general musical domain. Here we confirm general differences in macrostructure (tract volume) and microstructure (fractional anisotropy, FA) of the arcuate fasciculus (AF), a prominent white-matter tract connecting temporal and frontal brain regions, between singers, instrumentalists, and non-musicians. Both groups of musicians differed from non-musicians in having larger tract volume and higher FA values of the right and left AF. The AF was then subdivided in a dorsal (superior) branch connecting the superior temporal gyrus and the inferior frontal gyrus (STG ↔ IFG), and ventral (inferior) branch connecting the middle temporal gyrus and the inferior frontal gyrus (MTG ↔ IFG). Relative to instrumental musicians, singers had a larger tract volume but lower FA values in the left dorsal AF (STG ↔ IFG), and a similar trend in the left ventral AF (MTG ↔ IFG). This between-group comparison controls for the general effects of musical training, although FA was still higher in singers compared to non-musicians. Both musician groups had higher tract volumes in the right dorsal and ventral tracts compared to non-musicians, but did not show a significant difference between each other. Furthermore, in the singers' group, FA in the left dorsal branch of the AF was inversely correlated with the number of years of participants' vocal training. Our findings suggest that long-term vocal-motor training might lead to an increase in volume and microstructural complexity of specific white-matter tracts connecting regions that are fundamental to sound perception, production, and its feedforward and feedback control which can be differentiated from a more general musician

Auditory and cognitive performance in elderly musicians and nonmusicians.

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Massimo Grassi

Full Text Available Musicians represent a model for examining brain and behavioral plasticity in terms of cognitive and auditory profile, but few studies have investigated whether elderly musicians have better auditory and cognitive abilities than nonmusicians. The aim of the present study was to examine whether being a professional musician attenuates the normal age-related changes in hearing and cognition. Elderly musicians still active in their profession were compared with nonmusicians on auditory performance (absolute threshold, frequency intensity, duration and spectral shape discrimination, gap and sinusoidal amplitude-modulation detection, and on simple (short-term memory and more complex and higher-order (working memory [WM] and visuospatial abilities cognitive tasks. The sample consisted of adults at least 65 years of age. The results showed that older musicians had similar absolute thresholds but better supra-threshold discrimination abilities than nonmusicians in four of the six auditory tasks administered. They also had a better WM performance, and stronger visuospatial abilities than nonmusicians. No differences were found between the two groups' short-term memory. Frequency discrimination and gap detection for the auditory measures, and WM complex span tasks and one of the visuospatial tasks for the cognitive ones proved to be very good classifiers of the musicians. These findings suggest that life-long music training may be associated with enhanced auditory and cognitive performance, including complex cognitive skills, in advanced age. However, whether this music training represents a protective factor or not needs further investigation.

Creativity and personality in classical, jazz and folk musicians.

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Benedek, Mathias; Borovnjak, Barbara; Neubauer, Aljoscha C; Kruse-Weber, Silke

2014-06-01

The music genre of jazz is commonly associated with creativity. However, this association has hardly been formally tested. Therefore, this study aimed at examining whether jazz musicians actually differ in creativity and personality from musicians of other music genres. We compared students of classical music, jazz music, and folk music with respect to their musical activities, psychometric creativity and different aspects of personality. In line with expectations, jazz musicians are more frequently engaged in extracurricular musical activities, and also complete a higher number of creative musical achievements. Additionally, jazz musicians show higher ideational creativity as measured by divergent thinking tasks, and tend to be more open to new experiences than classical musicians. This study provides first empirical evidence that jazz musicians show particularly high creativity with respect to domain-specific musical accomplishments but also in terms of domain-general indicators of divergent thinking ability that may be relevant for musical improvisation. The findings are further discussed with respect to differences in formal and informal learning approaches between music genres.

Visual memory in musicians and non-musicians.

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Rodrigues, Ana Carolina; Loureiro, Maurício; Caramelli, Paulo

2014-01-01

Many investigations have reported structural, functional, and cognitive changes in the brains of musicians, which occur as a result of many years of musical practice. We aimed to investigate if intensive, long-term musical practice is associated with improved visual memory ability. Musicians and non-musicians, who were comparable in age, gender, and education, were submitted to a visual memory test. The test consisted of the presentation of four sets of stimuli, each one containing eight figures to be memorized. Each set was followed by individual figures and the subject was required to indicate if each figure was or was not present in the memorized set, by pressing the corresponding keys. We divided the test in two parts, in which the stimuli had greater or reduced semantic coding. Overall, musicians showed better performance on reaction times, but not on accuracy. An additional analysis revealed no significant interaction between group and any part of the test in the prediction of the outcomes. When simple reaction time was included as covariate, no significant difference between groups was found on reaction times. In the group of musicians, we found some significant correlations between variables related to musical practice and performance in the visual memory test. In summary, our data provide no evidence of enhanced visual memory ability in musicians, since there was no difference in accuracy between groups. Our results suggest that performance of musicians in the visual memory test may be associated with better sensorimotor integration, since although they have presented shorter reaction times, such effect disappeared when taken in consideration the simple reaction time test. However, given existing evidence of associations between simple reaction time and cognitive function, their performance in the visual memory test could also be related to enhanced visual attention ability, as has been suggested by previous studies, but this hypothesis deserves more

Temporal Resolution and Active Auditory Discrimination Skill in Vocal Musicians

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Kumar, Prawin

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction Enhanced auditory perception in musicians is likely to result from auditory perceptual learning during several years of training and practice. Many studies have focused on biological processing of auditory stimuli among musicians. However, there is a lack of literature on temporal resolution and active auditory discrimination skills in vocal musicians. Objective The aim of the present study is to assess temporal resolution and active auditory discrimination skill in vocal musicians. Method The study participants included 15 vocal musicians with a minimum professional experience of 5 years of music exposure, within the age range of 20 to 30 years old, as the experimental group, while 15 age-matched non-musicians served as the control group. We used duration discrimination using pure-tones, pulse-train duration discrimination, and gap detection threshold tasks to assess temporal processing skills in both groups. Similarly, we assessed active auditory discrimination skill in both groups using Differential Limen of Frequency (DLF. All tasks were done using MATLab software installed in a personal computer at 40dBSL with maximum likelihood procedure. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS (version 17.0. Result Descriptive statistics showed better threshold for vocal musicians compared with non-musicians for all tasks. Further, independent t-test showed that vocal musicians performed significantly better compared with non-musicians on duration discrimination using pure tone, pulse train duration discrimination, gap detection threshold, and differential limen of frequency. Conclusion The present study showed enhanced temporal resolution ability and better (lower active discrimination threshold in vocal musicians in comparison to non-musicians.

The cognitive functioning of older adult instrumental musicians and non-musicians.

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Strong, Jessica V; Mast, Benjamin T

2018-03-08

This study examined similarities and differences in the cognitive profiles of older adult instrumental musicians and non-musicians. We compared neuropsychological test scores among older adult non-musicians, low-activity musicians (memory. The current study supports late life cognitive benefits of early musical training, but only in select cognitive domains, including language, executive functioning, and visual spatial ability. The results are discussed in the context of cognitive reserve and aging.

The Song of the Other/Public Space as a Learning Environment and Gypsy Musicians in Turkey

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Ozer, Ulas

2013-01-01

This work focuses on both public musical practices of Gypsy musicians who live in the Thracian land lying within the northwest of Turkey, and musical learning that takes place here. I primarily highlight the historic dimensions of the relation between Gypsies and music and emphasized musicianship in the lives of Gypsies as a fundamental class…

Feeling the beat: premotor and striatal interactions in musicians and non-musicians during beat perception

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Grahn, Jessica A.; Rowe, James B.

2009-01-01

Little is known about the underlying neurobiology of rhythm and beat perception, despite its universal cultural importance. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study rhythm perception in musicians and non-musicians. Three conditions varied in the degree to which external reinforcement versus internal generation of the beat was required. The ‘Volume’ condition strongly externally marked the beat with volume changes, the ‘Duration’ condition marked the beat with weaker accents arising from duration changes, and the ‘Unaccented’ condition required the beat to be entirely internally generated. In all conditions, beat rhythms compared to nonbeat control rhythms revealed putamen activity. The presence of a beat was also associated with greater connectivity between the putamen and the supplementary motor area (SMA), the premotor cortex (PMC) and auditory cortex. In contrast, the type of accent within the beat conditions modulated the coupling between premotor and auditory cortex, with greater modulation for musicians than non-musicians. Importantly, the putamen's response to beat conditions was not due to differences in temporal complexity between the three rhythm conditions. We propose that a cortico-subcortical network including the putamen, SMA, and PMC is engaged for the analysis of temporal sequences and prediction or generation of putative beats, especially under conditions that may require internal generation of the beat. The importance of this system for auditory-motor interaction and development of precisely timed movement is suggested here by its facilitation in musicians. PMID:19515922

Musicians as Teachers: Developing a Positive View through Collaborative Learning Partnerships

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Bennett, Dawn; Stanberg, Andrea

2006-01-01

Previous research with classical instrumental musicians has highlighted the intrinsic benefits of teaching in addition to the perhaps more obvious benefits of securing a regular income. Yet, despite the presence of educational activities in the portfolio of most musicians, teaching remains on the periphery of many music performance programmes in…

Music lessons: what musicians can teach doctors (and other health professionals).

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Davidoff, Frank

2011-03-15

Medicine is a learned profession, but clinical practice is above all a matter of performance, in the best and deepest sense of the word. Because music is, at its core, a pure distillate of real-time performance, musicians are in an excellent position to teach us about better ways to become and remain expert performers in health care and ways for our teachers and mentors to help us do that. Ten features of the professionalization of musicians offer us lessons on how the clinical practice of medicine might be learned, taught, and performed more effectively.

Cortical inhibition effect in musicians and non-musicians using P300 with and without contralateral stimulation

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Camila Maia Rabelo

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Musicians have more robust and efficient neural responses in the cortical and sub-cortical regions, demonstrating that musical experience benefits the processing of both non-linguistic and linguistic stimuli. Objective: This study aimed to verify P300's latency and amplitude behavioral using contralateral stimulation in musicians and non-musicians. Methods: This was a case-control study. Subjects were divided in two groups: musicians, comprising 30 professional musicians, and non-musicians, comprising 25 subjects without musical experience. Results: The present study showed that the musicians had lower latencies and higher amplitudes than the non-musicians in the P300 without contralateral noise. For the P300 amplitude values, the difference between groups persisted, and the musicians presented significantly higher amplitude values compared with the non-musicians; additionally, the analysis of the noise effect on the P300 response showed that the latency values were significantly increased in the musicians. Conclusion: The central auditory nervous system of musicians presents peculiar characteristics of electrophysiological responses probably due to the plasticity imposed by musical practice.

Error management for musicians: an interdisciplinary conceptual framework.

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Kruse-Weber, Silke; Parncutt, Richard

2014-01-01

Musicians tend to strive for flawless performance and perfection, avoiding errors at all costs. Dealing with errors while practicing or performing is often frustrating and can lead to anger and despair, which can explain musicians' generally negative attitude toward errors and the tendency to aim for flawless learning in instrumental music education. But even the best performances are rarely error-free, and research in general pedagogy and psychology has shown that errors provide useful information for the learning process. Research in instrumental pedagogy is still neglecting error issues; the benefits of risk management (before the error) and error management (during and after the error) are still underestimated. It follows that dealing with errors is a key aspect of music practice at home, teaching, and performance in public. And yet, to be innovative, or to make their performance extraordinary, musicians need to risk errors. Currently, most music students only acquire the ability to manage errors implicitly - or not at all. A more constructive, creative, and differentiated culture of errors would balance error tolerance and risk-taking against error prevention in ways that enhance music practice and music performance. The teaching environment should lay the foundation for the development of such an approach. In this contribution, we survey recent research in aviation, medicine, economics, psychology, and interdisciplinary decision theory that has demonstrated that specific error-management training can promote metacognitive skills that lead to better adaptive transfer and better performance skills. We summarize how this research can be applied to music, and survey-relevant research that is specifically tailored to the needs of musicians, including generic guidelines for risk and error management in music teaching and performance. On this basis, we develop a conceptual framework for risk management that can provide orientation for further music education and

Cortical inhibition effect in musicians and non-musicians using P300 with and without contralateral stimulation.

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Rabelo, Camila Maia; Neves-Lobo, Ivone Ferreira; Rocha-Muniz, Caroline Nunes; Ubiali, Thalita; Schochat, Eliane

2015-01-01

Musicians have more robust and efficient neural responses in the cortical and sub-cortical regions, demonstrating that musical experience benefits the processing of both non-linguistic and linguistic stimuli. This study aimed to verify P300's latency and amplitude behavioral using contralateral stimulation in musicians and non-musicians. This was a case-control study. Subjects were divided in two groups: musicians, comprising 30 professional musicians, and non-musicians, comprising 25 subjects without musical experience. The present study showed that the musicians had lower latencies and higher amplitudes than the non-musicians in the P300 without contralateral noise. For the P300 amplitude values, the difference between groups persisted, and the musicians presented significantly higher amplitude values compared with the non-musicians; additionally, the analysis of the noise effect on the P300 response showed that the latency values were significantly increased in the musicians. The central auditory nervous system of musicians presents peculiar characteristics of electrophysiological responses probably due to the plasticity imposed by musical practice. Copyright © 2014 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Pain among professional orchestral musicians

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nygaard Andersen, Lotte; Roessler, Kirsten K; Eichberg, Henning

2013-01-01

Professional musicians experience high rates of musculoskeletal pain, but only few studies have investigated how this pain is accepted by musicians.......Professional musicians experience high rates of musculoskeletal pain, but only few studies have investigated how this pain is accepted by musicians....

Tourette's syndrome in famous musicians

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Carlos Henrique F. Camargo

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Tourette's syndrome (TS is defined as a disorder characterized by multiple motor tics and at least one vocal tic that have lasted for not less than one year. It is a relatively complex neurobehavioral disorder, in which patients may present with coexistent attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder or other behavioral comorbidities. The musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791 and the rock star Kurt Cobain (1967-1994 may both have suffered from TS, and some contemporary musicians have had their clinical condition confirmed as TS. Our hypothetical diagnosis of TS in Mozart and Cobain is based on the presence of tics and psychiatric comorbidities. In contemporary musicians, such as Michael Wolff, Nick Van Bloss and James Durbin, TS has often only been diagnosed after a considerable delay. This delay in diagnosis and the controversies surrounding the clinical case of Mozart show how difficult a confirmatory diagnosis of this complex disease is.

Probabilistic diffusion tractography reveals improvement of structural network in musicians.

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Jianfu Li

Full Text Available PURPOSE: Musicians experience a large amount of information transfer and integration of complex sensory, motor, and auditory processes when training and playing musical instruments. Therefore, musicians are a useful model in which to investigate neural adaptations in the brain. METHODS: Here, based on diffusion-weighted imaging, probabilistic tractography was used to determine the architecture of white matter anatomical networks in musicians and non-musicians. Furthermore, the features of the white matter networks were analyzed using graph theory. RESULTS: Small-world properties of the white matter network were observed in both groups. Compared with non-musicians, the musicians exhibited significantly increased connectivity strength in the left and right supplementary motor areas, the left calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex and the right caudate nucleus, as well as a significantly larger weighted clustering coefficient in the right olfactory cortex, the left medial superior frontal gyrus, the right gyrus rectus, the left lingual gyrus, the left supramarginal gyrus, and the right pallidum. Furthermore, there were differences in the node betweenness centrality in several regions. However, no significant differences in topological properties were observed at a global level. CONCLUSIONS: We illustrated preliminary findings to extend the network level understanding of white matter plasticity in musicians who have had long-term musical training. These structural, network-based findings may indicate that musicians have enhanced information transmission efficiencies in local white matter networks that are related to musical training.

The enigma of dyslexic musicians.

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Weiss, Atalia H; Granot, Roni Y; Ahissar, Merav

2014-02-01

Musicians are known to have exceptional sensitivity to sounds, whereas poor phonological representations (or access to these representations) are considered a main characteristic of dyslexic individuals. Though these two characteristics refer to different abilities that are related to non-verbal and verbal skills respectively, the recent literature suggests that they are tightly related. However, there are informal reports of dyslexic musicians. To better understand this enigma, two groups of musicians were recruited, with and without a history of reading difficulties. The pattern of reading difficulties found among musicians was similar to that reported for non-musician dyslexics, though its magnitude was less severe. In contrast to non-musician dyslexics, their performance in pitch and interval discrimination, synchronous tapping and speech perception tasks, did not differ from the performance of their musician peers, and was superior to that of the general population. However, the auditory working memory scores of dyslexic musicians were consistently poor, including memory for rhythm, melody and speech sounds. Moreover, these abilities were inter-correlated, and highly correlated with their reading accuracy. These results point to a discrepancy between their perceptual and working memory skills rather than between sensitivity to speech and non-speech sounds. The results further suggest that in spite of intensive musical training, auditory working memory remains a bottleneck to the reading accuracy of dyslexic musicians. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Behavioral Quantification of Audiomotor Transformations in Improvising and Score-Dependent Musicians

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Harris, Robert; van Kranenburg, Peter; de Jong, Bauke M.

2016-01-01

The historically developed practice of learning to play a music instrument from notes instead of by imitation or improvisation makes it possible to contrast two types of skilled musicians characterized not only by dissimilar performance practices, but also disparate methods of audiomotor learning.

The Effect of Conceptual Advancement in Jazz Music Selections and Jazz Experience on Musicians' Aesthetic Response

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Coggiola, John C.

2004-01-01

This study is an investigation of what musicians consider to be their aesthetic experience with jazz music selections that vary in level of conceptual advancement (melodic complexity during improvised solos). Music major participants (N = 128) were assigned to either the jazz musician (n = 64) or nonjazz musician (n = 64) group. Data were gathered…

Functional connectivity of the dorsal striatum in female musicians

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Shoji eTanaka

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The dorsal striatum (caudate/putamen is a node of the cortico-striato-pallido-thalamo-cortical (CSPTC motor circuit, which plays a central role in skilled motor learning, a critical feature of musical performance. The dorsal striatum receives input from a large part of the cerebral cortex, forming a hub in the cortical-subcortical network. This study sought to examine how the functional network of the dorsal striatum differs between musicians and nonmusicians.Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI data were acquired from female university students majoring in music and nonmusic disciplines. The data were subjected to graph theoretical analysis and functional connectivity analysis. The graph theoretical analysis of the entire brain revealed that the degree, which represents the number of connections, of the bilateral putamen was significantly lower in musicians than in nonmusicians. The functional connectivity analysis indicated that compared with nonmusicians, musicians had significantly decreased connectivity between the left putamen and bilateral frontal operculum and between the left caudate nucleus and cerebellum. In conclusion, compared with nonmusicians, female musicians have a smaller functional network of the dorsal striatum, with decreased connectivity. These data are consistent with previous anatomical studies reporting a reduced volume of the dorsal striatum in musicians and ballet dancers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study suggesting that long-term musical training results in a less extensive or selective functional network of the dorsal striatum.

Sound Exposure of Symphony Orchestra Musicians

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Schmidt, Jesper Hvass; Pedersen, Ellen Raben; Juhl, Peter Møller

2011-01-01

dBA and their left ear was exposed 4.6 dB more than the right ear. Percussionists were exposed to high sound peaks >115 dBC but less continuous sound exposure was observed in this group. Musicians were exposed up to LAeq8h of 92 dB and a majority of musicians were exposed to sound levels exceeding......Background: Assessment of sound exposure by noise dosimetry can be challenging especially when measuring the exposure of classical orchestra musicians where sound originate from many different instruments. A new measurement method of bilateral sound exposure of classical musicians was developed...... and used to characterize sound exposure of the left and right ear simultaneously in two different symphony orchestras.Objectives: To measure binaural sound exposure of professional classical musicians and to identify possible exposure risk factors of specific musicians.Methods: Sound exposure was measured...

Transient evoked otoacoustic emissions in rock musicians.

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Høydal, Erik Harry; Lein Størmer, Carl Christian; Laukli, Einar; Stenklev, Niels Christian

2017-09-01

Our focus in this study was the assessment of transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) in a large group of rock musicians. A further objective was to analyse tinnitus among rock musicians as related to TEOAEs. The study was a cross-sectional survey of rock musicians selected at random. A control group was included at random for comparison. We recruited 111 musicians and a control group of 40 non-musicians. Testing was conducted by using clinical examination, pure tone audiometry, TEOAEs and a questionnaire. TEOAE SNR in the half-octave frequency band centred on 4 kHz was significantly lower bilaterally in musicians than controls. This effect was strongly predicted by age and pure-tone hearing threshold levels in the 3-6 kHz range. Bilateral hearing thresholds were significantly higher at 6 kHz in musicians. Twenty percent of the musicians had permanent tinnitus. There was no association between the TEOAE parameters and permanent tinnitus. Our results suggest an incipient hearing loss at 6 kHz in rock musicians. Loss of TEOAE SNR in the 4 kHz half-octave frequency band was observed, but it was related to higher mean 3-6 kHz hearing thresholds and age. A large proportion of rock musicians have permanent tinnitus.

A comparative study on the prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints among musicians and non-musicians

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Kok Laura M

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Research comparing the frequency of musculoskeletal complaints between musicians and non-musicians is scarce. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of musculoskeletal complaints between musicians and non-musicians. Methods A cross-sectional study in 3215 students from three music academies (n = 345 and one medical school (n = 2870 in The Netherlands was performed, using an electronic questionnaire. The questionnaire included socio-demographic characteristics, use of music instruments and the occurrence of musculoskeletal complaints in six body regions. Questions were related to musculoskeletal complaints over the last twelve months and at the time of the questionnaire. Chi-square, t-tests and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for comparison between the two groups. The association between musculoskeletal complaints and possible predictors was analyzed using a logistic and Poisson regression. Results Eighty-seven music academy students and 503 medical students returned the questionnaire, of which respectively eighty-three and 494 were included in the study. Seventy-four music academy students (89.2% reported one or more musculoskeletal complaints during the last twelve months, compared to 384 (77.9% medical students (p = 0.019. Moreover 52 music academy students (62.7% and 211 medical students (42.7% reported current musculoskeletal complaints (p = 0.001. The Odds ratio (OR for the development of musculoskeletal complaints during the last twelve months in music academy students versus medical students is 2.33 (95% CI 1.61–3.05, p = 0.022. The OR at the time of the questionnaire is 2.25 (95% CI 1.77–2.73, p = 0.001. The total number of complaints have been modeled by employing a Poisson regression; the results show that non-musicians have on average less complaints than musicians (p = 0.01. The adjusted means are 2.90 (95% CI 2.18–3.63 and 1.83 (95% CI 1.63–2.04 respectively for

Hearing of note: an electrophysiologic and psychoacoustic comparison of pitch discrimination between vocal and instrumental musicians.

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Nikjeh, Dee A; Lister, Jennifer J; Frisch, Stefan A

2008-11-01

Cortical auditory evoked potentials of instrumental musicians suggest that music expertise modifies pitch processing, yet less is known about vocal musicians. Mismatch negativity (MMN) to pitch deviances and difference limen for frequency (DLF) were examined among 61 young adult women, including 20 vocalists, 21 instrumentalists, and 20 nonmusicians. Stimuli were harmonic tone complexes from the mid-female vocal range (C4-G4). MMN was elicited by multideviant paradigm. DLF was obtained by an adaptive psychophysical paradigm. Musicians detected pitch changes earlier and DLFs were 50% smaller than nonmusicians. Both vocal and instrumental musicians possess superior sensory-memory representations for acoustic parameters. Vocal musicians with instrumental training appear to have an auditory neural advantage over instrumental or vocal only musicians. An incidental finding reveals P3a as a sensitive index of music expertise.

Investigating Musical Performance: Commonality and Diversity among Classical and Non-Classical Musicians

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Creech, Andrea; Papageorgi, Ioulia; Duffy, Celia; Morton, Frances; Hadden, Elizabeth; Potter, John; De Bezenac, Christophe; Whyton, Tony; Himonides, Evangelos; Welch, Graham

2008-01-01

The research project "Investigating Musical Performance: Comparative Studies in Advanced Musical Learning" was devised to investigate how classical, popular, jazz and Scottish traditional musicians deepen and develop their learning about performance in undergraduate, postgraduate and wider music community contexts. The aim of this paper is to…

Memorization by a Jazz Musician: A Case Study

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Noice, Helga; Jeffrey, John; Noice, Tony; Chaffin, Roger

2008-01-01

To investigate the memory strategies of jazz musicians, we videotaped an experienced jazz pianist as he learned a new bebop piece. He had not previously heard a recording of the selection, nor had he seen the written music. The pianist provided detailed reports of the musical structure and the types of cues he used as landmarks to guide his…

Increased functional connectivity in the ventral and dorsal streams during retrieval of novel words in professional musicians.

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Dittinger, Eva; Valizadeh, Seyed Abolfazl; Jäncke, Lutz; Besson, Mireille; Elmer, Stefan

2018-02-01

Current models of speech and language processing postulate the involvement of two parallel processing streams (the dual stream model): a ventral stream involved in mapping sensory and phonological representations onto lexical and conceptual representations and a dorsal stream contributing to sound-to-motor mapping, articulation, and to how verbal information is encoded and manipulated in memory. Based on previous evidence showing that music training has an influence on language processing, cognitive functions, and word learning, we examined EEG-based intracranial functional connectivity in the ventral and dorsal streams while musicians and nonmusicians learned the meaning of novel words through picture-word associations. In accordance with the dual stream model, word learning was generally associated with increased beta functional connectivity in the ventral stream compared to the dorsal stream. In addition, in the linguistically most demanding "semantic task," musicians outperformed nonmusicians, and this behavioral advantage was accompanied by increased left-hemispheric theta connectivity in both streams. Moreover, theta coherence in the left dorsal pathway was positively correlated with the number of years of music training. These results provide evidence for a complex interplay within a network of brain regions involved in semantic processing and verbal memory functions, and suggest that intensive music training can modify its functional architecture leading to advantages in novel word learning. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effects of Aging on Musical Performance in Professional Orchestral Musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Kenny, Dianna T; Driscoll, Tim; Ackermann, Bronwen J

2018-03-01

The physical and psychological demands of playing a musical instrument are likely to be affected by age-related decline in function, including physical, cognitive, psychological, and organ-related changes. However, the complex neurophysiological demands of playing a musical instrument may delay many normal aging-related changes. This study compared professional classical musicians of different ages, using a range of physical and psychological measures, to discover how increasing age might affect work performance and to identify possible risk and protective factors for physical and psychological health as the musicians age. 377 professional orchestral musicians from eight Australian orchestras (70% response rate), ages 18 to 68 yrs (mean 42.1). Multiple standardized physical and psychological tools were used to evaluate the impact of age on a range of physical and mental health variables. Age was not statistically associated with frequency or severity of performance-related musculoskeletal disorders, ratings of perceived exertion, QuickDASH scores, use of beta-blockers, workplace satisfaction, and most psychological tests. Differences were observed on SPIN (social anxiety) scores, with lowest scores in the oldest age group (10.66 in 55+ yrs vs 17.83 in 18-30 yrs, p=0.016). Older musicians had higher BMIs and fewer practice sessions per day than younger musicians and also were more likely to consume alcohol on 5+ days/wk (44% vs 9%, p=0.003). Advancing age does not appear to exert undue negative impacts on physical and psychological health or performance capacity of professional orchestral musicians. However, dwindling numbers in the older age groups may suggest a "survivor" effect, whereby those who develop significant age-related decrements may cease professional performance at earlier ages. Longitudinal studies on the professional trajectories of professional orchestral musicians are needed to explore this question further.

Musicians--same or different?

Science.gov (United States)

Tervaniemi, Mari

2009-07-01

In the neuroscience of music, musicians have traditionally been treated as a unified group, as if the demands set by their musical activities would be more or less equal in terms of perceptual, cognitive, and motor functions. However, obviously, their musical preferences differentiate them to a higher degree, for instance, in terms of the instrument they choose and the music genre they are mostly engaged with as well as their practicing style. This diversity in musicians' profiles has been recently taken into account in several empirical endeavors. The present contribution will review the evidence available about the various neurocognitive profiles these different kinds of musicians display.

Neural correlates of strategy use during auditory working memory in musicians and non-musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Schulze, K; Mueller, K; Koelsch, S

2011-01-01

Working memory (WM) performance in humans can be improved by structuring and organizing the material to be remembered. For visual and verbal information, this process of structuring has been associated with the involvement of a prefrontal-parietal network, but for non-verbal auditory material, the brain areas that facilitate WM for structured information have remained elusive. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, this study compared neural correlates underlying encoding and rehearsal of auditory WM for structured and unstructured material. Musicians and non-musicians performed a WM task on five-tone sequences that were either tonally structured (with all tones belonging to one tonal key) or tonally unstructured (atonal) sequences. Functional differences were observed for musicians (who are experts in the music domain), but not for non-musicians - The right pars orbitalis was activated more strongly in musicians during the encoding of unstructured (atonal) vs. structured (tonal) sequences. In addition, data for musicians showed that a lateral (pre)frontal-parietal network (including the right premotor cortex, right inferior precentral sulcus and left intraparietal sulcus) was activated during WM rehearsal of structured, as compared with unstructured, sequences. Our findings indicate that this network plays a role in strategy-based WM for non-verbal auditory information, corroborating previous results showing a similar network for strategy-based WM for visual and verbal information. © 2010 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience © 2010 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Sadness is unique: Neural processing of emotions in speech prosody in musicians and non-musicians

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Mona ePark

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Musical training has been shown to have positive effects on several aspects of speech processing, however, the effects of musical training on the neural processing of speech prosody conveying distinct emotions are yet to be better understood. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI to investigate whether the neural responses to speech prosody conveying happiness, sadness, and fear differ between musicians and non-musicians. Differences in processing of emotional speech prosody between the two groups were only observed when sadness was expressed. Musicians showed increased activation in the middle frontal gyrus, the anterior medial prefrontal cortex, the posterior cingulate cortex and the retrosplenial cortex. Our results suggest an increased sensitivity of emotional processing in musicians with respect to sadness expressed in speech, possibly reflecting empathic processes.

Shifting identities : the musician as theatrical perfomer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hübner, Falk

2013-01-01

The artistic PhD research "Shifting Identities" investigates the musicians' professional identity and how this identity might shift when musicians start acting as theatrical performers. In most of the theatrical situations where musicians "perform", their profession is extended by additional tasks

Audiological and electrophysiological assessment of professional pop/rock musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Samelli, Alessandra G; Matas, Carla G; Carvallo, Renata M M; Gomes, Raquel F; de Beija, Carolina S; Magliaro, Fernanda C L; Rabelo, Camila M

2012-01-01

In the present study, we evaluated peripheral and central auditory pathways in professional musicians (with and without hearing loss) compared to non-musicians. The goal was to verify if music exposure could affect auditory pathways as a whole. This is a prospective study that compared the results obtained between three groups (musicians with and without hearing loss and non-musicians). Thirty-two male individuals participated and they were assessed by: Immittance measurements, pure-tone air conduction thresholds at all frequencies from 0.25 to 20 kHz, Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions, Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR), and Cognitive Potential. The musicians showed worse hearing thresholds in both conventional and high frequency audiometry when compared to the non-musicians; the mean amplitude of Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions was smaller in the musicians group, but the mean latencies of Auditory Brainstem Response and Cognitive Potential were diminished in the musicians when compared to the non-musicians. Our findings suggest that the population of musicians is at risk for developing music-induced hearing loss. However, the electrophysiological evaluation showed that latency waves of ABR and P300 were diminished in musicians, which may suggest that the auditory training to which these musicians are exposed acts as a facilitator of the acoustic signal transmission to the cortex.

Audiological and electrophysiological assessment of professional pop/rock musicians

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessandra G Samelli

2012-01-01

Full Text Available In the present study, we evaluated peripheral and central auditory pathways in professional musicians (with and without hearing loss compared to non-musicians. The goal was to verify if music exposure could affect auditory pathways as a whole. This is a prospective study that compared the results obtained between three groups (musicians with and without hearing loss and non-musicians. Thirty-two male individuals participated and they were assessed by: Immittance measurements, pure-tone air conduction thresholds at all frequencies from 0.25 to 20 kHz, Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions, Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR, and Cognitive Potential. The musicians showed worse hearing thresholds in both conventional and high frequency audiometry when compared to the non-musicians; the mean amplitude of Transient Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions was smaller in the musicians group, but the mean latencies of Auditory Brainstem Response and Cognitive Potential were diminished in the musicians when compared to the non-musicians. Our findings suggest that the population of musicians is at risk for developing music-induced hearing loss. However, the electrophysiological evaluation showed that latency waves of ABR and P300 were diminished in musicians, which may suggest that the auditory training to which these musicians are exposed acts as a facilitator of the acoustic signal transmission to the cortex.

Neural processing of musical meter in musicians and non-musicians.

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Zhao, T Christina; Lam, H T Gloria; Sohi, Harkirat; Kuhl, Patricia K

2017-11-01

Musical sounds, along with speech, are the most prominent sounds in our daily lives. They are highly dynamic, yet well structured in the temporal domain in a hierarchical manner. The temporal structures enhance the predictability of musical sounds. Western music provides an excellent example: while time intervals between musical notes are highly variable, underlying beats can be realized. The beat-level temporal structure provides a sense of regular pulses. Beats can be further organized into units, giving the percept of alternating strong and weak beats (i.e. metrical structure or meter). Examining neural processing at the meter level offers a unique opportunity to understand how the human brain extracts temporal patterns, predicts future stimuli and optimizes neural resources for processing. The present study addresses two important questions regarding meter processing, using the mismatch negativity (MMN) obtained with electroencephalography (EEG): 1) how tempo (fast vs. slow) and type of metrical structure (duple: two beats per unit vs. triple: three beats per unit) affect the neural processing of metrical structure in non-musically trained individuals, and 2) how early music training modulates the neural processing of metrical structure. Metrical structures were established by patterns of consecutive strong and weak tones (Standard) with occasional violations that disrupted and reset the structure (Deviant). Twenty non-musicians listened passively to these tones while their neural activities were recorded. MMN indexed the neural sensitivity to the meter violations. Results suggested that MMNs were larger for fast tempo and for triple meter conditions. Further, 20 musically trained individuals were tested using the same methods and the results were compared to the non-musicians. While tempo and meter type similarly influenced MMNs in both groups, musicians overall exhibited significantly reduced MMNs, compared to their non-musician counterparts. Further analyses

Popular Musician Responses to Mental Health Treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Berg, Lloyd; King, Benjamin; Koenig, Jessica; McRoberts, Roger L

2018-06-01

Popular (i.e., nonclassical) musicians have higher rates of mental health disorders and mental health service utilization than the general population. Little is known, however, about how popular musicians perceive mental health interventions in terms of overall satisfaction and therapeutic benefit. An online client satisfaction survey was sent to all musicians and family members who received mental health services through a nonprofit mental health organization in Austin, Texas, between July 2014 and June 2015 (n=628). 260 individuals (41.4%) responded to the survey, of whom 94% (n=244) were musicians. A majority of musician respondents were male (60%) and white (82%). 87% received counseling, 32% received psychiatric medication treatment, and 8% received addiction recovery services. 97% of musicians (205/211) rated their counselor as 'very good' or 'excellent,' 88% (64/79) rated their psychiatric providers as 'very good' or 'excellent,' and 94% (17/19) rated their addiction recovery specialists as 'very good' or 'excellent' (nonsignificant between all categories, p>0.05). 89% of musicians receiving counseling, 84% receiving psychiatric medication treatment, and 95% receiving addiction recovery services agreed or strongly agreed that their symptoms and overall functioning improved as a result of their treatment (nonsignificant between all categories, p>0.05). Popular musicians express strong provider satisfaction and overall benefit when mental health interventions are accessible, affordable, and delivered by professionals familiar with their concerns. More research is needed to understand the unique psychosocial stresses popular musicians face to inform treatment planning for this high-risk, underserved population.

The influence of music and stress on musicians' hearing

Science.gov (United States)

Kähäri, Kim; Zachau, Gunilla; Eklöf, Mats; Möller, Claes

2004-10-01

Hearing and hearing disorders among classical and rock/jazz musicians was investigated. Pure tone audiometry was done in 140 classical and 139 rock/jazz musicians. The rock/jazz musicians answered a questionnaire concerning hearing disorders and psychosocial exposure. All results were compared to age appropriate reference materials. Hearing thresholds showed a notch configuration in both classical and rock/jazz musicians indicating the inclusion of high sound levels but an overall well-preserved hearing thresholds. Female musicians had significantly better hearing thresholds in the high-frequency area than males. Rock/jazz musicians showed slight worse hearing thresholds as compared to classical musicians. When assessing hearing disorders, a large number of rock/jazz musicians suffered from different hearing disorders (74%). Hearing loss, tinnitus and hyperacusis were the most common disorders and were significantly more frequent in comparison with different reference populations. Among classical musicians, no extended negative progress of the pure tone hearing threshold values was found in spite of the continued 16 years of musical noise exposure. In rock/jazz musicians, there was no relationships between psychosocial factors at work and hearing disorders. The rock/jazz musicians reported low stress and high degree of energy. On the average, the rock/jazz musicians reported higher control, lower stress and higher energy than a reference material of white-collar workers.

Instrument-related Skin Disorders in Musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Patruno, Cataldo; Napolitano, Maddalena; La Bella, Serena; Ayala, Fabio; Balato, Nicola; Cantelli, Mariateresa; Balato, Anna

2016-01-01

Among artists, musicians may suffer from occupational skin problems; notwithstanding, these conditions have been rarely reviewed. The characteristics of individual performer and the type of instrument will determine the kind of disease. Moreover, the hours that the musician spent to advance artistic skill may influence the severity. The frequency and risk factors of instrument-related skin disorders in musicians from southern Italy were analyzed. An observational study was conducted in 628 musicians. A questionnaire including questions related to age, sex, instrument played, musical activity, previous or current skin disorders, and impact of skin symptoms on music making was submitted. Of 628 musicians, 199 (31.7%) reported suffering from at least 1 skin disease. Cutaneous diseases likely directly correlated with the use of the musical instrument were found in 129 (20.5%) of the 628 subjects. In particular, different patterns of irritant contact dermatitis were found. Skin conditions may be a significant problem in professional instrumentalists. They are mainly related to musical activity. Preventive measures should be established.

The effect of music performance on the transcriptome of professional musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanduri, Chakravarthi; Kuusi, Tuire; Ahvenainen, Minna; Philips, Anju K; Lähdesmäki, Harri; Järvelä, Irma

2015-03-25

Music performance by professional musicians involves a wide-spectrum of cognitive and multi-sensory motor skills, whose biological basis is unknown. Several neuroscientific studies have demonstrated that the brains of professional musicians and non-musicians differ structurally and functionally and that musical training enhances cognition. However, the molecules and molecular mechanisms involved in music performance remain largely unexplored. Here, we investigated the effect of music performance on the genome-wide peripheral blood transcriptome of professional musicians by analyzing the transcriptional responses after a 2-hr concert performance and after a 'music-free' control session. The up-regulated genes were found to affect dopaminergic neurotransmission, motor behavior, neuronal plasticity, and neurocognitive functions including learning and memory. Particularly, candidate genes such as SNCA, FOS and DUSP1 that are involved in song perception and production in songbirds, were identified, suggesting an evolutionary conservation in biological processes related to sound perception/production. Additionally, modulation of genes related to calcium ion homeostasis, iron ion homeostasis, glutathione metabolism, and several neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases implied that music performance may affect the biological pathways that are otherwise essential for the proper maintenance of neuronal function and survival. For the first time, this study provides evidence for the candidate genes and molecular mechanisms underlying music performance.

Superior pre-attentive auditory processing in musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Koelsch, S; Schröger, E; Tervaniemi, M

1999-04-26

The present study focuses on influences of long-term experience on auditory processing, providing the first evidence for pre-attentively superior auditory processing in musicians. This was revealed by the brain's automatic change-detection response, which is reflected electrically as the mismatch negativity (MMN) and generated by the operation of sensoric (echoic) memory, the earliest cognitive memory system. Major chords and single tones were presented to both professional violinists and non-musicians under ignore and attend conditions. Slightly impure chords, presented among perfect major chords elicited a distinct MMN in professional musicians, but not in non-musicians. This demonstrates that compared to non-musicians, musicians are superior in pre-attentively extracting more information out of musically relevant stimuli. Since effects of long-term experience on pre-attentive auditory processing have so far been reported for language-specific phonemes only, results indicate that sensory memory mechanisms can be modulated by training on a more general level.

Evidence for Enhanced Interoceptive Accuracy in Professional Musicians

OpenAIRE

Schirmer-Mokwa, Katharina L.; Fard, Pouyan R.; Zamorano, Anna M.; Finkel, Sebastian; Birbaumer, Niels; Kleber, Boris A.

2015-01-01

Interoception is defined as the perceptual activity involved in the processing of internal bodily signals. While the ability of internal perception is considered a relatively stable trait, recent data suggest that learning to integrate multisensory information can modulate it. Making music is a uniquely rich multisensory experience that has shown to alter motor, sensory, and multimodal representations in the brain of musicians. We hypothesize that musical training also heightens interoceptive...

Evidence for enhanced interoceptive accuracy in professional musicians

OpenAIRE

Katharina eSchirmer-Mokwa; Pouyan Rafiei Fard; Anna Maria Zamorano; Sebastian eFinkel; Niels eBirbaumer; Niels eBirbaumer; Boris Alexander Kleber

2015-01-01

Interoception is defined as the perceptual activity involved in the processing of internal bodily signals. While the ability of internal perception is considered a relatively stable trait, recent data suggest that learning to integrate multisensory information can modulate it. Making music is a uniquely rich multisensory experience that has shown to alter motor, sensory, and multimodal representations in the brain of musicians. We hypothesize that musical training also heightens interoceptive...

Jazz talks: representations & self-representations of African American music and its musicians from bebop to free jazz

OpenAIRE

Mazman, Alper

2010-01-01

The main focus of this thesis is the representation of jazz music and its musicians, and the ways in which American (black and white) critics, novelists, and musicians interpret this music from the development of bebop to free jazz. My aim is to reveal the complexities of the dialogue between white and black representations of jazz, as well as among the self-representations of African American musicians. To this end, I discuss the discourses of jazz that are embedded within the broader cultur...

Error management for musicians: an interdisciplinary conceptual framework

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Silke eKruse-Weber

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Musicians tend to strive for flawless performance and perfection, avoiding errors at all costs. Dealing with errors while practicing or performing is often frustrating and can lead to anger and despair, which can explain musicians’ generally negative attitude toward errors and the tendency to aim for errorless learning in instrumental music education. But even the best performances are rarely error-free, and research in general pedagogy and psychology has shown that errors provide useful information for the learning process. Research in instrumental pedagogy is still neglecting error issues; the benefits of risk management (before the error and error management (during and after the error are still underestimated. It follows that dealing with errors is a key aspect of music practice at home, teaching, and performance in public. And yet, to be innovative, or to make their performance extraordinary, musicians need to risk errors. Currently, most music students only acquire the ability to manage errors implicitly - or not at all. A more constructive, creative and differentiated culture of errors would balance error tolerance and risk-taking against error prevention in ways that enhance music practice and music performance. The teaching environment should lay the foundation for the development of these abilities. In this contribution, we survey recent research in aviation, medicine, economics, psychology, and interdisciplinary decision theory that has demonstrated that specific error-management training can promote metacognitive skills that lead to better adaptive transfer and better performance skills. We summarize how this research can be applied to music, and survey relevant research that is specifically tailored to the needs of musicians, including generic guidelines for risk and error management in music teaching and performance. On this basis, we develop a conceptual framework for risk management that can provide orientation for further

Life Expectancy and Cause of Death in Popular Musicians: Is the Popular Musician Lifestyle the Road to Ruin?

Science.gov (United States)

Kenny, Dianna T; Asher, Anthony

2016-03-01

Does a combination of lifestyle pressures and personality, as reflected in genre, lead to the early death of popular musicians? We explored overall mortality, cause of death, and changes in patterns of death over time and by music genre membership in popular musicians who died between 1950 and 2014. The death records of 13,195 popular musicians were coded for age and year of death, cause of death, gender, and music genre. Musician death statistics were compared with age-matched deaths in the US population using actuarial methods. Although the common perception is of a glamorous, free-wheeling lifestyle for this occupational group, the figures tell a very different story. Results showed that popular musicians have shortened life expectancy compared with comparable general populations. Results showed excess mortality from violent deaths (suicide, homicide, accidental death, including vehicular deaths and drug overdoses) and liver disease for each age group studied compared with population mortality patterns. These excess deaths were highest for the under-25-year age group and reduced chronologically thereafter. Overall mortality rates were twice as high compared with the population when averaged over the whole age range. Mortality impacts differed by music genre. In particular, excess suicides and liver-related disease were observed in country, metal, and rock musicians; excess homicides were observed in 6 of the 14 genres, in particular hip hop and rap musicians. For accidental death, actual deaths significantly exceeded expected deaths for country, folk, jazz, metal, pop, punk, and rock.

Focal dystonia in musicians: From phenomenology to therapy

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Hans-Christian Jabusch

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Musician's dystonia is a task-specific movement disorder which manifests itself as a loss of voluntary motor control in extensively trained movements. In many cases, the disorder terminates the careers of affected musicians. Approximately 1% of all professional musicians are affected.Etiology and Pathophysiology: The pathophysiology of the disorder is still unclear. Findings include (a reduced inhibition in different levels of the central nervous system, (b maladaptive plasticity, e.g. in the somatosensory cortex and in the basal ganglia, and (c alterations in sensorimotor processing. Epidemiological data demon-strated a higher risk for those musicians who play instruments requiring maximal fine-motorskills. For instruments where workload differs across hands, focal dystonia appears more often in the more intensely used hand. In psychological studies, musicians with dystonia had more perfectionist tendencies than healthy musicians. These findings streng then the assumption that behavioral factors may be involved in the etiology of musician's dystonia. Hereditary factors may play a greater role than previously assumed. Preliminary findings suggest a genetic contributiont o focal task-specific dystonia with phenotypic variations including musician's dystonia.Treatment: Treatment options for musician's dystonia include pharmacological interventions such as administration of Trihexyphenidyl or Botulinum Toxin-A as well as retraining programs and ergonomic changes in the instrument. A long-term follow-up study was performed in 144 patients with musician's dystonia. The outcome was revealed on average 8.4 years after onset of symptoms. Outcome was assessed by patients' subjective rating of cumulative treatmentresponse and response to individual therapies. Seventy-seven patients (54% reported an alleviation of symptoms: 33% of the patients with Trihexyphenidyl, 49% with Botulinum Toxin, 50% with pedagogical retraining, 56% with unmonitored

Jazz Musicians as Academic Leaders: Improvisation in Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Kleinschmidt, Robert A.

2011-01-01

Jazz musicians are unique individuals who seek to perform from a transcendental state in which tacit knowledge, teamwork, and communication blend to produce an effective performance. Academic leaders are also unique individuals who rely on communication to generate a sense of inclusion within a complex organization that at times epitomizes…

Musician Map: visualizing music collaborations over time

Science.gov (United States)

Yim, Ji-Dong; Shaw, Chris D.; Bartram, Lyn

2009-01-01

In this paper we introduce Musician Map, a web-based interactive tool for visualizing relationships among popular musicians who have released recordings since 1950. Musician Map accepts search terms from the user, and in turn uses these terms to retrieve data from MusicBrainz.org and AudioScrobbler.net, and visualizes the results. Musician Map visualizes relationships of various kinds between music groups and individual musicians, such as band membership, musical collaborations, and linkage to other artists that are generally regarded as being similar in musical style. These relationships are plotted between artists using a new timeline-based visualization where a node in a traditional node-link diagram has been transformed into a Timeline-Node, which allows the visualization of an evolving entity over time, such as the membership in a band. This allows the user to pursue social trend queries such as "Do Hip-Hop artists collaborate differently than Rock artists".

Cognitive control in auditory working memory is enhanced in musicians.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karen Johanne Pallesen

Full Text Available Musical competence may confer cognitive advantages that extend beyond processing of familiar musical sounds. Behavioural evidence indicates a general enhancement of both working memory and attention in musicians. It is possible that musicians, due to their training, are better able to maintain focus on task-relevant stimuli, a skill which is crucial to working memory. We measured the blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD activation signal in musicians and non-musicians during working memory of musical sounds to determine the relation among performance, musical competence and generally enhanced cognition. All participants easily distinguished the stimuli. We tested the hypothesis that musicians nonetheless would perform better, and that differential brain activity would mainly be present in cortical areas involved in cognitive control such as the lateral prefrontal cortex. The musicians performed better as reflected in reaction times and error rates. Musicians also had larger BOLD responses than non-musicians in neuronal networks that sustain attention and cognitive control, including regions of the lateral prefrontal cortex, lateral parietal cortex, insula, and putamen in the right hemisphere, and bilaterally in the posterior dorsal prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate gyrus. The relationship between the task performance and the magnitude of the BOLD response was more positive in musicians than in non-musicians, particularly during the most difficult working memory task. The results confirm previous findings that neural activity increases during enhanced working memory performance. The results also suggest that superior working memory task performance in musicians rely on an enhanced ability to exert sustained cognitive control. This cognitive benefit in musicians may be a consequence of focused musical training.

Towards wearable support for nomadic musicians

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kock, S.V.; Bouwer, A.

2011-01-01

This article presents the design of the Boogynoma system, which aims to support musicians on the go. The system is designed to capture musical ideas which would normally require a guitar, bass, or drum kit and recording equipment. To inform the design of the system, four emiprofessional musicians,

Musicians' Enhanced Neural Differentiation of Speech Sounds Arises Early in Life: Developmental Evidence from Ages 3 to 30

Science.gov (United States)

Strait, Dana L.; O'Connell, Samantha; Parbery-Clark, Alexandra; Kraus, Nina

2014-01-01

The perception and neural representation of acoustically similar speech sounds underlie language development. Music training hones the perception of minute acoustic differences that distinguish sounds; this training may generalize to speech processing given that adult musicians have enhanced neural differentiation of similar speech syllables compared with nonmusicians. Here, we asked whether this neural advantage in musicians is present early in life by assessing musically trained and untrained children as young as age 3. We assessed auditory brainstem responses to the speech syllables /ba/ and /ga/ as well as auditory and visual cognitive abilities in musicians and nonmusicians across 3 developmental time-points: preschoolers, school-aged children, and adults. Cross-phase analyses objectively measured the degree to which subcortical responses differed to these speech syllables in musicians and nonmusicians for each age group. Results reveal that musicians exhibit enhanced neural differentiation of stop consonants early in life and with as little as a few years of training. Furthermore, the extent of subcortical stop consonant distinction correlates with auditory-specific cognitive abilities (i.e., auditory working memory and attention). Results are interpreted according to a corticofugal framework for auditory learning in which subcortical processing enhancements are engendered by strengthened cognitive control over auditory function in musicians. PMID:23599166

Pitch Discrimination in Musicians and Non-Musicians: Effects of Harmonic Resolvability and Processing Effort

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bianchi, Federica; Santurette, Sébastien; Wendt, Dorothea

2016-01-01

-musicians, suggesting similar peripheral frequency selectivity in the two groups of listeners. In a follow-up experiment, listeners’ pupil dilations were measured as an indicator of the required effort in performing the same pitch discrimination task for conditions of varying resolvability and task difficulty...... abilities in musicians are unlikely to be related to higher peripheral frequency selectivity and may suggest an enhanced pitch representation at more central stages of the auditory system in musically trained listeners....

Benefits and disadvantages of joint hypermobility among musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Larsson, L G; Baum, J; Mudholkar, G S; Kollia, G D

1993-10-07

Joint hypermobility is considered to be both an advantage and a disadvantage. However, the degree of hypermobility in members of particular occupations requiring intense physical activity and the nature of the association between symptoms referable to specific joints and their hypermobility are unknown. We interviewed 660 musicians (300 women and 360 men) about work-related symptoms such as joint pain and swelling and examined them for joint hypermobility according to a standard protocol. We then determined the relation between the mobility of their fingers, thumbs, elbows, knees, and spine and any symptoms referable to these regions. Five of the 96 musicians (5 percent) with hypermobility of the wrists, mostly instrumentalists who played the flute, violin, or piano, had pain and stiffness in this region, whereas 100 of the 564 musicians (18 percent) without such hypermobility had symptoms (P = 0.001). Hypermobility of the elbow was associated with symptoms in only 1 of 208 musicians (< 1 percent), whereas 7 of 452 (2 percent) without this hypermobility had symptoms (P = 0.45). Among the 132 musicians who had hypermobile knees, 6 (5 percent) had symptoms, whereas only 1 of 528 (< 1 percent) with normal knees had symptoms (P < 0.001). Of the 462 musicians who had normal mobility of the spine, 50 (11 percent) had symptoms involving the back, as compared with 46 of the 198 musicians (23 percent) who had hypermobility of the spine (P < 0.001). Among musicians who play instruments requiring repetitive motion, hypermobility of joints such as the wrists and elbows may be an asset, whereas hypermobility of less frequently moved joints such as the knees and spine may be a liability.

Perception of Segment Boundaries in Musicians and Non-Musicians

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hartmann, Martin; Toiviainen, Petri; Lartillot, Olivier

2014-01-01

In the act of music listening, many people break down musical pieces into chunks such as verses and choruses. Recent work on music segmentation has shown that highly agreed segment boundaries are also considered strong and are described by using multiple cues. However, these studies could...... not pinpoint the effects of data collection methods and of musicianship on boundary perception. Our study investigated the differences between segmentation tasks performed by musicians in real-time and non real-time listening contexts. Further, we assessed the effect of musical training on the perception...... at a time-scale of 10 seconds after comparing segmentation data at different resolutions. Further, musicians located significantly more boundaries in the non real-time task than in the real-time task for 5 out of 6 examples. We found a clear effect of the task but no effects of musical training upon...

Home recording for musicians for dummies

CERN Document Server

Strong, Jeff

2008-01-01

Invaluable advice that will be music to your ears! Are you thinking of getting started in home recording? Do you want to know the latest home recording technologies? Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies will get you recording music at home in no time. It shows you how to set up a home studio, record and edit your music, master it, and even distribute your songs. With this guide, you?ll learn how to compare studio-in-a-box, computer-based, and stand-alone recording systems and choose what you need. You?ll gain the skills to manage your sound, take full advantage of MIDI, m

Hearing in nonprofessional pop/rock musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmuziger, Nicolas; Patscheke, Jochen; Probst, Rudolf

2006-08-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hearing and subjective auditory symptoms in a group of nonprofessional pop/rock musicians who had experienced repeated exposures to intense sound levels during at least 5 yr of musical activity. An evaluation of both ears in 42 nonprofessional pop/rock musicians included pure-tone audiometry in the conventional and extended high-frequency range, the measurement of uncomfortable loudness levels, and an assessment of tinnitus and hypersensitivity to sound. Exclusion criteria were (a) the occurrence of acoustic trauma, (b) excessive noise exposure during occupational activities, (c) a history of recurrent otitis media, (d) previous ear surgery, (e) a fracture of the cranium, (f) ingestion of potentially ototoxic drugs, and (g) reported hearing difficulties within the immediate family. These audiometric results were then compared with a control group of 20 otologically normal young adults with no history of long-term noise exposure. After adjusting for age and gender, relative to ISO 7029, the mean hearing threshold in the frequency range of 3 to 8 kHz was 6 dB in the musicians and 1.5 dB in the control group. This difference was statistically significant (Mann-Whitney rank sum test, p rock musicians who had experienced repeated exposure to intense sound levels over at least 5 yr but with minimal impact on their lives. Moreover, hearing loss was minimal in the subjects who always used ear protection, being only 0.9 dB higher than the control group. In contrast, hearing loss was significantly more pronounced, at 6.7 dB higher than the control group, in those musicians who never used ear protection. Continued education about the risk to hearing and the benefits of the persistent use of ear protection is warranted for musicians who are exposed frequently to intense sound levels.

Training of Tonal Similarity Ratings in Non-Musicians: A “Rapid Learning” Approach

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Oechslin, Mathias S.; Läge, Damian; Vitouch, Oliver

2012-01-01

Although cognitive music psychology has a long tradition of expert–novice comparisons, experimental training studies are rare. Studies on the learning progress of trained novices in hearing harmonic relationships are still largely lacking. This paper presents a simple training concept using the example of tone/triad similarity ratings, demonstrating the gradual progress of non-musicians compared to musical experts: In a feedback-based “rapid learning” paradigm, participants had to decide for single tones and chords whether paired sounds matched each other well. Before and after the training sessions, they provided similarity judgments for a complete set of sound pairs. From these similarity matrices, individual relational sound maps, intended to display mental representations, were calculated by means of non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS), and were compared to an expert model through procrustean transformation. Approximately half of the novices showed substantial learning success, with some participants even reaching the level of professional musicians. Results speak for a fundamental ability to quickly train an understanding of harmony, show inter-individual differences in learning success, and demonstrate the suitability of the scaling method used for learning research in music and other domains. Results are discussed in the context of the “giftedness” debate. PMID:22629252

Tinnitus, Anxiety, Depression and Substance Abuse in Rock Musicians a Norwegian Survey.

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Stormer, Carl Christian Lein; Sorlie, Tore; Stenklev, Niels Christian

2017-06-01

Rock musicians are known to have an increased prevalence of hearing loss and tinnitus. The aims of the present study were to examine the distribution of anxiety and depression symptoms among rock musicians with or without tinnitus and how these mental health indicators and internal locus of control influenced upon their tinnitus symptom concerns and the degree to which the tinnitus affected their lives. The study was a questionnairebased cross-sectional survey of subjects selected from a cohort of rock musicians. We recruited 111 active musicians from the Oslo region, and a control group of 40 non-musicians from the student population at the University of Tromso. Among the rock musicians 19.8% reported permanent tinnitus vs. 0% among the controls. Musicians more often reported anxiety symptoms than controls (35.1% vs. 17.5%), however this prevalence was not different in musicians with and without tinnitus. Tinnitus-affected musicians reported depressive symptoms, significantly more than controls (13.6% vs. 5%). Rock musicians consumed more alcohol than controls, but alcohol consumption was unrelated to severity of tinnitus. Drug abuse was not more prevalent in rock musicians than in controls. Duration of tinnitus, internal locus of control, sleep disturbance and anxiety were significant predictors of how affected and how concerned musicians were about their tinnitus. Rock musicians are at risk for the development of chronic tinnitus, and they have an increased prevalence of anxiety. There is an association between chronic tinnitus and depressive symptoms in rock musicians, but our results are ambiguous. Although rock musicians have a chronic exposure to noise, noise-induced hearing loss is not the sole causative agent for the development of tinnitus.

Cognitive control in auditory working memory is enhanced in musicians

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pallesen, Karen Johanne; Brattico, Elvira; Bailey, Christopher J

2010-01-01

focus on task-relevant stimuli, a skill which is crucial to working memory. We measured the blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) activation signal in musicians and non-musicians during working memory of musical sounds to determine the relation among performance, musical competence and generally...... hemisphere, and bilaterally in the posterior dorsal prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate gyrus. The relationship between the task performance and the magnitude of the BOLD response was more positive in musicians than in non-musicians, particularly during the most difficult working memory task....... The results confirm previous findings that neural activity increases during enhanced working memory performance. The results also suggest that superior working memory task performance in musicians rely on an enhanced ability to exert sustained cognitive control. This cognitive benefit in musicians may...

Mental rotation and working memory in musicians' dystonia.

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Erro, Roberto; Hirschbichler, Stephanie T; Ricciardi, Lucia; Ryterska, Agata; Antelmi, Elena; Ganos, Christos; Cordivari, Carla; Tinazzi, Michele; Edwards, Mark J; Bhatia, Kailash P

2016-11-01

Mental rotation of body parts engages cortical-subcortical areas that are actually involved in the execution of a movement. Musicians' dystonia is a type of focal hand dystonia that is grouped together with writer's cramp under the rubric of "occupational dystonia", but it is unclear to which extent these two disorders share common pathophysiological mechanisms. Previous research has demonstrated patients with writer's cramp to have deficits in mental rotation of body parts. It is unknown whether patients with musicians' dystonia would display similar deficits, reinforcing the concept of shared pathophysiology. Eight patients with musicians' dystonia and eight healthy musicians matched for age, gender and musical education, performed a number of tasks assessing mental rotation of body parts and objects as well as verbal and spatial working memories abilities. There were no differences between patients and healthy musicians as to accuracy and reaction times in any of the tasks. Patients with musicians' dystonia have intact abilities in mentally rotating body parts, suggesting that this disorder relies on a highly selective disruption of movement planning and execution that manifests only upon playing a specific instrument. We further demonstrated that mental rotation of body parts and objects engages, at least partially, different cognitive networks. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Auditory and visual memory in musicians and nonmusicians

OpenAIRE

Cohen, Michael A.; Evans, Karla K.; Horowitz, Todd S.; Wolfe, Jeremy M.

2011-01-01

Numerous studies have shown that musicians outperform nonmusicians on a variety of tasks. Here we provide the first evidence that musicians have superior auditory recognition memory for both musical and nonmusical stimuli, compared to nonmusicians. However, this advantage did not generalize to the visual domain. Previously, we showed that auditory recognition memory is inferior to visual recognition memory. Would this be true even for trained musicians? We compared auditory and visual memory ...

Does music training facilitate the mnemonic effect of song? An exploration of musicians and nonmusicians with and without Alzheimer's dementia.

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Baird, Amee; Samson, Séverine; Miller, Laurie; Chalmers, Kerry

2017-02-01

The efficacy of using sung words as a mnemonic device for verbal memory has been documented in persons with probable Alzheimer's dementia (AD), but it is not yet known whether this effect is related to music training. Given that music training can enhance cognitive functioning, we explored the effects of music training and modality (sung vs. spoken) on verbal memory in persons with and without AD. We used a mixed factorial design to compare learning (5 trials), delayed recall (30-min and, 24-hour), and recognition of sung versus spoken information in 22 healthy elderly (15 musicians), and 11 people with AD (5 musicians). Musicians with AD showed better total learning (over 5 trials) of sung information than nonmusicians with AD. There were no significant differences in delayed recall and recognition accuracy (of either modality) between musicians with and without AD, suggesting that music training may facilitate memory function in AD. Analysis of individual performances showed that two of the five musicians with AD were able to recall some information on delayed recall, whereas the nonmusicians with AD recalled no information on delay. The only significant finding in regard to modality (sung vs. spoken) was that total learning was significantly worse for sung than spoken information for nonmusicians with AD. This may be due to the need to recode information presented in song into spoken recall, which may be more cognitively demanding for this group. This is the first study to demonstrate that music training modulates memory of sung and spoken information in AD. The mechanism underlying these results is unclear, but may be due to music training, higher cognitive abilities, or both. Our findings highlight the need for further research into the potentially protective effect of music training on cognitive abilities in our aging population.

Hearing loss and tinnitus in rock musicians: A Norwegian survey

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Carl Christian Lein Størmer

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Our focus in this study was to assess hearing thresholds and the prevalence and characteristics of tinnitus in a large group of rock musicians based in Norway. A further objective was to assess related factors such as exposure, instrument category, and the preventive effect of hearing protection. The study was a cross-sectional survey of rock musicians selected at random from a defined cohort of musicians. A random control group was included for comparison. We recruited 111 active musicians from the Oslo region, and a control group of 40 nonmusicians from the student population at the University of TromsØ. The subjects were investigated using clinical examination, pure tone audiometry, tympanometry, and a questionnaire. We observed a hearing loss in 37.8% of the rock musicians. Significantly poorer hearing thresholds were seen at most pure-tone frequencies in musicians than controls, with the most pronounced threshold shift at 6 kHz. The use of hearing protection, in particular custom-fitted earplugs, has a preventive effect but a minority of rock musicians apply them consistently. The degree of musical performance exposure was inversely related to the degree of hearing loss in our sample. Bass and guitar players had higher hearing thresholds than vocalists. We observed a 20% prevalence of chronic tinnitus but none of the affected musicians had severe tinnitus symptomatology. There was no statistical association between permanent tinnitus and hearing loss in our sample. We observed an increased prevalence of hearing loss and tinnitus in our sample of Norwegian rock musicians but the causal relationship between musical exposure and hearing loss or tinnitus is ambiguous. We recommend the use of hearing protection in rock musicians.

Getting "Capital" in the Music World: Musicians' Learning Experiences and Working Lives

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Coulson, Susan

2010-01-01

This paper discusses an exploration of the working lives of musicians working in a range of musical genres in the North East of England, revealing the factors that contribute to their ability to obtain a musical livelihood. These factors can be understood in terms of various forms of social, cultural and symbolic "capital" (Bourdieu,…

Psychosocial stressors and the short life spans of legendary jazz musicians.

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Patalano, F

2000-04-01

Mean age at death of 168 legendary jazz musicians and 100 renowned classical musicians were compared to examine whether psychosocial stressors such as severe substance abuse, haphazard working conditions, lack of acceptance of jazz as an art form in the United States, marital and family discord, and a vagabond life style may have contributed to shortened life spans for the jazz musicians. Analysis indicated that the jazz musicians died at an earlier age (57.2 yr.) than the classical musicians (73.3 yr.).

[Medical problems of musicians].

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van de Wiel, Albert; Rietveld, Boni

2010-01-01

Most individuals enjoy making music, but pleasure may be diminished by physical complaints. The most common complaints in musicians include injuries of the upper part of the body including the shoulder and spine, skin disorders and hearing problems. Injuries are not so much related to the extent of rehearsing and playing but are mostly the result of a wrong position and misuse of the instrument. Adequate preparation before playing and professional coaching to avoid injuries or to detect problems at an early stage are exceptions rather than the rule. Because of the large number of amateur and professional musicians in the Netherlands, music medicine deserves a more prominent role.

Ethnomusicological biography of the traditional folk musician: Biography of the gusle-player

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Lajić-Mihajlović Danka

2008-01-01

Full Text Available With the development of ethnomusicology from a comparative discipline to an anthropologically oriented science there has been an increase in the significance of the biography of folk musicians as scientific sources. The intention of the anthropological thought to accept and theoretically consider human nature as open and dynamic, has been realized in the ethnomusicological plane through the understanding of music as a product of thinking and behaviour of a particular musician in given circumstances. The concept of an artist is especially complex in the field of oral music culture, where creation and performance are connected in one person and the transferring process involves direct communication. The attempt to overcome the dichotomy of the musicological and sociological, i. e. anthropological attitude in ethnomusicology by synthesizing concepts which involve music, culture and man has brought particular importance to the relations between individual biographies and 'biographies of the collective' - relevant historical ethnological, anthropological, sociological, culturological, religion ideological and other types of data. Observations enlightening the social side of the folk musician's personality make the necessary 'frame' for the biography: from 'objective' social circumstances which modelled it to the opinion of the cultural environment about his performing. The folk musician's biography oriented towards ethnomusicology involves the result of a critical evaluation of the picture based on the emic and ethic vision autobiographical data and the observations of others, primarily researchers. The complexity of a biographical discourse in ethnomusicology can be perfectly seen in the example of the gusle-player's biography, as a genre-determined solo role in the tradition. For studying the relation between a person and a style of music expression, concerning gusle-players it is important to bear in mind the change in the profile of gusle

Symptoms of craniomandibular dysfunction in professional orchestra musicians.

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Steinmetz, A; Zeh, A; Delank, K S; Peroz, I

2014-01-01

Up to 80% of professional musicians are affected by playing-related musculoskeletal disorders, but data regarding the frequency of craniomandibular dysfunction (CMD) in professional orchestra musicians is scarce. To evaluate the frequency of CMD and its relation to musculoskeletal pain in various body regions. A questionnaire-based survey approach assessing CMD symptoms and musculoskeletal pain in professional orchestra players was adopted. Relative prevalence rates and prevalence ratios for different instrument groups were estimated. A total of 408 musicians completed the questionnaire (response rate 57%). Playing-related pain in the teeth or jaw was reported by 19-47% of musicians and TMJ pain by 15-34%, depending on the instrument group. Current pain in the face indicating a painful CMD was reported in 6-10% and related symptoms such as teeth grinding in 25-34%, jaw clenching in 33-42% and jaw locking in 11-18% of musicians. Females were 2.4 times (95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.49-3.84) more likely to report having had orofacial pain within the last month. Musicians reporting orofacial pain within the last month were 4.8 times (95% CI: 2.83-8.02) more likely to report pain in the neck and 2.5-3.8 times (P neck, shoulder and hands. There is a need to enhance awareness of CMD to optimize early medical diagnosis and treatment.

Imagery mismatch negativity in musicians.

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Herholz, Sibylle C; Lappe, Claudia; Knief, Arne; Pantev, Christo

2009-07-01

The present study investigated musical imagery in musicians and nonmusicians by means of magnetoencephalography (MEG). We used a new paradigm in which subjects had to continue familiar melodies in their mind and then judged if a further presented tone was a correct continuation of the melody. Incorrect tones elicited an imagery mismatch negativity (iMMN) in musicians but not in nonmusicians. This finding suggests that the MMN component can be based on an imagined instead of a sensory memory trace and that imagery of music is modulated by musical expertise.

Connectivity patterns during music listening: Evidence for action-based processing in musicians.

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Alluri, Vinoo; Toiviainen, Petri; Burunat, Iballa; Kliuchko, Marina; Vuust, Peter; Brattico, Elvira

2017-06-01

Musical expertise is visible both in the morphology and functionality of the brain. Recent research indicates that functional integration between multi-sensory, somato-motor, default-mode (DMN), and salience (SN) networks of the brain differentiates musicians from non-musicians during resting state. Here, we aimed at determining whether brain networks differentially exchange information in musicians as opposed to non-musicians during naturalistic music listening. Whole-brain graph-theory analyses were performed on participants' fMRI responses. Group-level differences revealed that musicians' primary hubs comprised cerebral and cerebellar sensorimotor regions whereas non-musicians' dominant hubs encompassed DMN-related regions. Community structure analyses of the key hubs revealed greater integration of motor and somatosensory homunculi representing the upper limbs and torso in musicians. Furthermore, musicians who started training at an earlier age exhibited greater centrality in the auditory cortex, and areas related to top-down processes, attention, emotion, somatosensory processing, and non-verbal processing of speech. We here reveal how brain networks organize themselves in a naturalistic music listening situation wherein musicians automatically engage neural networks that are action-based while non-musicians use those that are perception-based to process an incoming auditory stream. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2955-2970, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Towards an Active Hearing Protection Device for Musicians =

Science.gov (United States)

Bernier, Antoine

Professional musicians are oftentimes exposed to high levels of sound. Prolonged or severe exposure to high sound levels could lead to permanent hearing loss and compromise their career. The logical solution would be to wear hearing protection devices (HPDs) when appropriate. However, perceptual discomfort associated with wearing HPD can discourage their use by musicians. The perceptual discomfort is caused by two detrimental effects: the occlusion effect and the isolation effect. The occlusion effect is often reported as an augmented, unnatural and annoying perception of one's own voice or instrument mechanically coupled to the head when wearing HPDs. The isolation effect is the unnatural sensation of being isolated from a given sound environment and can be caused by wearing HPDs that do not compensate for psychoacoustical factors and therefore alter the wearer's auditory perception. Both effects are highly unfavorable to the musicians' auditory perception and compromise their capacity to perform to the best of their abilities for their audience. They are among the reasons most often reported by musicians to decide not to wear HPDs. This master's project presents the concept and first prototype of an active HPD for musicians that aims at solving the detrimental effects while protecting the musician's hearing. A solution for the occlusion effect is presented in the form of an earplug complemented with in-ear active noise control. Practical design issues and required trade-off are analyzed through a literature review and the implementation and characterization of an active occlusion effect reduction system, allowing reduction of the occlusion effect between 8.5 and 12 dB at 250 Hz. A solution for the isolation effect is presented in the form of an earplug complemented with digital signal processing capabilities. Factors that may cause the isolation effect are identified through a literature review and corresponding algorithms that aim at re-establishing the

Modulated neural processing of Western harmony in folk musicians.

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Brattico, Elvira; Tupala, Tiina; Glerean, Enrico; Tervaniemi, Mari

2013-07-01

A chord deviating from the conventions of Western tonal music elicits an early right anterior negativity (ERAN) in inferofrontal brain regions. Here, we tested whether the ERAN is modulated by expertise in more than one music culture, as typical of folk musicians. Finnish folk musicians and nonmusicians participated in electroencephalography recordings. The cadences consisted of seven chords. In incongruous cadences, the third, fifth, or seventh chord was a Neapolitan. The ERAN to the Neapolitans was enhanced in folk musicians compared to nonmusicians. Folk musicians showed an enhanced P3a for the ending Neapolitan. The Neapolitan at the fifth position was perceived differently and elicited a late enhanced ERAN in folk musicians. Hence, expertise in more than one music culture seems to modify chord processing by enhancing the ERAN to ambivalent chords and the P3a to incongruous chords, and by altering their perceptual attributes. Copyright © 2013 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Behavioral and neural correlates of executive functioning in musicians and non-musicians.

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Jennifer Zuk

Full Text Available Executive functions (EF are cognitive capacities that allow for planned, controlled behavior and strongly correlate with academic abilities. Several extracurricular activities have been shown to improve EF, however, the relationship between musical training and EF remains unclear due to methodological limitations in previous studies. To explore this further, two experiments were performed; one with 30 adults with and without musical training and one with 27 musically trained and untrained children (matched for general cognitive abilities and socioeconomic variables with a standardized EF battery. Furthermore, the neural correlates of EF skills in musically trained and untrained children were investigated using fMRI. Adult musicians compared to non-musicians showed enhanced performance on measures of cognitive flexibility, working memory, and verbal fluency. Musically trained children showed enhanced performance on measures of verbal fluency and processing speed, and significantly greater activation in pre-SMA/SMA and right VLPFC during rule representation and task-switching compared to musically untrained children. Overall, musicians show enhanced performance on several constructs of EF, and musically trained children further show heightened brain activation in traditional EF regions during task-switching. These results support the working hypothesis that musical training may promote the development and maintenance of certain EF skills, which could mediate the previously reported links between musical training and enhanced cognitive skills and academic achievement.

The Commodification of Music Theorising Musicians

OpenAIRE

Bradshaw, Alan

2005-01-01

This thesis considers the dialectical relationship between music and commerce and asks the question why are some musicians uneasy with the commodification of their music? The question is considered from the vantage points of professional musicians and their experiences in dealing with the commodification process. In exploring this dialectic, the thesis is organised around the interactionist orientation and a framework designed by Holt (2004) in which the research design and question emerges f...

Jazz musicians reveal role of expectancy in human creativity.

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Przysinda, Emily; Zeng, Tima; Maves, Kellyn; Arkin, Cameron; Loui, Psyche

2017-12-01

Creativity has been defined as the ability to produce work that is novel, high in quality, and appropriate to an audience. While the nature of the creative process is under debate, many believe that creativity relies on real-time combinations of known neural and cognitive processes. One useful model of creativity comes from musical improvisation, such as in jazz, in which musicians spontaneously create novel sound sequences. Here we use jazz musicians to test the hypothesis that individuals with training in musical improvisation, which entails creative generation of musical ideas, might process expectancy differently. We compare jazz improvisers, non-improvising musicians, and non-musicians in the domain-general task of divergent thinking, as well as the musical task of preference ratings for chord progressions that vary in expectation while EEGs were recorded. Behavioral results showed for the first time that jazz musicians preferred unexpected chord progressions. ERP results showed that unexpected stimuli elicited larger early and mid-latency ERP responses (ERAN and P3b), followed by smaller long-latency responses (Late Positivity Potential) in jazz musicians. The amplitudes of these ERP components were significantly correlated with behavioral measures of fluency and originality on the divergent thinking task. Together, results highlight the role of expectancy in creativity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Is 27 really a dangerous age for famous musicians? Retrospective cohort study.

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Wolkewitz, Martin; Allignol, Arthur; Graves, Nicholas; Barnett, Adrian G

2011-12-20

To test the "27 club" hypothesis that famous musicians are at an increased risk of death at age 27. Design Cohort study using survival analysis with age as a time dependent exposure. Comparison was primarily made within musicians, and secondarily relative to the general UK population. The popular music scene from a UK perspective. Musicians (solo artists and band members) who had a number one album in the UK between 1956 and 2007 (n = 1046 musicians, with 71 deaths, 7%). Risk of death by age of musician, accounting for time dependent study entry and the number of musicians at risk. Risk was estimated using a flexible spline which would allow a bump at age 27 to appear. We identified three deaths at age 27 amongst 522 musicians at risk, giving a rate of 0.57 deaths per 100 musician years. Similar death rates were observed at ages 25 (rate = 0.56) and 32 (0.54). There was no peak in risk around age 27, but the risk of death for famous musicians throughout their 20s and 30s was two to three times higher than the general UK population. The 27 club is unlikely to be a real phenomenon. Fame may increase the risk of death among musicians, but this risk is not limited to age 27.

Reluctant entrepreneurs: musicians and entrepreneurship in the 'new' music industry.

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Haynes, Jo; Marshall, Lee

2018-06-01

Changing labour conditions in the creative industries - with celebrations of autonomy and entrepreneurialism intertwined with increasing job insecurity, portfolio careers and short-term, project-based contracts - are often interpreted as heralding changes to employment relations more broadly. The position of musicians' labour in relation to these changes is unclear, however, given that these kinds of conditions have defined musicians' working practices over much longer periods of time (though they may have intensified due to well-documented changes to the music industry brought about by digitization and disintermediation). Musicians may thus be something of a barometer of current trends, as implied in the way that the musically derived label 'gig economy' is being used to describe the spread of precarious working conditions to broader sections of the population. This article, drawing on original qualitative research that investigated the working practices of musicians, explores one specific aspect of these conditions: whether musicians are self-consciously entrepreneurial towards their work and audience. We found that, while the musicians in our study are routinely involved in activities that could be construed as entrepreneurial, generally they were reluctant to label themselves as entrepreneurs. In part this reflected understandings of entrepreneurialism as driven by profit-seeking but it also reflected awareness that being a popular musician has always involved business and commercial dimensions. Drawing on theoretical conceptions of entrepreneurship developed by Joseph Schumpeter we highlight how the figure of the entrepreneur and the artist/musician share much in common and reflect various aspects of romantic individualism. Despite this, there are also some notable differences and we conclude that framing musicians' labour as entrepreneurial misrepresents their activities through an overemphasis on the economic dimensions of their work at the expense of the

Spatial vision is superior in musicians when memory plays a role.

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Weiss, Atalia H; Biron, Tali; Lieder, Itay; Granot, Roni Y; Ahissar, Merav

2014-08-21

Musicians' perceptual advantage in the acoustic domain is well established. Recent studies show that musicians' verbal working memory is also superior. Additionally, some studies report that musicians' visuospatial skills are enhanced although others failed to find this enhancement. We now examined whether musicians' spatial vision is superior, and if so, whether this superiority reflects refined visual skills or a general superiority of working memory. We examined spatial frequency discrimination among musicians and nonmusician university students using two presentation conditions: simultaneous (spatial forced choice) and sequential (temporal forced choice). Musicians' performance was similar to that of nonmusicians in the simultaneous condition. However, their performance in the sequential condition was superior, suggesting an advantage only when stimuli need to be retained, i.e., working memory. Moreover, the two groups showed a different pattern of correlations: Musicians' visual thresholds were correlated, and neither was correlated with their verbal memory. By contrast, among nonmusicians, the visual thresholds were not correlated, but sequential thresholds were correlated with verbal memory scores, suggesting that a general working memory component limits their performance in this condition. We propose that musicians' superiority in spatial frequency discrimination reflects an advantage in a domain-general aspect of working memory rather than a general enhancement in spatial-visual skills. © 2014 ARVO.

Investigation of symphony orchestra musicians' use of hearing protectors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poulsen, Torben; Koskinen, Heli

2010-01-01

A questionnaire study was performed about the use of hearing protectors in Danish symphony orchestras. The musicians in three Danish symphony orchestras were asked to complete a questionnaire about their use of hearing protection. A total of 146 musicians filled in the questionnaire. Results show...... an investigation is performed about the use of hearing aids as hearing protectors by symphony orchestra musicians. Preliminary results from this investigation will be presented at the conference....

Auditory and visual memory in musicians and nonmusicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Michael A; Evans, Karla K; Horowitz, Todd S; Wolfe, Jeremy M

2011-06-01

Numerous studies have shown that musicians outperform nonmusicians on a variety of tasks. Here we provide the first evidence that musicians have superior auditory recognition memory for both musical and nonmusical stimuli, compared to nonmusicians. However, this advantage did not generalize to the visual domain. Previously, we showed that auditory recognition memory is inferior to visual recognition memory. Would this be true even for trained musicians? We compared auditory and visual memory in musicians and nonmusicians using familiar music, spoken English, and visual objects. For both groups, memory for the auditory stimuli was inferior to memory for the visual objects. Thus, although considerable musical training is associated with better musical and nonmusical auditory memory, it does not increase the ability to remember sounds to the levels found with visual stimuli. This suggests a fundamental capacity difference between auditory and visual recognition memory, with a persistent advantage for the visual domain.

Verbal memory retrieval engages visual cortex in musicians.

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Huang, Z; Zhang, J X; Yang, Z; Dong, G; Wu, J; Chan, A S; Weng, X

2010-06-16

As one major line of research on brain plasticity, many imaging studies have been conducted to identify the functional and structural reorganization associated with musical expertise. Based on previous behavioral research, the present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify the neural correlates of superior verbal memory performance in musicians. Participants with and without musical training performed a verbal memory task to first encode a list of words auditorily delivered and then silently recall as many words as possible. They performed in separate blocks a control task involving pure tone pitch judgment. Post-scan recognition test showed better memory performance in musicians than non-musicians. During memory retrieval, the musicians showed significantly greater activations in bilateral though left-lateralized visual cortex relative to the pitch judgment baseline. In comparison, no such visual cortical activations were found in the non-musicians. No group differences were observed during the encoding stage. The results echo a previous report of visual cortical activation during verbal memory retrieval in the absence of any visual sensory stimulation in the blind population, who are also known to possess superior verbal memory. It is suggested that the visual cortex can be recruited to serve as extra memory resources and contributes to the superior verbal memory in special situations. While in the blind population, such cross-modal functional reorganization may be induced by sensory deprivation; in the musicians it may be induced by the long-term and demanding nature of musical training to use as much available neural resources as possible. 2010 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Making Mavericks: Preparing Musicians for Independent Artistic Culture

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Canham, Nicole L.

2016-01-01

This essay explores the role that maverick qualities--"independent or unorthodox behaviour" ("The Oxford Dictionary," 2015)--play in developing and sustaining musician employability. Whilst career education for musicians often highlights new career models (Bridgstock, 2005), there is limited evidence of how these concepts work…

Music and its Impact on Musicians in Broadcasting Company

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mina Milani

1999-03-01

Full Text Available Sound is an inseparable part of human life and provides us with lovely experiences such as listening to music. Musicians from classical orchestras to rock groups are exposed to high decibel of sounds. Musicians playing percussion musical instruments are exposed to high level of impact noise and players of Brass musical instruments are highly exposed to noise peaks higher than 100dB. Woodwind players are enduring the risk of posing directly in front of Brass players. Based on the above-mentioned risks for hearing loss clinical consideration of noise induced hearing loss in musicians is highly required. In the current study we were aimed at examining hearing stratus of classic and traditional musicians by means of pure tone audiometry in Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. 33 subjects were evaluated aged between 22 to 59 years old. Their musical experience was variable between 6 to 45 years. The study demonstrated that most of the musicians in this study suffered bilateral high frequency hearing loss with a notch in the frequency range of 4-8 KHz.

MythBusters, Musicians, and MP3 Players: A Middle School Sound Study

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Putney, Ann

2011-01-01

Create your own speakers for an MP3 player while exploring the science of sound. Review of science notebooks, students' intriguing cabinet designs, and listening to students talk with a musician about the physics of an instrument show that complex concepts are being absorbed and extended with each new iteration. Science that matters to students…

159 THE ROLE OF MUSIC AND MUSICIANS IN PROMOTING ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

User

instability, musicians and music have a holistic role to play. And this is ... musicians useful, so that the child grows up a responsible ... endearing messages of body movements… ... In a similar development, he encouraged people never to be.

Auditory temporal processing skills in musicians with dyslexia.

Science.gov (United States)

Bishop-Liebler, Paula; Welch, Graham; Huss, Martina; Thomson, Jennifer M; Goswami, Usha

2014-08-01

The core cognitive difficulty in developmental dyslexia involves phonological processing, but adults and children with dyslexia also have sensory impairments. Impairments in basic auditory processing show particular links with phonological impairments, and recent studies with dyslexic children across languages reveal a relationship between auditory temporal processing and sensitivity to rhythmic timing and speech rhythm. As rhythm is explicit in music, musical training might have a beneficial effect on the auditory perception of acoustic cues to rhythm in dyslexia. Here we took advantage of the presence of musicians with and without dyslexia in musical conservatoires, comparing their auditory temporal processing abilities with those of dyslexic non-musicians matched for cognitive ability. Musicians with dyslexia showed equivalent auditory sensitivity to musicians without dyslexia and also showed equivalent rhythm perception. The data support the view that extensive rhythmic experience initiated during childhood (here in the form of music training) can affect basic auditory processing skills which are found to be deficient in individuals with dyslexia. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

What Happens When the Musicians Leave? Case Study of a Jessie’s Fund Project to Develop Teachers’ Skills and Confidence

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Tom Northey

2013-07-01

Full Text Available This article describes a project delivered by Jessie’s Fund, a UK charity which supports children through music therapy and creative music work. The project took place between January and July 2012 and involved staff and pupils from a special school in the north of England. The article describes briefly how music is delivered in special schools across the UK and explains some of the challenges Jessie’s Fund has faced in having a lasting impact on how schools cover the music curriculum for children with complex needs. In 2012 Jessie’s Fund partnered with a special school in the north of England to design a new approach which focused intensively on the development needs of staff. Jessie’s Fund musicians visited pairs of staff over a period of six months to build their skills and confidence in leading music sessions with their pupils. The project was considerably more effective than some previous ‘musician-led’ activities and had a significant, whole-school impact. This article describes the work that took place, the responses from the staff involved and how Jessie’s Fund intends to use this learning for future projects.

What Classical Musicians Can Learn from Working with Actors: Conceptual and Pedagogic Foundations and Outcomes of Bringing Musicians to Integrate in a Drama Training Environment

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Rea, Ken

2015-01-01

Effective teaching in a music conservatoire needs a continual quest to find new and better ways of delivering excellence. The challenge is to keep the work innovative. In this article I argue that, for a classical musician the communication of personality is a vital component of excellence in performance and I give reasons why an authentic,…

The lived experience of working as a musician with an injury.

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Guptill, Christine

2011-01-01

Research and clinical experience have shown that musicians are at risk of acquiring playing-related injuries. This paper explores findings from a qualitative research study examining the lived experience of professional instrumental musicians with playing-related injuries, which has thus far been missing from the performing arts health literature. This study employed a phenomenological methodology influenced by van Manen to examine the lived experiences of professional musicians with playing-related injuries. Ten professional musicians in Ontario, Canada were interviewed about their experiences as musicians with playing-related injuries. Six of the participants later attended a focus group where preliminary findings were presented. The findings demonstrate a need for education about risk and prevention of injuries that could be satisfied by healthcare professionals and music educators. The practice and training of healthcare professionals should include the "tactful" (van Manen) delivery of care for this important and vulnerable population.

The sound of music: differentiating musicians using a fast, musical multi-feature mismatch negativity paradigm.

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Vuust, Peter; Brattico, Elvira; Seppänen, Miia; Näätänen, Risto; Tervaniemi, Mari

2012-06-01

Musicians' skills in auditory processing depend highly on instrument, performance practice, and on level of expertise. Yet, it is not known though whether the style/genre of music might shape auditory processing in the brains of musicians. Here, we aimed at tackling the role of musical style/genre on modulating neural and behavioral responses to changes in musical features. Using a novel, fast and musical sounding multi-feature paradigm, we measured the mismatch negativity (MMN), a pre-attentive brain response, to six types of musical feature change in musicians playing three distinct styles of music (classical, jazz, rock/pop) and in non-musicians. Jazz and classical musicians scored higher in the musical aptitude test than band musicians and non-musicians, especially with regards to tonal abilities. These results were extended by the MMN findings: jazz musicians had larger MMN-amplitude than all other experimental groups across the six different sound features, indicating a greater overall sensitivity to auditory outliers. In particular, we found enhanced processing of pith and sliding up to pitches in jazz musicians only. Furthermore, we observed a more frontal MMN to pitch and location compared to the other deviants in jazz musicians and left lateralization of the MMN to timbre in classical musicians. These findings indicate that the characteristics of the style/genre of music played by musicians influence their perceptual skills and the brain processing of sound features embedded in a musical context. Musicians' brain is hence shaped by the type of training, musical style/genre, and listening experiences. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rhythm synchronization performance and auditory working memory in early- and late-trained musicians.

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Bailey, Jennifer A; Penhune, Virginia B

2010-07-01

Behavioural and neuroimaging studies provide evidence for a possible "sensitive" period in childhood development during which musical training results in long-lasting changes in brain structure and auditory and motor performance. Previous work from our laboratory has shown that adult musicians who begin training before the age of 7 (early-trained; ET) perform better on a visuomotor task than those who begin after the age of 7 (late-trained; LT), even when matched on total years of musical training and experience. Two questions were raised regarding the findings from this experiment. First, would this group performance difference be observed using a more familiar, musically relevant task such as auditory rhythms? Second, would cognitive abilities mediate this difference in task performance? To address these questions, ET and LT musicians, matched on years of musical training, hours of current practice and experience, were tested on an auditory rhythm synchronization task. The task consisted of six woodblock rhythms of varying levels of metrical complexity. In addition, participants were tested on cognitive subtests measuring vocabulary, working memory and pattern recognition. The two groups of musicians differed in their performance of the rhythm task, such that the ET musicians were better at reproducing the temporal structure of the rhythms. There were no group differences on the cognitive measures. Interestingly, across both groups, individual task performance correlated with auditory working memory abilities and years of formal training. These results support the idea of a sensitive period during the early years of childhood for developing sensorimotor synchronization abilities via musical training.

Individual, lifestyle, and psychosocial factors related to insomnia among Norwegian musicians

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Saksvik-Lehouillier, Ingvild; Bjerkeset, Ottar; Vaag, Jonas

2017-01-01

Musicians report a considerably higher prevalence of insomnia symptoms compared to community samples in the general workforce. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between insomnia and health, work-related, and lifestyle factors among musicians. A total of 645 full-time musicians completed a questionnaire measuring insomnia symptoms: personality, psychosocial factors (perceived job demands, job control, effort-reward imbalance, and general social support), and lifestyle (s...

Accurate guitar tuning by cochlear implant musicians.

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Thomas Lu

Full Text Available Modern cochlear implant (CI users understand speech but find difficulty in music appreciation due to poor pitch perception. Still, some deaf musicians continue to perform with their CI. Here we show unexpected results that CI musicians can reliably tune a guitar by CI alone and, under controlled conditions, match simultaneously presented tones to <0.5 Hz. One subject had normal contralateral hearing and produced more accurate tuning with CI than his normal ear. To understand these counterintuitive findings, we presented tones sequentially and found that tuning error was larger at ∼ 30 Hz for both subjects. A third subject, a non-musician CI user with normal contralateral hearing, showed similar trends in performance between CI and normal hearing ears but with less precision. This difference, along with electric analysis, showed that accurate tuning was achieved by listening to beats rather than discriminating pitch, effectively turning a spectral task into a temporal discrimination task.

Pain among professional orchestral musicians: a case study in body culture and health psychology.

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Nygaard Andersen, Lotte; Roessler, Kirsten K; Eichberg, Henning

2013-09-01

Professional musicians experience high rates of musculoskeletal pain, but only few studies have investigated how this pain is accepted by musicians. To investigate the culture of pain and to explore how professional musicians experience and cope with pain. Ten semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted; 8 with musicians and 2 with professional elite athletes. In addition, a concert and two rehearsals were observed. The audiotaped interviews were transcribed verbatim. Configurational analysis was used to interpret the material as a whole. Musicians often experience pain as a consequence of prolonged repetitive work early in their career. Such pain is compounded by the lack of breaks during concerts and rehearsals. Orchestras seldom give opportunities for adjustments required for individual instruments, breaks, or action to prevent pain. Musicians' strong sense of coherence and the experience of pain as integral to their identity have encouraged musicians to develop flexible coping strategies. Ignoring pain and potential damage is an accepted concomitant to striving for perfection. A musician does not focus on pain but on the music. For the musician, pain has a significance beyond being something that can simply be removed by a practitioner. Pain tells both an individual story and a cultural story that is crying out to be heard.

Musicians have better memory than nonmusicians: A meta-analysis.

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Talamini, Francesca; Altoè, Gianmarco; Carretti, Barbara; Grassi, Massimo

2017-01-01

Several studies have found that musicians perform better than nonmusicians in memory tasks, but this is not always the case, and the strength of this apparent advantage is unknown. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis with the aim of clarifying whether musicians perform better than nonmusicians in memory tasks. Education Source; PEP (WEB)-Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing; Psychology and Behavioral Science (EBSCO); PsycINFO (Ovid); PubMed; ScienceDirect-AllBooks Content (Elsevier API); SCOPUS (Elsevier API); SocINDEX with Full Text (EBSCO) and Google Scholar were searched for eligible studies. The selected studies involved two groups of participants: young adult musicians and nonmusicians. All the studies included memory tasks (loading long-term, short-term or working memory) that contained tonal, verbal or visuospatial stimuli. Three meta-analyses were run separately for long-term memory, short-term memory and working memory. We collected 29 studies, including 53 memory tasks. The results showed that musicians performed better than nonmusicians in terms of long-term memory, g = .29, 95% CI (.08-.51), short-term memory, g = .57, 95% CI (.41-.73), and working memory, g = .56, 95% CI (.33-.80). To further explore the data, we included a moderator (the type of stimulus presented, i.e., tonal, verbal or visuospatial), which was found to influence the effect size for short-term and working memory, but not for long-term memory. In terms of short-term and working memory, the musicians' advantage was large with tonal stimuli, moderate with verbal stimuli, and small or null with visuospatial stimuli. The three meta-analyses revealed a small effect size for long-term memory, and a medium effect size for short-term and working memory, suggesting that musicians perform better than nonmusicians in memory tasks. Moreover, the effect of the moderator suggested that, the type of stimuli influences this advantage.

Visual Complaints and Eye Problems in Orchestral Musicians.

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Beckers, Henny Jm; van Kooten-Noordzij, Marina Aw; de Crom, Ronald Mpc; Schouten, Jan Sag; Webers, Carroll Ab

2016-09-01

To study visual complaints and eye diseases among professional and amateur orchestral musicians in the Netherlands. In this observational study, members from professional and amateur symphony or wind orchestras were asked to complete a questionnaire collecting demographic data, musical, medical, and family history, and data on present visual complaints and/or eye diseases. Questions about playing in the orchestra were also asked. Data from 70 professionals and 48 amateurs showed that most musicians needed glasses or contact lenses for playing in the orchestra (61% of the professionals, 63% of the amateurs). A majority (66% of professionals, 71% of amateurs) had visited an ophthalmologist at least once during their lifetime, and 10% of the professionals and 23% of the amateurs were currently under treatment of an ophthalmologist. Visual complaints while playing in the orchestra were quite common and included poor lighting conditions, problems with reading small notes, blurred vision, tired eyes, and itching or burning eyes. Professional musicians especially reported adverse effects of eye complaints encountered in the orchestra for daily life; 35% got tired earlier and 33% felt that they could not adequately perform their tasks in the orchestra. The results show that visual complaints and eye problems probably are quite common among orchestral musicians and therefore warrant further interest and research.

[Focal dystonia in musicians: Phenomenology and musical triggering factors].

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Aránguiz, R; Chana-Cuevas, P; Alburquerque, D; Curinao, X

2015-06-01

Dystonias are defined as a joint sustained and involuntary contraction of agonist and antagonist muscles, which can cause torsion, repetitive abnormal involuntary movements, and/or abnormal postures. One special group of dystonias are those known as occupational, which include dystonia disorders triggered by a repetitive motor activity associated with a specific professional activity or task. Musicians are a population particularly vulnerable to these types of dystonia, which are presented as a loss of coordination and voluntary motor control movements highly trained in musical interpretation. Our aim is to describe a clinical series of focal dystonias in musicians evaluated and treated in our centre. Data is presented on a clinical series of 12 musicians with occupational dystonia. Their history and phenomenology are described, as well as well as their outcome after therapy. Demographic details: Mean age 34.8 ± 11.8 years, 10 males (83.3%) and 2 females (16.7%). History of trauma in dystonic segment, 6 patients (50%); family history of neurological diseases in first-degree relatives, 6 patients (50%); occupational history according to music category, 8 patients (66.6%) were classical musicians and 4 patients (33.3%) were popular musicians. The dystonia syndrome was characterised by having a mean age of onset of 28.2 ± 11.3 years (range 18-57 years). The segment affected was the hand (91.7%) in 11 patients. Of all the musicians seen in the clinic, 9 of them (75%) received therapy. The majority of patients appeared to have triggering factors specific to musical execution and linked to the requirement of fine motor control. It should be mentioned that 50% of the musicians treated maintained their professional activity or position in the orchestra to which they belonged. The majority of our phenomenological findings are consistent with those reported in the current literature. However, it is worth mentioning the presence of triggering factors attributed to the

Yoga reduces performance anxiety in adolescent musicians.

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Khalsa, Sat Bir S; Butzer, Bethany; Shorter, Stephanie M; Reinhardt, Kristen M; Cope, Stephen

2013-01-01

Professional musicians often experience high levels of stress, music performance anxiety (MPA), and performance-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs). Given the fact that most professional musicians begin their musical training before the age of 12, it is important to identify interventions that will address these issues from an early age. This study intended to replicate and expand upon adult research in this area by evaluating the effects of a yoga intervention on MPA and PRMDs in a population of adolescent musicians. The present study was the first to examine these effects. The research team assigned participants, adolescent musicians, into two groups. The intervention group (n = 84) took part in a 6-wk yoga program, and the control group (n = 51) received no treatment. The team evaluated the effects of the yoga intervention by comparing the scores of the intervention group to those of the control group on a number of questionnaires related to MPA and PRMDs. The study was conducted at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI). BUTI is a training academy for advanced adolescent musicians, located in Lenox, Massachusetts. Participants were adolescent, residential music students (mean age = 16 y) in a 6-wk summer program at the BUTI in 2007 and 2008. Participants in the yoga intervention group were requested to attend three, 60-min, Kripalustyle yoga classes each wk for 6 wk. MPA was measured using the Performance Anxiety Questionnaire (PAQ) and the Music Performance Anxiety Inventory for Adolescents (MPAI-A). PRMDs were measured using the Performance-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders Questionnaire (PRMD-Q). RESULTS • Yoga participants showed statistically significant reductions in MPA from baseline to the end of the program compared to the control group, as measured by several subscales of the PAQ and MPAI-A; however, the results for PRMDs were inconsistent. The findings suggest that yoga may be a promising way for adolescents to reduce MPA and

Basic timing abilities stay intact in patients with musician's dystonia.

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M C van der Steen

Full Text Available Task-specific focal dystonia is a movement disorder that is characterized by the loss of voluntary motor control in extensively trained movements. Musician's dystonia is a type of task-specific dystonia that is elicited in professional musicians during instrumental playing. The disorder has been associated with deficits in timing. In order to test the hypothesis that basic timing abilities are affected by musician's dystonia, we investigated a group of patients (N = 15 and a matched control group (N = 15 on a battery of sensory and sensorimotor synchronization tasks. Results did not show any deficits in auditory-motor processing for patients relative to controls. Both groups benefited from a pacing sequence that adapted to their timing (in a sensorimotor synchronization task at a stable tempo. In a purely perceptual task, both groups were able to detect a misaligned metronome when it was late rather than early relative to a musical beat. Overall, the results suggest that basic timing abilities stay intact in patients with musician's dystonia. This supports the idea that musician's dystonia is a highly task-specific movement disorder in which patients are mostly impaired in tasks closely related to the demands of actually playing their instrument.

Basic Timing Abilities Stay Intact in Patients with Musician's Dystonia

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van der Steen, M. C.; van Vugt, Floris T.; Keller, Peter E.; Altenmüller, Eckart

2014-01-01

Task-specific focal dystonia is a movement disorder that is characterized by the loss of voluntary motor control in extensively trained movements. Musician's dystonia is a type of task-specific dystonia that is elicited in professional musicians during instrumental playing. The disorder has been associated with deficits in timing. In order to test the hypothesis that basic timing abilities are affected by musician's dystonia, we investigated a group of patients (N = 15) and a matched control group (N = 15) on a battery of sensory and sensorimotor synchronization tasks. Results did not show any deficits in auditory-motor processing for patients relative to controls. Both groups benefited from a pacing sequence that adapted to their timing (in a sensorimotor synchronization task at a stable tempo). In a purely perceptual task, both groups were able to detect a misaligned metronome when it was late rather than early relative to a musical beat. Overall, the results suggest that basic timing abilities stay intact in patients with musician's dystonia. This supports the idea that musician's dystonia is a highly task-specific movement disorder in which patients are mostly impaired in tasks closely related to the demands of actually playing their instrument. PMID:24667273

Music performance anxiety in young musicians: comparison of playing classical or popular music.

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Nusseck, Manfred; Zander, Mark; Spahn, Claudia

2015-03-01

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is an issue frequently experienced by musicians. It occurs not only in experienced musicians but also in children and adolescents. Furthermore, most research on MPA has been done with musicians who specialized in classical music. This study investigated the development of MPA across the ages in young musicians focusing on the classical and popular genres. In a cross-sectional survey, 239 students at German music schools, aged between 7 and 20 yrs, were asked about their perceived MPA and musical background. The data were analyzed according to musical genre and age. Multiple regression analyses were performed to investigate the influences of musical experiences on MPA. The analyses yielded high levels of MPA for classical musicians between 7 and 16 yrs, which was reduced in older students; for popular musicians, low MPA was seen in the younger (7-11 yrs) and high MPA in the older (16+ yrs) musicians. MPA was influenced by gender and the number of performances in the classical music group and only by gender and age in the popular music group. The results showed clear different trends for the development of MPA between musical genres that should be taken into account for educational aspects in musical training.

Auditory Profiles of Classical, Jazz, and Rock Musicians: Genre-Specific Sensitivity to Musical Sound Features.

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Tervaniemi, Mari; Janhunen, Lauri; Kruck, Stefanie; Putkinen, Vesa; Huotilainen, Minna

2015-01-01

When compared with individuals without explicit training in music, adult musicians have facilitated neural functions in several modalities. They also display structural changes in various brain areas, these changes corresponding to the intensity and duration of their musical training. Previous studies have focused on investigating musicians with training in Western classical music. However, musicians involved in different musical genres may display highly differentiated auditory profiles according to the demands set by their genre, i.e., varying importance of different musical sound features. This hypothesis was tested in a novel melody paradigm including deviants in tuning, timbre, rhythm, melody transpositions, and melody contour. Using this paradigm while the participants were watching a silent video and instructed to ignore the sounds, we compared classical, jazz, and rock musicians' and non-musicians' accuracy of neural encoding of the melody. In all groups of participants, all deviants elicited an MMN response, which is a cortical index of deviance discrimination. The strength of the MMN and the subsequent attentional P3a responses reflected the importance of various sound features in each music genre: these automatic brain responses were selectively enhanced to deviants in tuning (classical musicians), timing (classical and jazz musicians), transposition (jazz musicians), and melody contour (jazz and rock musicians). Taken together, these results indicate that musicians with different training history have highly specialized cortical reactivity to sounds which violate the neural template for melody content.

Sound Practice– Improving occupational health and safety for professional orchestral musicians in Australia

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Bronwen Jane Ackermann

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The Sound Practice Project is a five-year study involving baseline evaluation, development and implementation of musician-specific work health and safety initiatives. A cross-sectional population physical and psychological survey and physical assessment were conducted at the same time, with an auditory health assessment conducted later. The results were used to guide the development of a series of targeted interventions, encompassing physical, psychological and auditory health components. This paper provides an overview of the project but focuses on the health findings arising from the cross-sectional survey.377 musicians from the eight professional symphony orchestras in Australia took part in the cross-sectional study (about 70% of eligible musicians. Eighty-four percent (84% of musicians reported past performance-related musculoskeletal disorder (PRMD episodes; 50% were suffering a current PRMD. Of the 63% who returned hearing surveys, 43% believed they had hearing loss, and 64% used earplugs at least intermittently. Noise exposure was found to be high in private practice, although awareness of risk and earplug use in this environment was lower than in orchestral settings. Improved strategic approaches, acoustic screens and recently developed active earplugs were found to provide effective new options for hearing protection. With respect to psychosocial screening, female musicians reported significantly more trait anxiety, music performance anxiety, social anxiety, and other forms of anxiety and depression than male musicians. The youngest musicians were significantly more anxious compared with the oldest musicians. Thirty-three percent (33% of musicians may meet criteria for a diagnosis of social phobia; 32% returned a positive depression screen and 22% for post-traumatic stress disorder. PRMDs and trigger point discomfort levels were strongly associated with increasing severity of psychological issues such as depression and music

Neurosyphilis in Anglo-American Composers and Jazz Musicians.

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Breitenfeld, Darko; Kust, Davor; Breitenfeld, Tomislav; Prpić, Marin; Lucijanić, Marko; Zibar, Davor; Hostić, Vedran; Franceschi, Maja; Bolanča, Ante

2017-09-01

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted, systemic disease caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum. The most common mechanism of transmission is sexual intercourse. Although there are several hypotheses, the exact origin of the disease remains unknown. Newly published evidence suggests that the hypothesis supporting the theory of the American origin of the disease is the valid one. Among 1500 analyzed pathographies of composers and musicians, data on ten Anglo-American composers and jazz musicians having suffered from neurosyphilis (tertiary stage of the disease) were extracted for this report. In this group of Anglo-American composers and musicians, most of them died from progressive paralysis while still in the creative phase of life. Additionally, diagnoses of eleven other famous neurosyphilitic composers, as well as basic biographic data on ten less known composers that died from neurosyphilis-progressive paralysis are also briefly mentioned. In conclusion, neurosyphilis can cause serious neurological damage, as well as permanent disability or death, preventing further work and skill improvement.

Musicians and music making as a model for the study of brain plasticity.

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Schlaug, Gottfried

2015-01-01

Playing a musical instrument is an intense, multisensory, and motor experience that usually commences at an early age and requires the acquisition and maintenance of a range of sensory and motor skills over the course of a musician's lifetime. Thus, musicians offer an excellent human model for studying behavioral-cognitive as well as brain effects of acquiring, practicing, and maintaining these specialized skills. Research has shown that repeatedly practicing the association of motor actions with specific sound and visual patterns (musical notation), while receiving continuous multisensory feedback will strengthen connections between auditory and motor regions (e.g., arcuate fasciculus) as well as multimodal integration regions. Plasticity in this network may explain some of the sensorimotor and cognitive enhancements that have been associated with music training. Furthermore, the plasticity of this system as a result of long term and intense interventions suggest the potential for music making activities (e.g., forms of singing) as an intervention for neurological and developmental disorders to learn and relearn associations between auditory and motor functions such as vocal motor functions. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Musical Expectations Enhance Auditory Cortical Processing in Musicians: A Magnetoencephalography Study.

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Park, Jeong Mi; Chung, Chun Kee; Kim, June Sic; Lee, Kyung Myun; Seol, Jaeho; Yi, Suk Won

2018-01-15

The present study investigated the influence of musical expectations on auditory representations in musicians and non-musicians using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Neuroscientific studies have demonstrated that musical syntax is processed in the inferior frontal gyri, eliciting an early right anterior negativity (ERAN), and anatomical evidence has shown that interconnections occur between the frontal cortex and the belt and parabelt regions in the auditory cortex (AC). Therefore, we anticipated that musical expectations would mediate neural activities in the AC via an efferent pathway. To test this hypothesis, we measured the auditory-evoked fields (AEFs) of seven musicians and seven non-musicians while they were listening to a five-chord progression in which the expectancy of the third chord was manipulated (highly expected, less expected, and unexpected). The results revealed that highly expected chords elicited shorter N1m (negative AEF at approximately 100 ms) and P2m (positive AEF at approximately 200 ms) latencies and larger P2m amplitudes in the AC than less-expected and unexpected chords. The relations between P2m amplitudes/latencies and harmonic expectations were similar between the groups; however, musicians' results were more remarkable than those of non-musicians. These findings suggest that auditory cortical processing is enhanced by musical knowledge and long-term training in a top-down manner, which is reflected in shortened N1m and P2m latencies and enhanced P2m amplitudes in the AC. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neuroarchitecture of verbal and tonal working memory in nonmusicians and musicians.

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Schulze, Katrin; Zysset, Stefan; Mueller, Karsten; Friederici, Angela D; Koelsch, Stefan

2011-05-01

Working memory (WM) for auditory information has been thought of as a unitary system, but whether WM for verbal and tonal information relies on the same or different functional neuroarchitectures has remained unknown. This fMRI study examines verbal and tonal WM in both nonmusicians (who are trained in speech, but not in music) and highly trained musicians (who are trained in both domains). The data show that core structures of WM are involved in both tonal and verbal WM (Broca's area, premotor cortex, pre-SMA/SMA, left insular cortex, inferior parietal lobe), although with significantly different structural weightings, in both nonmusicians and musicians. Additionally, musicians activated specific subcomponents only during verbal (right insular cortex) or only during tonal WM (right globus pallidus, right caudate nucleus, and left cerebellum). These results reveal the existence of two WM systems in musicians: A phonological loop supporting rehearsal of phonological information, and a tonal loop supporting rehearsal of tonal information. Differences between groups for tonal WM, and between verbal and tonal WM within musicians, were mainly related to structures involved in controlling, programming and planning of actions, thus presumably reflecting differences in action-related sensorimotor coding of verbal and tonal information. Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The sound of music: Differentiating musicians using a fast, musical multi-feature mismatch negativity paradigm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vuust, Peter; Brattico, Elvira; Seppänen, Miia

2012-01-01

to the other deviants in jazz musicians and left lateralization of the MMN to timbre in classical musicians. These findings indicate that the characteristics of the style/genre of music played by musicians influence their perceptual skills and the brain processing of sound features embedded in a musical......Musicians' skills in auditory processing depend highly on instrument, performance practice, and on level of expertise. Yet, it is not known though whether the style/genre of music might shape auditory processing in the brains of musicians. Here, we aimed at tackling the role of musical style....../genre on modulating neural and behavioral responses to changes in musical features. Using a novel, fast and musical sounding multi-feature paradigm, we measured the mismatch negativity (MMN), a pre-attentive brain response, to six types of musical feature change in musicians playing three distinct styles of music...

Factors Affecting Healthful Eating Among Touring Popular Musicians and Singers.

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Cizek, Erin; Kelly, Patrick; Kress, Kathleen; Mattfeldt-Beman, Mildred

2016-06-01

Maintaining good health is essential for touring musicians and singers. The stressful demands of touring may impact food choices, leading to detrimental effects on health and performance. This exploratory pilot study aimed to assess factors affecting healthful eating of touring musicians and singers. A 46-item survey was used to assess food- and nutrition-related attitudes, knowledge and behaviors, and environmental factors, as well as lifestyle, musical background, and demographic data. Participants (n=35) were recruited from a musicians' assistance foundation as well as touring musical theater productions and a music festival. Results indicate that touring musicians and singers had positive attitudes regarding healthful foods. Of 35 respondents, 80.0% indicated eating healthful food was important to them. Respondents reported feeling confident selecting (76.5%) and preparing (82.4%) healthful foods; however, they showed uncertainty when determining if carbohydrate-containing foods should be consumed or avoided. Respondents indicated environmental factors including availability and cost of healthy food options and tour schedules limited access to healthful foods. Venues (73.5%), fast food restaurants (67.6%), and airports (64.7%) were the most frequently identified locations in need of offering more healthful food choices. Respondents (52.9%) indicated more support from others while touring would help them make healthier food choices. More research is needed to develop mobile wellness programs as well as performance-based nutrition guidelines for musicians and singers that address the unique demands associated with touring.

Temporal processing of audiovisual stimuli is enhanced in musicians: evidence from magnetoencephalography (MEG.

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Yao Lu

Full Text Available Numerous studies have demonstrated that the structural and functional differences between professional musicians and non-musicians are not only found within a single modality, but also with regard to multisensory integration. In this study we have combined psychophysical with neurophysiological measurements investigating the processing of non-musical, synchronous or various levels of asynchronous audiovisual events. We hypothesize that long-term multisensory experience alters temporal audiovisual processing already at a non-musical stage. Behaviorally, musicians scored significantly better than non-musicians in judging whether the auditory and visual stimuli were synchronous or asynchronous. At the neural level, the statistical analysis for the audiovisual asynchronous response revealed three clusters of activations including the ACC and the SFG and two bilaterally located activations in IFG and STG in both groups. Musicians, in comparison to the non-musicians, responded to synchronous audiovisual events with enhanced neuronal activity in a broad left posterior temporal region that covers the STG, the insula and the Postcentral Gyrus. Musicians also showed significantly greater activation in the left Cerebellum, when confronted with an audiovisual asynchrony. Taken together, our MEG results form a strong indication that long-term musical training alters the basic audiovisual temporal processing already in an early stage (direct after the auditory N1 wave, while the psychophysical results indicate that musical training may also provide behavioral benefits in the accuracy of the estimates regarding the timing of audiovisual events.

Temporal processing of audiovisual stimuli is enhanced in musicians: evidence from magnetoencephalography (MEG).

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Yao; Paraskevopoulos, Evangelos; Herholz, Sibylle C; Kuchenbuch, Anja; Pantev, Christo

2014-01-01

Numerous studies have demonstrated that the structural and functional differences between professional musicians and non-musicians are not only found within a single modality, but also with regard to multisensory integration. In this study we have combined psychophysical with neurophysiological measurements investigating the processing of non-musical, synchronous or various levels of asynchronous audiovisual events. We hypothesize that long-term multisensory experience alters temporal audiovisual processing already at a non-musical stage. Behaviorally, musicians scored significantly better than non-musicians in judging whether the auditory and visual stimuli were synchronous or asynchronous. At the neural level, the statistical analysis for the audiovisual asynchronous response revealed three clusters of activations including the ACC and the SFG and two bilaterally located activations in IFG and STG in both groups. Musicians, in comparison to the non-musicians, responded to synchronous audiovisual events with enhanced neuronal activity in a broad left posterior temporal region that covers the STG, the insula and the Postcentral Gyrus. Musicians also showed significantly greater activation in the left Cerebellum, when confronted with an audiovisual asynchrony. Taken together, our MEG results form a strong indication that long-term musical training alters the basic audiovisual temporal processing already in an early stage (direct after the auditory N1 wave), while the psychophysical results indicate that musical training may also provide behavioral benefits in the accuracy of the estimates regarding the timing of audiovisual events.

Musicians have better memory than nonmusicians: A meta-analysis

OpenAIRE

Talamini, Francesca; Altoè, Gianmarco; Carretti, Barbara; Grassi, Massimo

2017-01-01

Background Several studies have found that musicians perform better than nonmusicians in memory tasks, but this is not always the case, and the strength of this apparent advantage is unknown. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis with the aim of clarifying whether musicians perform better than nonmusicians in memory tasks. Methods Education Source; PEP (WEB)—Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing; Psychology and Behavioral Science (EBSCO); PsycINFO (Ovid); PubMed; ScienceDirect—AllBooks Content (E...

Bringing Drumsticks to Funerals. Jamming as Learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brinck, Lars

2012-01-01

This ethnographically inspired field study employs social practice theory in analyzing New Orleans jazz and funk musicians' jamming as learning. Through analysis of participant observation and qualitative interviews the study argues that the musicians' participation in collectively improvised...... of the improvised music itself are inseparable and interdependant. Learning to jam is argued to be situated in the social practice of jamming, thus prototypically presenting learning to be analyzed as improvised development of practice per se. A discussion of the findings' potential for developing teaching...

Left-hemisphere activation is associated with enhanced vocal pitch error detection in musicians with absolute pitch

Science.gov (United States)

Behroozmand, Roozbeh; Ibrahim, Nadine; Korzyukov, Oleg; Robin, Donald A.; Larson, Charles R.

2014-01-01

The ability to process auditory feedback for vocal pitch control is crucial during speaking and singing. Previous studies have suggested that musicians with absolute pitch (AP) develop specialized left-hemisphere mechanisms for pitch processing. The present study adopted an auditory feedback pitch perturbation paradigm combined with ERP recordings to test the hypothesis whether the neural mechanisms of the left-hemisphere enhance vocal pitch error detection and control in AP musicians compared with relative pitch (RP) musicians and non-musicians (NM). Results showed a stronger N1 response to pitch-shifted voice feedback in the right-hemisphere for both AP and RP musicians compared with the NM group. However, the left-hemisphere P2 component activation was greater in AP and RP musicians compared with NMs and also for the AP compared with RP musicians. The NM group was slower in generating compensatory vocal reactions to feedback pitch perturbation compared with musicians, and they failed to re-adjust their vocal pitch after the feedback perturbation was removed. These findings suggest that in the earlier stages of cortical neural processing, the right hemisphere is more active in musicians for detecting pitch changes in voice feedback. In the later stages, the left-hemisphere is more active during the processing of auditory feedback for vocal motor control and seems to involve specialized mechanisms that facilitate pitch processing in the AP compared with RP musicians. These findings indicate that the left hemisphere mechanisms of AP ability are associated with improved auditory feedback pitch processing during vocal pitch control in tasks such as speaking or singing. PMID:24355545

Assessment of hearing and hearing disorders in rock/jazz musicians.

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Kähärit, Kim; Zachau, Gunilla; Eklöf, Mats; Sandsjö, Leif; Möller, Claes

2003-07-01

The aim of this study was to assess hearing and hearing disorders among rock/jazz musicians. One hundred and thirty-nine (43 women and 96 men) musicians participated. The results are based on pure-tone audiometry and questionnaire responses. According to our definition of hearing loss, tinnitus, hyperacusis, distortion and/or diplacusis as hearing disorders, we found disorders in 74%, of the rock/jazz musicians studied. Hearing loss, tinnitus and hyperacusis were most common, and the latter two were found significantly more frequently than in different reference populations. The women showed bilateral, significantly better hearing thresholds at 3-6 kHz than the men. Hyperacusis, and the combination of both hyperacusis and tinnitus, were found to be significantly more frequent among women than among men. Hearing loss and tinnitus were significantly more common among men than among women. It is important to evaluate all kinds of hearing problems (other than hearing loss) in musicians, since they represent an occupational group especially dependent on optimal, functional hearing. On the basis of our results, we suggest that hearing problems such as tinnitus, hyperacusis, distortion and/or diplacusis should, in addition to hearing loss, be defined as hearing disorders.

Sound experiences: the vision of experimental musician on the folkloric music in modern society

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Rieko Tanaka

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This work begins narrating how folk music has always been a remnant in the influence on classical composers. It makes special mention of origin Hungarian musicians Bela Bartok, Zoltan Kodaly. This Musicians are considerate in this work as the most immediate ancestors of an experimental musicians northamericans, because both are influenced by their passion for folk music. We select as musicians principals exponents of American experimental music to John Cage, Lou Harrison and Carl Ruggles. Their works will be considered and analyzed in this text as the sounds as the experiences. Composers that will analyze the sound as experience, as feeling, as emotion, as time and origin. related traits in folk music and experimental music. Not forgetting in this work, and in his final considerations, the relationship between the musician, creation, society and art.

Portfolio Careers and Work-Life Balance among Musicians: An Initial Study into Implications for Higher Music Education

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Teague, Adele; Smith, Gareth Dylan

2015-01-01

Musicians are acknowledged to lead complex working lives, often characterised as portfolio careers. The higher music education research literature has tended to focus on preparing students for rich working lives and multiple identity realisations across potential roles. Extant literature does not address the area of work-life balance, which this…

Auditory profiles of classical, jazz, and rock musicians: Genre-specific sensitivity to musical sound features

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Mari eTervaniemi

2016-01-01

Full Text Available When compared with individuals without explicit training in music, adult musicians have facilitated neural functions in several modalities. They also display structural changes in various brain areas, these changes corresponding to the intensity and duration of their musical training. Previous studies have focused on investigating musicians with training in Western classical music. However, musicians involved in different musical genres may display highly differentiated auditory profiles according to the demands set by their genre, i.e. varying importance of different musical sound features. This hypothesis was tested in a novel melody paradigm including deviants in tuning, timbre, rhythm, melody transpositions, and melody contour. Using this paradigm while the participants were watching a silent video and instructed to ignore the sounds, we compared classical, jazz, and rock musicians’ and non-musicians’ accuracy of neural encoding of the melody. In all groups of participants, all deviants elicited an MMN response, which is a cortical index of deviance discrimination. The strength of the MMN and the subsequent attentional P3a responses reflected the importance of various sound features in each music genre: these automatic brain responses were selectively enhanced to deviants in tuning (classical musicians, timing (classical and jazz musicians, transposition (jazz musicians, and melody contour (jazz and rock musicians. Taken together, these results indicate that musicians with different training history have highly specialized cortical reactivity to sounds which violate the neural template for melody content.

In Their Own Words: Interviews with Musicians Reveal the Advantages and Disadvantages of Wearing Earplugs.

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Beach, Elizabeth F; O'Brien, Ian

2017-06-01

Musicians are at risk of hearing loss from sound exposure, and earplugs form part of many musicians' hearing conservation practices. Although musicians typically report a range of difficulties when wearing earplugs, there are many who have managed to successfully incorporate earplugs into their practice of music. The study aim was to provide a detailed account of earplug usage from the perspective of the musician, including motivating factors, practical strategies, and attitudes. In-depth interviews with 23 musicians were transcribed and content analysis was performed. Responses were coded and classified into three main themes: advantages, disadvantages, and usage patterns and strategies, together with an overlapping fourth theme, youth perspectives. Several positive aspects of wearing earplugs were identified, including long-term hearing protection and reduced levels of fatigue and pain. Musicians reported that earplugs present few problems for communication, improve sound clarity in ensembles, are discreet, and are easy to handle. However, earplugs also present challenges, including an overall dullness of sound, reduced immediacy, and an impaired ability to judge balance and intonation due to the occlusion effect, all of which influence usage habits and patterns. The experiences of the younger musicians and long-term users of earplugs indicate that practice, persistence, and a flexible approach are required for successful earplug usage. In time, there may be greater acceptance of earplugs, particularly amongst a new generation of musicians, some of whom regard the earplugs as a performance enhancement tool as well as a protective device.

The Alexander Technique and musicians: a systematic review of controlled trials.

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Klein, Sabine D; Bayard, Claudine; Wolf, Ursula

2014-10-24

Musculoskeletal disorders, stress and performance anxiety are common in musicians. Therefore, some use the Alexander Technique (AT), a psycho-physical method that helps to release unnecessary muscle tension and re-educates non-beneficial movement patterns through intentional inhibition of unwanted habitual behaviours. According to a recent review AT sessions may be effective for chronic back pain. This review aimed to evaluate the evidence for the effectiveness of AT sessions on musicians' performance, anxiety, respiratory function and posture. The following electronic databases were searched up to February 2014 for relevant publications: PUBMED, Google Scholar, CINAHL, EMBASE, AMED, PsycINFO and RILM. The search criteria were "Alexander Technique" AND "music*". References were searched, and experts and societies of AT or musicians' medicine contacted for further publications. 237 citations were assessed. 12 studies were included for further analysis, 5 of which were randomised controlled trials (RCTs), 5 controlled but not randomised (CTs), and 2 mixed methods studies. Main outcome measures in RCTs and CTs were music performance, respiratory function, performance anxiety, body use and posture. Music performance was judged by external experts and found to be improved by AT in 1 of 3 RCTs; in 1 RCT comparing neurofeedback (NF) to AT, only NF caused improvements. Respiratory function was investigated in 2 RCTs, but not improved by AT training. Performance anxiety was mostly assessed by questionnaires and decreased by AT in 2 of 2 RCTs and in 2 of 2 CTs. A variety of outcome measures has been used to investigate the effectiveness of AT sessions in musicians. Evidence from RCTs and CTs suggests that AT sessions may improve performance anxiety in musicians. Effects on music performance, respiratory function and posture yet remain inconclusive. Future trials with well-established study designs are warranted to further and more reliably explore the potential of AT in the

An evaluation of musician earplugs with college music students.

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Chesky, Kris; Pair, Marla; Yoshimura, Eri; Landford, Scott

2009-01-01

Musician earplugs are marketed and recommended for use in music settings but no studies have evaluated these products with musicians. This study evaluated the influences of earplugs on college students' perception and abilities to communicate in a musical environment, attitudes of earplugs, comfort over time, and the influence of earplugs on ability to play music. College students (N = 323) were provided with earplugs for use during and following an experimental condition designed to mimic a night club. Results underline the challenges of earplugs in environments that are both loud and require verbal interaction. Responses to comfort questions were variable and suggest a multi-factorial set of influences that may include intrinsic variables. Despite these limitations, subjects in this study generally liked the earplugs and believed that they are valuable. However, the earplugs were not viewed favorably by musicians willing to use the earplugs while playing music. This study supports the view that earplugs are subject to many problems and should be considered as a last resort.

Prototype system to recommend appropriate amount of independent musicians who matched user's preference

OpenAIRE

Uetake, Tomofumi; Kiyohara, Seiya

2006-01-01

Recently we can easily get music information at home. Furthermore, by using ''independent music community site''on lnternet, we can easily get songs of independent musicians. However, it is very difficult for us to look for the musician who matched one's preference. Because there is a great deal of　number of the musicians, and a genre of a song is various. In this paper, We analyze the independent community music site in Japan and clarify the characteristics of the information about registere...

[Contribution to the study of laterality in professional musicians].

Science.gov (United States)

Chouard, C H

1991-01-01

Left-handed professional musicians percentage is not significantly different from normal population, excepted for piano, organ and harpsichord players. For these instruments the melody is always written for the right hand, probably because of the location of the frequencies which are the most easily perceived by the human ear on the right part of the keyboard. Thus for a lefthanded musician to play piano is comparable to write with his right hand, and as a consequence leads him to play an other instrument for his professional activity.

Psychosocial stressors in the lives of great jazz musicians.

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Patalano, F

1997-02-01

Brief biographical information on four great jazz tenor saxophone players of the past is presented to illustrate the similar psychosocial stressors these men seemed to experience, namely, severe substance abuse, haphazard working conditions, lack of acceptance of their art form in the United States, marital and family discord, and a vagabond life style. Ages at death of 80 great jazz musicians may indicate that the stressful life style of jazz musicians may be reflected in a shortened life span, but a control group is needed.

Absolute Memory for Tempo in Musicians and Non-Musicians.

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Irene Gratton

Full Text Available The ability to remember tempo (the perceived frequency of musical pulse without external references may be defined, by analogy with the notion of absolute pitch, as absolute tempo (AT. Anecdotal reports and sparse empirical evidence suggest that at least some individuals possess AT. However, to our knowledge, no systematic assessments of AT have been performed using laboratory tasks comparable to those assessing absolute pitch. In the present study, we operationalize AT as the ability to identify and reproduce tempo in the absence of rhythmic or melodic frames of reference and assess these abilities in musically trained and untrained participants. We asked 15 musicians and 15 non-musicians to listen to a seven-step `tempo scale' of metronome beats, each associated to a numerical label, and then to perform two memory tasks. In the first task, participants heard one of the tempi and attempted to report the correct label (identification task, in the second, they saw one label and attempted to tap the correct tempo (production task. A musical and visual excerpt was presented between successive trials as a distractor to prevent participants from using previous tempi as anchors. Thus, participants needed to encode tempo information with the corresponding label, store the information, and recall it to give the response. We found that more than half were able to perform above chance in at least one of the tasks, and that musical training differentiated between participants in identification, but not in production. These results suggest that AT is relatively wide-spread, relatively independent of musical training in tempo production, but further refined by training in tempo identification. We propose that at least in production, the underlying motor representations are related to tactus, a basic internal rhythmic period that may provide a body-based reference for encoding tempo.

Forty lives in the bebop business: mental health in a group of eminent jazz musicians.

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Wills, Geoffrey I

2003-09-01

Above-average levels of psychopathology have been demonstrated convincingly in groups of outstanding individuals working in the arts. Currently, jazz musicians have not been studied in this regard. To investigate any evidence of psychopathology in a group of eminent jazz musicians. Biographical material relating to 40 eminent American modern jazz musicians was reviewed and an attempt was made to formulate diagnoses using DSM-IV. Evidence was provided of levels of psychopathology in the sample of jazz musicians similar to those found in other previously investigated creative groups, with the exception of substance related problems. An interesting connection between creativity and sensation-seeking was highlighted. The link between psychopathology and creativity in the arts was given further weight. Future studies of jazz musicians using larger samples and making comparison with groups from different eras of music would give greater clarification to this area.

Exploring the thoughts and focus of attention of elite musicians under pressure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Buma, L.A.; Bakker, F.C.; Oudejans, R.R.D.

2015-01-01

Although musicians often have to perform under high pressure, there is little systematic research into the foci of attention needed to maintain performance in such situations. In the current study, we asked elite musicians to report what they focus on and think about during moments of high pressure,

Prevalence of temporomandibular joint disorders and neck pain in musicians: a sytematic review

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Bennatan Ferreira dos Santos

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction: The instrumental practice for a long time, the high performance level, the strict technique and the specific shape of each musical instrument can take musicians to overcome their physiological limits, giving a high prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries. Objective: Investigate the prevalence of temporomandibular joint disorder and neck pain in musicians. Methods: Between August and September 2015 were reviewed five databases: LILACS, SciELO, Medline / PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science. The articles were read and evaluated by the criteria of the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE, items, that obtained a percentage above of 50 percent, were considered in the analysis of this work. Results: 15 articles attended the inclusion criteria. Among all musicians the prevalence of TMJ pain ranged from 10 - 81% and the prevalence of neck pain ranged from 29 - 80%. Conclusion: In this study was observed that the musicians showed both, temporomandibular joint disorders and neck pain, watching a high prevalence especially in violinists and the horn players. In the risk factors identified in the literature for the emergence of painful symptoms in musicians, stand out the biomechanical factors involved in maintaining anti-physiologic postures.

Musicians have better memory than nonmusicians: A meta-analysis

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Altoè, Gianmarco; Carretti, Barbara; Grassi, Massimo

2017-01-01

Background Several studies have found that musicians perform better than nonmusicians in memory tasks, but this is not always the case, and the strength of this apparent advantage is unknown. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis with the aim of clarifying whether musicians perform better than nonmusicians in memory tasks. Methods Education Source; PEP (WEB)—Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing; Psychology and Behavioral Science (EBSCO); PsycINFO (Ovid); PubMed; ScienceDirect—AllBooks Content (Elsevier API); SCOPUS (Elsevier API); SocINDEX with Full Text (EBSCO) and Google Scholar were searched for eligible studies. The selected studies involved two groups of participants: young adult musicians and nonmusicians. All the studies included memory tasks (loading long-term, short-term or working memory) that contained tonal, verbal or visuospatial stimuli. Three meta-analyses were run separately for long-term memory, short-term memory and working memory. Results We collected 29 studies, including 53 memory tasks. The results showed that musicians performed better than nonmusicians in terms of long-term memory, g = .29, 95% CI (.08–.51), short-term memory, g = .57, 95% CI (.41–.73), and working memory, g = .56, 95% CI (.33–.80). To further explore the data, we included a moderator (the type of stimulus presented, i.e., tonal, verbal or visuospatial), which was found to influence the effect size for short-term and working memory, but not for long-term memory. In terms of short-term and working memory, the musicians’ advantage was large with tonal stimuli, moderate with verbal stimuli, and small or null with visuospatial stimuli. Conclusions The three meta-analyses revealed a small effect size for long-term memory, and a medium effect size for short-term and working memory, suggesting that musicians perform better than nonmusicians in memory tasks. Moreover, the effect of the moderator suggested that, the type of stimuli influences this advantage. PMID:29049416

Pop-rock musicians: assessment of their satisfaction provided by hearing protectors.

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Santoni, Cristiane Bolzachini; Fiorini, Ana Claudia

2010-01-01

Pop-rock musicians are at risk of developing hearing loss and other symptoms related to amplified music. The aim of the present study was to assess the satisfaction provided by the use of hearing protection in pop-rock musicians. Contemporary cohort study. A study of 23 male pop-rock musicians, aged between 25 to 45 years. After audiological evaluation (pure tone audiometry, middle ear analysis, TEOAE and DPOAE) hearing protective devices were provided to be used for three months. After that musicians answered a satisfaction assessment questionnaire. The prevalence of hearing loss was of 21.7%. The most common complaints about the hearing protectors were: autophonia, pressure in the ears, interference in high frequencies perception and full time use of the hearing protector during concerts. There was a positive correlation between a reduction in tinnitus after the use of the HPD with the following complaints: tinnitus after beginning the career (p= 0.044), discomfort with the sound intensity in the work place (p= 0.009) and intolerance to loud sound (p= 0.029). There was a high prevalence of hearing loss and a positive tendency towards the use of the ear protector device among the sample population.

Perceptions of Playing-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (PRMDs) in Irish traditional musicians: a focus group study.

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Wilson, Iseult M; Doherty, Liz; McKeown, Laura

2014-01-01

Playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs) are common in musicians and interfere with the ability to play an instrument at the accustomed level. There is limited research into injuries affecting folk musicians. To explore the Irish traditional musicians' experience of PRMDs. Focus group interviews were conducted in 2011 and 2012, in two venues in Ireland. Data were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data collection ended when no new findings emerged from the analysis of interviews. The inclusion criteria were: males or females aged 18 and above, and who taught or played Irish traditional music on any instrument. The data were analysed using the interpretative phenomenological method. All participants (n=22) believed there was a link between playing music and musculoskeletal problems. The main body areas affected were the back, shoulders, arms and hands. The main theme that emerged was: 'PRMDs are an integral part of being a traditional musician', and that the musical experience was generally prioritised over the health of the musician. There were sub-themes of 'fear' and 'stresses that contributed to PRMDs'. PRMDs are an occupational hazard for Irish musicians. There is an awareness of PRMDs, but changes (technique, environment) may threaten identity.

Hearing loss in relation to sound exposure of professional symphony orchestra musicians

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, J. H.; Pedersen, E. R.; Paarup, H. M.

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to: (1) estimate the hearing status of classical symphony orchestra musicians and (2) investigate the hypothesis that occupational sound exposure of symphony orchestra musicians leads to elevated hearing thresholds. DESIGN: The study population compri...... that performing music may induce hearing loss to the same extent as industrial noise....

Noise induced hearing loss and other hearing complaints among musicians of symphony orchestras

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jansen, E. J. M.; Helleman, H. W.; Dreschler, W. A.; de Laat, J. A. P. M.

2009-01-01

OBJECTIVES: An investigation of the hearing status of musicians of professional symphony orchestras. Main questions are: (1) Should musicians be treated as a special group with regard to hearing, noise, and noise related hearing problems (2) Do patterns of hearing damage differ for different

Facial Recognition of Happiness Is Impaired in Musicians with High Music Performance Anxiety.

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Sabino, Alini Daniéli Viana; Camargo, Cristielli M; Chagas, Marcos Hortes N; Osório, Flávia L

2018-01-01

Music performance anxiety (MPA) can be defined as a lasting and intense apprehension connected with musical performance in public. Studies suggest that MPA can be regarded as a subtype of social anxiety. Since individuals with social anxiety have deficits in the recognition of facial emotion, we hypothesized that musicians with high levels of MPA would share similar impairments. The aim of this study was to compare parameters of facial emotion recognition (FER) between musicians with high and low MPA. 150 amateur and professional musicians with different musical backgrounds were assessed in respect to their level of MPA and completed a dynamic FER task. The outcomes investigated were accuracy, response time, emotional intensity, and response bias. Musicians with high MPA were less accurate in the recognition of happiness ( p  = 0.04; d  = 0.34), had increased response bias toward fear ( p  = 0.03), and increased response time to facial emotions as a whole ( p  = 0.02; d  = 0.39). Musicians with high MPA displayed FER deficits that were independent of general anxiety levels and possibly of general cognitive capacity. These deficits may favor the maintenance and exacerbation of experiences of anxiety during public performance, since cues of approval, satisfaction, and encouragement are not adequately recognized.

Safety of subcutaneous microinjections (mesotherapy) in musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Navarte, Danik Arana; Rosset-Llobet, Jaume

2011-06-01

Determine the safety and tolerance of mesotherapy as a technique for the treatment of musculoskeletal complaints in musicians. 67 patients (55.2% women) were subjected to a total of 267 mesotherapy sessions. A mesotherapy needle or normal needle was used randomly. The drugs employed were thiocolchicoside and diazepam as muscular relaxants, pentoxifylline or buflomedil as vasodilators, and piroxicam as an anti-inflammatory, as directed. A visual analogue scale was used to quantify the pain produced by the microinjections as well as the degree of immediate and midterm side effects as reported on a standard questionnaire. A mean of 155.5 microinjections were performed per session, of which 45.6% were perceived as painful by the patient with a mean severity of 4.3 out of 10. The pain reduced to 0.5 out of 10 after 24 hours. The most sensitive areas were the levator scapulae and splenius muscles. Systemic symptoms were reported by 5.99% of the musicians after the mesotherapy sessions (muscular weakness 1.5%, rash 1.5%, drowsiness 1.1% and itching 1.1%, being the most frequent). The mean severity of these symptoms was 2.77 out of 10. In all cases the symptoms had completely disappeared after 24 hours. No patient referred to signs of local or systemic infection. The application of drugs by means of subcutaneous injections (mesotherapy) in musicians is a technique that is safe, well tolerated, and without any severe complications.

The Musician, the Researcher and the Psychologist

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Uddholm, Mats

practice. In contrast, the results indicate that the force contained in music-theoretical concepts appears to have an impact on how music situations are interpreted. These diversities were expressed as three different types of music-therapists; the Musician, the Researcher and the Psychologist, which......The Musician, the Researcher and the Psychologist The aim of this presentation is to illuminate and discuss some connections between the therapeutic profession and development of music pedagogic theory. A topic that initially emerged as a result of a sub-study in my PhD -project about professional...... practitioners music-pedagogical Powers of Definition. The purpose of this sub-study was to generate data about which concepts music-therapists use in their meta-reflections on musical situations in special-pedagogic related practices. The link between the sub-study’s results and the research question was based...

Mobile Learning: Using Application "Auralbook" to Learn Aural Skills

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Chi Wai Jason

2015-01-01

This study is to investigate the effectiveness of using mobile devices such as iPhone/iPad/android phone/tablet to facilitate mobile learning in aural skills. The application "Auralbook" was designed in 2011 by an engineer/musician to use mobile devices to learn aural skills. This application enables students to sing, record, clap and…

Exposure to music and noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) among professional pop/rock/jazz musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Halevi-Katz, Dana N; Yaakobi, Erez; Putter-Katz, Hanna

2015-01-01

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) has been extensively studied in industrial work environments. With the advent of new technologies, loud music has been increasingly affecting listeners outside of the industrial setting. Most research on the effects of music and hearing loss has focused on classical musicians. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between the amount of experience a professional pop/rock/jazz musician has and objective and subjective variables of the musician's hearing loss. This study also examined professional pop/rock/jazz musicians' use of hearing protection devices in relation to the extent of their exposure to amplified music. Forty-four pop/rock/jazz musicians were interviewed using the Pop/Rock/Jazz Musician's Questionnaire (PRJMQ) in order to obtain self-reported symptoms of tinnitus and hyperacusis. Forty-two of the subjects were also tested for air-conduction hearing thresholds in the frequency range of 1-8 kHz. Results show that the extent of professional pop/rock/jazz musicians' exposure to amplified music was related to both objective and subjective variables of hearing loss: Greater musical experience was positively linked to higher hearing thresholds in the frequency range of 3-6 kHz and to the subjective symptom of tinnitus. Weekly hours playing were found to have a greater effect on hearing loss in comparison to years playing. Use of hearing protection was not linked to the extent of exposure to amplified music. It is recommended that further research be conducted with a larger sample, in order to gain a greater understanding of the detrimental effects of hours playing versus years playing.

Cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory changes induced by different types of music in musicians and non-musicians: the importance of silence.

Science.gov (United States)

Bernardi, L; Porta, C; Sleight, P

2006-04-01

To assess the potential clinical use, particularly in modulating stress, of changes in the cardiovascular and respiratory systems induced by music, specifically tempo, rhythm, melodic structure, pause, individual preference, habituation, order effect of presentation, and previous musical training. Measurement of cardiovascular and respiratory variables while patients listened to music. University research laboratory for the study of cardiorespiratory autonomic function. 12 practising musicians and 12 age matched controls. After a five minute baseline, presentation in random order of six different music styles (first for a two minute, then for a four minute track), with a randomly inserted two minute pause, in either sequence. Breathing rate, ventilation, carbon dioxide, RR interval, blood pressure, mid-cerebral artery flow velocity, and baroreflex. Ventilation, blood pressure, and heart rate increased and mid-cerebral artery flow velocity and baroreflex decreased with faster tempi and simpler rhythmic structures compared with baseline. No habituation effect was seen. The pause reduced heart rate, blood pressure, and minute ventilation, even below baseline. An order effect independent of style was evident for mid-cerebral artery flow velocity, indicating a progressive reduction with exposure to music, independent of style. Musicians had greater respiratory sensitivity to the music tempo than did non-musicians. Music induces an arousal effect, predominantly related to the tempo. Slow or meditative music can induce a relaxing effect; relaxation is particularly evident during a pause. Music, especially in trained subjects, may first concentrate attention during faster rhythms, then induce relaxation during pauses or slower rhythms.

Professional Music Training and Novel Word Learning: From Faster Semantic Encoding to Longer-lasting Word Representations.

Science.gov (United States)

Dittinger, Eva; Barbaroux, Mylène; D'Imperio, Mariapaola; Jäncke, Lutz; Elmer, Stefan; Besson, Mireille

2016-10-01

On the basis of previous results showing that music training positively influences different aspects of speech perception and cognition, the aim of this series of experiments was to test the hypothesis that adult professional musicians would learn the meaning of novel words through picture-word associations more efficiently than controls without music training (i.e., fewer errors and faster RTs). We also expected musicians to show faster changes in brain electrical activity than controls, in particular regarding the N400 component that develops with word learning. In line with these hypotheses, musicians outperformed controls in the most difficult semantic task. Moreover, although a frontally distributed N400 component developed in both groups of participants after only a few minutes of novel word learning, in musicians this frontal distribution rapidly shifted to parietal scalp sites, as typically found for the N400 elicited by known words. Finally, musicians showed evidence for better long-term memory for novel words 5 months after the main experimental session. Results are discussed in terms of cascading effects from enhanced perception to memory as well as in terms of multifaceted improvements of cognitive processing due to music training. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing that music training influences semantic aspects of language processing in adults. These results open new perspectives for education in showing that early music training can facilitate later foreign language learning. Moreover, the design used in the present experiment can help to specify the stages of word learning that are impaired in children and adults with word learning difficulties.

Musicians do not benefit from differences in fundamental frequency when listening to speech in competing speech backgrounds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Sara Miay Kim; Whiteford, Kelly L.; Oxenham, Andrew J.

2017-01-01

Recent studies disagree on whether musicians have an advantage over non-musicians in understanding speech in noise. However, it has been suggested that musicians may be able to use diferences in fundamental frequency (F0) to better understand target speech in the presence of interfering talkers....... Here we studied a relatively large (N=60) cohort of young adults, equally divided between nonmusicians and highly trained musicians, to test whether the musicians were better able to understand speech either in noise or in a two-talker competing speech masker. The target speech and competing speech...... were presented with either their natural F0 contours or on a monotone F0, and the F0 diference between the target and masker was systematically varied. As expected, speech intelligibility improved with increasing F0 diference between the target and the two-talker masker for both natural and monotone...

Italian musicians in Greece during the nineteenth century

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Romanou Ekaterini

2003-01-01

Full Text Available In Greece, the monophonic chant of the Orthodox church and its neumatic notation have been transmitted as a popular tradition up to the first decades of the 20th century. The transformation of Greek musical tradition to a Western type of urban culture and the introduction of harmony, staff notation and western instruments and performance practices in the country began in the 19th century. Italian musicians played a central role in that process. A large number of them lived and worked on the Ionian Islands. Those Italian musicians have left a considerable number of transcriptions and original compositions. Quite a different cultural background existed in Athens. Education was in most cases connected to the church - the institution that during the four centuries of Turkish occupation kept Greeks united and nationally conscious. The neumatic notation was used for all music sung by the people, music of both western and eastern origin. The assimilation of staff notation and harmony was accelerated in the last quarter of the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century in Athens a violent cultural clash was provoked by the reformers of music education all of them belonging to German culture. The clash ended with the displacement of the Italian and Greek musicians from the Ionian Islands working at the time in Athens, and the defamation of their fundamental work in music education.

One-Handed Musicians-More Than a Gimmick

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Woldendorp, K. H.; van Gils, W.

2012-01-01

There are many musicians with acquired limitations in making music, and there are many people with a disability who would like to play a music instrument in a modified way. There is discouragingly little information about this topic in literature. This article gives an overview of "making music in a

Exercise DVD effect on musculoskeletal disorders in professional orchestral musicians.

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Chan, C; Driscoll, T; Ackermann, B

2014-01-01

Professional musicians report a high prevalence of performance-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs). Excessive muscle tension and fatigue have been reported as important factors contributing to PRMDs. To evaluate feasibility and effectiveness of a specific exercise programme delivered via a digital video disc (DVD) targeting PRMDs and associated risk factors. Volunteers from eight Australian symphony orchestras undertook two or more sessions per week over 12 weeks. Questionnaires were administered pre- and post-intervention with items including the frequency and severity of PRMDs, perceived exertion during different playing situations, per formance effects of the DVD and satisfaction rates. Musicians who had also participated in an equivalent face-to-face programme prior to this DVD trial compared the two interventions. One hundred and forty-four out of 576 musicians volunteered (25% uptake), and 50 participants completed a mean 2.1 (SD 0.42) sessions over the 12 week period (41% compliance). PRMD frequency and severity were significantly reduced post-intervention (P benefits of the DVD on strengthening muscles, increasing ease of movement and improving flexibility related to playing. Despite this, perceived exertion levels during private practice, rehearsal and performance remained the same (not significant). Seventy-eight per cent of participants scored their overall experience of the use of the DVD as good or excellent. Owing to its convenience and detailed exercise demonstrations, the DVD was rated as better or much better overall than the face-to-face classes by 55% of participants who had experienced both. An exercise DVD was well received and appeared to be effective, convenient and safe in managing occupational-specific musculoskeletal disorders in musicians.

Is the audiologic status of professional musicians a reflection of the noise exposure in classical orchestral music?

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Emmerich, Edeltraut; Rudel, Lars; Richter, Frank

2008-07-01

The sound in classical orchestral music is louder than noise emissions allowed by national rules in industry. We wanted to assess the audiologic status of professional musicians at different ages of their careers and to look for a coherence of declined hearing ability and the sound emissions in order to substantiate advices for hearing protection and occupational medicine in musicians. Data from questionnaires (anamnestic data on sound exposure in profession and leisure times, use of hearing protection, self-evaluation of hearing function and hearing deficits), audiometric data and amplitudes of OAE were evaluated from 109 professional musicians aged 30-69 years from three major German orchestras and from 110 students of an academy of music (aged 11-19 years). Sound emissions of the whole orchestra and of single instruments/instrument groups were measured at the orchestra stages and pits during rehearsals and performances. None of the musicians was engaged in noisy hobbies and only a few used hearing protectors regularly. More than 50% of the musicians had a hearing loss of 15 dB(A) and more. Highest losses were found among the strings and the brass players. DPOAE amplitudes coincidently declined with the duration of performing music in the orchestras. Professional musicians aged older than 60 years had a significantly greater hearing loss at 4 and 6 kHz than those aged 30-39 years. Among the strings in one orchestra a dominant hearing deficit in the left ears was observed. Musicians need the same health care for their hearing as workers in noisy industry. A better education on the hearing hazards (use of hearing protectors) as well as sound protection in the rehearsal rooms is necessary. Hearing loss in professional musicians should be accepted as an occupational disease.

Supervised Learning with Complex-valued Neural Networks

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Suresh, Sundaram; Savitha, Ramasamy

2013-01-01

Recent advancements in the field of telecommunications, medical imaging and signal processing deal with signals that are inherently time varying, nonlinear and complex-valued. The time varying, nonlinear characteristics of these signals can be effectively analyzed using artificial neural networks.  Furthermore, to efficiently preserve the physical characteristics of these complex-valued signals, it is important to develop complex-valued neural networks and derive their learning algorithms to represent these signals at every step of the learning process. This monograph comprises a collection of new supervised learning algorithms along with novel architectures for complex-valued neural networks. The concepts of meta-cognition equipped with a self-regulated learning have been known to be the best human learning strategy. In this monograph, the principles of meta-cognition have been introduced for complex-valued neural networks in both the batch and sequential learning modes. For applications where the computati...

Enhanced feature integration in musicians

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Hansen, Niels Christian; Højlund, Andreas; Møller, Cecilie

the classical oddball control paradigm which used identical sounds. This novel finding supports the dependent processing hypothesis suggesting that musicians recruit overlapping neural resources facilitating more holistic representations of domain-relevant stimuli. These specialised refinements in predictive......Distinguishing and integrating features of sensory input is essential to human survival and no less paramount in music perception and cognition. Yet, little is known about training-induced plasticity of neural mechanisms for auditory feature integration. This study aimed to contrast the two...

Action in Perception: Prominent Visuo-Motor Functional Symmetry in Musicians during Music Listening.

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Iballa Burunat

Full Text Available Musical training leads to sensory and motor neuroplastic changes in the human brain. Motivated by findings on enlarged corpus callosum in musicians and asymmetric somatomotor representation in string players, we investigated the relationship between musical training, callosal anatomy, and interhemispheric functional symmetry during music listening. Functional symmetry was increased in musicians compared to nonmusicians, and in keyboardists compared to string players. This increased functional symmetry was prominent in visual and motor brain networks. Callosal size did not significantly differ between groups except for the posterior callosum in musicians compared to nonmusicians. We conclude that the distinctive postural and kinematic symmetry in instrument playing cross-modally shapes information processing in sensory-motor cortical areas during music listening. This cross-modal plasticity suggests that motor training affects music perception.

Musician effect on perception of spectro-temporally degraded speech, vocal emotion, and music in young adolescents.

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Başkent, Deniz; Fuller, Christina; Galvin, John; Schepel, Like; Gaudrain, Etienne; Free, Rolien

2018-01-01

In adult normal-hearing musicians, perception of music, vocal emotion, and speech in noise has been previously shown to be better than non-musicians, sometimes even with spectro-temporally degraded stimuli. In this study, melodic contour identification, vocal emotion identification, and speech

Affirmation, Validation, and Empowerment: Influences of a Composition Competition on Students' Self-Concepts as Musicians

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Albert, Daniel J.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine if participation in a composition competition influenced four K-12 students' self-concepts as musicians. Research questions explored motivations for these four students to enter into a composition competition, influences of the competition on students' self-concepts as musicians (if at all), and effects…

The assessment and treatment of performance anxiety in musicians.

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Clark, D B; Agras, W S

1991-05-01

Performance anxiety in musicians may be severe enough to require intervention but has been the subject of relatively little clinical research. The authors' objectives were to describe the results of a comprehensive clinical and laboratory assessment and to perform a double-blind, placebo-controlled study comparing buspirone, cognitive-behavior therapy, and the combination of these treatments for performance anxiety. Ninety-four subjects were recruited by mass media announcements and were seen in a university-based outpatient psychiatric clinic. Assessments were 1) questionnaires for all 94 subjects, 2) diagnostic interview of 50 subjects, and 3) laboratory performance of 34 subjects. Treatment conditions were 1) 6 weeks of buspirone, 2) 6 weeks of placebo, 3) a five-session, group cognitive-behavior therapy program with buspirone, or 4) the cognitive-behavior therapy program with placebo. Treatment outcome measures included subjective anxiety ratings and heart rate measures during a laboratory performance, a questionnaire measure of performance confidence, and a blind rating of musical performance quality. All subjects fulfilled criteria for DSM-III-R social phobia. Of the 15 full-time professional musicians, ten had tried propranolol and three had stopped performing. Most of the subjects had substantial anxiety and heart rate increases during laboratory speech and musical performances. Cognitive-behavior therapy resulted in statistically significant reductions in subjective anxiety, improved quality of musical performance, and improved performance confidence. Buspirone was not an effective treatment. Cognitive-behavior therapy is a viable treatment approach for performance anxiety in musicians.

Absolute pitch memory: its prevalence among musicians and dependence on the testing context.

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Wong, Yetta Kwailing; Wong, Alan C-N

2014-04-01

Absolute pitch (AP) is widely believed to be a rare ability possessed by only a small group of gifted and special individuals (AP possessors). While AP has fascinated psychologists, neuroscientists, and musicians for more than a century, no theory can satisfactorily explain why this ability is so rare and difficult to learn. Here, we show that AP ability appears rare because of the methodological issues of the standard pitch-naming test. Specifically, the standard test unnecessarily poses a high decisional demand on AP judgments and uses a testing context that is highly inconsistent with one's musical training. These extra cognitive challenges are not central to AP memory per se and have thus led to consistent underestimation of AP ability in the population. Using the standard test, we replicated the typical findings that the accuracy for general violinists was low (12.38 %; chance level = 0 %). With identical stimuli, scoring criteria, and participants, violinists attained 25 % accuracy in a pitch verification test in which the decisional demand of AP judgment was reduced. When the testing context was increasingly similar to their musical experience, verification accuracy improved further and reached 39 %, three times higher than that for the standard test. Results were replicated with a separate group of pianists. Our findings challenge current theories about AP and suggest that the prevalence of AP among musicians has been highly underestimated in prior work. A multimodal framework is proposed to better explain AP memory.

A Meta-study of musicians' non-verbal interaction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Karl Kristoffer; Marchetti, Emanuela

2010-01-01

interruptions. Hence, despite the fact that the skill to engage in a non-verbal interaction is described as tacit knowledge, it is fundamental for both musicians and teachers (Davidson and Good 2002). Typical observed non-verbal cues are for example: physical gestures, modulations of sound, steady eye contact...

Enhanced phase synchrony in the electroencephalograph gamma band for musicians while listening to music.

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Bhattacharya, J; Petsche, H

2001-07-01

Multichannel electroencephalograph signals from two broad groups, 10 musicians and 10 nonmusicians, recorded in different states (in resting states or no task condition, with eyes opened and eyes closed, and with two musical tasks, listening to two different pieces of music) were studied. Degrees of phase synchrony in various frequency bands were assessed. No differences in the degree of synchronization in any frequency band were found between the two groups in resting conditions. Yet, while listening to music, significant increases of synchronization were found only in the gamma-frequency range (>30 Hz) over large cortical areas for the group of musicians. This high degree of synchronization elicited by music in the group of musicians might be due to their ability to host long-term memory representations of music and mediate access to these stored representations.

Enhanced phase synchrony in the electroencephalograph γ band for musicians while listening to music

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Bhattacharya, Joydeep; Petsche, Hellmuth

2001-07-01

Multichannel electroencephalograph signals from two broad groups, 10 musicians and 10 nonmusicians, recorded in different states (in resting states or no task condition, with eyes opened and eyes closed, and with two musical tasks, listening to two different pieces of music) were studied. Degrees of phase synchrony in various frequency bands were assessed. No differences in the degree of synchronization in any frequency band were found between the two groups in resting conditions. Yet, while listening to music, significant increases of synchronization were found only in the γ-frequency range (>30 Hz) over large cortical areas for the group of musicians. This high degree of synchronization elicited by music in the group of musicians might be due to their ability to host long-term memory representations of music and mediate access to these stored representations.

Musical Imagery Involves Wernicke's Area in Bilateral and Anti-Correlated Network Interactions in Musicians.

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Zhang, Yizhen; Chen, Gang; Wen, Haiguang; Lu, Kun-Han; Liu, Zhongming

2017-12-06

Musical imagery is the human experience of imagining music without actually hearing it. The neural basis of this mental ability is unclear, especially for musicians capable of engaging in accurate and vivid musical imagery. Here, we created a visualization of an 8-minute symphony as a silent movie and used it as real-time cue for musicians to continuously imagine the music for repeated and synchronized sessions during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The activations and networks evoked by musical imagery were compared with those elicited by the subjects directly listening to the same music. Musical imagery and musical perception resulted in overlapping activations at the anterolateral belt and Wernicke's area, where the responses were correlated with the auditory features of the music. Whereas Wernicke's area interacted within the intrinsic auditory network during musical perception, it was involved in much more complex networks during musical imagery, showing positive correlations with the dorsal attention network and the motor-control network and negative correlations with the default-mode network. Our results highlight the important role of Wernicke's area in forming vivid musical imagery through bilateral and anti-correlated network interactions, challenging the conventional view of segregated and lateralized processing of music versus language.

An Integrated Playful Music Learning Solution

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Karl Kristoffer; Frimodt-Møller, Søren

2015-01-01

This paper presents an integrated solution using IT technologies to help a (young) musician learn a piece of music, or learn how to play an instru- ment. The rehearsal process is organized in sequences, consisting of various ac- tivities to be 'passed'. Several games are investigated that help...

A pilot study of occupational injury and illness experienced by classical musicians.

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Raymond, Delbert M; Romeo, June Hart; Kumke, Karoline V

2012-01-01

Limited attention is paid to the hazards experienced by orchestra musicians in the occupational health and safety literature. Within that literature, the primary focus has been on noise exposure. A focus on this area is warranted because high sound pressure levels are a product of this work environment. However, in addition to being at risk for noise-induced hearing loss, workers are also at risk for musculoskeletal injury and illness related to stressful body postures held for prolonged work periods. The socio-political forces of employment may place workers at risk for mental health disorders (e.g., depression). The researchers distributed an anonymous survey to classical orchestra musicians in the southwestern United States. The survey inventoried several areas related to occupational health risks. Results suggest low health care-seeking behaviors relative to self-reported signs and symptoms of morbidity. Musicians also reported limited formal training and education regarding occupational health risks. Risk information was provided late in their professional development. This is a particular concern because of the young age at which music training is initiated. Copyright 2012, SLACK Incorporated.

EEG alpha desynchronization in musicians and nonmusicians in response to changes in melody, tempo, and key in classical music.

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Overman, Amy A; Hoge, Jessica; Dale, J Alexander; Cross, Jeffrey D; Chien, Alec

2003-10-01

Two experiments were performed to examine musicians' and nonmusicians' electroencephalographic (EEG) responses to changes in major dimensions (tempo, melody, and key) of classical music. In Exp. 1, 12 nonmusicians' and 12 musicians' EEGs during melody and tempo changes in classical music showed more alpha desynchronization in the left hemisphere (F3) for changes in tempo than in the right. For melody, the nonmusicians were more right-sided (F4) than left in activation, and musicians showed no left-right differences. In Exp. 2, 18 musicians' and 18 nonmusicians' EEG after a key change in classical music showed that distant key changes elicited more right frontal (F4) alpha desynchronization than left. Musicians showed more reaction to key changes than nonmusicians and instructions to attend to key changes had no significant effect. Classical music, given its well-defined structure, offers a unique set of stimuli to study the brain. Results support the concept of hierarchical modularity in music processing that may be automatic.

Is Playing in the Pit Really the Pits?: Pain, Strength, Music Performance Anxiety, and Workplace Satisfaction in Professional Musicians in Stage, Pit, and Combined Stage/Pit Orchestras.

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Kenny, Dianna T; Driscoll, Tim; Ackermann, Bronwen J

2016-03-01

Typically, Australian orchestral musicians perform on stage, in an orchestra pit, or in a combination of both workplaces. This study explored a range of physical and mental health indicators in musicians who played in these different orchestra types to ascertain whether orchestra environment was a risk factor affecting musician wellbeing. Participants comprised 380 full-time orchestral musicians from the eight major state orchestras in Australia comprised of two dedicated pit orchestras, three stage-only symphonic orchestras, and three mixed stage/pit orchestras. Participants completed a physical assessment and a range of self-report measures assessing performance-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMD), physical characteristics including strength and perceived exertion, and psychological health, including music performance anxiety (MPA), workplace satisfaction, and bullying. Physical characteristics and performance-related musculoskeletal profiles were similar for most factors on the detailed survey completed by orchestra members. The exceptions were that pit musicians demonstrated greater shoulder and elbow strength, while mixed-workload orchestra musicians had greater flexibility Significantly more exertion was reported by pit musicians when rehearsing and performing. Stage/pit musicians reported less physical exertion when performing in the pit compared with performing on stage. Severity of MPA was significantly greater in pit musicians than mixed orchestra musicians. Pit musicians also reported more frequent bullying and lower job satisfaction compared with stage musicians. There were few differences in the objective physical measures between musicians in the different orchestra types. However, pit musicians appear more psychologically vulnerable and less satisfied with their work than musicians from the other two orchestra types. The physical and psychological characteristics of musicians who perform in different orchestra types have not been adequately

What musicians do to induce the sensation of groove in simple and complex melodies, and how listeners perceive it

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Guy eMadison

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Groove is the experience of wanting to move when hearing music, such as snapping fingers or tapping feet. This is a central aspect of much music, in particular of music intended for dancing. While previous research has found considerable consistency in ratings of groove across individuals, it remains unclear how groove is induced, that is, what are the physical properties of the acoustic signal that differ between more and less groove-inducing versions. Here, we examined this issue with a performance experiment, in which 4 musicians performed 6 simple and 6 complex melodies in two conditions with the intention of minimizing and maximizing groove. Analyses of rhythmical and temporal properties from the performances demonstrated some general effects. For example, more groove was associated with more notes on faster metrical levels and syncopation, and less groove was associated with deadpan timing and destruction of the regular pulse. We did not observe that deviations from the metrical grid (i.e. micro-timing were a predictor of groove. A listener experiment confirmed that the musicians’ manipulations had the intended effects on the experience of groove. A Brunswikian lens model was applied, which estimates the performer-perceiver communication across the two experiments. It showed that the communication achievement for simple melodies was 0.62, and that the matching of performers’ and listeners’ use of 9 rhythmical cues was 0.83. For complex melodies with an already high level of groove, the corresponding values were 0.39 and 0.34, showing that it was much more difficult to take out groove from musical structures designed to induce groove.

Injection Pharyngoplasty With Autologous Fat as Treatment for Stress Velopharyngeal Insufficiency in Brass and Woodwind Musicians.

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Syamal, Mausumi N; Bryson, Paul C

2017-02-01

Stress velopharyngeal insufficiency (SVPI) is an uncommon but often career-threatening condition affecting professional brass and woodwind musicians. To review the evaluation of and treatment for SVPI in professional musicians with lipoinjection to the posterior pharyngeal wall. A retrospective medical record and literature review. Two professional musicians with SVPI treated with autologous lipoinjection to the posterior pharyngeal wall were included. Nasopharyngoscopy was performed while patients played their instrument both before and after injection. To assess the effectiveness of autologous fat injection to the posterior pharyngeal wall to treat stress velopharyngeal insufficiency in 2 professional instrumentalists. Successful treatment was the absence of VPI during playing as visualized by flexible nasopharyngoscopy. After autologous lipoinjection of the posterior pharyngeal wall, 1 patient resumed full play with complete resolution, now 3 years after lipoinjection pharyngoplasty. The other patient received temporary resolution. Both had no surgical complications. Stress VPI is often a career-threatening condition for professional brass and woodwind musicians, with a cited incidence of 34%. Various treatment options in the literature include observation, speech and language pathology referral for pharyngeal strengthening, lipoinjection of the soft palate, and more invasive options, such as sphincter pharyngoplasty, pharyngeal flaps and V-Y pushback. Autologous fat injection pharyngoplasty of the posterior pharyngeal wall may be a less invasive treatment option for musicians with SVPI.

Clinical assessment of scapular positioning in musicians: an intertester reliability study.

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Struyf, Filip; Nijs, Jo; De Coninck, Kris; Giunta, Marco; Mottram, Sarah; Meeusen, Romain

2009-01-01

The reliability of the measurement of the distance between the posterior border of the acromion and the wall and the reliability of the modified lateral scapular slide test have not been studied. Overall, the reliability of the clinical tools used to assess scapular positioning has not been studied in musicians. To examine the intertester reliability of scapular observation and 2 clinical tests for the assessment of scapular positioning in musicians. Intertester reliability study. University research laboratory. Thirty healthy student musicians at a single university. Two assessors performed a standardized observation protocol, the measurement of the distance between the posterior border of the acromion and the wall, and the modified lateral scapular slide test. Each assessor was blinded to the other's findings. The intertester reliability coefficients (kappa) for the observation in relaxed position, during unloaded movement, and during loaded movement were 0.41, 0.63, and 0.36, respectively. The kappa values for the observation of tilting and winging at rest were 0.48 and 0.42, respectively; during unloaded movement, the kappa values were 0.52 and 0.78, respectively; and with a 1-kg load, the kappa values were 0.24 and 0.50, respectively. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of the measurement of the acromial distance was 0.72 in relaxed position and 0.75 with the participant actively retracting both shoulders. The ICCs for the modified lateral scapular slide test varied between 0.63 and 0.58. Our results demonstrated that the modified lateral scapular slide test was not a reliable tool to assess scapular positioning in these participants. Our data indicated that scapular observation in the relaxed position and during unloaded abduction in the frontal plane was a reliable assessment tool. The reliability of the measurement of the distance between the posterior border of the acromion and the wall in healthy musicians was moderate.

[Questionnaire survey of musician's dystonia among students of a music college].

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Konaka, Kuni; Mochizuki, Hideki

2015-01-01

Musician's dystonia is known as a task specific dystonia. Though it is thought to occur during a long course of repetitive performance, the actual circumstances that precipitate this condition are not clear. According to factual reports this disease is not commonly known, probably because many of these patients may not have been visiting a hospital. We prepared a questionnaire and did a survey among the students of a music college. This is the first questionnaire survey aimed at finding out the prevalence of musician's dystonia among the students of music. Among the 480 participants of this survey, 29% of the students had knowledge of this disorder and 1.25% of the students had dystonia while performing music.

Secrets of virtuoso: neuromuscular attributes of motor virtuosity in expert musicians

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Furuya, Shinichi; Oku, Takanori; Miyazaki, Fumio; Kinoshita, Hiroshi

2015-10-01

Musical performance requires extremely fast and dexterous limb movements. The underlying biological mechanisms have been an object of interest among scientists and non-scientists for centuries. Numerous studies of musicians and non-musicians have demonstrated that neuroplastic adaptations through early and deliberate musical training endowed superior motor skill. However, little has been unveiled about what makes inter-individual differences in motor skills among musicians. Here we determined the attributes of inter-individual differences in the maximum rate of repetitive piano keystrokes in twenty-four pianists. Among various representative factors of neuromuscular functions, anatomical characteristics, and training history, a stepwise multiple regression analysis and generalized linear model identified two predominant predictors of the maximum rate of repetitive piano keystrokes; finger tapping rate and muscular strength of the elbow extensor. These results suggest a non-uniform role of individual limb muscles in the production of extremely fast repetitive multi-joint movements. Neither age of musical training initiation nor the amount of extensive musical training before age twenty was a predictor. Power grip strength was negatively related to the maximum rate of piano keystrokes only during the smallest tone production. These findings highlight the importance of innate biological nature and explicit training for motor virtuosity.

Electrophysiological evidences demonstrating differences in brain functions between nonmusicians and musicians.

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Zhang, Li; Peng, Weiwei; Chen, Jie; Hu, Li

2015-09-04

Long-term music training can improve sensorimotor skills, as playing a musical instrument requires the functional integration of information related to multimodal sensory perception and motor execution. This functional integration often leads to functional reorganization of cerebral cortices, including auditory, visual, and motor areas. Moreover, music appreciation can modulate emotions (e.g., stress relief), and long-term music training can enhance a musician's self-control and self-evaluation ability. Therefore, the neural processing of music can also be related to certain higher brain cognitive functions. However, evidence demonstrating that long-term music training modulates higher brain functions is surprisingly rare. Here, we aimed to comprehensively explore the neural changes induced by long-term music training by assessing the differences of transient and quasi-steady-state auditory-evoked potentials between nonmusicians and musicians. We observed that compared to nonmusicians, musicians have (1) larger high-frequency steady-state responses, which reflect the auditory information processing within the sensory system, and (2) smaller low-frequency vertex potentials, which reflect higher cognitive information processing within the novelty/saliency detection system. Therefore, we speculate that long-term music training facilitates "bottom-up" auditory information processing in the sensory system and enhances "top-down" cognitive inhibition of the novelty/saliency detection system.

Music education and musicians: Expectations, course and outcomes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bogunović Blanka

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Considering the long-term talent development, from the moment of its recognition to the moment when an adult is confronted with the necessity of integration in the professional music and life streams, we wonder whether education satisfies the needs of talents and provides, in the long run, the necessary knowledge and skills. The aim of this research was to investigate: (1 the initial motivation for learning music and expectations from music education; (2 the course of development of young musicians (the degree of self-actualisation, developmental perspectives, evaluation of music education and (3 outcomes of music education and development of the professional career. The sample (N=487 consisted of five subsamples: music kindergarten pupils, students of primary music schools, students of secondary music schools, university students of music and teachers at music schools and universities. The paper analyses psychological, educational and professional aspects of education of musically gifted pupils and students, as well as music teachers in five successive age groups. The results indicate that with an increase in age there is a considerable increase in the variety and scope of expectations and a higher aspiration towards personal, educational and professional lifelong improvement, while, at the same time, there is a considerable decrease in the level of fulfilment of expectations and the level of assessment of self-actualisation. This is indicative of a continuously present feeling of “hidden underachievement” in the group of (relatively successful young musicians and professionals. Analysis of respondents’ answers points out to the existence of still traditional system of music education, which lacks flexibility and innovation and fails to provide a sufficient level of transferable knowledge and skills. The findings point out to a whole cluster of controversies demanding further reconsideration and (redesigning of the curriculum of (high

Seeing Music? What musicians need to know about vision

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Schutz

2008-09-01

Full Text Available Music is inherently an auditory art form, rooted in sound, and generally analyzed in terms of its acoustic properties. However, as the process of hearing is affected by seeing, visual information does in fact play an important role in the musical experience. Vision influences many aspects of music – from evaluations of performance quality and audience interest to the perception of loudness, timbre, and note duration. Moreover, it can be used to achieve musical goals that are in fact acoustically impossible. As such, understanding the benefits of embracing (and the costs of ignoring vision’s role is essential for all musicians. Furthermore, since music represents a pervasive and ubiquitous human practice, this topic serves as an ideal case study for understanding how auditory and visual information are integrated. Given that some musically-based studies have challenged and even contributed to updating psychological theories of sensory integration, this topic represents a rich area of research, relevant to musicians and psychologists alike.

Perception of orchestral musicians about work environment and conditions

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Clarissa Stefani Teixeira

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to investigate the perception of 11 orchestral string (viola and violin musicians of both genders with respect to their work environment and conditions. We applied a questionnaire with demographic information and the scale Profile of Work Environment and Working Conditions by Nahas et al. (2009, which analyzes the following components: physical environment, social environment, development and professional achievement, salary and benefits, and social relevance. The social environment component presented the highest score - 8.00 (1.50 points, followed by professional achievement - 7.11 (1.96 points, and physical environment - 6.89 (0.93 points. The salary and benefits provided by the orchestra presented the lowest score - 6.78 (1.56 points. In general, the musicians showed positive perceptions of the components related to work environment and working conditions. However, remuneration and social relevance are work bases that could contribute to improve the working conditions of these professionals.

A motion capture study to measure the feeling of synchrony in romantic couples and in professional musicians

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Delphine Preissmann

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The feeling of synchrony is fundamental for most social activities and prosocial behaviors. However, little is known about the behavioral correlates of this feeling and its modulation by intergroup differences. We previously showed that the subjective feeling of synchrony in subjects involved in a mirror imitation task was modulated by objective behavioral measures, as well as contextual factors such as task difficulty and duration of the task performance. In the present study, we extended our methodology to investigate possible interindividual differences. We hypothesized that being in a romantic relationship or being a professional musician can modulate both implicit and explicit synchronisation and the feeling of synchrony as well as the ability to detect synchrony from a third person perspective. Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not find significant differences between people in a romantic relationship and control subjects. However, we observed differences between musicians and control subjects. For the implicit synchrony (spontaneous synchronization during walking, the results revealed that musicians that had never met before spontaneously synchronized their movements earlier among themselves than control subjects, but not better than people sharing a romantic relationship. Moreover, in explicit behavioral synchronisation tasks (mirror game, musicians reported earlier feeling of synchrony and had less speed errors than control subjects. This was in interaction with tasks difficulty as these differences appeared only in tasks with intermediate difficulty. Finally, when subjects had to judge synchrony from a third person perspective, musicians had a better performance to identify if they were present or not in the videos. Taken together, our results suggest that being a professional musician can play a role in the feeling of synchrony and its underlying mechanisms.

The influence of linguistic and musical experience on Cantonese word learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Angela; Wang, Yue

2012-06-01

Adult non-native speech perception is subject to influence from multiple factors, including linguistic and extralinguistic experience such as musical training. The present research examines how linguistic and musical factors influence non-native word identification and lexical tone perception. Groups of native tone language (Thai) and non-tone language listeners (English), each subdivided into musician and non-musician groups, engaged in Cantonese tone word training. Participants learned to identify words minimally distinguished by five Cantonese tones during training, also completing musical aptitude and phonemic tone identification tasks. First, the findings suggest that either musical experience or a tone language background leads to significantly better non-native word learning proficiency, as compared to those with neither musical training nor tone language experience. Moreover, the combination of tone language and musical experience did not provide an additional advantage for Thai musicians above and beyond either experience alone. Musicianship was found to be more advantageous than a tone language background for tone identification. Finally, tone identification and musical aptitude scores were significantly correlated with word learning success for English but not Thai listeners. These findings point to a dynamic influence of musical and linguistic experience, both at the tone dentification level and at the word learning stage.

Effects of musicality and motivational orientation on auditory category learning: a test of a regulatory-fit hypothesis.

Science.gov (United States)

McAuley, J Devin; Henry, Molly J; Wedd, Alan; Pleskac, Timothy J; Cesario, Joseph

2012-02-01

Two experiments investigated the effects of musicality and motivational orientation on auditory category learning. In both experiments, participants learned to classify tone stimuli that varied in frequency and duration according to an initially unknown disjunctive rule; feedback involved gaining points for correct responses (a gains reward structure) or losing points for incorrect responses (a losses reward structure). For Experiment 1, participants were told at the start that musicians typically outperform nonmusicians on the task, and then they were asked to identify themselves as either a "musician" or a "nonmusician." For Experiment 2, participants were given either a promotion focus prime (a performance-based opportunity to gain entry into a raffle) or a prevention focus prime (a performance-based criterion that needed to be maintained to avoid losing an entry into a raffle) at the start of the experiment. Consistent with a regulatory-fit hypothesis, self-identified musicians and promotion-primed participants given a gains reward structure made more correct tone classifications and were more likely to discover the optimal disjunctive rule than were musicians and promotion-primed participants experiencing losses. Reward structure (gains vs. losses) had inconsistent effects on the performance of nonmusicians, and a weaker regulatory-fit effect was found for the prevention focus prime. Overall, the findings from this study demonstrate a regulatory-fit effect in the domain of auditory category learning and show that motivational orientation may contribute to musician performance advantages in auditory perception.

Differential parietal and temporal contributions to music perception in improvising and score-dependent musicians, an fMRI study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Robert Harris; Bauke M. de Jong

2015-01-01

Using fMRI, cerebral activations were studied in 24 classically-trained keyboard performers and 12 musically unskilled control subjects. Two groups of musicians were recruited: improvising (n=12) and score-dependent (non-improvising) musicians (n=12). While listening to both familiar and unfamiliar

The Influence of a Sudden Increase in Playing Time on Playing-Related Musculoskeletal Complaints in High-Level Amateur Musicians in a Longitudinal Cohort Study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kok, Laura M; Haitjema, Saskia; Groenewegen, Karlijn A; Rietveld, A Boni M

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: Several studies in the domain of professional musicians describe the relation between playing time and the occurrence of musculoskeletal complaints in professional musicians. To date, no longitudinal cohort study into this relationship has been performed and no amateur musicians were

Descriptions of Improvisational Thinking by Artist-Level Jazz Musicians

Science.gov (United States)

Norgaard, Martin

2011-01-01

Thought processes of seven artist-level jazz musicians, each of whom recorded an improvised solo, were investigated. Immediately after completing their improvisations, participants listened to recordings of their playing and looked at the notation of their solos as they described in a directed interview the thinking processes that led to the…

A Motion Capture Study to Measure the Feeling of Synchrony in Romantic Couples and in Professional Musicians

KAUST Repository

Preissmann, Delphine

2016-10-27

The feeling of synchrony is fundamental for most social activities and prosocial behaviors. However, little is known about the behavioral correlates of this feeling and its modulation by intergroup differences. We previously showed that the subjective feeling of synchrony in subjects involved in a mirror imitation task was modulated by objective behavioral measures, as well as contextual factors such as task difficulty and duration of the task performance. In the present study, we extended our methodology to investigate possible interindividual differences. We hypothesized that being in a romantic relationship or being a professional musician can modulate both implicit and explicit synchronization and the feeling of synchrony as well as the ability to detect synchrony from a third person perspective. Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not find significant differences between people in a romantic relationship and control subjects. However, we observed differences between musicians and control subjects. For the implicit synchrony (spontaneous synchronization during walking), the results revealed that musicians that had never met before spontaneously synchronized their movements earlier among themselves than control subjects, but not better than people sharing a romantic relationship. Moreover, in explicit behavioral synchronization tasks (mirror game), musicians reported earlier feeling of synchrony and had less speed errors than control subjects. This was in interaction with tasks difficulty as these differences appeared only in tasks with intermediate difficulty. Finally, when subjects had to judge synchrony from a third person perspective, musicians had a better performance to identify if they were present or not in the videos. Taken together, our results suggest that being a professional musician can play a role in the feeling of synchrony and its underlying mechanisms. © 2016 Preissmann, Charbonnier, Chagué, Antonietti, Llobera, Ansermet and Magistretti.

Temporal interaction between an artificial orchestra conductor and human musicians

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reidsma, Dennis; Nijholt, Antinus; Bos, Pieter

2008-01-01

The Virtual Conductor project concerns the development of the first properly interactive virtual orchestra conductor—a Virtual Human that can conduct a piece of music through interaction with musicians, leading and following them while they are playing. This article describes our motivation for

The Role of Personality in Musicians' Information Seeking for Creativity

Science.gov (United States)

Kostagiolas, Petros; Lavranos, Charilaos; Martzoukou, Konstantina; Papadatos, Joseph

2017-01-01

Introduction: This paper explores the relationship between musicians' information seeking behaviour and their personality traits within the context of musical creativity. Although previous research has addressed different socio-technological and behavioral aspects of music information seeking, the role of personality characteristics around…

Tone Language Speakers and Musicians Share Enhanced Perceptual and Cognitive Abilities for Musical Pitch: Evidence for Bidirectionality between the Domains of Language and Music

Science.gov (United States)

Bidelman, Gavin M.; Hutka, Stefanie; Moreno, Sylvain

2013-01-01

Psychophysiological evidence suggests that music and language are intimately coupled such that experience/training in one domain can influence processing required in the other domain. While the influence of music on language processing is now well-documented, evidence of language-to-music effects have yet to be firmly established. Here, using a cross-sectional design, we compared the performance of musicians to that of tone-language (Cantonese) speakers on tasks of auditory pitch acuity, music perception, and general cognitive ability (e.g., fluid intelligence, working memory). While musicians demonstrated superior performance on all auditory measures, comparable perceptual enhancements were observed for Cantonese participants, relative to English-speaking nonmusicians. These results provide evidence that tone-language background is associated with higher auditory perceptual performance for music listening. Musicians and Cantonese speakers also showed superior working memory capacity relative to nonmusician controls, suggesting that in addition to basic perceptual enhancements, tone-language background and music training might also be associated with enhanced general cognitive abilities. Our findings support the notion that tone language speakers and musically trained individuals have higher performance than English-speaking listeners for the perceptual-cognitive processing necessary for basic auditory as well as complex music perception. These results illustrate bidirectional influences between the domains of music and language. PMID:23565267

Tone language speakers and musicians share enhanced perceptual and cognitive abilities for musical pitch: evidence for bidirectionality between the domains of language and music.

Science.gov (United States)

Bidelman, Gavin M; Hutka, Stefanie; Moreno, Sylvain

2013-01-01

Psychophysiological evidence suggests that music and language are intimately coupled such that experience/training in one domain can influence processing required in the other domain. While the influence of music on language processing is now well-documented, evidence of language-to-music effects have yet to be firmly established. Here, using a cross-sectional design, we compared the performance of musicians to that of tone-language (Cantonese) speakers on tasks of auditory pitch acuity, music perception, and general cognitive ability (e.g., fluid intelligence, working memory). While musicians demonstrated superior performance on all auditory measures, comparable perceptual enhancements were observed for Cantonese participants, relative to English-speaking nonmusicians. These results provide evidence that tone-language background is associated with higher auditory perceptual performance for music listening. Musicians and Cantonese speakers also showed superior working memory capacity relative to nonmusician controls, suggesting that in addition to basic perceptual enhancements, tone-language background and music training might also be associated with enhanced general cognitive abilities. Our findings support the notion that tone language speakers and musically trained individuals have higher performance than English-speaking listeners for the perceptual-cognitive processing necessary for basic auditory as well as complex music perception. These results illustrate bidirectional influences between the domains of music and language.

Tone language speakers and musicians share enhanced perceptual and cognitive abilities for musical pitch: evidence for bidirectionality between the domains of language and music.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gavin M Bidelman

Full Text Available Psychophysiological evidence suggests that music and language are intimately coupled such that experience/training in one domain can influence processing required in the other domain. While the influence of music on language processing is now well-documented, evidence of language-to-music effects have yet to be firmly established. Here, using a cross-sectional design, we compared the performance of musicians to that of tone-language (Cantonese speakers on tasks of auditory pitch acuity, music perception, and general cognitive ability (e.g., fluid intelligence, working memory. While musicians demonstrated superior performance on all auditory measures, comparable perceptual enhancements were observed for Cantonese participants, relative to English-speaking nonmusicians. These results provide evidence that tone-language background is associated with higher auditory perceptual performance for music listening. Musicians and Cantonese speakers also showed superior working memory capacity relative to nonmusician controls, suggesting that in addition to basic perceptual enhancements, tone-language background and music training might also be associated with enhanced general cognitive abilities. Our findings support the notion that tone language speakers and musically trained individuals have higher performance than English-speaking listeners for the perceptual-cognitive processing necessary for basic auditory as well as complex music perception. These results illustrate bidirectional influences between the domains of music and language.

Noise exposure levels for musicians during rehearsal and performance times.

Science.gov (United States)

McIlvaine, Devon; Stewart, Michael; Anderson, Robert

2012-03-01

The purpose of this study was to determine daily noise doses and 8-hour time weighted averages for rock band musicians, crew members, and spectators during a typical rehearsal and performance using both Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) measurement criteria. Personal noise dosimetry was completed on five members of a rock band during one 2-hr rehearsal and one 4-hr performance. Time-weighted averages (TWA) and daily dose values were calculated using both OSHA and NIOSH criteria and compared to industry guidelines for enrollment in hearing conservation programs and the use of hearing protection devices. TWA values ranged from 84.3 to 90.4 dBA (OSHA) and from 90.0 to 96.4 dBA (NIOSH) during the rehearsal. The same values ranged from 91.0 to 99.7 dBA (OSHA) and 94.0 to 102.8 dBA (NIOSH) for the performance. During the rehearsal, daily noise doses ranged from 45.54% to 106.7% (OSHA) and from 317.74% to 1396.07% (NIOSH). During the performance, doses ranged from 114.66% to 382.49% (OSHA) and from 793.31% to 5970.15% (NIOSH). The musicians in this study were exposed to dangerously high levels of noise and should be enrolled in a hearing conservation programs. Hearing protection devices should be worn, especially during performances. The OSHA measurement criteria yielded values significantly more conservative than those produced by NIOSH criteria. Audiologists should counsel musician-patients about the hazards of excessive noise (music) exposure and how to protect their hearing.

Virtual Reality Exposure Training for Musicians: Its Effect on Performance Anxiety and Quality.

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Bissonnette, Josiane; Dubé, Francis; Provencher, Martin D; Moreno Sala, Maria T

2015-09-01

Music performance anxiety affects numerous musicians, with many of them reporting impairment of performance due to this problem. This exploratory study investigated the effects of virtual reality exposure training on students with music performance anxiety. Seventeen music students were randomly assigned to a control group (n=8) or a virtual training group (n=9). Participants were asked to play a musical piece by memory in two separate recitals within a 3-week interval. Anxiety was then measured with the Personal Report of Confidence as a Performer Scale and the S-Anxiety scale from the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y). Between pre- and post-tests, the virtual training group took part in virtual reality exposure training consisting of six 1-hour long sessions of virtual exposure. The results indicate a significant decrease in performance anxiety for musicians in the treatment group for those with a high level of state anxiety, for those with a high level of trait anxiety, for women, and for musicians with high immersive tendencies. Finally, between the pre- and post-tests, we observed a significant increase in performance quality for the experimental group, but not for the control group.

Increased gray matter volume of left pars opercularis in male orchestral musicians correlate positively with years of musical performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdul-Kareem, Ihssan A; Stancak, Andrej; Parkes, Laura M; Sluming, Vanessa

2011-01-01

To compare manual volumetry of gray matter (GM) / white matter (WM) of Broca's area subparts: pars opercularis (POP) and pars triangularis (PTR) in both hemispheres between musicians and nonmusician, as it has been shown that these regions are crucial for musical abilities. A previous voxel-based morphometric (VBM) study conducted in our laboratory reported increased GM density in Broca's area of left hemisphere in male orchestral musicians. Functional segregation of POP/PTR justified separate volumetric analysis of these parts. We used the same cohort for the VBM study. Manual morphometry (stereology) was used to compare volumes between 26/26 right-handed orchestral musicians/nonmusicians. As expected, musicians showed significantly increased GM volume in the Broca's area, specifically in the left POP. No significant results were detected in right POP, left/right PTR GM volumes, and WM volumes for all regions. Results were positively correlated with years of musical performance (r = 0.7, P = 0.0001). This result corroborates the VBM study and is in line with the hypothesis of critical involvement of POP in hearing-action integration being an integral component of frontoparietotemporal mirror neuron network. We hypothesize that increased size of musicians' left POP represent use-dependent structural adaptation in response to intensive audiomotor skill acquisition. Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

General Health Status, Music Performance Anxiety, and Coping Methods of Musicians Working in Turkish State Symphony Orchestras: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Topoğlu, Onur; Karagülle, Derya; Keskin, Tuba U; Abacigil, Filiz; Okyay, Pinar

2018-06-01

This study assessed the general health, music performance anxiety (MPA), and coping methods of musicians working in six state orchestras in Turkey. All musicians working in the state symphony orchestras (n=384) were invited to participate in the study. In face-to-face interviews, the authors administered a questionnaire, which consisted of five sections: sociodemographic information, history of musical performance, health status, general health questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12), and MPA scale. Mann-Whitney U-test, Student's t-test, and Spearman's correlation test were used to analyze the questionnaire data. The 220 musicians who participated included 121 (55%) males and 99 (45%) females, with a mean age of 42.4±11.3 yrs. For musculoskeletal symptoms, 87.6% reported at least one symptom with the most common being pain. For general health status, the GHQ-12 showed 64% of musicians were at low risk, 18.7% at moderate risk, and 17.3% at high risk in terms of mental health. The prevalence of MPA before or during performance was 81.8%, and 60% of musicians stated that performance anxiety negatively affected their performances. Results indicate that musicians working in Turkish state symphony orchestras encounter numerous health problems (tinnitus, hearing loss, musculoskeletal symptoms, etc.) due to their profession. No specific health support is provided, especially education and health service provision.

A new generative complexity science of learning for a complex pedagogy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jörg, T.

2007-01-01

Proposal for the SIG Chaos and Complexity Theories at AERA 2007 Title: A New Generative Complexity Science of Learning for a Complex Pedagogy Ton Jörg IVLOS Institute of Education University of Utrecht The Netherlands A.G.D.Jorg@ivlos.uu.nl Introduction My paper focuses on the link between thinking

The occurrence of musculoskeletal complaints among professional musicians : a systematic review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kok, Laura M.; Huisstede, Bionka M A; Voorn, Veronique M A; Schoones, Jan W.; Nelissen, Rob G H H

2016-01-01

Purpose: This study gives a systematic overview of the literature on the occurrence of musculoskeletal complaints in professional instrumental musicians. Methods: A systematic review. Nine literature databases were searched without time limits on June 25, 2015, also the complete index of the journal

Community of Learning: Music Learning and Performance Practices among the Native Peoples of North America

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Burton, J. Bryan

2010-01-01

Through descriptions drawn from interviews of Native American musicians and observations of tribal musical events, this paper presents a challenge to the "conservative educational practices" in public schools of the United States. In conclusion, the paper suggests that by more closely examining different cultural learning, values and traditions,…

Learning from Evidence in a Complex World

Science.gov (United States)

Sterman, John D.

2006-01-01

Policies to promote public health and welfare often fail or worsen the problems they are intended to solve. Evidence-based learning should prevent such policy resistance, but learning in complex systems is often weak and slow. Complexity hinders our ability to discover the delayed and distal impacts of interventions, generating unintended “side effects.” Yet learning often fails even when strong evidence is available: common mental models lead to erroneous but self-confirming inferences, allowing harmful beliefs and behaviors to persist and undermining implementation of beneficial policies. Here I show how systems thinking and simulation modeling can help expand the boundaries of our mental models, enhance our ability to generate and learn from evidence, and catalyze effective change in public health and beyond. PMID:16449579

Hearing ability in Danish symphony orchestra musicians

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Obeling, Lise; Poulsen, Torben

1999-01-01

audiograms showed no signs of hearing loss. The audiograms were also compared to the expected audiograms from ISO 1999, which takes account of the number of years at work, the number of playing hours per week, and the average sound level in the orchestra for the instrument group. In almost all cases......The audiograms of fifty-seven musicians from four Danish symphony orchestras were determined in connection with an interview about their working experience. Measurements of sound levels and noise dose were performed during rehearsal and during concerts in the four orchestras with the measuring...

Hearing Health in College Instrumental Musicians and Prevention of Hearing Loss.

Science.gov (United States)

Olson, Anna D; Gooding, Lori F; Shikoh, Fara; Graf, Julie

2016-03-01

College musicians exhibit greater declines in hearing than the general population and are at particular risk because they rehearse and perform daily in loud environments. Also, they engage in use of personal listening devices which increases the amount of "exposure" time. Despite increased risk, many do not use hearing protection devices (HPD). The purpose of this study was to (1) to identify the present level of education about hearing health, (2) identify the perceived advantages and disadvantages of using HPD, and (3) evaluate results among different musical instrument groups. A mixed-methods group design was used including both quantitative and qualitative instruments. SPSS was used to generate descriptive statistics, and non-parametric statistical analysis was performed on quantitative data. NVivo software was used to evaluate qualitative responses. Of the 90 college instrumental music students who participated, 12% reported a history of hearing loss, and over one-third reported tinnitus. Seventy-seven percent of participants had never received any training about hearing health and only a small percentage of students used HPD. The most cited reason for lack of protection use was its negative impact on sound quality. However, group differences were noted between brass, woodwind, and percussion musicians in terms of HPD uptake. Improving the type of information disseminated to college musicians may reduce the risk of ear-related deficits. Noise dosage information, HPD information, and prevention education grounded in theories like the Health Belief Model may increase awareness and promote greater use of HPDs in this population.

Preference of reverberation time for musicians and audience of the Javanese traditional gamelan music

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Suyatno; Tjokronegoro, H. A.; Merthayasa, I. G. N.; Supanggah, R.

2016-11-01

This paper presents results of an investigation of room acoustic parameters those are appropriated particularly to perform a Javanese gamelan. The acoustic parameters were obtained by analysing simulated sounds of performance. Those simulated sounds were obtained by sound convolution technique of a dry sound signal of Javanese gamelan performance with impulse responses rooms whose appropriated reverberation time. The reverberation time were varied between 1.0s to 1.8s, those belong to the characteristic of Pendopo Mangkunegaran Surakarta. In this case, Pendopo Mangkunegaran is assumed as one of the most suitable concert halls for Javanese gamelan performance. To obtain the acoustic parameters, we used a psycho-acoustics measurement based on paired comparison test that having different of acoustic parameters to determine the most comfortable one to majority of respondents. The respondents who have participated in this research composed of a group of professional musicians of Javanese gamelan and groups of audience who are not musician, nevertheless part of them were familiar with Javanese gamelan music. The comparison test gave results and showed majority of respondents of group of musicians had a notion sound reverberation time of 1.2s was most comfortable. This corresponds to +6.2dB, clarity and 74% definition. It means the appropriate acoustic condition allows musicians to recognize and distinguish clearly sound of each instrument being played. Meanwhile, group of audience had a notion reverberation time in a range of 1.2s - 1.6s was most comfortable. This range of reverberation time corresponds to +4dB to +6.2dB of clarity, and 66% to 74% of definition.

Learning through Teaching: Exploring What Conservatoire Students Learn from Teaching Beginner Older Adults

Science.gov (United States)

Perkins, Rosie; Aufegger, Lisa; Williamon, Aaron

2015-01-01

Music is increasingly recognised as important in facilitating healthy ageing, yet little is known of what musicians themselves learn when they teach older adults. This article reports the practices of the "Rhythm for Life" project at the Royal College of Music in the UK, in which conservatoire students taught 10-week programmes of group…

Enhanced Passive and Active Processing of Syllables in Musician Children

Science.gov (United States)

Chobert, Julie; Marie, Celine; Francois, Clement; Schon, Daniele; Besson, Mireille

2011-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of musical expertise in 9-year-old children on passive (as reflected by MMN) and active (as reflected by discrimination accuracy) processing of speech sounds. Musician and nonmusician children were presented with a sequence of syllables that included standards and deviants in vowel frequency,…

Inter-individual differences in audio-motor learning of piano melodies and white matter fiber tract architecture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Engel, Annerose; Hijmans, Brenda S.; Cerliani, Leonardo; Bangert, Marc; Nanetti, Luca; Keller, Peter E.; Keysers, Christian

Humans vary substantially in their ability to learn new motor skills. Here, we examined inter-individual differences in learning to play the piano, with the goal of identifying relations to structural properties of white matter fiber tracts relevant to audio-motor learning. Non-musicians (n = 18)

Lifelong Learning and Healthy Ageing : The Significance of Music as an Agent of Change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smilde, Rineke; Bisschop Boele, Evert

2016-01-01

This chapter gives an overview on the Healthy Ageing research portfolio of the research group Lifelong Learning in Music (Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, the Netherlands). Lifelong learning enables musicians to respond to the continuously changing context in which they are working

Guiding Music Students during Workshop-Based On-the-Job Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Virkkula, Esa; Kunwar, Jagat Bahadur

2017-01-01

This article explains the realisation and impact of tutoring on learning through a new kind of on-the-job learning method in workshops led by professional musicians. The research is a qualitative case study involving 62 upper secondary Finnish vocational music students who participated in 11 workshops. The research data consist of (a) workshop…

Perception of orchestral musicians about work environment and conditions

OpenAIRE

Clarissa Stefani Teixeira; Fausto Kothe; Luis Felipe Dias Lopes; Érico Felden Pereira

2014-01-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the perception of 11 orchestral string (viola and violin) musicians of both genders with respect to their work environment and conditions. We applied a questionnaire with demographic information and the scale Profile of Work Environment and Working Conditions by Nahas et al. (2009), which analyzes the following components: physical environment, social environment, development and professional achievement, salary and benefits, and social relev...

Working on a Dream: Careers of Pop Musicians in the Netherlands

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zwaan, A.J.

2009-01-01

The studies presented in this dissertation are concerned with the question why a musician’s career can become a failure or a success. The central research question within this thesis is: What are the determinants of career success for Dutch pop musicians? The first study presents findings from a

Effects of Baton Usage on College Musicians' Perceptions of Ensemble Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Silvey, Brian A.; Wacker, Aaron T.; Felder, Logan

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of baton usage on college musicians' perceptions of ensemble performance. Two conductors were videotaped while conducting a 1-minute excerpt from either a technical ("Pathfinder of Panama," John Philip Sousa) or lyrical ("Seal Lullaby," Eric Whitacre) piece of concert…

Ethnopedagogy: Culturally Contextualised Learning and Teaching as an Agent of Change

Science.gov (United States)

Dunbar-Hall, Peter

2009-01-01

Lucy Green's latest book, "Music, Informal Learning and the School: A New Classroom Pedagogy" (Green, 2008) posits that the learning taking place among popular musicians, developed out of a need to create and perform pieces of music, and found "everywhere in everyday life" rather than in the formalised settings of the majority…

Differential processing of melodic, rhythmic and simple tone deviations in musicians--an MEG study.

Science.gov (United States)

Lappe, Claudia; Lappe, Markus; Pantev, Christo

2016-01-01

Rhythm and melody are two basic characteristics of music. Performing musicians have to pay attention to both, and avoid errors in either aspect of their performance. To investigate the neural processes involved in detecting melodic and rhythmic errors from auditory input we tested musicians on both kinds of deviations in a mismatch negativity (MMN) design. We found that MMN responses to a rhythmic deviation occurred at shorter latencies than MMN responses to a melodic deviation. Beamformer source analysis showed that the melodic deviation activated superior temporal, inferior frontal and superior frontal areas whereas the activation pattern of the rhythmic deviation focused more strongly on inferior and superior parietal areas, in addition to superior temporal cortex. Activation in the supplementary motor area occurred for both types of deviations. We also recorded responses to similar pitch and tempo deviations in a simple, non-musical repetitive tone pattern. In this case, there was no latency difference between the MMNs and cortical activation was smaller and mostly limited to auditory cortex. The results suggest that prediction and error detection of musical stimuli in trained musicians involve a broad cortical network and that rhythmic and melodic errors are processed in partially different cortical streams. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Surround inhibition in the primary motor cortex is task-specifically modulated in non-professional musicians but not in healthy controls during real piano playing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Márquez, Gonzalo; Keller, Martin; Lundbye-Jensen, Jesper

2018-01-01

participants. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied to the contralateral motor cortex to assess SI in the first dorsal interosseous (FDI), abductor pollicis brevis (APB) and abductor digiti minimi (ADM) during the movement preparation and the late phasic phases. The results reveal stronger SI...... that long-term training as observed in skilled musicians is accompanied by task-specific effects on SI modulation potentially relating to the ability to perform selective and complex finger movements....

Change and the Challenges of Lifelong Learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smilde, Rineke; Bennett, D.

2012-01-01

Professional musicians and music educators are faced with a lot of change in the profession, which in the end reflects change in society. This creates a huge challenge for institutions training future music performers and educators. In the Netherlands the research group Lifelong Learning in Music

Complexity Theory and CALL Curriculum in Foreign Language Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hassan Soleimani

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Complexity theory literally indicates the complexity of a system, behavior, or a process. Its connotative meaning, while, implies dynamism, openness, sensitivity to initial conditions and feedback, and adaptation properties of a system. Regarding English as a Foreign/ Second Language (EFL/ESL this theory emphasizes on the complexity of the process of teaching and learning, including all the properties of a complex system. The purpose of the current study is to discuss the role of CALL as a modern technology in simplifying the process of teaching and learning a new language while integrating into the complexity theory. Nonetheless, the findings obtained from reviewing previously conducted studies in this field confirmed the usefulness of CALL curriculum in EFL/ESL contexts. These findings can also provide pedagogical implications for employing computer as an effective teaching and learning tool.

Context effects on pitch perception in musicians and nonmusicians

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brattico, E; Naatanen, R; Tervaniemi, M

2001-01-01

concentrating on reading a book, were presented with sound stimuli that had an infrequent (p = 15 %) pitch shift of 144 Hz. In the familiar condition, the infrequent third-position deviant changed the mode (major vs. minor) of the five-tone pattern. In the unfamiliar condition, patterns were formed from five...... to sequential structured sound events, the auditory system reacts faster in musicians than in nonmusicians. Received December 8, 1999, accepted July 14, 2001....

Musicians Crossing Musical Instrument Gender Stereotypes: A Study of Computer-Mediated Communication

Science.gov (United States)

Abeles, Harold F.; Hafeli, Mary; Sears, Colleen

2014-01-01

This study examined computer-mediated communication (CMC) -- blogs and responses to YouTube postings -- to better understand how CMCs reflect adolescents' attitudes towards musicians playing instruments that cross gender stereotypes. Employing purposive sampling, we used specific search terms, such as "girl drummer", to identify a…

Psychosocial work aspects, stress and musculoskeletal pain among musicians. A systematic review in search of correlates and predictors of playing-related pain.

Science.gov (United States)

Jacukowicz, Aleksandra

2016-06-16

Musicians face numerous psychosocial and physical demands at work resulting in high prevalence of musculoskeletal problems. Unlike physical risks, little is known about psychosocial work factors influencing such health problems in this particular group. The paper aimed to identify psychosocial work demands resulting in musculoskeletal problems among musicians. A systematic review was undertaken to find data linking psychosocial work demands or stress with musculoskeletal disorders among musicians. The exploration of databases resulted in nine research studies linking psychosocial aspects of work or stress with musculoskeletal problems among musicians. The analyzed studies linked psychosocial aspects with musculoskeletal problems in three ways - showing proportions of people indicating particular causes of pain, indicating correlations between these variables or performing regression analysis showing psychosocial predictors of musculoskeletal pain. Only a few studies have undertaken the issue of psychosocial risk factors for musculoskeletal problems among musicians. The results revealed that some psychosocial aspects of work, e.g. long hours at work, work content, high job demands, low control/influence, lack of social support, were related to musculoskeletal pain, however, the methods and results were inconsistent. The extant studies employed variety of definitions of psychosocial aspects that hindered the possibility for consistent conclusions. Basing on those conclusions, future directions were offered.

Is there addiction to loud music? Findings in a group of non-professional pop/rock musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmuziger, Nicolas; Patscheke, Jochen; Stieglitz, Rolf; Probst, Rudolf

2012-01-09

Listening to loud music may be connected to addictive behavior possibly leading to damaging effects on the cochlea. We hypothesized that members of non-professional pop/rock bands with regular exposure to loud music are more likely to show an addictive-like behavior for loud music than matched control subjects. Fifty non-professional musicians and 50 matched control subjects were asked to complete the Northeastern Music Listening Survey (NEMLS) with two basic components. The first comprises an adaptation of the validated Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST) to study the addictive-like behavior towards loud music. The second comprises the criteria outlined by the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Society for the diagnosis of substance dependence. The NEMLS was scored using the same point system as used in the MAST. The DSM-IV criteria for substance dependence were met by nine of the musician group and by one control subject. Seven of these nine musicians also had a positive NEMLS score. Traits of addictive-like behavior to loud music were detected more often in members of nonprofessional pop/rock bands than in control subjects.

Is there addiction to loud music? Findings in a group of non-professional pop/rock musicians

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicolas Schmuziger

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Listening to loud music may be connected to addictive behavior possibly leading to damaging effects on the cochlea. We hypothesized that members of non-professional pop/rock bands with regular exposure to loud music are more likely to show an addictive-like behavior for loud music than matched control subjects. Fifty non-professional musicians and 50 matched control subjects were asked to complete the Northeastern Music Listening Survey (NEMLS with two basic components. The first comprises an adaptation of the validated Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST to study the addictive-like behavior towards loud music. The second comprises the criteria outlined by the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV of the American Psychiatric Society for the diagnosis of substance dependence. The NEMLS was scored using the same point system as used in the MAST. The DSM-IV criteria for substance dependence were met by nine of the musician group and by one control subject. Seven of these nine musicians also had a positive NEMLS score. Traits of addictive-like behavior to loud music were detected more often in members of nonprofessional pop/rock bands than in control subjects.

The Effect of Tactile Cues on Auditory Stream Segregation Ability of Musicians and Nonmusicians

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Slater, Kyle D.; Marozeau, Jeremy

2016-01-01

Difficulty perceiving music is often cited as one of the main problems facing hearing-impaired listeners. It has been suggested that musical enjoyment could be enhanced if sound information absent due to impairment is transmitted via other sensory modalities such as vision or touch. In this study...... the random melody. Tactile cues were applied to the listener’s fingers on half of the blocks. Results showed that tactile cues can significantly improve the melodic segregation ability in both musician and nonmusician groups in challenging listening conditions. Overall, the musician group performance...... was always better; however, the magnitude of improvement with the introduction of tactile cues was similar in both groups. This study suggests that hearing-impaired listeners could potentially benefit from a system transmitting such information via a tactile modality...

SOCIAL COMPLEXITY AND LEARNING FORAGING TASKS IN BEES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

AMAYA-MÁRQUEZ MARISOL

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Social complexity and models concerning central place foraging were tested with respect to learning predictions using the social honey bee (Apis mellifera and solitary blue orchard bee (Osmia lignaria when given foraging problems. Both species were presented the same foraging problems, where 1 only reward molarity varied between flower morphs, and 2 only reward volume varied between flower morphs. Experiments utilized blue vs. white flower patches to standardize rewards in each experimental situation. Although honey bees learned faster than blue orchard bees when given a molarity difference reward problem, there was no significant difference in learning rate when presented a volume difference reward problem. Further, the rate at which blue orchard bees learned the volume difference problem was not significantly different from that with which honey bees learned about reward molarity differences. The results do not support the predictions of the social complexity theory, but do support those of the central place model

Student Musicians' Ear-Playing Ability as a Function of Vernacular Music Experiences

Science.gov (United States)

Woody, Robert H.; Lehmann, Andreas C.

2010-01-01

This study explored the differences in ear-playing ability between formal "classical" musicians and those with vernacular music experience (N = 24). Participants heard melodies and performed them back, either by singing or playing on their instruments. The authors tracked the number of times through the listen-then-perform cycle that each…

Musicians' Memory for Verbal and Tonal Materials under Conditions of Irrelevant Sound

Science.gov (United States)

Williamson, Victoria J.; Mitchell, Tom; Hitch, Graham J.; Baddeley, Alan D.

2010-01-01

Studying short-term memory within the framework of the working memory model and its associated paradigms (Baddeley, 2000; Baddeley & Hitch, 1974) offers the chance to compare similarities and differences between the way that verbal and tonal materials are processed. This study examined amateur musicians' short-term memory using a newly adapted…

Kinetic characteristics of the gait of a musician carrying or not his instrument

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos Bolli Mota

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The integrity of the locomotor system can be compromised by the transport of certain objects, especially when done in an inadequate manner. Due to their weight and size, the transport of musical instruments can contribute to body dysfunctions in musicians who frequently have to carry their instruments, influencing balance andbody posture. Thus, the soil reaction force was investigated during the gait of a musician carrying or not his instrument. Two AMTI (Advanced Mechanical Technologies, Inc. platforms were used for kinetic data acquisition. A total of 40 measurements were obtainedfor gait and balance: 20 without carrying the instrument and 20 while carrying the instrument. The t test showed significant differences between the two situations for all variables analyzed. The results suggest that the locomotor system suffers alterationswhen carrying any kind of load, as was the case here in which the subject carried 7.75% of his own weight.

Conceptualizing Debates in Learning and Educational Research: Toward a Complex Systems Conceptual Framework of Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Jacobson, Michael J.; Kapur, Manu; Reimann, Peter

2016-01-01

This article proposes a conceptual framework of learning based on perspectives and methodologies being employed in the study of complex physical and social systems to inform educational research. We argue that the contexts in which learning occurs are complex systems with elements or agents at different levels--including neuronal, cognitive,…

Bounds on the sample complexity for private learning and private data release

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kasiviswanathan, Shiva [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Beime, Amos [BEN-GURION UNIV.; Nissim, Kobbi [BEN-GURION UNIV.

2009-01-01

Learning is a task that generalizes many of the analyses that are applied to collections of data, and in particular, collections of sensitive individual information. Hence, it is natural to ask what can be learned while preserving individual privacy. [Kasiviswanathan, Lee, Nissim, Raskhodnikova, and Smith; FOCS 2008] initiated such a discussion. They formalized the notion of private learning, as a combination of PAC learning and differential privacy, and investigated what concept classes can be learned privately. Somewhat surprisingly, they showed that, ignoring time complexity, every PAC learning task could be performed privately with polynomially many samples, and in many natural cases this could even be done in polynomial time. While these results seem to equate non-private and private learning, there is still a significant gap: the sample complexity of (non-private) PAC learning is crisply characterized in terms of the VC-dimension of the concept class, whereas this relationship is lost in the constructions of private learners, which exhibit, generally, a higher sample complexity. Looking into this gap, we examine several private learning tasks and give tight bounds on their sample complexity. In particular, we show strong separations between sample complexities of proper and improper private learners (such separation does not exist for non-private learners), and between sample complexities of efficient and inefficient proper private learners. Our results show that VC-dimension is not the right measure for characterizing the sample complexity of proper private learning. We also examine the task of private data release (as initiated by [Blum, Ligett, and Roth; STOC 2008]), and give new lower bounds on the sample complexity. Our results show that the logarithmic dependence on size of the instance space is essential for private data release.

[Death and the pop musician].

Science.gov (United States)

de Leeuw, Peter W

2011-01-01

Many people are inclined to believe that popular music artists are prone to die prematurely. Scientific research into this matter is scarce. There is only one epidemiological study on this subject, showing that mortality among pop stars during the first 25 years after they became famous is increased. This mortality is higher in Northern America than it is in Europe, but European pop stars die on average at an earlier age. A fairly common belief states that many pop stars die at the age of 27 years. This age has even been proclaimed as the most critical for modern musicians. However, data of several hundred deceased pop stars shows no evidence for increased mortality at the age of 27. Moreover, the data suggests that the age of death has increased over the past forty years. As far as the cause of death is concerned, overdose of drugs or alcohol rank highly next to cardiovascular disease and malignancy.

Do wind and brass players snore less? A cross-sectional study of snoring and daytime fatigue in professional orchestral musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Wardrop, P J C; Ravichandran, S; Hair, M; Robertson, S M; Sword, D

2011-04-01

To determine whether playing a wind or brass musical instrument is associated with reduced snoring or daytime fatigue. Cross-sectional, controlled, anonymous, questionnaire-based observational study. Rehearsal and performance halls. Three hundred and forty musicians from Scotland's five professional orchestras. Snore Outcomes Survey questionnaire and the Epworth Sleepiness Score. Hierarchical linear regression analysis. No significant difference was found between the snoring severity (Snore Outcomes Survey score) or daytime sleepiness (Epworth score) of wind/brass and other professional musicians. A regression model with snoring severity (Snore Outcomes Survey score) as the dependent variable and the three covariates of gender, age and body mass index as independent variables was significant [F(3, 206) = 28.77, P study demonstrated no significant difference between the snoring severity or daytime sleepiness of brass/wind players and other professional orchestral musicians. This result may have been attributed to comparatively low levels of snoring/daytime sleepiness in the population studied. The findings contrast with previous studies examining the effects of singing and didgeridoo playing but concur with a recent similar study of orchestral musicians. A prospective interventional study would be required to determine whether playing a wind or brass instrument improves these variables in patients complaining of disruptive snoring. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Complexity control in statistical learning

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Then we describe how the method of regularization is used to control complexity in learning. We discuss two examples of regularization, one in which the function space used is finite dimensional, and another in which it is a reproducing kernel Hilbert space. Our exposition follows the formulation of Cucker and Smale.

Preparing new nurses with complexity science and problem-based learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Hodges, Helen F

2011-01-01

Successful nurses function effectively with adaptability, improvability, and interconnectedness, and can see emerging and unpredictable complex problems. Preparing new nurses for complexity requires a significant change in prevalent but dated nursing education models for rising graduates. The science of complexity coupled with problem-based learning and peer review contributes a feasible framework for a constructivist learning environment to examine real-time systems data; explore uncertainty, inherent patterns, and ambiguity; and develop skills for unstructured problem solving. This article describes a pilot study of a problem-based learning strategy guided by principles of complexity science in a community clinical nursing course. Thirty-five senior nursing students participated during a 3-year period. Assessments included peer review, a final project paper, reflection, and a satisfaction survey. Results were higher than expected levels of student satisfaction, increased breadth and analysis of complex data, acknowledgment of community as complex adaptive systems, and overall higher level thinking skills than in previous years. 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

When Work Starts in Childhood: The Anticipatory Socialization Process of Classical Musicians

Science.gov (United States)

Gabor, Elena

2009-01-01

Classical music is distinguished among professions in several ways: work has to start in childhood in order to achieve proficiency; the training takes an average of 16 years in order to become a professional musician (Manturzewska, 1990); the cost of training is high; a high level of discipline is required to develop performance abilities…

Study of Environmental Data Complexity using Extreme Learning Machine

Science.gov (United States)

Leuenberger, Michael; Kanevski, Mikhail

2017-04-01

The main goals of environmental data science using machine learning algorithm deal, in a broad sense, around the calibration, the prediction and the visualization of hidden relationship between input and output variables. In order to optimize the models and to understand the phenomenon under study, the characterization of the complexity (at different levels) should be taken into account. Therefore, the identification of the linear or non-linear behavior between input and output variables adds valuable information for the knowledge of the phenomenon complexity. The present research highlights and investigates the different issues that can occur when identifying the complexity (linear/non-linear) of environmental data using machine learning algorithm. In particular, the main attention is paid to the description of a self-consistent methodology for the use of Extreme Learning Machines (ELM, Huang et al., 2006), which recently gained a great popularity. By applying two ELM models (with linear and non-linear activation functions) and by comparing their efficiency, quantification of the linearity can be evaluated. The considered approach is accompanied by simulated and real high dimensional and multivariate data case studies. In conclusion, the current challenges and future development in complexity quantification using environmental data mining are discussed. References - Huang, G.-B., Zhu, Q.-Y., Siew, C.-K., 2006. Extreme learning machine: theory and applications. Neurocomputing 70 (1-3), 489-501. - Kanevski, M., Pozdnoukhov, A., Timonin, V., 2009. Machine Learning for Spatial Environmental Data. EPFL Press; Lausanne, Switzerland, p.392. - Leuenberger, M., Kanevski, M., 2015. Extreme Learning Machines for spatial environmental data. Computers and Geosciences 85, 64-73.

Learning Latent Structure in Complex Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mørup, Morten; Hansen, Lars Kai

such as the Modularity, it has recently been shown that latent structure in complex networks is learnable by Bayesian generative link distribution models (Airoldi et al., 2008, Hofman and Wiggins, 2008). In this paper we propose a new generative model that allows representation of latent community structure......Latent structure in complex networks, e.g., in the form of community structure, can help understand network dynamics, identify heterogeneities in network properties, and predict ‘missing’ links. While most community detection algorithms are based on optimizing heuristic clustering objectives...... as in the previous Bayesian approaches and in addition allows learning of node specific link properties similar to that in the modularity objective. We employ a new relaxation method for efficient inference in these generative models that allows us to learn the behavior of very large networks. We compare the link...

Network affordances through online learning: Increasing use and complexity.

OpenAIRE

Hajhashemi, Karim; Anderson, Neil; Jackson, Cliff; Caltabiano, Nerina

2013-01-01

Computers, mobile devices and the Internet have enabled a learning environment described as online learning or a variety of other terms such as e-learning. Researchers believe that online learning has become more complex due to learners' sharing and acquiring knowledge at a variety of remote locations, in a variety of modalities. However, advances in technology and the integration of ICT with teaching and learning settings have quickened the growth of online learning and importantly have chan...

On detecting the playing/non-playing activity of musicians in symphonic music videos

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bazzica, A.; Liem, C.C.S.; Hanjalic, A.

2016-01-01

Information on whether a musician in a large symphonic orchestra plays her instrument at a given time stamp or not is valuable for a wide variety of applications aiming at mimicking and enriching the classical music concert experience on modern multimedia platforms. In this work, we propose a novel

Complexity, Training Paradigm Design, and the Contribution of Memory Subsystems to Grammar Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Ettlinger, Marc; Wong, Patrick C. M.

2016-01-01

Although there is variability in nonnative grammar learning outcomes, the contributions of training paradigm design and memory subsystems are not well understood. To examine this, we presented learners with an artificial grammar that formed words via simple and complex morphophonological rules. Across three experiments, we manipulated training paradigm design and measured subjects' declarative, procedural, and working memory subsystems. Experiment 1 demonstrated that passive, exposure-based training boosted learning of both simple and complex grammatical rules, relative to no training. Additionally, procedural memory correlated with simple rule learning, whereas declarative memory correlated with complex rule learning. Experiment 2 showed that presenting corrective feedback during the test phase did not improve learning. Experiment 3 revealed that structuring the order of training so that subjects are first exposed to the simple rule and then the complex improved learning. The cumulative findings shed light on the contributions of grammatical complexity, training paradigm design, and domain-general memory subsystems in determining grammar learning success. PMID:27391085

Complexity, Training Paradigm Design, and the Contribution of Memory Subsystems to Grammar Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Antoniou, Mark; Ettlinger, Marc; Wong, Patrick C M

2016-01-01

Although there is variability in nonnative grammar learning outcomes, the contributions of training paradigm design and memory subsystems are not well understood. To examine this, we presented learners with an artificial grammar that formed words via simple and complex morphophonological rules. Across three experiments, we manipulated training paradigm design and measured subjects' declarative, procedural, and working memory subsystems. Experiment 1 demonstrated that passive, exposure-based training boosted learning of both simple and complex grammatical rules, relative to no training. Additionally, procedural memory correlated with simple rule learning, whereas declarative memory correlated with complex rule learning. Experiment 2 showed that presenting corrective feedback during the test phase did not improve learning. Experiment 3 revealed that structuring the order of training so that subjects are first exposed to the simple rule and then the complex improved learning. The cumulative findings shed light on the contributions of grammatical complexity, training paradigm design, and domain-general memory subsystems in determining grammar learning success.

Complexity, Training Paradigm Design, and the Contribution of Memory Subsystems to Grammar Learning.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark Antoniou

Full Text Available Although there is variability in nonnative grammar learning outcomes, the contributions of training paradigm design and memory subsystems are not well understood. To examine this, we presented learners with an artificial grammar that formed words via simple and complex morphophonological rules. Across three experiments, we manipulated training paradigm design and measured subjects' declarative, procedural, and working memory subsystems. Experiment 1 demonstrated that passive, exposure-based training boosted learning of both simple and complex grammatical rules, relative to no training. Additionally, procedural memory correlated with simple rule learning, whereas declarative memory correlated with complex rule learning. Experiment 2 showed that presenting corrective feedback during the test phase did not improve learning. Experiment 3 revealed that structuring the order of training so that subjects are first exposed to the simple rule and then the complex improved learning. The cumulative findings shed light on the contributions of grammatical complexity, training paradigm design, and domain-general memory subsystems in determining grammar learning success.

Perceptions of Schooling, Pedagogy and Notation in the Lives of Visually-Impaired Musicians

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, David; Green, Lucy

2016-01-01

This article discusses findings on schooling, pedagogy and notation in the life-experiences of amateur and professional visually-impaired musicians/music teachers, and the professional experiences of sighted music teachers who work with visually-impaired learners. The study formed part of a broader UK Arts and Humanities Research Council funded…

The Self-Regulated Learning Model and Music Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maja Marijan

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Self-regulation and self-regulated learning (SRL are important features in music education. In this research self-regulated learning model is presented as a complex, multidimensional structure. SRL starts with the self-regulation. Self-regulation is formed through interaction with the environment, thus self-learning, self-analysis, self-judgment, self-instruction, and self-monitoring are the main functions in self-regulatory structure. Co-regulation is needed, and helps self-regulation to be activated and monitored. In music education, co-regulation refers to the instructions that teacher introduces in the lessons. These instructions have to enhance learning and develop regulation over emotions, cognitive, auditor, and motor skills in students. Learning techniques and learning strategies are core components in music education. Adapting those, students become aware of their learning processes, actions, thoughts, feelings and behaviors that are involved in learning. It is suggested that every teaching methodology has to develop learning techniques, as well as metamemory and metacognition in students, in order to gain expertise. The author has emphasized her attention to every aspect that is believed to belong to SRL. There are not many articles on the SRL in music education, written by musicians, in compare with those written by psychologists and neurologists,. Therefore, the author has suggested that this paper would encourage music teachers and performers to take an advantage in the research of SRL. These researches would help music educational systems and teachers to develop and promote learning techniques and strategies. The results would show improvement in student’s learning and self-regulation.

Does formal complexity reflect cognitive complexity? Investigating aspects of the Chomsky Hierarchy in an artificial language learning study.

Science.gov (United States)

Öttl, Birgit; Jäger, Gerhard; Kaup, Barbara

2015-01-01

This study investigated whether formal complexity, as described by the Chomsky Hierarchy, corresponds to cognitive complexity during language learning. According to the Chomsky Hierarchy, nested dependencies (context-free) are less complex than cross-serial dependencies (mildly context-sensitive). In two artificial grammar learning (AGL) experiments participants were presented with a language containing either nested or cross-serial dependencies. A learning effect for both types of dependencies could be observed, but no difference between dependency types emerged. These behavioral findings do not seem to reflect complexity differences as described in the Chomsky Hierarchy. This study extends previous findings in demonstrating learning effects for nested and cross-serial dependencies with more natural stimulus materials in a classical AGL paradigm after only one hour of exposure. The current findings can be taken as a starting point for further exploring the degree to which the Chomsky Hierarchy reflects cognitive processes.

A Gendered Study of the Working Patterns of Classical Musicians: Implications for Practice

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, Dawn

2008-01-01

Despite an increase in participation at all levels of the music profession, women continue to experience fewer opportunities to forge careers in music and are less likely than men to apply for leadership positions. This article presents results from a study in which 152 instrumental musicians reflected upon their professional practice and career…

Heart Rate Response of Professional Musicians When Playing Music.

Science.gov (United States)

Vellers, Heather L; Irwin, Conor; Lightfoot, J T

2015-06-01

The primary aim was to determine the level of physiological stress evoked while playing music in a standing position as indicated by heart rate (HR) response. A secondary aim was to analyze the effect of music genre (classic rock, western, contemporary Christian, and metal rock) on the relative HR response. Lastly, we considered potential physiological initiators of the music-playing-induced HR response. HR response was monitored in 27 professional musicians (3 women, 24 men) between the ages of 21 and 67 yrs old during rehearsal and public performances. The percent maximal HR (%MHR) evoked was determined by taking a percentage of the age-predicted maximal HR for each musician and comparing the average %MHR in each genre during public and rehearsal events. The role of the potential initiators of these responses (e.g., number of years playing in public, event type, instrument type, tempo, etc.) was determined using multiple regression analyses. The overall average %MHR responses were 52 ± 5% and 59 ± 5% during rehearsal and public performances, respectively, with genre type having a significant effect on the HR response (p=0.01). Body mass index and tempo were each found to be significant contributors to the HR response while playing music (r²=0.506, p=0.001). Playing music professionally evokes considerable increases in HR response, with music genre influencing the level of the physiological response. We concluded that 50% of the HR response while playing music was associated with body mass index, music tempo, and instrument type.

Ergonomic activity analysis of the musicians of the Symphony Orchestra of Paraná state: risk factors and workloads

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jaqueline de Lima

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to investigate the risk factors present in the work activity and their impact on the health of the musicians of the Symphony Orchestra of Parana state. It is a descriptive qualitative research based on the method of Ergonomic Workplace Analysis of Francophone strand, used as a tool by occupational therapists in the health-work interface. The following procedures were performed: bibliographical survey, documental analysis of productivity data, production and quality of the task, systematic observation of the rehearsals of the Symphony Orchestra of Parana, task and workplace analysis with the application of Ergonomic Workplace Analysis (EWA and, confrontation of the data analyzed with an instrumental musician. As a result, the study showed significant deviations with reference to the standards described in Brazilian Norm 17 (Ergonomics, especially regarding individual cognitive and physical demands as well as demands related to work organization, considering each item evaluated by this analytical instrument. The action of occupational therapy was grounded on the insertion in the health and illness process, health promotion, illness prevention, and training of musicians as workers and social actors, envisioning the transformation of work situations.

Beating time: How ensemble musicians' cueing gestures communicate beat position and tempo.

Science.gov (United States)

Bishop, Laura; Goebl, Werner

2018-01-01

Ensemble musicians typically exchange visual cues to coordinate piece entrances. "Cueing-in" gestures indicate when to begin playing and at what tempo. This study investigated how timing information is encoded in musicians' cueing-in gestures. Gesture acceleration patterns were expected to indicate beat position, while gesture periodicity, duration, and peak gesture velocity were expected to indicate tempo. Same-instrument ensembles (e.g., piano-piano) were expected to synchronize more successfully than mixed-instrument ensembles (e.g., piano-violin). Duos performed short passages as their head and (for violinists) bowing hand movements were tracked with accelerometers and Kinect sensors. Performers alternated between leader/follower roles; leaders heard a tempo via headphones and cued their partner in nonverbally. Violin duos synchronized more successfully than either piano duos or piano-violin duos, possibly because violinists were more experienced in ensemble playing than pianists. Peak acceleration indicated beat position in leaders' head-nodding gestures. Gesture duration and periodicity in leaders' head and bowing hand gestures indicated tempo. The results show that the spatio-temporal characteristics of cueing-in gestures guide beat perception, enabling synchronization with visual gestures that follow a range of spatial trajectories.

Development and validation of a music performance anxiety inventory for gifted adolescent musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Osborne, Margaret S; Kenny, Dianna T

2005-01-01

Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a distressing experience for musicians of all ages, yet the empirical investigation of MPA in adolescents has received little attention to date. No measures specifically targeting MPA in adolescents have been empirically validated. This article presents findings of an initial study into the psychometric properties and validation of the Music Performance Anxiety Inventory for Adolescents (MPAI-A), a new self-report measure of MPA for this group. Data from 381 elite young musicians aged 12-19 years was used to investigate the factor structure, internal reliability, construct and divergent validity of the MPAI-A. Cronbach's alpha for the full measure was .91. Factor analysis identified three factors, which together accounted for 53% of the variance. Construct validity was demonstrated by significant positive relationships with social phobia (measured using the Social Phobia Anxiety Inventory [Beidel, D. C., Turner, S. M., & Morris, T. L. (1995). A new inventory to assess childhood social anxiety and phobia: The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children. Psychological Assessment, 7(1), 73-79; Beidel, D. C., Turner, S. M., & Morris, T. L. (1998). Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children (SPAI-C). North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-Health Systems Inc.]) and trait anxiety (measured using the State Trait Anxiety Inventory [Spielberger, C. D. (1983). State-Trait Anxiety Inventory STAI (Form Y). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc.]). The MPAI-A demonstrated convergent validity by a moderate to strong positive correlation with an adult measure of MPA. Discriminant validity was established by a weaker positive relationship with depression, and no relationship with externalizing behavior problems. It is hoped that the MPAI-A, as the first empirically validated measure of adolescent musicians' performance anxiety, will enhance and promote phenomenological and treatment research in this area.

A discourse on the master musician and informal music education in yoruba Traditional culture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

OLUSOJI STEPHEN Ph.D

2013-06-01

Full Text Available  This paper discusses issues relating to informal education in Yoruba traditional music using the master musician as an important agent for propagating traditional knowledge and values. The study is an ethnographic research and uses oral interviews and other qualitative techniques for eliciting information. As part of its findings, the study found out that informal education in Yoruba culture follows a typical pattern of instruction which is acquired through heredity, apprentice under a well-known artist, observation and participation in communal activities. In the case of music, which is the focus of the study, it is promoted by the master musician, a position that could be occupied by men or women depending on the nature of the ensemble and the societal norms approved for such groups. In conclusion, it was suggested in the study that contemporary music educators and curriculum planners should tailor their curriculum to reflect the traditional values and practices of their people.

A discourse on the master musician and informal music education in yoruba Traditional culture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

OLUSOJI STEPHEN Ph.D

2013-06-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses issues relating to informal education in Yoruba traditional music using the master musician as an important agent for propagating traditional knowledge and values. The study is an ethnographic research and uses oral interviews and other qualitative techniques for eliciting information. As part of its findings, the study found out that informal education in Yoruba culture follows a typical pattern of instruction which is acquired through heredity, apprentice under a well-known artist, observation and participation in communal activities. In the case of music, which is the focus of the study, it is promoted by the master musician, a position that could be occupied by men or women depending on the nature of the ensemble and the societal norms approved for such groups. In conclusion, it was suggested in the study that contemporary music educators and curriculum planners should tailor their curriculum to reflect the traditional values and practices of their people.

Polyrhythmic communicational devices appear as languagein the brains of musicians

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vuust, Peter; Østergaard, Leif; Roepstorff, Andreas

2006-01-01

The relationship between music and language has been oneof the most fiercely debated subjects in the modern literatureof neuroscience and music. In this paper we argue thata musicological study of the online communication betweenjazz musicians in combination with brain imaging studiesoffers...... a unique setting to evaluate communicational aspectsof music practices that rarely enters the present discourseon the subject. We employ Miles Davis' quintet of the1960es and its use of polyrhythmic structures as a generalexample of a jazz group focusing on communication. First,we consider jazz...

Feature economy vs. logical complexity in phonological pattern learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Seinhorst, K.T.

Complexity has been linked to ease of learning. This article explores the roles of two measures of complexity – feature economy and logical complexity – in the acquisition of sets of signs, taken from a small sign language that serves as an analogue of plosive inventories in spoken language. In a

Improvement of Inquiry in a Complex Technology-Enhanced Learning Environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pedaste, Margus; Kori, Külli; Maeots, Mario; de Jong, Anthonius J.M.; Riopel, Martin; Smyrnaiou, Zacharoula

2016-01-01

Inquiry learning is an effective approach in science education. Complex technology-enhanced learning environments are needed to apply inquiry worldwide to support knowledge gain and improvement of inquiry skills. In our study, we applied an ecology mission in the SCY-Lab learning environment and

Jamming and learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brinck, Lars

2017-01-01

-academy students ‘sitting in’. Fieldwork was documented through sound recordings, diaries, and field notes from participant observation and informal interviews. Analyses apply a situated learning theoretical perspective on the band members’ as well as the students’ participation and reveal important learning...... to take place. Analyses also indicate the musicians’ changing participation being analytically inseparable from the changing music itself. The study’s final argument is two-fold: Revitalising jamming as a studio-recording practice within popular music highlights important aspects of professional musicians......’ interactive communication processes. And transferring this artistic endeavour into an educational practice suggests an increased focus on students ‘sitting in’ with professional bands, and teachers playing alongside with students....

A deep learning approach for fetal QRS complex detection.

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Zhong, Wei; Liao, Lijuan; Guo, Xuemei; Wang, Guoli

2018-04-20

Non-invasive foetal electrocardiography (NI-FECG) has the potential to provide more additional clinical information for detecting and diagnosing fetal diseases. We propose and demonstrate a deep learning approach for fetal QRS complex detection from raw NI-FECG signals by using a convolutional neural network (CNN) model. The main objective is to investigate whether reliable fetal QRS complex detection performance can still be obtained from features of single-channel NI-FECG signals, without canceling maternal ECG (MECG) signals. A deep learning method is proposed for recognizing fetal QRS complexes. Firstly, we collect data from set-a of the PhysioNet/computing in Cardiology Challenge database. The sample entropy method is used for signal quality assessment. Part of the bad quality signals is excluded in the further analysis. Secondly, in the proposed method, the features of raw NI-FECG signals are normalized before they are fed to a CNN classifier to perform fetal QRS complex detection. We use precision, recall, F-measure and accuracy as the evaluation metrics to assess the performance of fetal QRS complex detection. The proposed deep learning method can achieve relatively high precision (75.33%), recall (80.54%), and F-measure scores (77.85%) compared with three other well-known pattern classification methods, namely KNN, naive Bayes and SVM. the proposed deep learning method can attain reliable fetal QRS complex detection performance from the raw NI-FECG signals without canceling MECG signals. In addition, the influence of different activation functions and signal quality assessment on classification performance are evaluated, and results show that Relu outperforms the Sigmoid and Tanh on this particular task, and better classification performance is obtained with the signal quality assessment step in this study.

Auditory and motor imagery modulate learning in music performance.

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Brown, Rachel M; Palmer, Caroline

2013-01-01

Skilled performers such as athletes or musicians can improve their performance by imagining the actions or sensory outcomes associated with their skill. Performers vary widely in their auditory and motor imagery abilities, and these individual differences influence sensorimotor learning. It is unknown whether imagery abilities influence both memory encoding and retrieval. We examined how auditory and motor imagery abilities influence musicians' encoding (during Learning, as they practiced novel melodies), and retrieval (during Recall of those melodies). Pianists learned melodies by listening without performing (auditory learning) or performing without sound (motor learning); following Learning, pianists performed the melodies from memory with auditory feedback (Recall). During either Learning (Experiment 1) or Recall (Experiment 2), pianists experienced either auditory interference, motor interference, or no interference. Pitch accuracy (percentage of correct pitches produced) and temporal regularity (variability of quarter-note interonset intervals) were measured at Recall. Independent tests measured auditory and motor imagery skills. Pianists' pitch accuracy was higher following auditory learning than following motor learning and lower in motor interference conditions (Experiments 1 and 2). Both auditory and motor imagery skills improved pitch accuracy overall. Auditory imagery skills modulated pitch accuracy encoding (Experiment 1): Higher auditory imagery skill corresponded to higher pitch accuracy following auditory learning with auditory or motor interference, and following motor learning with motor or no interference. These findings suggest that auditory imagery abilities decrease vulnerability to interference and compensate for missing auditory feedback at encoding. Auditory imagery skills also influenced temporal regularity at retrieval (Experiment 2): Higher auditory imagery skill predicted greater temporal regularity during Recall in the presence of

Auditory and motor imagery modulate learning in music performance

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Rachel M.; Palmer, Caroline

2013-01-01

Skilled performers such as athletes or musicians can improve their performance by imagining the actions or sensory outcomes associated with their skill. Performers vary widely in their auditory and motor imagery abilities, and these individual differences influence sensorimotor learning. It is unknown whether imagery abilities influence both memory encoding and retrieval. We examined how auditory and motor imagery abilities influence musicians' encoding (during Learning, as they practiced novel melodies), and retrieval (during Recall of those melodies). Pianists learned melodies by listening without performing (auditory learning) or performing without sound (motor learning); following Learning, pianists performed the melodies from memory with auditory feedback (Recall). During either Learning (Experiment 1) or Recall (Experiment 2), pianists experienced either auditory interference, motor interference, or no interference. Pitch accuracy (percentage of correct pitches produced) and temporal regularity (variability of quarter-note interonset intervals) were measured at Recall. Independent tests measured auditory and motor imagery skills. Pianists' pitch accuracy was higher following auditory learning than following motor learning and lower in motor interference conditions (Experiments 1 and 2). Both auditory and motor imagery skills improved pitch accuracy overall. Auditory imagery skills modulated pitch accuracy encoding (Experiment 1): Higher auditory imagery skill corresponded to higher pitch accuracy following auditory learning with auditory or motor interference, and following motor learning with motor or no interference. These findings suggest that auditory imagery abilities decrease vulnerability to interference and compensate for missing auditory feedback at encoding. Auditory imagery skills also influenced temporal regularity at retrieval (Experiment 2): Higher auditory imagery skill predicted greater temporal regularity during Recall in the presence of

Common hemisphericity of language and music in a musician. A case report.

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Hofman, S; Klein, C; Arlazoroff, A

1993-06-01

Aphasia coupled with amusia is reported in a 73-year-old male musician who was a lawyer by profession. This condition followed an ischemic stroke in the lateral aspect of the parieto-occipital region of the left hemisphere. The patient's music production exhibits jargon amusia, similar to that in his verbal production. This case supports the thesis that language and music may share a common hemisphere.

The influence of Room Acoustic Aspects on the Noise Exposure of Symphonic Orchestra Musicians

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Wenmaekers, R.H.C.; Hak, C.C.J.M.; Luxemburg, van L.C.J.

2011-01-01

Musicians in a symphonic orchestra are exposed to the noise of a large number of different sound sources. The noise exposure can vary largely and has many aspects of influence. One group of aspects are musical aspects, like the orchestra size and composition, the musical piece and its interpretation

Evolutionary and adaptive learning in complex markets: a brief summary

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Hommes, Cars H.

2007-06-01

We briefly review some work on expectations and learning in complex markets, using the familiar demand-supply cobweb model. We discuss and combine two different approaches on learning. According to the adaptive learning approach, agents behave as econometricians using time series observations to form expectations, and update the parameters as more observations become available. This approach has become popular in macro. The second approach has an evolutionary flavor and is sometimes referred to as reinforcement learning. Agents employ different forecasting strategies and evaluate these strategies based upon a fitness measure, e.g. past realized profits. In this framework, boundedly rational agents switch between different, but fixed behavioral rules. This approach has become popular in finance. We combine evolutionary and adaptive learning to model complex markets and discuss whether this theory can match empirical facts and forecasting behavior in laboratory experiments with human subjects.

Learning to manage complexity through simulation: students' challenges and possible strategies.

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Gormley, Gerard J; Fenwick, Tara

2016-06-01

Many have called for medical students to learn how to manage complexity in healthcare. This study examines the nuances of students' challenges in coping with a complex simulation learning activity, using concepts from complexity theory, and suggests strategies to help them better understand and manage complexity.Wearing video glasses, participants took part in a simulation ward-based exercise that incorporated characteristics of complexity. Video footage was used to elicit interviews, which were transcribed. Using complexity theory as a theoretical lens, an iterative approach was taken to identify the challenges that participants faced and possible coping strategies using both interview transcripts and video footage.Students' challenges in coping with clinical complexity included being: a) unprepared for 'diving in', b) caught in an escalating system, c) captured by the patient, and d) unable to assert boundaries of acceptable practice.Many characteristics of complexity can be recreated in a ward-based simulation learning activity, affording learners an embodied and immersive experience of these complexity challenges. Possible strategies for managing complexity themes include: a) taking time to size up the system, b) attuning to what emerges, c) reducing complexity, d) boundary practices, and e) working with uncertainty. This study signals pedagogical opportunities for recognizing and dealing with complexity.

Embracing the digital in instrument making : Towards a musician-tailored mouthpiece by 3D printing

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Lorenzoni, V.; Doubrovski, E.L.; Verlinden, J.C.

2013-01-01

At present, the manufacturing of musical instruments still strongly relies on the tacit knowledge of experienced handcrafts while is commonly based on standard machining or casting techniques. This limits the musician-tailoredness to a small group of players, while others take compromises by

Cathodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Improves Focal Hand Dystonia in Musicians: A Two-Case Study

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Sara Marceglia

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Focal hand dystonia (FHD in musicians is a movement disorder causing abnormal movements and irregularities in playing. Since weak electrical currents applied to the brain induce persistent excitability changes in humans, cathodal tDCS was proposed as a possible non-invasive approach for modulating cortical excitability in patients with FHD. However, the optimal targets and modalities have still to be determined. In this pilot study, we delivered cathodal (2 mA, anodal (2 mA and sham tDCS over the motor areas bilaterally for 20 min daily for five consecutive days in two musicians with FHD. After cathodal tDCS, both patients reported a sensation of general wellness and improved symptoms of FHD. In conclusion, our pilot results suggest that cathodal tDCS delivered bilaterally over motor-premotor (M-PM cortex for 5 consecutive days may be effective in improving symptoms in FHD.

Trauma-Related Dissociation as a Factor Affecting Musicians' Memory for Music: Some Possible Solutions

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Swart, Inette; van Niekerk, Caroline; Hartman, Woltemade

2010-01-01

An investigation of the influence of trauma on musicians revealed concentration and memory problems as two of the most common symptoms hampering the performance of affected individuals. In many instances where the causes of these problems were related to trauma sequelae, these could clearly be linked to dissociative symptoms. The following…

Informal in Formal: The Relationship of Informal and Formal Learning in Popular and Jazz Music Master Workshops in Conservatoires

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Virkkula, Esa

2016-01-01

The present article will examine informal learning in popular and jazz music education in Finland and evaluate it as a part of formal upper secondary vocational musicians' training, which is typically teacher directed. It is not necessarily the best model of working in popular and jazz music learning, which has traditionally benefitted from…

Hearing loss induced by loud music among musicians of symphonic orchestra

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Tanja Carli

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Noise-induced hearing loss is an important public health issue, especially among musicians who are, more than any other occupation, dependent on their hearing. For them, hearing impairment is due to too loud music, the effect of which, if exceeding the limit depending on the individual sensitivity of one’s ear, can be compared with theeffect of noise on the ear. Risk factors for its development are: the type of musical instrument and sound character, the way of playing, music genre or composition, duration of exposure to loud music, sound source and its distance from the ear, intervals of acoustic stimuli, individual factors and the musician’s position in the orchestra. Hearing impairment is greater at higher frequencies; in pure tone audiogram it is shown as notches between 3000 and 6000 Hz and is most frequent in the wind and brass section. Hearing loss is greater among violinists and typically affects the left ear owing to the sound source proximity and their position in the orchestra. The most common health problems take the form of diplacusis, algiacusis and tinnitus, as exposure to the loud acoustic stimulus above 90 dB(A cause damage to the inner ear, the so-called acoustic trauma. Use of personal protective equipment among musicians is low especially because of too much high-frequency attenuation and occlusion effect.

Naturalistic music and dance: Cortical phase synchrony in musicians and dancers.

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Poikonen, Hanna; Toiviainen, Petri; Tervaniemi, Mari

2018-01-01

Expertise in music has been investigated for decades and the results have been applied not only in composition, performance and music education, but also in understanding brain plasticity in a larger context. Several studies have revealed a strong connection between auditory and motor processes and listening to and performing music, and music imagination. Recently, as a logical next step in music and movement, the cognitive and affective neurosciences have been directed towards expertise in dance. To understand the versatile and overlapping processes during artistic stimuli, such as music and dance, it is necessary to study them with continuous naturalistic stimuli. Thus, we used long excerpts from the contemporary dance piece Carmen presented with and without music to professional dancers, musicians, and laymen in an EEG laboratory. We were interested in the cortical phase synchrony within each participant group over several frequency bands during uni- and multimodal processing. Dancers had strengthened theta and gamma synchrony during music relative to silence and silent dance, whereas the presence of music decreased systematically the alpha and beta synchrony in musicians. Laymen were the only group of participants with significant results related to dance. Future studies are required to understand whether these results are related to some other factor (such as familiarity to the stimuli), or if our results reveal a new point of view to dance observation and expertise.

Naturalistic music and dance: Cortical phase synchrony in musicians and dancers

Science.gov (United States)

Toiviainen, Petri; Tervaniemi, Mari

2018-01-01

Expertise in music has been investigated for decades and the results have been applied not only in composition, performance and music education, but also in understanding brain plasticity in a larger context. Several studies have revealed a strong connection between auditory and motor processes and listening to and performing music, and music imagination. Recently, as a logical next step in music and movement, the cognitive and affective neurosciences have been directed towards expertise in dance. To understand the versatile and overlapping processes during artistic stimuli, such as music and dance, it is necessary to study them with continuous naturalistic stimuli. Thus, we used long excerpts from the contemporary dance piece Carmen presented with and without music to professional dancers, musicians, and laymen in an EEG laboratory. We were interested in the cortical phase synchrony within each participant group over several frequency bands during uni- and multimodal processing. Dancers had strengthened theta and gamma synchrony during music relative to silence and silent dance, whereas the presence of music decreased systematically the alpha and beta synchrony in musicians. Laymen were the only group of participants with significant results related to dance. Future studies are required to understand whether these results are related to some other factor (such as familiarity to the stimuli), or if our results reveal a new point of view to dance observation and expertise. PMID:29672597

Growing Musicians in English Secondary Schools at Key Stage 3 (Age 11-14)

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Dalladay, Christopher

2017-01-01

The National Curriculum for Music in England at Key Stage 3 (KS3; age 11-14) declares its purpose that pupils should be inspired to "develop a love of music and their talent as musicians" (DfE, 2013: KS3 Music). The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) have criticised secondary schools for a lack of progress in the musical…

Predictive uncertainty in auditory sequence processing

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Niels Chr. eHansen

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Previous studies of auditory expectation have focused on the expectedness perceived by listeners retrospectively in response to events. In contrast, this research examines predictive uncertainty - a property of listeners’ prospective state of expectation prior to the onset of an event. We examine the information-theoretic concept of Shannon entropy as a model of predictive uncertainty in music cognition. This is motivated by the Statistical Learning Hypothesis, which proposes that schematic expectations reflect probabilistic relationships between sensory events learned implicitly through exposure.Using probability estimates from an unsupervised, variable-order Markov model, 12 melodic contexts high in entropy and 12 melodic contexts low in entropy were selected from two musical repertoires differing in structural complexity (simple and complex. Musicians and non-musicians listened to the stimuli and provided explicit judgments of perceived uncertainty (explicit uncertainty. We also examined an indirect measure of uncertainty computed as the entropy of expectedness distributions obtained using a classical probe-tone paradigm where listeners rated the perceived expectedness of the final note in a melodic sequence (inferred uncertainty. Finally, we simulate listeners’ perception of expectedness and uncertainty using computational models of auditory expectation. A detailed model comparison indicates which model parameters maximize fit to the data and how they compare to existing models in the literature.The results show that listeners experience greater uncertainty in high-entropy musical contexts than low-entropy contexts. This effect is particularly apparent for inferred uncertainty and is stronger in musicians than non-musicians. Consistent with the Statistical Learning Hypothesis, the results suggest that increased domain-relevant training is associated with an increasingly accurate cognitive model of probabilistic structure in music.

Predictive uncertainty in auditory sequence processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Niels Chr; Pearce, Marcus T

2014-01-01

Previous studies of auditory expectation have focused on the expectedness perceived by listeners retrospectively in response to events. In contrast, this research examines predictive uncertainty-a property of listeners' prospective state of expectation prior to the onset of an event. We examine the information-theoretic concept of Shannon entropy as a model of predictive uncertainty in music cognition. This is motivated by the Statistical Learning Hypothesis, which proposes that schematic expectations reflect probabilistic relationships between sensory events learned implicitly through exposure. Using probability estimates from an unsupervised, variable-order Markov model, 12 melodic contexts high in entropy and 12 melodic contexts low in entropy were selected from two musical repertoires differing in structural complexity (simple and complex). Musicians and non-musicians listened to the stimuli and provided explicit judgments of perceived uncertainty (explicit uncertainty). We also examined an indirect measure of uncertainty computed as the entropy of expectedness distributions obtained using a classical probe-tone paradigm where listeners rated the perceived expectedness of the final note in a melodic sequence (inferred uncertainty). Finally, we simulate listeners' perception of expectedness and uncertainty using computational models of auditory expectation. A detailed model comparison indicates which model parameters maximize fit to the data and how they compare to existing models in the literature. The results show that listeners experience greater uncertainty in high-entropy musical contexts than low-entropy contexts. This effect is particularly apparent for inferred uncertainty and is stronger in musicians than non-musicians. Consistent with the Statistical Learning Hypothesis, the results suggest that increased domain-relevant training is associated with an increasingly accurate cognitive model of probabilistic structure in music.

Brain signal complexity rises with repetition suppression in visual learning.

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Lafontaine, Marc Philippe; Lacourse, Karine; Lina, Jean-Marc; McIntosh, Anthony R; Gosselin, Frédéric; Théoret, Hugo; Lippé, Sarah

2016-06-21

Neuronal activity associated with visual processing of an unfamiliar face gradually diminishes when it is viewed repeatedly. This process, known as repetition suppression (RS), is involved in the acquisition of familiarity. Current models suggest that RS results from interactions between visual information processing areas located in the occipito-temporal cortex and higher order areas, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Brain signal complexity, which reflects information dynamics of cortical networks, has been shown to increase as unfamiliar faces become familiar. However, the complementarity of RS and increases in brain signal complexity have yet to be demonstrated within the same measurements. We hypothesized that RS and brain signal complexity increase occur simultaneously during learning of unfamiliar faces. Further, we expected alteration of DLPFC function by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to modulate RS and brain signal complexity over the occipito-temporal cortex. Participants underwent three tDCS conditions in random order: right anodal/left cathodal, right cathodal/left anodal and sham. Following tDCS, participants learned unfamiliar faces, while an electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. Results revealed RS over occipito-temporal electrode sites during learning, reflected by a decrease in signal energy, a measure of amplitude. Simultaneously, as signal energy decreased, brain signal complexity, as estimated with multiscale entropy (MSE), increased. In addition, prefrontal tDCS modulated brain signal complexity over the right occipito-temporal cortex during the first presentation of faces. These results suggest that although RS may reflect a brain mechanism essential to learning, complementary processes reflected by increases in brain signal complexity, may be instrumental in the acquisition of novel visual information. Such processes likely involve long-range coordinated activity between prefrontal and lower order visual

Pleasurable music affects reinforcement learning according to the listener

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Gold, Benjamin P.; Frank, Michael J.; Bogert, Brigitte; Brattico, Elvira

2013-01-01

Mounting evidence links the enjoyment of music to brain areas implicated in emotion and the dopaminergic reward system. In particular, dopamine release in the ventral striatum seems to play a major role in the rewarding aspect of music listening. Striatal dopamine also influences reinforcement learning, such that subjects with greater dopamine efficacy learn better to approach rewards while those with lesser dopamine efficacy learn better to avoid punishments. In this study, we explored the practical implications of musical pleasure through its ability to facilitate reinforcement learning via non-pharmacological dopamine elicitation. Subjects from a wide variety of musical backgrounds chose a pleasurable and a neutral piece of music from an experimenter-compiled database, and then listened to one or both of these pieces (according to pseudo-random group assignment) as they performed a reinforcement learning task dependent on dopamine transmission. We assessed musical backgrounds as well as typical listening patterns with the new Helsinki Inventory of Music and Affective Behaviors (HIMAB), and separately investigated behavior for the training and test phases of the learning task. Subjects with more musical experience trained better with neutral music and tested better with pleasurable music, while those with less musical experience exhibited the opposite effect. HIMAB results regarding listening behaviors and subjective music ratings indicate that these effects arose from different listening styles: namely, more affective listening in non-musicians and more analytical listening in musicians. In conclusion, musical pleasure was able to influence task performance, and the shape of this effect depended on group and individual factors. These findings have implications in affective neuroscience, neuroaesthetics, learning, and music therapy. PMID:23970875

Encouraging Reflective Practice in Conservatoire Students: A Pathway to Autonomous Learning?

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Carey, Gemma; Harrison, Scott; Dwyer, Rachael

2017-01-01

This paper reports on first-year conservatoire students' reflections on their one-to-one performance learning through a reflective journal. One-to-one lessons have been a central part of the education of performing musicians, although their place in the twenty-first-century conservatoire is not beyond challenge. Recent research has indicated that…

The difference between standing and sitting in 3 different seat inclinations on abdominal muscle activity and chest and abdominal expansion in woodwind and brass musicians

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Bronwen Jane Ackermann

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Wind instrumentalists require a sophisticated functioning of their respiratory system to control their air stream, which provides the power for optimal musical performance. The air supply must be delivered into the instrument in a steady and controlled manner and with enough power by the action of the expiratory musculature to produce the desired level of sound at the correct pitch. It is suggested that playing posture may have an impact on the abdominal muscle activity controlling this expired air, but there is no research on musicians to support this theory. This study evaluated chest and abdominal expansion, via respiratory inductive plethysmography, as well as activation patterns of lower and upper abdominal musculature, using surface electromyography, during performance of a range of typical orchestral repertoire by 113 woodwind and brass players. Each of the five orchestral excerpts was played in one of four randomly allocated postures: standing; sitting flat; sitting inclined forwards; and sitting inclined backwards.Musicians showed a clear preference for playing in standing rather than sitting. In standing, the chest expansion range and maximum values were greater (p<0.01, while the abdominal expansion was less than in all sitting postures (p<0.01. Chest expansion patterns did not vary between the three sitting postures, while abdominal expansion was reduced in the forward inclined posture compared to the other sitting postures (p<0.05. There was no significant variation in abdominal muscle activation between the sitting postures, but the level of activation in sitting was only 2/3 of the significantly higher level observed in standing (p<0.01.This study has demonstrated significant differences in respiratory mechanics between sitting and standing postures in wind musicians during playing of typical orchestral repertoire. Further research is needed to clarify the complex respiratory mechanisms supporting musical performance.

Meeting the Other : Why Working with People Living with Dementia is So Important for Musicians

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bisschop Boele, Evert

2013-01-01

Paper presented at international symposium ‘Dementia and Music. Research and Practice’. University of Vechta, Vechta, Germany, 21/9/2013. Paper argues that working with dementia for musicians and music students is important because it demands them to focus on the 'other' rather then on themselves

Prototypes and matrix relevance learning in complex fourier space

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Straat, M.; Kaden, M.; Gay, M.; Villmann, T.; Lampe, Alexander; Seiffert, U.; Biehl, M.; Melchert, F.

2017-01-01

In this contribution, we consider the classification of time-series and similar functional data which can be represented in complex Fourier coefficient space. We apply versions of Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ) which are suitable for complex-valued data, based on the so-called Wirtinger

Effects of Excerpt Tempo and Duration on Musicians' Ratings of High-Level Piano Performances

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Wapnick, Joel; Ryan, Charlene; Campbell, Louise; Deek, Patricia; Lemire, Renata; Darrow, Alice-Ann

2005-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine how judgments of solo performances recorded at an international piano competition might be affected by excerpt duration (20 versus 60 seconds) and tempo (slow versus fast). Musicians rated performances on six test items. Results indicated that piano majors rated slow excerpts higher than they rated fast…

Learning culture and feedback: an international study of medical athletes and musicians.

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Watling, Christopher; Driessen, Erik; van der Vleuten, Cees P M; Lingard, Lorelei

2014-07-01

Feedback should facilitate learning, but within medical education it often fails to deliver on its promise. To better understand why feedback is challenging, we explored the unique perspectives of doctors who had also trained extensively in sport or music, aiming to: (i) distinguish the elements of the response to feedback that are determined by the individual learner from those determined by the learning culture, and (ii) understand how these elements interact in order to make recommendations for improving feedback in medical education. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 doctors or medical students who had high-level training and competitive or performance experience in sport (n = 15) or music (n = 12). Data were analysed iteratively using constant comparison. Key themes were identified and their relationships critically examined to derive a conceptual understanding of feedback and its impact. We identified three essential sources of influence on the meaning that feedback assumed: the individual learner; the characteristics of the feedback, and the learning culture. Individual learner traits, such as motivation and orientation toward feedback, appeared stable across learning contexts. Similarly, certain feedback characteristics, including specificity, credibility and actionability, were valued in sport, music and medicine alike. Learning culture influenced feedback in three ways: (i) by defining expectations for teachers and teacher-learner relationships; (ii) by establishing norms for and expectations of feedback, and (iii) by directing teachers' and learners' attention toward certain dimensions of performance. Learning culture therefore neither creates motivated learners nor defines 'good feedback'; rather, it creates the conditions and opportunities that allow good feedback to occur and learners to respond. An adequate understanding of feedback requires an integrated approach incorporating both

Intervention program in college instrumental musicians, with kinematics analysis of cello and flute playing: a combined program of yogic breathing and muscle strengthening-flexibility exercises.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sang-Hie; Carey, Stephanie; Dubey, Rajiv; Matz, Rachel

2012-06-01

College musicians encounter health risks not dissimilar to those of professional musicians. Fifteen collegiate instrumental musicians participated in the intervention program of yogic-breathing and muscle-strengthening and flexibility exercises for 8 weeks. Pre- and post-intervention data from the Health-Pain-Injury Inventory (HPI) and the Physical & Musical-Performance Efficacy Assessment Survey (PME) were analyzed for the effects of the program on the musicians' physical and musical-performance efficacy. HPI results showed that the majority of our sample had healthy lifestyles and minimal pain and injuries but irregular eating and exercise habits. The pre-intervention PME data showed a high level of musical efficacy (i.e., awareness of music technique, tone, and flow) but a low-level of physical efficacy (i.e., awareness of posture, tension, and movement flexibility). Post-intervention data showed that the program improved physical efficacy by increased awareness of posture and tension. In 2 volunteer musicians, kinematics motion analysis was conducted for exploratory purposes. Our cellist played the scale using a larger range of motion (ROM) in right shoulder flexion and abduction and slightly increased rotation while keeping decreased right elbow ROM after the intervention program. The flutist shifted the body weight from one foot to the other more in the second playing post-intervention. These changes can be attributed to the increased physical efficacy that allowed freedom to express musicality. Findings from these case scenarios provide empirically based hypotheses for further study. We share our experience so that others may use our model and instruments to develop studies with larger samples.

Variable complexity online sequential extreme learning machine, with applications to streamflow prediction

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Lima, Aranildo R.; Hsieh, William W.; Cannon, Alex J.

2017-12-01

In situations where new data arrive continually, online learning algorithms are computationally much less costly than batch learning ones in maintaining the model up-to-date. The extreme learning machine (ELM), a single hidden layer artificial neural network with random weights in the hidden layer, is solved by linear least squares, and has an online learning version, the online sequential ELM (OSELM). As more data become available during online learning, information on the longer time scale becomes available, so ideally the model complexity should be allowed to change, but the number of hidden nodes (HN) remains fixed in OSELM. A variable complexity VC-OSELM algorithm is proposed to dynamically add or remove HN in the OSELM, allowing the model complexity to vary automatically as online learning proceeds. The performance of VC-OSELM was compared with OSELM in daily streamflow predictions at two hydrological stations in British Columbia, Canada, with VC-OSELM significantly outperforming OSELM in mean absolute error, root mean squared error and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency at both stations.

Exposure to music and noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL among professional pop/rock/jazz musicians

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Dana N Halevi-Katz

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL has been extensively studied in industrial work environments. With the advent of new technologies, loud music has been increasingly affecting listeners outside of the industrial setting. Most research on the effects of music and hearing loss has focused on classical musicians. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between the amount of experience a professional pop/rock/jazz musician has and objective and subjective variables of the musician′s hearing loss. This study also examined professional pop/rock/jazz musicians′ use of hearing protection devices in relation to the extent of their exposure to amplified music. Forty-four pop/rock/jazz musicians were interviewed using the Pop/Rock/Jazz Musician′s Questionnaire (PRJMQ in order to obtain self-reported symptoms of tinnitus and hyperacusis. Forty-two of the subjects were also tested for air-conduction hearing thresholds in the frequency range of 1-8 kHz. Results show that the extent of professional pop/rock/jazz musicians′ exposure to amplified music was related to both objective and subjective variables of hearing loss: Greater musical experience was positively linked to higher hearing thresholds in the frequency range of 3-6 kHz and to the subjective symptom of tinnitus. Weekly hours playing were found to have a greater effect on hearing loss in comparison to years playing. Use of hearing protection was not linked to the extent of exposure to amplified music. It is recommended that further research be conducted with a larger sample, in order to gain a greater understanding of the detrimental effects of hours playing versus years playing.

Synchronization in human musical rhythms and mutually interacting complex systems.

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Hennig, Holger

2014-09-09

Though the music produced by an ensemble is influenced by multiple factors, including musical genre, musician skill, and individual interpretation, rhythmic synchronization is at the foundation of musical interaction. Here, we study the statistical nature of the mutual interaction between two humans synchronizing rhythms. We find that the interbeat intervals of both laypeople and professional musicians exhibit scale-free (power law) cross-correlations. Surprisingly, the next beat to be played by one person is dependent on the entire history of the other person's interbeat intervals on timescales up to several minutes. To understand this finding, we propose a general stochastic model for mutually interacting complex systems, which suggests a physiologically motivated explanation for the occurrence of scale-free cross-correlations. We show that the observed long-term memory phenomenon in rhythmic synchronization can be imitated by fractal coupling of separately recorded or synthesized audio tracks and thus applied in electronic music. Though this study provides an understanding of fundamental characteristics of timing and synchronization at the interbrain level, the mutually interacting complex systems model may also be applied to study the dynamics of other complex systems where scale-free cross-correlations have been observed, including econophysics, physiological time series, and collective behavior of animal flocks.

Giving away music to make money: Independent musicians on the Internet

OpenAIRE

Pfahl, Michael

2001-01-01

No one has felt the impact of music on the Internet more than the independent musician. The recording industry has dominated the production and distribution of music for many years. The big six recording labels are making a push to incorporate the Internet into their distribution process. Standing in their way is the issue of security. It seems that music files on the Internet, no matter how secure they may seem, are susceptible to tampering. This will force a shift in distribution away f...

Variability in Second Language Learning: The Roles of Individual Differences, Learning Conditions, and Linguistic Complexity

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Tagarelli, Kaitlyn M.; Ruiz, Simón; Vega, José Luis Moreno; Rebuschat, Patrick

2016-01-01

Second language learning outcomes are highly variable, due to a variety of factors, including individual differences, exposure conditions, and linguistic complexity. However, exactly how these factors interact to influence language learning is unknown. This article examines the relationship between these three variables in language learners.…

Automatic encoding of polyphonic melodies in musicians and nonmusicians.

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Fujioka, Takako; Trainor, Laurel J; Ross, Bernhard; Kakigi, Ryusuke; Pantev, Christo

2005-10-01

In music, multiple musical objects often overlap in time. Western polyphonic music contains multiple simultaneous melodic lines (referred to as "voices") of equal importance. Previous electrophysiological studies have shown that pitch changes in a single melody are automatically encoded in memory traces, as indexed by mismatch negativity (MMN) and its magnetic counterpart (MMNm), and that this encoding process is enhanced by musical experience. In the present study, we examined whether two simultaneous melodies in polyphonic music are represented as separate entities in the auditory memory trace. Musicians and untrained controls were tested in both magnetoencephalogram and behavioral sessions. Polyphonic stimuli were created by combining two melodies (A and B), each consisting of the same five notes but in a different order. Melody A was in the high voice and Melody B in the low voice in one condition, and this was reversed in the other condition. On 50% of trials, a deviant final (5th) note was played either in the high or in the low voice, and it either went outside the key of the melody or remained within the key. These four deviations occurred with equal probability of 12.5% each. Clear MMNm was obtained for most changes in both groups, despite the 50% deviance level, with a larger amplitude in musicians than in controls. The response pattern was consistent across groups, with larger MMNm for deviants in the high voice than in the low voice, and larger MMNm for in-key than out-of-key changes, despite better behavioral performance for out-of-key changes. The results suggest that melodic information in each voice in polyphonic music is encoded in the sensory memory trace, that the higher voice is more salient than the lower, and that tonality may be processed primarily at cognitive stages subsequent to MMN generation.

Assessing Complexity in Learning Outcomes--A Comparison between the SOLO Taxonomy and the Model of Hierarchical Complexity

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Stålne, Kristian; Kjellström, Sofia; Utriainen, Jukka

2016-01-01

An important aspect of higher education is to educate students who can manage complex relationships and solve complex problems. Teachers need to be able to evaluate course content with regard to complexity, as well as evaluate students' ability to assimilate complex content and express it in the form of a learning outcome. One model for evaluating…

Differentiation of Classical Music Requires Little Learning but Rhythm

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Dalla Bella, S.; Peretz, I.

2005-01-01

Detecting distinctions between the styles of classical music (e.g. Baroque and Romantic) is often viewed as the privilege of musicians. However, this elite perspective underestimates the abilities of non-musicians. We report that Western musicians and non-musicians, and non-Westerners (i.e. Chinese participants) rated pairs of excerpts presented…

Patients with Parkinson's disease learn to control complex systems-an indication for intact implicit cognitive skill learning.

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Witt, Karsten; Daniels, Christine; Daniel, Victoria; Schmitt-Eliassen, Julia; Volkmann, Jens; Deuschl, Günther

2006-01-01

Implicit memory and learning mechanisms are composed of multiple processes and systems. Previous studies demonstrated a basal ganglia involvement in purely cognitive tasks that form stimulus response habits by reinforcement learning such as implicit classification learning. We will test the basal ganglia influence on two cognitive implicit tasks previously described by Berry and Broadbent, the sugar production task and the personal interaction task. Furthermore, we will investigate the relationship between certain aspects of an executive dysfunction and implicit learning. To this end, we have tested 22 Parkinsonian patients and 22 age-matched controls on two implicit cognitive tasks, in which participants learned to control a complex system. They interacted with the system by choosing an input value and obtaining an output that was related in a complex manner to the input. The objective was to reach and maintain a specific target value across trials (dynamic system learning). The two tasks followed the same underlying complex rule but had different surface appearances. Subsequently, participants performed an executive test battery including the Stroop test, verbal fluency and the Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST). The results demonstrate intact implicit learning in patients, despite an executive dysfunction in the Parkinsonian group. They lead to the conclusion that the basal ganglia system affected in Parkinson's disease does not contribute to the implicit acquisition of a new cognitive skill. Furthermore, the Parkinsonian patients were able to reach a specific goal in an implicit learning context despite impaired goal directed behaviour in the WCST, a classic test of executive functions. These results demonstrate a functional independence of implicit cognitive skill learning and certain aspects of executive functions.

The Role of Metacognitive Strategies in Learning Music: A Multiple Case Study

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Colombo, Barbara; Antonietti, Alessandro

2017-01-01

The positive role of metacognition in music learning and practice is well assessed, but the role of musicians' metacognitive skills in such a context is not yet clear. Teachers often state that they apply a metacognitive approach during their lessons, but students fail to acknowledge it and report that they become metacognitive learners thanks to…

Task complexity, student perceptions of vocabulary learning in EFL, and task performance.

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Wu, Xiaoli; Lowyck, Joost; Sercu, Lies; Elen, Jan

2013-03-01

The study deepened our understanding of how students' self-efficacy beliefs contribute to the context of teaching English as a foreign language in the framework of cognitive mediational paradigm at a fine-tuned task-specific level. The aim was to examine the relationship among task complexity, self-efficacy beliefs, domain-related prior knowledge, learning strategy use, and task performance as they were applied to English vocabulary learning from reading tasks. Participants were 120 second-year university students (mean age 21) from a Chinese university. This experiment had two conditions (simple/complex). A vocabulary level test was first conducted to measure participants' prior knowledge of English vocabulary. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of the learning tasks. Participants were administered task booklets together with the self-efficacy scales, measures of learning strategy use, and post-tests. Data obtained were submitted to multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and path analysis. Results from the MANOVA model showed a significant effect of vocabulary level on self-efficacy beliefs, learning strategy use, and task performance. Task complexity showed no significant effect; however, an interaction effect between vocabulary level and task complexity emerged. Results from the path analysis showed self-efficacy beliefs had an indirect effect on performance. Our results highlighted the mediating role of self-efficacy beliefs and learning strategy use. Our findings indicate that students' prior knowledge plays a crucial role on both self-efficacy beliefs and task performance, and the predictive power of self-efficacy on task performance may lie in its association with learning strategy use. © 2011 The British Psychological Society.

Predicting protein complexes using a supervised learning method combined with local structural information.

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Dong, Yadong; Sun, Yongqi; Qin, Chao

2018-01-01

The existing protein complex detection methods can be broadly divided into two categories: unsupervised and supervised learning methods. Most of the unsupervised learning methods assume that protein complexes are in dense regions of protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks even though many true complexes are not dense subgraphs. Supervised learning methods utilize the informative properties of known complexes; they often extract features from existing complexes and then use the features to train a classification model. The trained model is used to guide the search process for new complexes. However, insufficient extracted features, noise in the PPI data and the incompleteness of complex data make the classification model imprecise. Consequently, the classification model is not sufficient for guiding the detection of complexes. Therefore, we propose a new robust score function that combines the classification model with local structural information. Based on the score function, we provide a search method that works both forwards and backwards. The results from experiments on six benchmark PPI datasets and three protein complex datasets show that our approach can achieve better performance compared with the state-of-the-art supervised, semi-supervised and unsupervised methods for protein complex detection, occasionally significantly outperforming such methods.

Learning a Music Instrument in Early Childhood: What Can We Learn from Professional Musicians' Childhood Memories?

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Smith, Wyverne

2008-01-01

Professional early childhood educators are often asked for advice about whether or when a young child should learn to play a music instrument. Many educators who do not have a background in music education may not be confident in providing such advice. A range of overseas research has supported learning a music instrument in the early childhood…

Musicians and Tone-Language Speakers Share Enhanced Brainstem Encoding but Not Perceptual Benefits for Musical Pitch

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Bidelman, Gavin M.; Gandour, Jackson T.; Krishnan, Ananthanarayan

2011-01-01

Behavioral and neurophysiological transfer effects from music experience to language processing are well-established but it is currently unclear whether or not linguistic expertise (e.g., speaking a tone language) benefits music-related processing and its perception. Here, we compare brainstem responses of English-speaking musicians/non-musicians…

Formative assessment in an online learning environment to support flexible on-the-job learning in complex professional domains

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Tamara van Gog; Desirée Joosten-ten Brinke; F. J. Prins; Dominique Sluijsmans

2010-01-01

This article describes a blueprint for an online learning environment that is based on prominent instructional design and assessment theories for supporting learning in complex domains. The core of this environment consists of formative assessment tasks (i.e., assessment for learning) that center on

Anterioposterior spinal curvatures and magnitude of asymmetry in the trunk in musicians playing the violin compared with nonmusicians.

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Barczyk-Pawelec, Katarzyna; Sipko, Tomasz; Demczuk-Włodarczyk, Ewa; Boczar, Agata

2012-05-01

Playing an instrument often requires a certain posture and asymmetric position that may affect the anteroposterior spinal curvatures and may lead to postural asymmetry. The aim of the study was to evaluate the spinal curvatures in the sagittal plane and the magnitude of asymmetries in the trunk in the frontal plane in a group of music students in comparison with a control group. The group of 67 students aged 20 to 26 years was made up of 2 subgroups: the musicians (violin playing students of the Academy of Music in Wroclaw) and the control group (physical therapy students who played no instruments). The examination included an interview, measuring of somatic characteristics, and evaluation of body posture by means of the photogrammetric method. The spinal curvatures of the instrumentalists in the sagittal plane differ from the control group mainly in terms of length and depth parameters. Compared with the control group, the musicians were characterized by statistically more significantly longer and deeper thoracic kyphosis (P < .01) and more shallow lumbar lordosis (P < .05), a greater angle of thoracic kyphosis (P < .005), and a smaller inclination angle of the thoracolumbar and lumbosacral section of the spine (P < .01). In the group of musicians, the asymmetries in the area of shoulders and waist triangles as well as the distance of the spinous processes from the C7 to S1 line were more frequent. Copyright © 2012 National University of Health Sciences. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Gilles Apap's Mozart Cadenza and Expanding Musical Competences of Twenty-First-Century Musicians and Music Educators

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Webb, Michael

2008-01-01

In western musical contexts at global and local levels, musicians are becoming increasingly involved in what might be termed multicode music making and are expanding their musical competences. In this article I consider the practical and cognitive implications of such an expanding of competences for music education at various levels. Combining…

Representational scripting for carrying out complex learning tasks

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Slof, B.

2011-01-01

Learning to solve complex problems is important because in our rapidly changing modern society and work environments knowing the answer is often not possible. Although educators and instructional designers acknowledge the benefits of problem solving, they also realize that learners need good

Experience Playing a Musical Instrument and Overnight Sleep Enhance Performance on a Sequential Typing Task.

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Tucker, Matthew A; Nguyen, Nam; Stickgold, Robert

2016-01-01

The smooth, coordinated fine motor movements required to play a musical instrument are not only highly valued in our society; they also predict academic success in areas that generalize beyond the motor domain, including reading and math readiness, and verbal abilities. Interestingly, motor skills that overlap with those required to play a musical instrument (e.g., sequential finger tapping) markedly improve (get faster) over a night of sleep, but not after a day spent awake. Here we studied whether individuals who play musical instruments that require fine finger motor skill are better able to learn and consolidate a simple motor skill task compared to those who do not play an instrument, and whether sleep-specific motor skill benefits interact with those imparted by musical experience. We used the motor sequence task (MST), which taps into a core skill learned and used by musicians, namely, the repetition of learned sequences of key presses. Not surprisingly, we found that musicians were faster than non-musicians throughout the learning session, typing more correct sequences per 30-sec trial. In the 12hrs that followed learning we found that sleep and musical experience both led to greater improvement in performance. Surprisingly, musicians retested after a day of wake performed slightly better than non-musicians who had slept between training and retest, suggesting that musicians have the capacity to consolidate a motor skill across waking hours, while non-musicians appear to lack this capacity. These findings suggest that the musically trained brain is optimized for motor skill consolidation across both wake and sleep, and that sleep may simply promote a more effective use of this machinery. In sum, there may be something special about musicians, perhaps a neurophysiological advantage, that leads to both the expected-greater motor speed at learning-and the surprising-greater motor skill improvement over time.

Experience Playing a Musical Instrument and Overnight Sleep Enhance Performance on a Sequential Typing Task.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew A Tucker

Full Text Available The smooth, coordinated fine motor movements required to play a musical instrument are not only highly valued in our society; they also predict academic success in areas that generalize beyond the motor domain, including reading and math readiness, and verbal abilities. Interestingly, motor skills that overlap with those required to play a musical instrument (e.g., sequential finger tapping markedly improve (get faster over a night of sleep, but not after a day spent awake. Here we studied whether individuals who play musical instruments that require fine finger motor skill are better able to learn and consolidate a simple motor skill task compared to those who do not play an instrument, and whether sleep-specific motor skill benefits interact with those imparted by musical experience. We used the motor sequence task (MST, which taps into a core skill learned and used by musicians, namely, the repetition of learned sequences of key presses. Not surprisingly, we found that musicians were faster than non-musicians throughout the learning session, typing more correct sequences per 30-sec trial. In the 12hrs that followed learning we found that sleep and musical experience both led to greater improvement in performance. Surprisingly, musicians retested after a day of wake performed slightly better than non-musicians who had slept between training and retest, suggesting that musicians have the capacity to consolidate a motor skill across waking hours, while non-musicians appear to lack this capacity. These findings suggest that the musically trained brain is optimized for motor skill consolidation across both wake and sleep, and that sleep may simply promote a more effective use of this machinery. In sum, there may be something special about musicians, perhaps a neurophysiological advantage, that leads to both the expected-greater motor speed at learning-and the surprising-greater motor skill improvement over time.

Assessment for Complex Learning Resources: Development and Validation of an Integrated Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gudrun Wesiak

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Today’s e-learning systems meet the challenge to provide interactive, personalized environments that support self-regulated learning as well as social collaboration and simulation. At the same time assessment procedures have to be adapted to the new learning environments by moving from isolated summative assessments to integrated assessment forms. Therefore, learning experiences enriched with complex didactic resources - such as virtualized collaborations and serious games - have emerged. In this extension of [1] an integrated model for e-assessment (IMA is outlined, which incorporates complex learning resources and assessment forms as main components for the development of an enriched learning experience. For a validation the IMA was presented to a group of experts from the fields of cognitive science, pedagogy, and e-learning. The findings from the validation lead to several refinements of the model, which mainly concern the component forms of assessment and the integration of social aspects. Both aspects are accounted for in the revised model, the former by providing a detailed sub-model for assessment forms.

Musicians' and nonmusicians' short-term memory for verbal and musical sequences: comparing phonological similarity and pitch proximity.

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Williamson, Victoria J; Baddeley, Alan D; Hitch, Graham J

2010-03-01

Language-music comparative studies have highlighted the potential for shared resources or neural overlap in auditory short-term memory. However, there is a lack of behavioral methodologies for comparing verbal and musical serial recall. We developed a visual grid response that allowed both musicians and nonmusicians to perform serial recall of letter and tone sequences. The new method was used to compare the phonological similarity effect with the impact of an operationalized musical equivalent-pitch proximity. Over the course of three experiments, we found that short-term memory for tones had several similarities to verbal memory, including limited capacity and a significant effect of pitch proximity in nonmusicians. Despite being vulnerable to phonological similarity when recalling letters, however, musicians showed no effect of pitch proximity, a result that we suggest might reflect strategy differences. Overall, the findings support a limited degree of correspondence in the way that verbal and musical sounds are processed in auditory short-term memory.

From Leisure to Work: Amateur Musicians Taking up Instrumental or Vocal Teaching as a Second Career

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Taylor, Angela; Hallam, Susan

2011-01-01

This article aims to increase our understanding of how amateur musicians become teachers as a change of career, how they use their musical and life skills in their teaching, and how their teaching impacts on their musical identity. The questionnaire responses of 67 career-change instrumental and vocal teachers showed evidence of their strong…

Prevalence and consequences of musculoskeletal symptoms in symphony orchestra musicians vary by gender: a cross-sectional study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paarup, Helene M.; Baelum, Jesper; Holm, Jonas W

2011-01-01

and a lower risk for the consequences. Among consequences were changed way of playing, reported by 73% of the musicians, difficulty in daily activities at home, reported by 55%, and difficulty in sleeping, reported by 49%. Their health behaviour included taking paracetamol as the most used analgesic, while...

Reinforcement learning agents providing advice in complex video games

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Taylor, Matthew E.; Carboni, Nicholas; Fachantidis, Anestis; Vlahavas, Ioannis; Torrey, Lisa

2014-01-01

This article introduces a teacher-student framework for reinforcement learning, synthesising and extending material that appeared in conference proceedings [Torrey, L., & Taylor, M. E. (2013)]. Teaching on a budget: Agents advising agents in reinforcement learning. {Proceedings of the international conference on autonomous agents and multiagent systems}] and in a non-archival workshop paper [Carboni, N., &Taylor, M. E. (2013, May)]. Preliminary results for 1 vs. 1 tactics in StarCraft. {Proceedings of the adaptive and learning agents workshop (at AAMAS-13)}]. In this framework, a teacher agent instructs a student agent by suggesting actions the student should take as it learns. However, the teacher may only give such advice a limited number of times. We present several novel algorithms that teachers can use to budget their advice effectively, and we evaluate them in two complex video games: StarCraft and Pac-Man. Our results show that the same amount of advice, given at different moments, can have different effects on student learning, and that teachers can significantly affect student learning even when students use different learning methods and state representations.

SCScore: Synthetic Complexity Learned from a Reaction Corpus.

Science.gov (United States)

Coley, Connor W; Rogers, Luke; Green, William H; Jensen, Klavs F

2018-02-26

Several definitions of molecular complexity exist to facilitate prioritization of lead compounds, to identify diversity-inducing and complexifying reactions, and to guide retrosynthetic searches. In this work, we focus on synthetic complexity and reformalize its definition to correlate with the expected number of reaction steps required to produce a target molecule, with implicit knowledge about what compounds are reasonable starting materials. We train a neural network model on 12 million reactions from the Reaxys database to impose a pairwise inequality constraint enforcing the premise of this definition: that on average, the products of published chemical reactions should be more synthetically complex than their corresponding reactants. The learned metric (SCScore) exhibits highly desirable nonlinear behavior, particularly in recognizing increases in synthetic complexity throughout a number of linear synthetic routes.

Targeted learning in data science causal inference for complex longitudinal studies

CERN Document Server

van der Laan, Mark J

2018-01-01

This textbook for graduate students in statistics, data science, and public health deals with the practical challenges that come with big, complex, and dynamic data. It presents a scientific roadmap to translate real-world data science applications into formal statistical estimation problems by using the general template of targeted maximum likelihood estimators. These targeted machine learning algorithms estimate quantities of interest while still providing valid inference. Targeted learning methods within data science area critical component for solving scientific problems in the modern age. The techniques can answer complex questions including optimal rules for assigning treatment based on longitudinal data with time-dependent confounding, as well as other estimands in dependent data structures, such as networks. Included in Targeted Learning in Data Science are demonstrations with soft ware packages and real data sets that present a case that targeted learning is crucial for the next generatio...

Fast social-like learning of complex behaviors based on motor motifs

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Calvo Tapia, Carlos; Tyukin, Ivan Y.; Makarov, Valeri A.

2018-05-01

Social learning is widely observed in many species. Less experienced agents copy successful behaviors exhibited by more experienced individuals. Nevertheless, the dynamical mechanisms behind this process remain largely unknown. Here we assume that a complex behavior can be decomposed into a sequence of n motor motifs. Then a neural network capable of activating motor motifs in a given sequence can drive an agent. To account for (n -1 )! possible sequences of motifs in a neural network, we employ the winnerless competition approach. We then consider a teacher-learner situation: one agent exhibits a complex movement, while another one aims at mimicking the teacher's behavior. Despite the huge variety of possible motif sequences we show that the learner, equipped with the provided learning model, can rewire "on the fly" its synaptic couplings in no more than (n -1 ) learning cycles and converge exponentially to the durations of the teacher's motifs. We validate the learning model on mobile robots. Experimental results show that the learner is indeed capable of copying the teacher's behavior composed of six motor motifs in a few learning cycles. The reported mechanism of learning is general and can be used for replicating different functions, including, for example, sound patterns or speech.

Pitch Systems and Curwen Hand Signs: A Review of Literature

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Frey-Clark, Marta

2017-01-01

Learning to sing from notation is a complex task, and accurately performing pitches without an external reference can be particularly challenging. As such, the use of mnemonic devices to reinforce tonal relationships is a long-standing practice among musicians. Chief among these mnemonic devices are pitch syllable systems and Curwen hand signs.…

Optimizing the number of steps in learning tasks for complex skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Nadolski, Rob J; Kirschner, Paul A; van Merriënboer, Jeroen J G

2005-06-01

Carrying out whole tasks is often too difficult for novice learners attempting to acquire complex skills. The common solution is to split up the tasks into a number of smaller steps. The number of steps must be optimized for efficient and effective learning. The aim of the study is to investigate the relation between the number of steps provided to learners and the quality of their learning of complex skills. It is hypothesized that students receiving an optimized number of steps will learn better than those receiving either the whole task in only one step or those receiving a large number of steps. Participants were 35 sophomore law students studying at Dutch universities, mean age=22.8 years (SD=3.5), 63% were female. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 computer-delivered versions of a multimedia programme on how to prepare and carry out a law plea. The versions differed only in the number of learning steps provided. Videotaped plea-performance results were determined, various related learning measures were acquired and all computer actions were logged and analyzed. Participants exposed to an intermediate (i.e. optimized) number of steps outperformed all others on the compulsory learning task. No differences in performance on a transfer task were found. A high number of steps proved to be less efficient for carrying out the learning task. An intermediate number of steps is the most effective, proving that the number of steps can be optimized for improving learning.

Design and Use of a Learning Object for Finding Complex Polynomial Roots

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Benitez, Julio; Gimenez, Marcos H.; Hueso, Jose L.; Martinez, Eulalia; Riera, Jaime

2013-01-01

Complex numbers are essential in many fields of engineering, but students often fail to have a natural insight of them. We present a learning object for the study of complex polynomials that graphically shows that any complex polynomials has a root and, furthermore, is useful to find the approximate roots of a complex polynomial. Moreover, we…

Neurological problems of famous musicians: the classical genre.

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Newmark, Jonathan

2009-08-01

Neurological histories of great musicians allow for a unique perspective on music physiology. Bedrich Smetana's autobiographical string quartet ends with the musical equivalent of tinnitus in the fourth movement, rendering the youthful and passionate themes of earlier movements moot as the piece ends depicting his ultimately fatal disease, neurosyphilis. Dmitri Shostakovich survived the censorship of Joseph Stalin's apparatchiks but suffered a prolonged form of paralysis attributable to slowly progressive motor neuron disease, although the viola sonata he wrote on his deathbed has become standard repertoire. Glenn Gould was a hypochondriacal pianist with obsessive-compulsive disorder and suspected Asperger syndrome. Vissarion Shebalin and (Ira) Randall Thompson had strokes followed by aphasia without amusia. Domenico Scarlatti provides an example of how even great composers must alter their technical expectations depending upon the skills and body habitus of their chief patrons. The focal dystonia afflicting Leon Fleisher and Gary Graffman catalyzed the discipline of performing arts medicine.

Why orchestral musicians are bound to wear earplugs: About the ineffectiveness of physical measures to reduce sound exposure

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Wenmaekers, R.H.C.; Nicolai, B.; Hornikx, M.C.J.; Kohlrausch, A.G.

2017-01-01

Symphony orchestra musicians are exposed to noise levels that put them at risk of developing hearing damage. This study evaluates the potential effectivity of common control measures used in orchestras on open stages with a typical symphonic setup. A validated acoustic prediction model is used that

Learning piano melodies in visuo-motor or audio-motor training conditions and the neural correlates of their cross-modal transfer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Engel, Annerose; Bangert, Marc; Horbank, David; Hijmans, Brenda S.; Wilkens, Katharina; Keller, Peter E.; Keysers, Christian

2012-01-01

To investigate the cross-modal transfer of movement patterns necessary to perform melodies on the piano, 22 non-musicians learned to play short sequences on a piano keyboard by 1) merely listening and replaying (vision of own fingers occluded) or 2) merely observing silent finger movements and

Cognitive Control Structures in the Imitation Learning of Spatial Sequences and Rhythms-An fMRI Study.

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Sakreida, Katrin; Higuchi, Satomi; Di Dio, Cinzia; Ziessler, Michael; Turgeon, Martine; Roberts, Neil; Vogt, Stefan

2018-03-01

Imitation learning involves the acquisition of novel motor patterns based on action observation (AO). We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to study the imitation learning of spatial sequences and rhythms during AO, motor imagery (MI), and imitative execution in nonmusicians and musicians. While both tasks engaged the fronto-parietal mirror circuit, the spatial sequence task recruited posterior parietal and dorsal premotor regions more strongly. The rhythm task involved an additional network for auditory working memory. This partial dissociation supports the concept of task-specific mirror mechanisms. Two regions of cognitive control were identified: 1) dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) was found to be more strongly activated during MI of novel spatial sequences, which allowed us to extend the 2-level model of imitation learning by Buccino et al. (2004) to spatial sequences. 2) During imitative execution of both tasks, the posterior medial frontal cortex was robustly activated, along with the DLPFC, which suggests that both regions are involved in the cognitive control of imitation learning. The musicians' selective behavioral advantage for rhythm imitation was reflected cortically in enhanced sensory-motor processing during AO and by the absence of practice-related activation differences in DLPFC during rhythm execution. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Interaction and Technological Resources to Support Learning of Complex Numbers

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Cassiano Scott Puhl

2016-02-01

Full Text Available This article presents a didactic proposal, a workshop for the introduction of the study of complex numbers. Unlike recurrent practices, the workshop began developing the geometric shape of the complex number, implicitly, through vectors. Eliminating student formal vision and algebraic, enriching the teaching practice. The main objective of the strategy was to build the concept of imaginary unit without causing a feeling of strangeness or insignificance of number. The theory of David Ausubel, meaningful learning, the workshop was based on a strategy developed to analyze the subsumers of students and develop a learning by subject. Combined with dynamic and interactive activities in the workshop, there is the use of a learning object (http://matematicacomplexa.meximas.com/. An environment created and basing on the theory of meaningful learning, making students reflect and interact in developed applications sometimes being challenged and other testing hypotheses and, above all, building knowledge. This proposal provided a rich environment for exchange of information between participants and deepening of ideas and concepts that served as subsumers. The result of the experience was very positive, as evidenced by the comments and data submitted by the participants, thus demonstrating that the objectives of this didactic proposal have been achieved.

"They Wasn't Makin' My Kinda Music": A Hip-Hop Musician's Perspective on School, Schooling, and School Music

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Kruse, Adam J.

2016-01-01

This article focuses on a hip-hop perspective of school, schooling, and school music. The study involves applications of ethnographic (including autoethnographic) techniques within the framework of a holistic multiple case study. One case is an adult amateur hip-hop musician named Terrence (pseudonym), and the other is myself (a traditionally…

Practice is performance: a study of the musical development of popular music undergraduates

OpenAIRE

Esslin-Peard, Monica

2016-01-01

Much has been written in the last 30 years about musical practice and performance, but there is little consensus over what practice really means, or how musicians progress by practising. Whilst academics historically focused primarily on the experiences of Western classical musicians and on individual learning in the conservatoire, more recent research has been devoted to popular, jazz and folk musicians. Informal behaviours, such as aural learning, self-teaching and jamming out in the band a...

Everyday complexities and sociomaterialities of learning, technology, affects and effects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansbøl, Mikala

design with particular intended educational purposes (e.g. educational technology and technology education), the everyday complexities and sociomaterialities of learning and technology intermingles with how students/professionals become affected by digital technology and hence also which matters......This paper starts out with the challenge of establishing and researching relationships between educational design, digital technology and professional learning. The paper is empirical and takes point of departure in case examples from two development projects with a focus on professional education....... Both projects focus on new waysto build relationships between digital technologies, professional education and learning. Each project takes a different take on how to approach and position digital technology and it’s relationships with the educational programs and students’ learning. Project Wellfare...

Bilingualism and Musicianship Enhance Cognitive Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Scott R. Schroeder

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Learning how to speak a second language (i.e., becoming a bilingual and learning how to play a musical instrument (i.e., becoming a musician are both thought to increase executive control through experience-dependent plasticity. However, evidence supporting this effect is mixed for bilingualism and limited for musicianship. In addition, the combined effects of bilingualism and musicianship on executive control are unknown. To determine whether bilingualism, musicianship, and combined bilingualism and musicianship improve executive control, we tested 219 young adults belonging to one of four groups (bilinguals, musicians, bilingual musicians, and controls on a nonlinguistic, nonmusical, visual-spatial Simon task that measured the ability to ignore an irrelevant and misinformative cue. Results revealed that bilinguals, musicians, and bilingual musicians showed an enhanced ability to ignore a distracting cue relative to controls, with similar levels of superior performance among bilinguals, musicians, and bilingual musicians. These results indicate that bilingualism and musicianship improve executive control and have implications for educational and rehabilitation programs that use music and foreign language instruction to boost cognitive performance.

Bilingualism and Musicianship Enhance Cognitive Control.

Science.gov (United States)

Schroeder, Scott R; Marian, Viorica; Shook, Anthony; Bartolotti, James

2016-01-01

Learning how to speak a second language (i.e., becoming a bilingual) and learning how to play a musical instrument (i.e., becoming a musician) are both thought to increase executive control through experience-dependent plasticity. However, evidence supporting this effect is mixed for bilingualism and limited for musicianship. In addition, the combined effects of bilingualism and musicianship on executive control are unknown. To determine whether bilingualism, musicianship, and combined bilingualism and musicianship improve executive control, we tested 219 young adults belonging to one of four groups (bilinguals, musicians, bilingual musicians, and controls) on a nonlinguistic, nonmusical, visual-spatial Simon task that measured the ability to ignore an irrelevant and misinformative cue. Results revealed that bilinguals, musicians, and bilingual musicians showed an enhanced ability to ignore a distracting cue relative to controls, with similar levels of superior performance among bilinguals, musicians, and bilingual musicians. These results indicate that bilingualism and musicianship improve executive control and have implications for educational and rehabilitation programs that use music and foreign language instruction to boost cognitive performance.

Multimodal versus Unimodal Instructions in a Complex Learning Context.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gellevij, M.R.M.; van der Meij, Hans; de Jong, Anthonius J.M.; Pieters, Julius Marie

2002-01-01

Multimodal instruction with text and pictures was compared with unimodal, text-only instruction. More specifically, 44 students used a visual or a textual manual to learn a complex software application. During 2 103–116-min training sessions, cognitive load, and time and ability to recover from

Multimodal versus Unimodal Instruction in a Complex Learning Context.

Science.gov (United States)

Gellevij, Mark; van der Meij, Hans; de Jong, Ton; Pieters, Jules

2002-01-01

Compared multimodal instruction with text and pictures with unimodal text-only instruction as 44 college students used a visual or textual manual to learn a complex software application. Results initially support dual coding theory and indicate that multimodal instruction led to better performance than unimodal instruction. (SLD)

Community Learning Campus: It Takes a Simple Message to Build a Complex Project

Science.gov (United States)

Pearson, George

2012-01-01

Education Canada asked Tom Thompson, president of Olds College and a prime mover behind the Community Learning Campus (CLC): What were the lessons learned from this unusually ambitious education project? Thompson mentions six lessons he learned from this complex project which include: (1) Dream big, build small, act now; (2) Keep a low profile at…

Clinical quality needs complex adaptive systems and machine learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Marsland, Stephen; Buchan, Iain

2004-01-01

The vast increase in clinical data has the potential to bring about large improvements in clinical quality and other aspects of healthcare delivery. However, such benefits do not come without cost. The analysis of such large datasets, particularly where the data may have to be merged from several sources and may be noisy and incomplete, is a challenging task. Furthermore, the introduction of clinical changes is a cyclical task, meaning that the processes under examination operate in an environment that is not static. We suggest that traditional methods of analysis are unsuitable for the task, and identify complexity theory and machine learning as areas that have the potential to facilitate the examination of clinical quality. By its nature the field of complex adaptive systems deals with environments that change because of the interactions that have occurred in the past. We draw parallels between health informatics and bioinformatics, which has already started to successfully use machine learning methods.

Relationships between music training, speech processing, and word learning: a network perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Elmer, Stefan; Jäncke, Lutz

2018-03-15

Numerous studies have documented the behavioral advantages conferred on professional musicians and children undergoing music training in processing speech sounds varying in the spectral and temporal dimensions. These beneficial effects have previously often been associated with local functional and structural changes in the auditory cortex (AC). However, this perspective is oversimplified, in that it does not take into account the intrinsic organization of the human brain, namely, neural networks and oscillatory dynamics. Therefore, we propose a new framework for extending these previous findings to a network perspective by integrating multimodal imaging, electrophysiology, and neural oscillations. In particular, we provide concrete examples of how functional and structural connectivity can be used to model simple neural circuits exerting a modulatory influence on AC activity. In addition, we describe how such a network approach can be used for better comprehending the beneficial effects of music training on more complex speech functions, such as word learning. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

The Promise of Kickstarter: Extents to Which Social Networks Enable Alternate Avenues of Economic Viability for Independent Musicians Through Crowdfunding

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Cynthia Wang

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Since its inception in 2009, Kickstarter, a crowdsourced funding site, has been a platform for independent creative projects to get funding, ostensibly providing alternate routes of economic viability outside of a traditional framework of creative production and distribution. Kickstarter comes onto the scene after the proliferation of online social networking sites, through which bridging social capital ties are more easily maintained. This article investigates the ways in which independent musicians have used Kickstarter in conjunction with pre-existing social networks to fund their album and sustain themselves and their artistic endeavors economically while also exploring how social networks provide ways for these “Kickstarter campaigns” to reach potential backers (funders. Through three online surveys targeting musicians, their backers, and general Kickstarter backers, yielding a total of 61 respondents, this article finds that pre-existing personal social networks and relations are imperative to the successful funding of Kickstarter campaigns.

Students' explanations in complex learning of disciplinary programming

Science.gov (United States)

Vieira, Camilo

Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) has been denominated as the third pillar of science and as a set of important skills to solve the problems of a global society. Along with the theoretical and the experimental approaches, computation offers a third alternative to solve complex problems that require processing large amounts of data, or representing complex phenomena that are not easy to experiment with. Despite the relevance of CSE, current professionals and scientists are not well prepared to take advantage of this set of tools and methods. Computation is usually taught in an isolated way from engineering disciplines, and therefore, engineers do not know how to exploit CSE affordances. This dissertation intends to introduce computational tools and methods contextualized within the Materials Science and Engineering curriculum. Considering that learning how to program is a complex task, the dissertation explores effective pedagogical practices that can support student disciplinary and computational learning. Two case studies will be evaluated to identify the characteristics of effective worked examples in the context of CSE. Specifically, this dissertation explores students explanations of these worked examples in two engineering courses with different levels of transparency: a programming course in materials science and engineering glass box and a thermodynamics course involving computational representations black box. Results from this study suggest that students benefit in different ways from writing in-code comments. These benefits include but are not limited to: connecting xv individual lines of code to the overall problem, getting familiar with the syntax, learning effective algorithm design strategies, and connecting computation with their discipline. Students in the glass box context generate higher quality explanations than students in the black box context. These explanations are related to students prior experiences. Specifically, students with

Influence of learning strategy on response time during complex value-based learning and choice.

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Shiva Farashahi

Full Text Available Measurements of response time (RT have long been used to infer neural processes underlying various cognitive functions such as working memory, attention, and decision making. However, it is currently unknown if RT is also informative about various stages of value-based choice, particularly how reward values are constructed. To investigate these questions, we analyzed the pattern of RT during a set of multi-dimensional learning and decision-making tasks that can prompt subjects to adopt different learning strategies. In our experiments, subjects could use reward feedback to directly learn reward values associated with possible choice options (object-based learning. Alternatively, they could learn reward values of options' features (e.g. color, shape and combine these values to estimate reward values for individual options (feature-based learning. We found that RT was slower when the difference between subjects' estimates of reward probabilities for the two alternative objects on a given trial was smaller. Moreover, RT was overall faster when the preceding trial was rewarded or when the previously selected object was present. These effects, however, were mediated by an interaction between these factors such that subjects were faster when the previously selected object was present rather than absent but only after unrewarded trials. Finally, RT reflected the learning strategy (i.e. object-based or feature-based approach adopted by the subject on a trial-by-trial basis, indicating an overall faster construction of reward value and/or value comparison during object-based learning. Altogether, these results demonstrate that the pattern of RT can be informative about how reward values are learned and constructed during complex value-based learning and decision making.

Resting-state functional connectivity and pitch identification ability in non-musicians

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Jiancheng eHou

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Previous studies have used task-related fMRI to investigate the neural basis of pitch identification (PI, but no study has examined the associations between resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC and PI ability. Using a large sample of Chinese non-musicians (N = 320, with 56 having prior musical training, the current study examined the associations among musical training, PI ability, and RSFC. Results showed that musical training was associated with increased RSFC within the networks for multiple cognitive functions (such as vision, phonology, semantics, auditory encoding, and executive functions. PI ability was associated with RSFC with regions for perceptual and auditory encoding for participants with musical training, and with RSFC with regions for short-term memory, semantics, and phonology for participants without musical training.

Criteria for the Development of Complex Teaching-Learning Environments.

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Achtenhagen, Frank

2001-01-01

Relates aspects of the didactic tradition, especially the German didactic tradition, to the theory and practice of instructional design. Focuses on processes that are necessary to the modeling of reality and describes the design and development of a virtual enterprise as a complex teaching-learning environment in a German business school.…

The correspondence between Miodrag Vasiljević and Bulgarian Musicians

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Jovanović Jelena L.

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The Serbian ethnomusicologist and music pedagogue Miodrag A. Vasiljević corresponded with colleagues from neighboring Bulgaria between 1934 and 1962. This exchange of letters went through three phases. The first phase was linked with his stay in Skopje until the breakout of World War II; during the second phase - in the course of the 1940's - he was active in the Department for Folk Music at Radio Belgrade and he founded his method of music teaching on traditional Serbian music; in the third phase (the 1950's and beginning of 1960's Vasiljević aimed at a closer cooperation with Bulgarian musicians. All the phases are characterized by his pronounced interest in the folk music heritage of Balkan peoples. At the beginning that interest was focused on popularizing art music that was based on folk music. Later, he enthusiastically carried out his reforms of music teaching in Serbia, as well as improvements of methods in Serbian ethnomusicology.

Från digitalt till analogt : En kvalitativ studie av överföringsprocesserna från MIDI till notskrift i symfonisk musik

OpenAIRE

Tibell, Patrik

2009-01-01

This study examines how to translate digitally composed symphonic music to note script and how it gets readable and playable. With the help of professional musicians from the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, teachers from Kulturskolan in Norrköping as well as other musicians, I have learned how I can improve each individual stem in my composition. I also learned how to write for a real musician. My score have been analyzed by composers and a conductor which have given me a more in depth insight...

Beijing Experimental Electronic Musicians on the Phenomenon of Commercialization and Tourism in the Contemporary Chinese Art

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Matic Urbanija

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The article provides opinions of some Beijing experimental electronic musicians about the situation of contemporary art in China and in the world, primarily about the background of the so called Christmas performance in Art District 798's gallery UCCA in Beijing. This was a sort of protest against destroying art with commercialization as the only measure of art gallery's success. The article first describes the situation of contemporary art in the world at the beginning of 21st century as it is described in Julian Stallabrass' book Art Incorporated. It can be deduced from the words of experimental electronic musicians in Beijing that the situation is similar in China. During the debate about the Christmas performance in UCCA gallery, a problem with galleries was emphasize. These became more similar to tourist venues than places for enriching one's thoughts and awareness about the world surrounding us, through artwork. Therefore, the Christmas performance tried to express this sentiment. It offered visitors a tourist show brought to the point of absurd. The employees and the leader of UCCA couldn't comprehend the symbolic meaning of this happening, which, symbolically, took place on Christmas, the most commercialized holiday in the West as well as in China.

Exploratory factor analysis of Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory (K-MPAI) in a Brazilian musician sample

OpenAIRE

Ana Elisa Medeiros Barbar; José Alexandre de Souza; Flávia de Lima Osório

2015-01-01

Abstract Background The Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory (K-MPAI) is very significant among the available instruments which measures Musical Performance Anxiety (MPA). Objective The aim of this study is to find evidence of validity of the Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory (K-MPAI), in its translated and adapted Brazilian version, through the study of its factor structure. Methods A convenience sample of 230 amateur musicians completed the K-MPAI. Results The initial facto...

Learning culture and feedback: an international study of medical athletes and musicians

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Watling, C.N.; Driessen, E.; Vleuten, C.P.M. van der; Lingard, L.

2014-01-01

OBJECTIVES: Feedback should facilitate learning, but within medical education it often fails to deliver on its promise. To better understand why feedback is challenging, we explored the unique perspectives of doctors who had also trained extensively in sport or music, aiming to: (i) distinguish the

Musician earplugs: Appreciation and protection.

Science.gov (United States)

Bockstael, Annelies; Keppler, Hannah; Botteldooren, Dick

2015-01-01

Recreational music exposure is a potential risk factor for noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Augmented hearing protectors have been designed with modified attenuation characteristics to combine hearing protection and listening comfort. However, to date, only a few independent studies have assessed the performance of those augmented protectors in realistic exposure conditions. This study compares the listening experience and temporary effects on cochlear status with different types of earplugs after exposure to contemporary club music. Five different types of commercially available hearing protectors were worn, all commonly used during leisure-time music exposure. Four of them were augmented premolded earplugs and the fifth type was an inexpensive, standard earplug frequently distributed for free at music events. During five different test sessions of 30 min each, participants not professionally involved in music wore one particular type of protector. Contemporary club music was played at sound pressure levels (SPLs) representative of concerts and bars. After each listening session, a questionnaire on sound quality and general appreciation was completed. In addition, otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) were measured directly before and after music exposure. The reported appreciation clearly differed depending on the addressed characteristics and the specific earplug type. In this test group, the reported appreciation mainly depended on comfort and looks, while differences in sound quality were less noticeable. The changes in OAE amplitude before and after noise exposure were small in terms of clinical standards. Nevertheless, the observed temporary shifts differed systematically for the different types of hearing protectors, with two types of musician earplug showing a more systematic decline than the others. Further research with respect to actual use and achieved protection for real, unsupervised music exposure is warranted.

Musician earplugs: Appreciation and protection

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Annelies Bockstael

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Recreational music exposure is a potential risk factor for noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL. Augmented hearing protectors have been designed with modified attenuation characteristics to combine hearing protection and listening comfort. However, to date, only a few independent studies have assessed the performance of those augmented protectors in realistic exposure conditions. This study compares the listening experience and temporary effects on cochlear status with different types of earplugs after exposure to contemporary club music. Five different types of commercially available hearing protectors were worn, all commonly used during leisure-time music exposure. Four of them were augmented premolded earplugs and the fifth type was an inexpensive, standard earplug frequently distributed for free at music events. During five different test sessions of 30 min each, participants not professionally involved in music wore one particular type of protector. Contemporary club music was played at sound pressure levels (SPLs representative of concerts and bars. After each listening session, a questionnaire on sound quality and general appreciation was completed. In addition, otoacoustic emissions (OAEs were measured directly before and after music exposure. The reported appreciation clearly differed depending on the addressed characteristics and the specific earplug type. In this test group, the reported appreciation mainly depended on comfort and looks, while differences in sound quality were less noticeable. The changes in OAE amplitude before and after noise exposure were small in terms of clinical standards. Nevertheless, the observed temporary shifts differed systematically for the different types of hearing protectors, with two types of musician earplug showing a more systematic decline than the others. Further research with respect to actual use and achieved protection for real, unsupervised music exposure is warranted.

Differentiation of classical music requires little learning but rhythm.

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Dalla Bella, Simone; Peretz, Isabelle

2005-06-01

Detecting distinctions between the styles of classical music (e.g. Baroque and Romantic) is often viewed as the privilege of musicians. However, this elite perspective underestimates the abilities of non-musicians. We report that Western musicians and non-musicians, and non-Westerners (i.e. Chinese participants) rated pairs of excerpts presented auditorily as more similar as their compositional styles were closer in history. Moreover, the styles were considered by all participants as more different when presented in historical order, the older style preceding the more recent style (e.g. Baroque followed by Romantic), than the reverse (e.g. Romantic followed by Baroque). This historical distance effect appears related to rhythm (or temporal variability).

Learning by Preparing to Teach: Fostering Self-Regulatory Processes and Achievement during Complex Mathematics Problem Solving

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Muis, Krista R.; Psaradellis, Cynthia; Chevrier, Marianne; Di Leo, Ivana; Lajoie, Susanne P.

2016-01-01

We developed an intervention based on the learning by teaching paradigm to foster self-regulatory processes and better learning outcomes during complex mathematics problem solving in a technology-rich learning environment. Seventy-eight elementary students were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions: learning by preparing to teach, or learning for…

The importance of cultivating a preference for complexity in veterinarians for effective lifelong learning.

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Dale, Vicki H M; Pierce, Stephanie E; May, Stephen A

2010-01-01

Much attention has been paid to the link between students' approaches to study and the quality of their learning. Less attention has been paid to the lifelong learner. We conceptualized a tripartite relationship between three measures of learning preference: conceptions of knowledge (construction and use vs. intake), need for cognition (high vs. low), and approach to study (deep vs. surface) and hypothesized that an individual's profile on these three measures-reconceptualized as a preference for complexity versus simplicity-would affect their attitude toward continuing professional development (CPD). A questionnaire was mailed to 2,000 randomly selected, home-practicing UK veterinarians to quantify their learning preferences, motivation to engage in CPD, and perception of barriers to participation and to assess the relationships between these constructs. Analysis of 775 responses (a 38.8% response rate) confirmed our tripartite model of learning and showed that a preference for complexity was negatively correlated with barriers and positively correlated with intrinsic, social, and extrinsic motivating factors, suggesting that all play a role in the continuing education of this group of professionals. A preference for simplicity was negatively correlated with social motivation and positively correlated with barriers. This study demonstrates that approach not only affects the quality of learning but crucially affects motivation to engage in CPD and perception of barriers to lifelong learning. This should emphasize to veterinary educators the importance of fostering a preference for complexity from an early age, both in terms of its immediate benefits (better understanding) and longer-term benefits (continued engagement with learning).

Investing in Youth Work: Learning from Complexity

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Kari Denissen Cunnien

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This article proposes key elements for a system of support for youth workers to develop their professional skills and capabilities by using a human development approach.  The article argues that narrowed and bureaucratic approaches to professional development can ignore the complex dynamics of human development that support engaged learning and continuous growth and improvement.  The author suggests a more dynamic system where professional development in grounded by practice; employs reflection, mentorship and coaching; and supports healthy organizational culture to foster high quality youth work.

The work of musicians in Brazil: identity tensions and domestic arrangements

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Jordão Horta Nunes

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The musicians’ job market in Brazil is heterogeneous in various senses. It is characterized by informality and job insecurity, in addition to being segmented by gender, both with respect to musical forms and to social relations between the sexes and the construction of correlative social representations. The purpose of this article is to analyze the work of musicians in Brazil, highlighting the recent occupational displacement that affects professional identities and the conciliation practices and domestic arrangements in households where musicians live. The methodology used was a quali-quantitative approach and the triangulation of sources: government databases, and surveys using Internet profiles selected through web scraping and interviews. The exploratory factor analysis based on variables related to domestic work and musical work identified five factors: traditional delegation arrangement, competitive musical work, societal conciliation arrangement, internal conciliation, and community conciliation. Findings showed that traditional delegation in the case of domestic work is not only explained by the relation between reproductive and productive work, with the traditional devaluation or subalternization of the former, but also by a gender construction that ends up assigning women–who are a minority in terms of employment–to teaching activities in the field of higher education and to their placement in stable formations, generally with higher performance and less flexible forms of hiring. Conciliation strategies involving musical work reflect the distinction, in the context of specific cultural and social characteristics, among orienting oneself through the assistance available in the services market, the State, or family arrangements, seen as ideal types, since these practices overlap. However, on the basis of the abovementioned factors, the current outlook reveals an imbalance with respect to the experience and

Leading to engage : An ethnographically informed case study into musicians and participants facilitating inclusion in collaborative music making activities with elderly people

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Karolien Dons

2015-01-01

In Leading to engage Karolien Dons explores the ways in which musicians and elderly participants of a collaborative music activity experience and contribute to the sense of inclusion. Through qualitative research strategies involving a theory-generating ethnographic exploration of existing practices

Comparing the Impact of Specific Strength Training vs General Fitness Training on Professional Symphony Orchestra Musicians

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nygaard Andersen, Lotte; Mann, Stephanie; Juul-Kristensen, Birgit

2017-01-01

Musculoskeletal symptoms, especially in the upper body, are frequent among professional symphony orchestra musicians. Physical exercise may relieve pain but might also interfere with playing performance. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility and effect of "specific strength training" (SST) versus...... "general fitness training" (GFT). METHODS: A feasibility study using randomized controlled methods. Primarily, evaluations involved self-reported impact on instrument playing and satisfaction with the interventions. Secondary evaluations included pain intensity, hand-grip strength, aerobic capacity, body...

Learning and inference using complex generative models in a spatial localization task.

Science.gov (United States)

Bejjanki, Vikranth R; Knill, David C; Aslin, Richard N

2016-01-01

A large body of research has established that, under relatively simple task conditions, human observers integrate uncertain sensory information with learned prior knowledge in an approximately Bayes-optimal manner. However, in many natural tasks, observers must perform this sensory-plus-prior integration when the underlying generative model of the environment consists of multiple causes. Here we ask if the Bayes-optimal integration seen with simple tasks also applies to such natural tasks when the generative model is more complex, or whether observers rely instead on a less efficient set of heuristics that approximate ideal performance. Participants localized a "hidden" target whose position on a touch screen was sampled from a location-contingent bimodal generative model with different variances around each mode. Over repeated exposure to this task, participants learned the a priori locations of the target (i.e., the bimodal generative model), and integrated this learned knowledge with uncertain sensory information on a trial-by-trial basis in a manner consistent with the predictions of Bayes-optimal behavior. In particular, participants rapidly learned the locations of the two modes of the generative model, but the relative variances of the modes were learned much more slowly. Taken together, our results suggest that human performance in a more complex localization task, which requires the integration of sensory information with learned knowledge of a bimodal generative model, is consistent with the predictions of Bayes-optimal behavior, but involves a much longer time-course than in simpler tasks.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Finnish Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) in 590 Professional Musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Vastamäki, Heidi; Vastamäki, Martti; Laimi, Katri; Saltychev, Michail

2017-07-01

Poorly functioning work environments may lead to dissatisfaction for the employees and financial loss for the employers. The Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) was designed to measure social and psychological characteristics of work environments. To investigate the factor construct of the Finnish 14-item version of JCQ when applied to professional orchestra musicians. In a cross-sectional survey, the questionnaire was sent by mail to 1550 orchestra musicians and students. 630 responses were received. Full data were available for 590 respondents (response rate 38%).The questionnaire also contained questions on demographics, job satisfaction, health status, health behaviors, and intensity of playing music. Confirmatory factor analysis of the 2-factor model of JCQ was conducted. Of the 5 estimates, JCQ items in the "job demand" construct, the "conflicting demands" (question 5) explained most of the total variance in this construct (79%) demonstrating almost perfect correlation of 0.63. In the construct of "job control," "opinions influential" (question 10) demonstrated a perfect correlation index of 0.84 and the items "little decision freedom" (question 14) and "allows own decisions" (question 6) showed substantial correlations of 0.77 and 0.65. The 2-factor model of the Finnish 14-item version of JCQ proposed in this study fitted well into the observed data. The "conflicting demands," "opinions influential," "little decision freedom," and "allows own decisions" items demonstrated the strongest correlations with latent factors suggesting that in a population similar to the studied one, especially these items should be taken into account when observed in the response of a population.

Situated learning theory: adding rate and complexity effects via Kauffman's NK model.

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Yuan, Yu; McKelvey, Bill

2004-01-01

For many firms, producing information, knowledge, and enhancing learning capability have become the primary basis of competitive advantage. A review of organizational learning theory identifies two approaches: (1) those that treat symbolic information processing as fundamental to learning, and (2) those that view the situated nature of cognition as fundamental. After noting that the former is inadequate because it focuses primarily on behavioral and cognitive aspects of individual learning, this paper argues the importance of studying learning as interactions among people in the context of their environment. It contributes to organizational learning in three ways. First, it argues that situated learning theory is to be preferred over traditional behavioral and cognitive learning theories, because it treats organizations as complex adaptive systems rather than mere information processors. Second, it adds rate and nonlinear learning effects. Third, following model-centered epistemology, it uses an agent-based computational model, in particular a "humanized" version of Kauffman's NK model, to study the situated nature of learning. Using simulation results, we test eight hypotheses extending situated learning theory in new directions. The paper ends with a discussion of possible extensions of the current study to better address key issues in situated learning.

Noise exposure of musicians of a ballet orchestra

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Cheng Liang Qian

2011-01-01

Full Text Available With over 70 dancers and its own orchestra, The National Ballet of Canada ranks amongst the world′s top dance companies. It performs three seasons annually: fall, winter and summer, plus many shows of Tchaikovsky′s Nutcracker. The 70-strong orchestra plays an average of 360 hours/year including rehearsals and performances. Rehearsals are held at two locations: one in a ballet rehearsal room with little or no absorption, and the other in an acoustically treated location. Performances are held in the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto. The present survey was done at the request of the National Ballet, since the musicians complained of excessive sound levels and were concerned about possible hearing losses. The survey was performed using five dosimeters Quest Mod 300 during 10 performances of the ballet Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev, deemed as the noisiest in the whole repertoire. Results of the survey indicate that the noise exposure levels from only the orchestra′s activities do not present risk of hearing loss. Exposure due to other musical activities was, however, not included.

The Effect of Contextualized Conversational Feedback in a Complex Open-Ended Learning Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Segedy, James R.; Kinnebrew, John S.; Biswas, Gautam

2013-01-01

Betty's Brain is an open-ended learning environment in which students learn about science topics by teaching a virtual agent named Betty through the construction of a visual causal map that represents the relevant science phenomena. The task is complex, and success requires the use of metacognitive strategies that support knowledge acquisition,…

Mixed-complexity artificial grammar learning in humans and macaque monkeys: evaluating learning strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Benjamin; Smith, Kenny; Petkov, Christopher I

2015-03-01

Artificial grammars (AG) can be used to generate rule-based sequences of stimuli. Some of these can be used to investigate sequence-processing computations in non-human animals that might be related to, but not unique to, human language. Previous AG learning studies in non-human animals have used different AGs to separately test for specific sequence-processing abilities. However, given that natural language and certain animal communication systems (in particular, song) have multiple levels of complexity, mixed-complexity AGs are needed to simultaneously evaluate sensitivity to the different features of the AG. Here, we tested humans and Rhesus macaques using a mixed-complexity auditory AG, containing both adjacent (local) and non-adjacent (longer-distance) relationships. Following exposure to exemplary sequences generated by the AG, humans and macaques were individually tested with sequences that were either consistent with the AG or violated specific adjacent or non-adjacent relationships. We observed a considerable level of cross-species correspondence in the sensitivity of both humans and macaques to the adjacent AG relationships and to the statistical properties of the sequences. We found no significant sensitivity to the non-adjacent AG relationships in the macaques. A subset of humans was sensitive to this non-adjacent relationship, revealing interesting between- and within-species differences in AG learning strategies. The results suggest that humans and macaques are largely comparably sensitive to the adjacent AG relationships and their statistical properties. However, in the presence of multiple cues to grammaticality, the non-adjacent relationships are less salient to the macaques and many of the humans. © 2015 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience published by Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Active Learning for Directed Exploration of Complex Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Burl, Michael C.; Wang, Esther

2009-01-01

Physics-based simulation codes are widely used in science and engineering to model complex systems that would be infeasible to study otherwise. Such codes provide the highest-fidelity representation of system behavior, but are often so slow to run that insight into the system is limited. For example, conducting an exhaustive sweep over a d-dimensional input parameter space with k-steps along each dimension requires k(sup d) simulation trials (translating into k(sup d) CPU-days for one of our current simulations). An alternative is directed exploration in which the next simulation trials are cleverly chosen at each step. Given the results of previous trials, supervised learning techniques (SVM, KDE, GP) are applied to build up simplified predictive models of system behavior. These models are then used within an active learning framework to identify the most valuable trials to run next. Several active learning strategies are examined including a recently-proposed information-theoretic approach. Performance is evaluated on a set of thirteen synthetic oracles, which serve as surrogates for the more expensive simulations and enable the experiments to be replicated by other researchers.

Hiperacusia em músicos de banda militar Hyperacusis in military band musicians

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Maiara Santos Gonçalves

2007-12-01

ído ambiental incômodo e presença de zumbido.PURPOSE: To identify the presence of hyperacusis and to investigate the characteristics of uncomfortable sounds, as well as the behaviors triggered by the discomfort in musicians of a Military Band. METHODS: Twenty seven musicians of the Military Band of the Santa Maria Airbase (RS were studied. Their ages ranged from 22 to 50 years old and military work time from four to 26 years, with daily occupational noise exposure time from two to eight hours. All subjects were submitted to a basic audiological evaluation, sound discomfort threshold test and application of a questionnaire. It was considered presence of hyperacusis when the average of the obtained values on the discomfort threshold in 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 Hertz was less than or equal to 90 decibels, associated with hearing discomfort complaint. RESULTS: It was verified presence of hyperacusis in 37% of the musicians. From these, 50% presented normal hearing and 50% had normal hearing with notch; 80% of them felt the discomfort daily and 20% only after band practice; 70% of the musicians had already avoided some activities, believing that the activity noise would be distressing; 70% of them used ear plugs regularly and 90% referred presence of tinnitus. The sounds that were considered to be distressing by hyperacusics were, predominantly, high intensity sounds. The most common emotional responses towards a distressing sound were tension, anxiety and the urge of repelling from it. CONCLUSION: According to the criteria used in this study, 37% of the studied individuals were classified as hyperacusics, which considered predominantly high intensity sounds to be unpleasant. The main emotional responses before these sounds were: tension, anxiety and the need to repel from the sound. The common characteristics among the subjects classified as hyperacusics were: normal hearing, use of ear plugs, avoidance of activities fearing the discomfort caused by the noise, and the presence

Simulation-Based Learning Environments to Teach Complexity: The Missing Link in Teaching Sustainable Public Management

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Michael Deegan

2014-05-01

Full Text Available While public-sector management problems are steeped in positivistic and socially constructed complexity, public management education in the management of complexity lags behind that of business schools, particularly in the application of simulation-based learning. This paper describes a Simulation-Based Learning Environment for public management education that includes a coupled case study and System Dynamics simulation surrounding flood protection, a domain where stewardship decisions regarding public infrastructure and investment have direct and indirect effects on businesses and the public. The Pointe Claire case and CoastalProtectSIM simulation provide a platform for policy experimentation under conditions of exogenous uncertainty (weather and climate change as well as endogenous effects generated by structure. We discuss the model in some detail, and present teaching materials developed to date to support the use of our work in public administration curricula. Our experience with this case demonstrates the potential of this approach to motivate sustainable learning about complexity in public management settings and enhance learners’ competency to deal with complex dynamic problems.

Increased dopamine DRD4 receptor mRNA expression in lymphocytes of musicians and autistic individuals: bridging the music-autism connection.

Science.gov (United States)

Emanuele, Enzo; Boso, Marianna; Cassola, Francesco; Broglia, Davide; Bonoldi, Ilaria; Mancini, Lara; Marini, Mara; Politi, Pierluigi

2010-01-01

People with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) are affected by a long-life disabling condition, characterized by communication deficits, severe impairments in social functioning, and stereotyped behaviors. Although ASD individuals display several problems in interactions, it has been reported that they may show a peculiar interest in music. Previous studies have suggested a pivotal role for the dopaminergic system in the psychobiology of reward, including the pleasure of music. In the present study, we sought to investigate dopamine DRD3 and DRD4 receptor expression in peripheral blood lymphocytes of adult healthy musicians and age- and gender-matched patients with ASD against the background hypothesis that the dopaminergic system may contribute a biological cause to the reward dimensions of the musical experience in both healthy and autistic individuals. ANOVA showed significant differences in DRD4 mRNA expression between the groups (P = 0.008). Post-hoc analysis showed significant differences between the control group and both musicians (P dopamine DRD4 receptor, music and autism, possibly via mechanisms involving the reward system and the appraisal of emotions.

Thrive or overload? The effect of task complexity on novices' simulation-based learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Haji, Faizal A; Cheung, Jeffrey J H; Woods, Nicole; Regehr, Glenn; de Ribaupierre, Sandrine; Dubrowski, Adam

2016-09-01

Fidelity is widely viewed as an important element of simulation instructional design based on its purported relationship with transfer of learning. However, higher levels of fidelity may increase task complexity to a point at which novices' cognitive resources become overloaded. In this experiment, we investigate the effects of variations in task complexity on novices' cognitive load and learning during simulation-based procedural skills training. Thirty-eight medical students were randomly assigned to simulation training on a simple or complex lumbar puncture (LP) task. Participants completed four practice trials on this task (skill acquisition). After 10 days of rest, all participants completed one additional trial on their assigned task (retention) and one trial on a 'very complex' simulation designed to be similar to the complex task (transfer). We assessed LP performance and cognitive load on each trial using multiple measures. In both groups, LP performance improved significantly during skill acquisition (p ≤ 0.047, f = 0.29-0.96) and was maintained at retention. The simple task group demonstrated superior performance compared with the complex task group throughout these phases (p ≤ 0.002, d = 1.13-2.31). Cognitive load declined significantly in the simple task group (p Education.

Giving away music to make money: Independent musicians on the Internet (originally published in August 2001)

OpenAIRE

Pfahl, Michael

2005-01-01

No one has felt the impact of music on the Internet more than the independent musician. The recording industry has dominated the production and distribution of music for many years. The big six recording labels are making a push to incorporate the Internet into their distribution process. Standing in their way is the issue of security. It seems that music files on the Internet, no matter how secure they may seem, are susceptible to tampering. This will force a shift in distribution away f...

Brain lateralization and neural plasticity for musical and cognitive abilities in an epileptic musician

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Isabel eTrujillo-Pozo

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The use of intracarotid propofol procedure (IPP when assessing musical lateralization has not been reported in literature up to now. This procedure (similar to Wada Test has provided the opportunity to investigate not only lateralization of language and memory functions on epileptic patients but also offers a functional mapping approach with superior spatial and temporal resolution to analyze the lateralization of musical abilities. Findings in literature suggest that musical training modifies functional and structural brain organization. We studied hemispheric lateralization in a professional musician, a 33 years old woman with refractory left medial temporal lobe epilepsy. A longitudinal neuropsychological study was performed over a period of 21 months. Before epilepsy surgery, musical abilities, language and memory were tested during IPP by means of a novel and exhaustive neuropsychological battery focusing on the processing of music. We used a selection of stimuli to analyze listening, score reading, and tempo discrimination. Our results suggested that IPP is an excellent method to determine not only language, semantic and episodic memory, but also musical dominance in a professional musician who may be candidate for epilepsy surgery. Neuropsychological testing revealed that right hemisphere’s patient is involved in semantic and episodic musical memory processes, whereas her score reading and tempo processing require contribution from both hemispheres. At 1-year follow-up, outcome was excellent with respect to seizures and professional skills, meanwhile cognitive abilities improved. These findings indicate that IPP helps to predict who might be at risk for postoperative musical, language and memory deficits after epilepsy surgery. Our research suggests that musical expertise and epilepsy critically modifies long-term memory processes and induces brain structural and functional plasticity.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Finnish Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ in 590 Professional Musicians

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Heidi Vastamäki

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Background: Poorly functioning work environments may lead to dissatisfaction for the employees and financial loss for the employers. The Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ was designed to measure social and psychological characteristics of work environments. Objective: To investigate the factor construct of the Finnish 14-item version of JCQ when applied to professional orchestra musicians. Methods: In a cross-sectional survey, the questionnaire was sent by mail to 1550 orchestra musicians and students. 630 responses were received. Full data were available for 590 respondents (response rate 38%.The questionnaire also contained questions on demographics, job satisfaction, health status, health behaviors, and intensity of playing music. Confirmatory factor analysis of the 2-factor model of JCQ was conducted. Results: Of the 5 estimates, JCQ items in the “job demand” construct, the “conflicting demands” (question 5 explained most of the total variance in this construct (79% demonstrating almost perfect correlation of 0.63. In the construct of “job control,” “repetitive work” (question 10 demonstrated a perfect correlation index of 0.84 and the items “little decision freedom” (question 14 and “allows own decisions” (question 6 showed substantial correlations of 0.77 and 0.65. Conclusion: The 2-factor model of the Finnish 14-item version of JCQ proposed in this study fitted well into the observed data. The “conflicting demands,” “repetitive work,” “little decision freedom,” and “allows own decisions” items demonstrated the strongest correlations with latent factors suggesting that in a population similar to the studied one, especially these items should be taken into account when observed in the response of a population.

Learning about Complex Multi-Stakeholder Issues: Assessing the Visual Problem Appraisal

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Witteveen, L.M.; Put, M.; Leeuwis, C.

2010-01-01

This paper presents an evaluation of the visual problem appraisal (VPA) learning environment in higher education. The VPA has been designed for the training of competences that are required in complex stakeholder settings in relation to sustainability issues. The design of VPA incorporates a

The Harmonic Walk: An Interactive Physical Environment to Learn Tonal Melody Accompaniment

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Marcella Mandanici

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The Harmonic Walk is an interactive physical environment designed for learning and practicing the accompaniment of a tonal melody. Employing a highly innovative multimedia system, the application offers to the user the possibility of getting in touch with some fundamental tonal music features in a very simple and readily available way. Notwithstanding tonal music is very common in our lives, unskilled people as well as music students and even professionals are scarcely conscious of what these features actually are. The Harmonic Walk, through the body movement in space, can provide all these users a live experience of tonal melody structure, chords progressions, melody accompaniment, and improvisation. Enactive knowledge and embodied cognition allow the user to build an inner map of these musical features, which can be acted by moving on the active surface with a simple step. Thorough assessment tests with musicians and nonmusicians high school students could prove the high communicative power and efficiency of the Harmonic Walk application both in improving musical knowledge and in accomplishing complex musical tasks.

Music genre preference and tempo alter alpha and beta waves in human non-musicians

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Hunter Gentry

2013-10-01

Full Text Available This study examined the effects of music genre and tempo on brain activation patterns in 10 nonmusicians.Two genres (rock and jazz and three tempos (slowed, medium/normal, andquickened were examined using EEG recording and analyzed through Fast Fourier Transform(FFT analysis. When participants listened to their preferred genre, an increase in alpha waveamplitude was observed. Alpha waves were not significantly affected by tempo. Beta waveamplitude increased significantly as the tempo increased. Genre had no effect on beta waves. Thefindings of this study indicate that genre preference and artificially modified tempo do affectalpha and beta wave activation in non-musicians listening to preselected songs.

Lifelong learning for musicians: critical issues arising from a case study of Connect

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Renshaw, Peter

2005-01-01

This article intends to focus on those critical issues arising from the Connect case study (Renshaw, 2005) that have wider applicability in contemporary professional practice in terms of lifelong learning. Special attention will be given to the following areas: • formal, non-formal and informal

Joined up Thinking? Evaluating the Use of Concept-Mapping to Develop Complex System Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Martyn

2012-01-01

In the physical and natural sciences, the complexity of natural systems and their interactions is becoming better understood. With increased emphasis on learning about complex systems, students will be encountering concepts that are dynamic, ill-structured and interconnected. Concept-mapping is a method considered particularly valuable for…

Facilitating the Evaluation of Complexity in the Public Sector: Learning from the NHS in Scotland

Science.gov (United States)

Connolly, John; Reid, Garth; Mooney, Allan

2015-01-01

It is necessary for public managers to be able to evaluate programmes in the context of complexity. This article offers key learning and reflections based on the experience of facilitating the evaluation of complexity with a range of public sector partners in Scotland. There have been several articles that consider evaluating complexity and…

The effects of supervised learning on event-related potential correlates of music-syntactic processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Shuang; Koelsch, Stefan

2015-11-11

Humans process music even without conscious effort according to implicit knowledge about syntactic regularities. Whether such automatic and implicit processing is modulated by veridical knowledge has remained unknown in previous neurophysiological studies. This study investigates this issue by testing whether the acquisition of veridical knowledge of a music-syntactic irregularity (acquired through supervised learning) modulates early, partly automatic, music-syntactic processes (as reflected in the early right anterior negativity, ERAN), and/or late controlled processes (as reflected in the late positive component, LPC). Excerpts of piano sonatas with syntactically regular and less regular chords were presented repeatedly (10 times) to non-musicians and amateur musicians. Participants were informed by a cue as to whether the following excerpt contained a regular or less regular chord. Results showed that the repeated exposure to several presentations of regular and less regular excerpts did not influence the ERAN elicited by less regular chords. By contrast, amplitudes of the LPC (as well as of the P3a evoked by less regular chords) decreased systematically across learning trials. These results reveal that late controlled, but not early (partly automatic), neural mechanisms of music-syntactic processing are modulated by repeated exposure to a musical piece. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled SI: Prediction and Attention. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Informal Music Learning, Improvisation and Teacher Education

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Wright, Ruth; Kanellopoulos, Panagiotis

2010-01-01

This paper explores firstly the sense in which improvisation might be conceived of as an informal music education process and, secondly, the effects of a course in free improvisation on student teachers' perceptions in relation to themselves as musicians, music as a school subject and children as musicians. The results of a study conducted in two…

Task Complexity Modulates Sleep-Related Offline Learning in Sequential Motor Skills

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Klaus Blischke

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Recently, a number of authors have advocated the introduction of gross motor tasks into research on sleep-related motor offline learning. Such tasks are often designed to be more complex than traditional key-pressing tasks. However, until now, little effort has been undertaken to scrutinize the role of task complexity in any systematic way. Therefore, the effect of task complexity on the consolidation of gross motor sequence memory was examined by our group in a series of three experiments. Criterion tasks always required participants to produce unrestrained arm movement sequences by successively fitting a small peg into target holes on a pegboard. The sequences always followed a certain spatial pattern in the horizontal plane. The targets were visualized prior to each transport movement on a computer screen. The tasks differed with respect to sequence length and structural complexity. In each experiment, half of the participants initially learned the task in the morning and were retested 12 h later following a wake retention interval. The other half of the subjects underwent practice in the evening and was retested 12 h later following a night of sleep. The dependent variables were the error rate and total sequence execution time (inverse to the sequence execution speed. Performance generally improved during acquisition. The error rate was always low and remained stable during retention. The sequence execution time significantly decreased again following sleep but not after waking when the sequence length was long and structural complexity was high. However, sleep-related offline improvements were absent when the sequence length was short or when subjects performed a highly regular movement pattern. It is assumed that the occurrence of sleep-related offline performance improvements in sequential motor tasks is associated with a sufficient amount of motor task complexity.

SOFTWARE COMPLEX FOR CREATION AND ACCUMULATION OF MODERN LEARNING MATERIALS

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V. V. Polinovskyi

2010-08-01

Full Text Available The article analyzes weaknesses of existing tools for lecture materials creation and suggests new complex with modular architecture, which supports different types of lecture materials, templates, interactive elements, includes lecture material database with searching, sorting, and grouping capabilities and can be used for creating lectures courses for distance learning, as well as for interactive lectures for full-time courses.

Learning with Generalization Capability by Kernel Methods of Bounded Complexity

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kůrková, Věra; Sanguineti, M.

2005-01-01

Roč. 21, č. 3 (2005), s. 350-367 ISSN 0885-064X R&D Projects: GA AV ČR 1ET100300419 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : supervised learning * generalization * model complexity * kernel methods * minimization of regularized empirical errors * upper bounds on rates of approximate optimization Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 1.186, year: 2005

Yoga Enhances Positive Psychological States in Young Adult Musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Butzer, Bethany; Ahmed, Khalique; Khalsa, Sat Bir S

2016-06-01

Although yoga has been shown to be a viable technique for improving the performance of the mind and body, little attention has been directed to studying the relationship between yoga and the psychological states of flow and mindfulness. Musicians enrolled in a 2-month fellowship program in 2005, 2006 and 2007 were invited to participate in a yoga and meditation program. Fellows not participating in the yoga program were recruited separately as controls. All participants completed baseline and end-program questionnaires evaluating dispositional flow, mindfulness, confusion, and music performance anxiety. Compared to controls, yoga participants reported significant decreases in confusion and increases in dispositional flow. Yoga participants in the 2006 sample also reported significant increases in the mindfulness subscale of awareness. Correlational analyses revealed that increases in participants' dispositional flow and mindfulness were associated with decreases in confusion and music performance anxiety. This study demonstrates the commonalities between positive psychology and yoga, both of which are focused on enhancing human performance and promoting beneficial psychological states. The results suggest that yoga and meditation may enhance the states of flow and mindful awareness, and reduce confusion.

Optimizing the number of steps in learning tasks for complex skills.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nadolski, Rob; Kirschner, Paul A.; Van Merriënboer, Jeroen

2007-01-01

Background. Carrying out whole tasks is often too difficult for novice learners attempting to acquire complex skills. The common solution is to split up the tasks into a number of smaller steps. The number of steps must be optimised for efficient and effective learning. Aim. The aim of the study is

Constructivist learning theories and complex learning environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

R-J. Simons; Dr. S. Bolhuis

2004-01-01

Learning theories broadly characterised as constructivist, agree on the importance to learning of the environment, but differ on what exactly it is that constitutes this importance. Accordingly, they also differ on the educational consequences to be drawn from the theoretical perspective. Cognitive

Estimating the complexity of 3D structural models using machine learning methods

Science.gov (United States)

Mejía-Herrera, Pablo; Kakurina, Maria; Royer, Jean-Jacques

2016-04-01

Quantifying the complexity of 3D geological structural models can play a major role in natural resources exploration surveys, for predicting environmental hazards or for forecasting fossil resources. This paper proposes a structural complexity index which can be used to help in defining the degree of effort necessary to build a 3D model for a given degree of confidence, and also to identify locations where addition efforts are required to meet a given acceptable risk of uncertainty. In this work, it is considered that the structural complexity index can be estimated using machine learning methods on raw geo-data. More precisely, the metrics for measuring the complexity can be approximated as the difficulty degree associated to the prediction of the geological objects distribution calculated based on partial information on the actual structural distribution of materials. The proposed methodology is tested on a set of 3D synthetic structural models for which the degree of effort during their building is assessed using various parameters (such as number of faults, number of part in a surface object, number of borders, ...), the rank of geological elements contained in each model, and, finally, their level of deformation (folding and faulting). The results show how the estimated complexity in a 3D model can be approximated by the quantity of partial data necessaries to simulated at a given precision the actual 3D model without error using machine learning algorithms.

Genre Complexes in Popular Music.

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Silver, Daniel; Lee, Monica; Childress, C Clayton

2016-01-01

Recent work in the sociology of music suggests a declining importance of genre categories. Yet other work in this research stream and in the sociology of classification argues for the continued prevalence of genres as a meaningful tool through which creators, critics and consumers focus their attention in the topology of available works. Building from work in the study of categories and categorization we examine how boundary strength and internal differentiation structure the genre pairings of some 3 million musicians and groups. Using a range of network-based and statistical techniques, we uncover three musical "complexes," which are collectively constituted by 16 smaller genre communities. Our analysis shows that the musical universe is not monolithically organized but rather composed of multiple worlds that are differently structured-i.e., uncentered, single-centered, and multi-centered.

Examining Motivation in Online Distance Learning Environments: Complex, Multifaceted, and Situation-Dependent

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Maggie Hartnett

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Existing research into motivation in online environments has tended to use one of two approaches. The first adopts a trait-like model that views motivation as a relatively stable, personal characteristic of the learner. Research from this perspective has contributed to the notion that online learners are, on the whole, intrinsically motivated. The alternative view concentrates on the design of online learning environments to encourage optimal learner motivation. Neither approach acknowledges a contemporary view of motivation that emphasises the situated, mutually constitutive relationship of the learner and the learning environment. Using self-determination theory (SDT as a framework, this paper explores the motivation to learn of preservice teachers in two online distance-learning contexts. In this study, learners were found to be not primarily intrinsically motivated. Instead, student motivation was found to be complex, multifaceted, and sensitive to situational conditions.

The Conceptual Mechanism for Viable Organizational Learning Based on Complex System Theory and the Viable System Model

Science.gov (United States)

Sung, Dia; You, Yeongmahn; Song, Ji Hoon

2008-01-01

The purpose of this research is to explore the possibility of viable learning organizations based on identifying viable organizational learning mechanisms. Two theoretical foundations, complex system theory and viable system theory, have been integrated to provide the rationale for building the sustainable organizational learning mechanism. The…

Achieving Complex Learning Outcomes through Adoption of a Pedagogical Perspective: A Model for Computer Technology Delivered Instruction

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Bellard, Breshanica

2018-01-01

Professionals responsible for the delivery of education and training using technology systems and platforms can facilitate complex learning through application of relevant strategies, principles and theories that support how learners learn and that support how curriculum should be designed in a technology based learning environment. Technological…

Organ builders, musicians and entrepreneurs: the De- Bernardi’s family in Salamanca, 1903-1932

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Judith Helvia García Martín

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In the early 20th century, Salamanca hosted one of the most culturally and musically active families of the city during the first three decades of the century: the De- Bernardis. Their activities as organ builders, musicians, teachers and music entrepreneurs, focused on the figures of Juan De-Bernardi and his son Luis, left a mark not only in the town, through their involvement in numerous cultural events, but also building and reparing various instruments in an area that covers from the North of Portugal to the South of Cáceres. Here we reconstruct, through the information given by local hemerographic sources, their trajectory from their arrival in Salamanca in 1903 until 1932.

Naturally together: pitch-height and brightness as coupled factors for eliciting the SMARC effect in non-musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Pitteri, Marco; Marchetti, Mauro; Priftis, Konstantinos; Grassi, Massimo

2017-01-01

Pitch-height is often labeled spatially (i.e., low or high) as a function of the fundamental frequency of the tone. This correspondence is highlighted by the so-called Spatial-Musical Association of Response Codes (SMARC) effect. However, the literature suggests that the brightness of the tone's timbre might contribute to this spatial association. We investigated the SMARC effect in a group of non-musicians by disentangling the role of pitch-height and the role of tone-brightness. In three experimental conditions, participants were asked to judge whether the tone they were listening to was (or was not) modulated in amplitude (i.e., vibrato). Participants were required to make their response in both the horizontal and the vertical axes. In a first condition, tones varied coherently in pitch (i.e., manipulation of the tone's F0) and brightness (i.e., manipulation of the tone's spectral centroid); in a second condition, pitch-height varied whereas brightness was fixed; in a third condition, pitch-height was fixed whereas brightness varied. We found the SMARC effect only in the first condition and only in the vertical axis. In contrast, we did not observe the effect in any of the remaining conditions. The present results suggest that, in non-musicians, the SMARC effect is not due to the manipulation of the pitch-height alone, but arises because of a coherent change of pitch-height and brightness; this effect emerges along the vertical axis only.

Imagining Homeland: Identity and Repertories of a Greek Labour-immigrant Musician in Germany

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Smaragdi Boura

2006-05-01

Full Text Available Migration has always played an important and determinative role in the formation of the Greek life-cycle, since the existence of a Greek Diaspora originates back to the institution of the Greek nation. However, whether the migration phenomenon represents a typical and integral part of the Greek cultural tradition or mentality, or appears as a forced consequence of specific economic or political circumstances, it should be pointed out that it has proved to be a transformative factor for the lives of people involved in it. The fate of "metanastes" (immigrants and the life in "xenitia" (foreign host land appear to be a very common and prominent topic elaborated in the poetic texts of the Greek "dimotika tragoudia" (traditional songs and "laika tragoudia" (folk-popular songs. Through these repertoires, music reveals its power in conveying and symbolically communicating and expressing public notions, feelings and cultural messages that acquire a particular significance for immigrant communities. Furthermore, diasporic music—along with dance—constitutes one of the basic components of the immigrant's cultural heritage, representing: an expressive way of maintaining cultural identity; a fixed, however metaphorical, conjunctional link between the mother country and the host land; and, a fundamental context through which the migratory community identifies or reconstitutes itself in relation to the majority and other surrounding groups. The author uses fieldwork from a year spent amongst Greek immigrant communities in the Stuttgart region of Germany to address and reflect on issues around the role of music in identity construction and the way in which this connects with processes of integration, assimilation and transnationalism. Specifically, the paper explores the multiple identities and repertories of a Greek musician in Germany, by focusing on several aspects of the musician's life-portrait and providing both emic and etic interpretations. This

Low Complexity Sparse Bayesian Learning for Channel Estimation Using Generalized Mean Field

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Niels Lovmand; Manchón, Carles Navarro; Fleury, Bernard Henri

2014-01-01

We derive low complexity versions of a wide range of algorithms for sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) in underdetermined linear systems. The proposed algorithms are obtained by applying the generalized mean field (GMF) inference framework to a generic SBL probabilistic model. In the GMF framework, we...

Impact of pedagogical approaches on cognitive complexity and motivation to learn: Comparing nursing and engineering undergraduate students.

Science.gov (United States)

McComb, Sara A; Kirkpatrick, Jane M

2016-01-01

The changing higher education landscape is prompting nurses to rethink educational strategies. Looking beyond traditional professional boundaries may be beneficial. We compare nursing to engineering because engineering has similar accreditation outcome goals and different pedagogical approaches. We compare students' cognitive complexity and motivation to learn to identify opportunities to share pedagogical approaches between nursing and engineering. Cross-sectional data were collected from 1,167 freshmen through super senior students. Comparisons were made across years and between majors. Overall nursing and engineering students advance in cognitive complexity while maintaining motivation for learning. Sophomores reported the lowest scores on many dimensions indicating that their experiences need review. The strong influence of the National Council Licensure Examination on nursing students may drive their classroom preferences. Increased intrinsic motivation, coupled with decreased extrinsic motivation, suggests that we are graduating burgeoning life-long learners equipped to maintain currency. The disciplines' strategies for incorporating real-world learning opportunities differ, yet the students similarly advance in cognitive complexity and maintain motivation to learn. Lessons can be exchanged across professional boundaries. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning from simple ebooks, online cases or classroom teaching when acquiring complex knowledge. A randomized controlled trial in respiratory physiology and pulmonology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Worm, Bjarne Skjødt

2013-01-01

E-learning is developing fast because of the rapid increased use of smartphones, tablets and portable computers. We might not think of it as e-learning, but today many new e-books are in fact very complex electronic teaching platforms. It is generally accepted that e-learning is as effective...... as classroom teaching methods, but little is known about its value in relaying contents of different levels of complexity to students. We set out to investigate e-learning effects on simple recall and complex problem-solving compared to classroom teaching....

8. Possible Approaches to the Concept of Collaborative Teaching in the “Music Analysis” Course. Benefits and Challenges

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Vlahopol Gabriela

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The concept of Collaborative Teaching is one of the innovative approaches to learning, which has changed the view of traditional teaching methods by involving two or more teachers in training a single group. The process involves a variety of flexible teaching methods that meet the learning needs of all students, while developing their communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity skills. Artistic education in the university environment contains two main biases, theoretical and practical (performance, which are divergent in the way of manifestation and collaboration between teachers. The applicability of the concept of Co-Teaching in performance is relatively intuitive, with a sporadic concretisation and no visible results in students' evolution. As regards the theoretical part of the musicians, the collaboration in the teaching process could be an important tool for correlating the information obtained at different disciplines in different fields (harmony, counterpoint, music history, folklore, aesthetics, stylistics, music theory, music analysis, etc., but also to actively acknowledge the importance of a complex vision on the formation of a complete musician.

Jumpstarting auditory learning in children with cochlear implants through music experiences.

Science.gov (United States)

Barton, Christine; Robbins, Amy McConkey

2015-09-01

Musical experiences are a valuable part of the lives of children with cochlear implants (CIs). In addition to the pleasure, relationships and emotional outlet provided by music, it serves to enhance or 'jumpstart' other auditory and cognitive skills that are critical for development and learning throughout the lifespan. Musicians have been shown to be 'better listeners' than non-musicians with regard to how they perceive and process sound. A heuristic model of music therapy is reviewed, including six modulating factors that may account for the auditory advantages demonstrated by those who participate in music therapy. The integral approach to music therapy is described along with the hybrid approach to pediatric language intervention. These approaches share the characteristics of placing high value on ecologically valid therapy experiences, i.e., engaging in 'real' music and 'real' communication. Music and language intervention techniques used by the authors are presented. It has been documented that children with CIs consistently have lower music perception scores than do their peers with normal hearing (NH). On the one hand, this finding matters a great deal because it provides parameters for setting reasonable expectations and highlights the work still required to improve signal processing with the devices so that they more accurately transmit music to CI listeners. On the other hand, the finding might not matter much if we assume that music, even in its less-than-optimal state, functions for CI children, as for NH children, as a developmental jumpstarter, a language-learning tool, a cognitive enricher, a motivator, and an attention enhancer.

Influence of musical training on sensitivity to temporal fine structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Mishra, Srikanta K; Panda, Manasa R; Raj, Swapna

2015-04-01

The objective of this study was to extend the findings that temporal fine structure encoding is altered in musicians by examining sensitivity to temporal fine structure (TFS) in an alternative (non-Western) musician model that is rarely adopted--Indian classical music. The sensitivity to TFS was measured by the ability to discriminate two complex tones that differed in TFS but not in envelope repetition rate. Sixteen South Indian classical (Carnatic) musicians and 28 non-musicians with normal hearing participated in this study. Musicians have significantly lower relative frequency shift at threshold in the TFS task compared to non-musicians. A significant negative correlation was observed between years of musical experience and relative frequency shift at threshold in the TFS task. Test-retest repeatability of thresholds in the TFS tasks was similar for both musicians and non-musicians. The enhanced performance of the Carnatic-trained musicians suggests that the musician advantage for frequency and harmonicity discrimination is not restricted to training in Western classical music, on which much of the previous research on musical training has narrowly focused. The perceptual judgments obtained from non-musicians were as reliable as those of musicians.

Instructional Control of Cognitive Load in the Design of Complex Learning Environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kester, Liesbeth; Paas, Fred; Van Merriënboer, Jeroen

2010-01-01

Kester, L., Paas, F., & Van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (2010). Instructional control of cognitive load in the design of complex learning environments. In J. L. Plass, R. Moreno, & Roland Brünken (Eds.), Cognitive Load Theory (pp. 109-130). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Community detection in complex networks using deep auto-encoded extreme learning machine

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Feifan; Zhang, Baihai; Chai, Senchun; Xia, Yuanqing

2018-06-01

Community detection has long been a fascinating topic in complex networks since the community structure usually unveils valuable information of interest. The prevalence and evolution of deep learning and neural networks have been pushing forward the advancement in various research fields and also provide us numerous useful and off the shelf techniques. In this paper, we put the cascaded stacked autoencoders and the unsupervised extreme learning machine (ELM) together in a two-level embedding process and propose a novel community detection algorithm. Extensive comparison experiments in circumstances of both synthetic and real-world networks manifest the advantages of the proposed algorithm. On one hand, it outperforms the k-means clustering in terms of the accuracy and stability thus benefiting from the determinate dimensions of the ELM block and the integration of sparsity restrictions. On the other hand, it endures smaller complexity than the spectral clustering method on account of the shrinkage in time spent on the eigenvalue decomposition procedure.

Learning Science in a Virtual Reality Application: The Impacts of Animated-Virtual Actors' Visual Complexity

Science.gov (United States)

Kartiko, Iwan; Kavakli, Manolya; Cheng, Ken

2010-01-01

As the technology in computer graphics advances, Animated-Virtual Actors (AVAs) in Virtual Reality (VR) applications become increasingly rich and complex. Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML) suggests that complex visual materials could hinder novice learners from attending to the lesson properly. On the other hand, previous studies have…

Adaptive learning and complex dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gomes, Orlando

2009-01-01

In this paper, we explore the dynamic properties of a group of simple deterministic difference equation systems in which the conventional perfect foresight assumption gives place to a mechanism of adaptive learning. These systems have a common feature: under perfect foresight (or rational expectations) they all possess a unique fixed point steady state. This long-term outcome is obtained also under learning if the quality underlying the learning process is high. Otherwise, when the degree of inefficiency of the learning process is relatively strong, nonlinear dynamics (periodic and a-periodic cycles) arise. The specific properties of each one of the proposed systems is explored both in terms of local and global dynamics. One macroeconomic model is used to illustrate how the formation of expectations through learning may eventually lead to awkward long-term outcomes.

Are Agile and Lean Manufacturing Systems Employing Sustainability, Complexity and Organizational Learning?

Science.gov (United States)

Flumerfelt, Shannon; Siriban-Manalang, Anna Bella; Kahlen, Franz-Josef

2012-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to peruse theories and practices of agile and lean manufacturing systems to determine whether they employ sustainability, complexity and organizational learning. Design/methodology/approach: The critical review of the comparative operational similarities and difference of the two systems was conducted while the new views…

The amygdala complex: multiple roles in associative learning and attention.

OpenAIRE

Gallagher, M; Holland, P C

1994-01-01

Although certain neurophysiological functions of the amygdala complex in learning seem well established, the purpose of this review is to propose that an additional conceptualization of amygdala function is now needed. The research we review provides evidence that a subsystem within the amygdala provides a coordinated regulation of attentional processes. An important aspect of this additional neuropsychology of the amygdala is that it may aid in understanding the importance of connections bet...

Musical training during early childhood enhances the neural encoding of speech in noise.

Science.gov (United States)

Strait, Dana L; Parbery-Clark, Alexandra; Hittner, Emily; Kraus, Nina

2012-12-01

For children, learning often occurs in the presence of background noise. As such, there is growing desire to improve a child's access to a target signal in noise. Given adult musicians' perceptual and neural speech-in-noise enhancements, we asked whether similar effects are present in musically-trained children. We assessed the perception and subcortical processing of speech in noise and related cognitive abilities in musician and nonmusician children that were matched for a variety of overarching factors. Outcomes reveal that musicians' advantages for processing speech in noise are present during pivotal developmental years. Supported by correlations between auditory working memory and attention and auditory brainstem response properties, we propose that musicians' perceptual and neural enhancements are driven in a top-down manner by strengthened cognitive abilities with training. Our results may be considered by professionals involved in the remediation of language-based learning deficits, which are often characterized by poor speech perception in noise. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Successfully carrying out complex learning-tasks through guiding teams' qualitative and quantitative reasoning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Slof, B.; Erkens, G.; Kirschner, P. A.; Janssen, J.; Jaspers, J. G. M.

This study investigated whether and how scripting learners' use of representational tools in a computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL)-environment fostered their collaborative performance on a complex business-economics task. Scripting the problem-solving process sequenced and made its

Genre Complexes in Popular Music

Science.gov (United States)

Childress, C. Clayton

2016-01-01

Recent work in the sociology of music suggests a declining importance of genre categories. Yet other work in this research stream and in the sociology of classification argues for the continued prevalence of genres as a meaningful tool through which creators, critics and consumers focus their attention in the topology of available works. Building from work in the study of categories and categorization we examine how boundary strength and internal differentiation structure the genre pairings of some 3 million musicians and groups. Using a range of network-based and statistical techniques, we uncover three musical “complexes,” which are collectively constituted by 16 smaller genre communities. Our analysis shows that the musical universe is not monolithically organized but rather composed of multiple worlds that are differently structured—i.e., uncentered, single-centered, and multi-centered. PMID:27203852

Sonification and haptic feedback in addition to visual feedback enhances complex motor task learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Sigrist, Roland; Rauter, Georg; Marchal-Crespo, Laura; Riener, Robert; Wolf, Peter

2015-03-01

Concurrent augmented feedback has been shown to be less effective for learning simple motor tasks than for complex tasks. However, as mostly artificial tasks have been investigated, transfer of results to tasks in sports and rehabilitation remains unknown. Therefore, in this study, the effect of different concurrent feedback was evaluated in trunk-arm rowing. It was then investigated whether multimodal audiovisual and visuohaptic feedback are more effective for learning than visual feedback only. Naïve subjects (N = 24) trained in three groups on a highly realistic virtual reality-based rowing simulator. In the visual feedback group, the subject's oar was superimposed to the target oar, which continuously became more transparent when the deviation between the oars decreased. Moreover, a trace of the subject's trajectory emerged if deviations exceeded a threshold. The audiovisual feedback group trained with oar movement sonification in addition to visual feedback to facilitate learning of the velocity profile. In the visuohaptic group, the oar movement was inhibited by path deviation-dependent braking forces to enhance learning of spatial aspects. All groups significantly decreased the spatial error (tendency in visual group) and velocity error from baseline to the retention tests. Audiovisual feedback fostered learning of the velocity profile significantly more than visuohaptic feedback. The study revealed that well-designed concurrent feedback fosters complex task learning, especially if the advantages of different modalities are exploited. Further studies should analyze the impact of within-feedback design parameters and the transferability of the results to other tasks in sports and rehabilitation.

Controlling Uncertainty Decision Making and Learning in Complex Worlds

CERN Document Server

Osman, Magda

2010-01-01

Controlling Uncertainty: Decision Making and Learning in Complex Worlds reviews and discusses the most current research relating to the ways we can control the uncertain world around us.: Features reviews and discussions of the most current research in a number of fields relevant to controlling uncertainty, such as psychology, neuroscience, computer science and engineering; Presents a new framework that is designed to integrate a variety of disparate fields of research; Represents the first book of its kind to provide a general overview of work related to understanding control

ComplexContact: a web server for inter-protein contact prediction using deep learning

KAUST Repository

Zeng, Hong; Wang, Sheng; Zhou, Tianming; Zhao, Feifeng; Li, Xiufeng; Wu, Qing; Xu, Jinbo

2018-01-01

ComplexContact (http://raptorx2.uchicago.edu/ComplexContact/) is a web server for sequence-based interfacial residue-residue contact prediction of a putative protein complex. Interfacial residue-residue contacts are critical for understanding how proteins form complex and interact at residue level. When receiving a pair of protein sequences, ComplexContact first searches for their sequence homologs and builds two paired multiple sequence alignments (MSA), then it applies co-evolution analysis and a CASP-winning deep learning (DL) method to predict interfacial contacts from paired MSAs and visualizes the prediction as an image. The DL method was originally developed for intra-protein contact prediction and performed the best in CASP12. Our large-scale experimental test further shows that ComplexContact greatly outperforms pure co-evolution methods for inter-protein contact prediction, regardless of the species.

ComplexContact: a web server for inter-protein contact prediction using deep learning

KAUST Repository

Zeng, Hong

2018-05-20

ComplexContact (http://raptorx2.uchicago.edu/ComplexContact/) is a web server for sequence-based interfacial residue-residue contact prediction of a putative protein complex. Interfacial residue-residue contacts are critical for understanding how proteins form complex and interact at residue level. When receiving a pair of protein sequences, ComplexContact first searches for their sequence homologs and builds two paired multiple sequence alignments (MSA), then it applies co-evolution analysis and a CASP-winning deep learning (DL) method to predict interfacial contacts from paired MSAs and visualizes the prediction as an image. The DL method was originally developed for intra-protein contact prediction and performed the best in CASP12. Our large-scale experimental test further shows that ComplexContact greatly outperforms pure co-evolution methods for inter-protein contact prediction, regardless of the species.

ComplexContact: a web server for inter-protein contact prediction using deep learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Hong; Wang, Sheng; Zhou, Tianming; Zhao, Feifeng; Li, Xiufeng; Wu, Qing; Xu, Jinbo

2018-05-22

ComplexContact (http://raptorx2.uchicago.edu/ComplexContact/) is a web server for sequence-based interfacial residue-residue contact prediction of a putative protein complex. Interfacial residue-residue contacts are critical for understanding how proteins form complex and interact at residue level. When receiving a pair of protein sequences, ComplexContact first searches for their sequence homologs and builds two paired multiple sequence alignments (MSA), then it applies co-evolution analysis and a CASP-winning deep learning (DL) method to predict interfacial contacts from paired MSAs and visualizes the prediction as an image. The DL method was originally developed for intra-protein contact prediction and performed the best in CASP12. Our large-scale experimental test further shows that ComplexContact greatly outperforms pure co-evolution methods for inter-protein contact prediction, regardless of the species.

Early motor learning changes in upper-limb dynamics and shoulder complex loading during handrim wheelchair propulsion.

Science.gov (United States)

Vegter, Riemer J K; Hartog, Johanneke; de Groot, Sonja; Lamoth, Claudine J; Bekker, Michel J; van der Scheer, Jan W; van der Woude, Lucas H V; Veeger, Dirkjan H E J

2015-03-10

To propel in an energy-efficient manner, handrim wheelchair users must learn to control the bimanually applied forces onto the rims, preserving both speed and direction of locomotion. Previous studies have found an increase in mechanical efficiency due to motor learning associated with changes in propulsion technique, but it is unclear in what way the propulsion technique impacts the load on the shoulder complex. The purpose of this study was to evaluate mechanical efficiency, propulsion technique and load on the shoulder complex during the initial stage of motor learning. 15 naive able-bodied participants received 12-minutes uninstructed wheelchair practice on a motor driven treadmill, consisting of three 4-minute blocks separated by two minutes rest. Practice was performed at a fixed belt speed (v = 1.1 m/s) and constant low-intensity power output (0.2 W/kg). Energy consumption, kinematics and kinetics of propulsion technique were continuously measured. The Delft Shoulder Model was used to calculate net joint moments, muscle activity and glenohumeral reaction force. With practice mechanical efficiency increased and propulsion technique changed, reflected by a reduced push frequency and increased work per push, performed over a larger contact angle, with more tangentially applied force and reduced power losses before and after each push. Contrary to our expectations, the above mentioned propulsion technique changes were found together with an increased load on the shoulder complex reflected by higher net moments, a higher total muscle power and higher peak and mean glenohumeral reaction forces. It appears that the early stages of motor learning in handrim wheelchair propulsion are indeed associated with improved technique and efficiency due to optimization of the kinematics and dynamics of the upper extremity. This process goes at the cost of an increased muscular effort and mechanical loading of the shoulder complex. This seems to be associated with an

Self-Efficacy, Task Complexity and Task Performance: Exploring Interactions in Two Versions of Vocabulary Learning Tasks

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Xiaoli; Lowyck, Joost; Sercu, Lies; Elen, Jan

2012-01-01

The present study aimed for better understanding of the interactions between task complexity and students' self-efficacy beliefs and students' use of learning strategies, and finally their interacting effects on task performance. This investigation was carried out in the context of Chinese students learning English as a foreign language in a…

Task complexity as a driver for collaborative learning efficiency: The collective working-memory effect

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kirschner, Femke; Paas, Fred; Kirschner, Paul A.

2010-01-01

Kirschner, F., Paas, F., & Kirschner, P. A. (2011). Task complexity as a driver for collaborative learning efficiency: The collective working-memory effect. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25, 615–624. doi: 10.1002/acp.1730.

Identifying attachment ruptures underlying severe music performance anxiety in a professional musician undertaking an assessment and trial therapy of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP).

Science.gov (United States)

Kenny, Dianna T; Arthey, Stephen; Abbass, Allan

2016-01-01

Kenny has proposed that severe music performance anxiety that is unresponsive to usual treatments such as cognitive-behaviour therapy may be one manifestation of unresolved attachment ruptures in early life. Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy specifically targets early relationship trauma. Accordingly, a trial of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy with severely anxious musicians was implemented to assess whether resolution of attachment ruptures resulted in clinically significant relief from music performance anxiety. Volunteer musicians participating in a nationally funded study were screened for MPA severity. Those meeting the critical cut-off score on the Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory were offered a trial of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy. In this paper, we present the theoretical foundations and rationale for the treatment approach, followed by sections of a verbatim transcript and process analysis of the assessment phase of treatment that comprised a 3-h trial therapy session. The 'case' was a professional orchestral musician (male, aged 55) who had suffered severe music performance anxiety over the course of his entire career, which spanned more than 30 years at the time he presented for treatment following his failure to secure a position at audition. The participant was able to access the pain, rage and grief associated with unresolved attachment ruptures with both parents that demonstrated the likely nexus between early attachment trauma and severe music performance anxiety. Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy is a potentially cost-effective treatment for severe music performance anxiety. Further research using designs with higher levels of evidence are required before clinical recommendations can be made for the use of this therapy with this population.

Designing for Discovery Learning of Complexity Principles of Congestion by Driving Together in the TrafficJams Simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Levy, Sharona T.; Peleg, Ran; Ofeck, Eyal; Tabor, Naamit; Dubovi, Ilana; Bluestein, Shiri; Ben-Zur, Hadar

2018-01-01

We propose and evaluate a framework supporting collaborative discovery learning of complex systems. The framework blends five design principles: (1) individual action: amidst (2) social interactions; challenged with (3) multiple tasks; set in (4) a constrained interactive learning environment that draws attention to (5) highlighted target…

Successfully Carrying out Complex Learning-Tasks through Guiding Teams' Qualitative and Quantitative Reasoning

Science.gov (United States)

Slof, B.; Erkens, G.; Kirschner, P. A.; Janssen, J.; Jaspers, J. G. M.

2012-01-01

This study investigated whether and how scripting learners' use of representational tools in a computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL)-environment fostered their collaborative performance on a complex business-economics task. Scripting the problem-solving process sequenced and made its phase-related part-task demands explicit, namely…

Machine learning and complex-network for personalized and systems biomedicine

KAUST Repository

Cannistraci, Carlo Vittorio

2016-01-27

The talk will begin with an introduction on using machine learning to discover hidden information and unexpected patterns in large biomedical datasets. Then, recent results on the use of complex network theory in biomedicine and neuroscience will be discussed. In particular, metagenomics and metabolomics data, approaches for drug-target repositioning, functional/structural MR connectomes and gut-brain axis data will be presented. The conclusion will outline the novel and exciting perspectives offered by the translation of these methods from systems biology to systems medicine.

Exploring the Effects of Pitch Layout on Learning a New Musical Instrument

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer MacRitchie

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Although isomorphic pitch layouts are proposed to afford various advantages for musicians playing new musical instruments, this paper details the first substantive set of empirical tests on how two fundamental aspects of isomorphic pitch layouts affect motor learning: shear, which makes the pitch axis vertical, and the adjacency (or nonadjacency of pitches a major second apart. After receiving audio-visual training tasks for a scale and arpeggios, performance accuracies of 24 experienced musicians were assessed in immediate retention tasks (same as the training tasks, but without the audio-visual guidance and in a transfer task (performance of a previously untrained nursery rhyme. Each participant performed the same tasks with three different pitch layouts and, in total, four different layouts were tested. Results show that, so long as the performance ceiling has not already been reached (due to ease of the task or repeated practice, adjacency strongly improves performance accuracy in the training and retention tasks. They also show that shearing the layout, to make the pitch axis vertical, worsens performance accuracy for the training tasks but, crucially, it strongly improves performance accuracy in the transfer task when the participant needs to perform a new, but related, task. These results can inform the design of pitch layouts in new musical instruments.

QUALITY ASSURANCE IN RWANDAN HIGHER LEARNING EDUCATION: IS THE SYSTEM ADAPTIVE OR COMPLEX?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nathan Kanuma Taremwa

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Developing knowledge infrastructure by massive investments in education and training are taken as a benchmark in facilitating the acceleration and possible increases in skills, capacities and competences of Rwandan people has become apriority issue in the recent years. This notion is relevant to vision 2020 where human resource development and building of a knowledge based economy are fundamental pillars. In the past years, several policy reforms have taken place in education sector. However, the overarching question is if such reforms are becoming adaptive or complex and if such reforms will not compromise the quality of education in higher learning education in Rwanda? The main objective of the study was to investigate the impact of changes in Higher Learning Institutions on the quality of education in Rwanda. This research had three hypotheses, namely; there is an impact of changes in Higher Learning Institutions on quality of education in Rwanda; the current complexity in Rwandan education system is affecting the quality of education in HLIs; Tailoring education system to the regional reforms and implementation strategies is affecting the quality of education in Rwanda. This study was carried out in 10 higher learning institutions (5 public, 5 private and 2 Ministry of Education directorates (HEC and REB. Key informants were the senior management/head of institutions, experienced academic staff, and students. The parameters considered included; the learning methods, assessment styles, workloads, language of instruction, merging of public HLIs, curriculum, and the transformation of some private higher learning institutions into company forms. Main research instruments were questionnaires and interview guides. Both qualitative and quantitative research was collected. Analyses were done using SPSS and excel packages. Major findings indicate that the system is still in transition with indicative gaps. Ample time would therefore be necessary for

Spiking the expectancy profiles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Niels Chr.; Loui, Psyche; Vuust, Peter

Melodic expectations have long been quantified using expectedness ratings. Motivated by statistical learning and sharper key profiles in musicians, we model musical learning as a process of reducing the relative entropy between listeners' prior expectancy profiles and probability distributions...... of a given musical style or of stimuli used in short-term experiments. Five previous probe-tone experiments with musicians and non-musicians are revisited. Exp. 1-2 used jazz, classical and hymn melodies. Exp. 3-5 collected ratings before and after exposure to 5, 15 or 400 novel melodies generated from...... a finite-state grammar using the Bohlen-Pierce scale. We find group differences in entropy corresponding to degree and relevance of musical training and within-participant decreases after short-term exposure. Thus, whereas inexperienced listeners make high-entropy predictions by default, statistical...

Action observation versus motor imagery in learning a complex motor task: a short review of literature and a kinematics study.

Science.gov (United States)

Gatti, R; Tettamanti, A; Gough, P M; Riboldi, E; Marinoni, L; Buccino, G

2013-04-12

Both motor imagery and action observation have been shown to play a role in learning or re-learning complex motor tasks. According to a well accepted view they share a common neurophysiological basis in the mirror neuron system. Neurons within this system discharge when individuals perform a specific action and when they look at another individual performing the same or a motorically related action. In the present paper, after a short review of literature on the role of action observation and motor imagery in motor learning, we report the results of a kinematics study where we directly compared motor imagery and action observation in learning a novel complex motor task. This involved movement of the right hand and foot in the same angular direction (in-phase movement), while at the same time moving the left hand and foot in an opposite angular direction (anti-phase movement), all at a frequency of 1Hz. Motor learning was assessed through kinematics recording of wrists and ankles. The results showed that action observation is better than motor imagery as a strategy for learning a novel complex motor task, at least in the fast early phase of motor learning. We forward that these results may have important implications in educational activities, sport training and neurorehabilitation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Machine Learning Approach to Discover Rules for Expressive Performance Actions in Jazz Guitar Music

Science.gov (United States)

Giraldo, Sergio I.; Ramirez, Rafael

2016-01-01

Expert musicians introduce expression in their performances by manipulating sound properties such as timing, energy, pitch, and timbre. Here, we present a data driven computational approach to induce expressive performance rule models for note duration, onset, energy, and ornamentation transformations in jazz guitar music. We extract high-level features from a set of 16 commercial audio recordings (and corresponding music scores) of jazz guitarist Grant Green in order to characterize the expression in the pieces. We apply machine learning techniques to the resulting features to learn expressive performance rule models. We (1) quantitatively evaluate the accuracy of the induced models, (2) analyse the relative importance of the considered musical features, (3) discuss some of the learnt expressive performance rules in the context of previous work, and (4) assess their generailty. The accuracies of the induced predictive models is significantly above base-line levels indicating that the audio performances and the musical features extracted contain sufficient information to automatically learn informative expressive performance patterns. Feature analysis shows that the most important musical features for predicting expressive transformations are note duration, pitch, metrical strength, phrase position, Narmour structure, and tempo and key of the piece. Similarities and differences between the induced expressive rules and the rules reported in the literature were found. Differences may be due to the fact that most previously studied performance data has consisted of classical music recordings. Finally, the rules' performer specificity/generality is assessed by applying the induced rules to performances of the same pieces performed by two other professional jazz guitar players. Results show a consistency in the ornamentation patterns between Grant Green and the other two musicians, which may be interpreted as a good indicator for generality of the ornamentation rules

A Machine Learning Approach to Discover Rules for Expressive Performance Actions in Jazz Guitar Music

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergio Ivan Giraldo

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Expert musicians introduce expression in their performances by manipulating sound properties such as timing, energy, pitch, and timbre. Here, we present a data driven computational approach to induce expressive performance rule models for note duration, onset, energy, and ornamentation transformations in jazz guitar music. We extract high-level features from a set of 16 commercial audio recordings (and corresponding music scores of jazz guitarist Grant Green in order to characterize the expression in the pieces. We apply machine learning techniques to the resulting features to learn expressive performance rule models. We (1 quantitatively evaluate the accuracy of the induced models, (2 analyse the relative importance of the considered musical features, (3 discuss some of the learnt expressive performance rules in the context of previous work, and (4 assess their generailty. The accuracies of the induced predictive models is significantly above base-line levels indicating that the audio performances and the musical features extracted contain sufficient information to automatically learn informative expressive performance patterns. Feature analysis shows that the most important musical features for predicting expressive transformations are note duration, pitch, metrical strength, phrase position, Narmour structure, and tempo and key of the piece. Similarities and differences between the induced expressive rules and the rules reported in the literature were found. Differences may be due to the fact that most previously studied performance data has consisted of classical music recordings. Finally, the rules’ performer specificity/generality is assessed by applying the induced rules to performances of the same pieces performed by two other professional jazz guitar players. Results show a consistency in the ornamentation patterns between Grant Green and the other two musicians, which may be interpreted as a good indicator for generality of the

A Machine Learning Approach to Discover Rules for Expressive Performance Actions in Jazz Guitar Music.

Science.gov (United States)

Giraldo, Sergio I; Ramirez, Rafael

2016-01-01

Expert musicians introduce expression in their performances by manipulating sound properties such as timing, energy, pitch, and timbre. Here, we present a data driven computational approach to induce expressive performance rule models for note duration, onset, energy, and ornamentation transformations in jazz guitar music. We extract high-level features from a set of 16 commercial audio recordings (and corresponding music scores) of jazz guitarist Grant Green in order to characterize the expression in the pieces. We apply machine learning techniques to the resulting features to learn expressive performance rule models. We (1) quantitatively evaluate the accuracy of the induced models, (2) analyse the relative importance of the considered musical features, (3) discuss some of the learnt expressive performance rules in the context of previous work, and (4) assess their generailty. The accuracies of the induced predictive models is significantly above base-line levels indicating that the audio performances and the musical features extracted contain sufficient information to automatically learn informative expressive performance patterns. Feature analysis shows that the most important musical features for predicting expressive transformations are note duration, pitch, metrical strength, phrase position, Narmour structure, and tempo and key of the piece. Similarities and differences between the induced expressive rules and the rules reported in the literature were found. Differences may be due to the fact that most previously studied performance data has consisted of classical music recordings. Finally, the rules' performer specificity/generality is assessed by applying the induced rules to performances of the same pieces performed by two other professional jazz guitar players. Results show a consistency in the ornamentation patterns between Grant Green and the other two musicians, which may be interpreted as a good indicator for generality of the ornamentation rules.

Using spatial manipulation to examine interactions between visual and auditory encoding of pitch and time

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neil M McLachlan

2010-12-01

Full Text Available Music notations use both symbolic and spatial representation systems. Novice musicians do not have the training to associate symbolic information with musical identities, such as chords or rhythmic and melodic patterns. They provide an opportunity to explore the mechanisms underpinning multimodal learning when spatial encoding strategies of feature dimensions might be expected to dominate. In this study, we applied a range of transformations (such as time reversal to short melodies and rhythms and asked novice musicians to identify them with or without the aid of notation. Performance using a purely spatial (graphic notation was contrasted with the more symbolic, traditional western notation over a series of weekly sessions. The results showed learning effects for both notation types, but performance improved more for graphic notation. This points to greater compatibility of auditory and visual neural codes for novice musicians when using spatial notation, suggesting that pitch and time may be spatially encoded in multimodal associative memory. The findings also point to new strategies for training novice musicians.

Embedded interruptions and task complexity influence schema-related cognitive load progression in an abstract learning task.

Science.gov (United States)

Wirzberger, Maria; Esmaeili Bijarsari, Shirin; Rey, Günter Daniel

2017-09-01

Cognitive processes related to schema acquisition comprise an essential source of demands in learning situations. Since the related amount of cognitive load is supposed to change over time, plausible temporal models of load progression based on different theoretical backgrounds are inspected in this study. A total of 116 student participants completed a basal symbol sequence learning task, which provided insights into underlying cognitive dynamics. Two levels of task complexity were determined by the amount of elements within the symbol sequence. In addition, interruptions due to an embedded secondary task occurred at five predefined stages over the task. Within the resulting 2x5-factorial mixed between-within design, the continuous monitoring of efficiency in learning performance enabled assumptions on relevant resource investment. From the obtained results, a nonlinear change of learning efficiency over time seems most plausible in terms of cognitive load progression. Moreover, different effects of the induced interruptions show up in conditions of task complexity, which indicate the activation of distinct cognitive mechanisms related to structural aspects of the task. Findings are discussed in the light of evidence from research on memory and information processing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Discrimination of Rock Fracture and Blast Events Based on Signal Complexity and Machine Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zilong Zhou

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The automatic discrimination of rock fracture and blast events is complex and challenging due to the similar waveform characteristics. To solve this problem, a new method based on the signal complexity analysis and machine learning has been proposed in this paper. First, the permutation entropy values of signals at different scale factors are calculated to reflect complexity of signals and constructed into a feature vector set. Secondly, based on the feature vector set, back-propagation neural network (BPNN as a means of machine learning is applied to establish a discriminator for rock fracture and blast events. Then to evaluate the classification performances of the new method, the classifying accuracies of support vector machine (SVM, naive Bayes classifier, and the new method are compared, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC curves are also analyzed. The results show the new method obtains the best classification performances. In addition, the influence of different scale factor q and number of training samples n on discrimination results is discussed. It is found that the classifying accuracy of the new method reaches the highest value when q = 8–15 or 8–20 and n=140.

Self-Disclosure and Adults with Learning Disabilities: Practical Ideas about a Complex Process

Science.gov (United States)

Gerber, Paul J.; Price, Lynda A.

2008-01-01

Self-disclosure for adults with learning disabilities is very complex after the beyond-school years. The issues of invisibility, risk/benefit, and the multiple contexts of adult functioning create many challenges in the process of disclosure. Moreover, self-disclosure, one element of the larger issue of self-determination, is viewed as an entry…

Force and complexity of tongue task training influences behavioral measures of motor learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kothari, Mohit; Svensson, Peter; Huo, Xueliang

2012-01-01

Relearning of motor skills is important in neurorehabilitation. We investigated the improvement of training success during simple tongue protrusion (two force levels) and a more complex tongue-training paradigm using the Tongue Drive System (TDS). We also compared subject-based reports of fun, pain...... training influences behavioral aspects of tongue motor learning....

Can musical training influence brain connectivity? Evidence from diffusion tensor MRI.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Emma; Schaefer, Rebecca S; Bastin, Mark E; Roberts, Neil; Overy, Katie

2014-06-10

In recent years, musicians have been increasingly recruited to investigate grey and white matter neuroplasticity induced by skill acquisition. The development of Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DT-MRI) has allowed more detailed investigation of white matter connections within the brain, addressing questions about the effect of musical training on connectivity between specific brain regions. Here, current DT-MRI analysis techniques are discussed and the available evidence from DT-MRI studies into differences in white matter architecture between musicians and non-musicians is reviewed. Collectively, the existing literature tends to support the hypothesis that musical training can induce changes in cross-hemispheric connections, with significant differences frequently reported in various regions of the corpus callosum of musicians compared with non-musicians. However, differences found in intra-hemispheric fibres have not always been replicated, while findings regarding the internal capsule and corticospinal tracts appear to be contradictory. There is also recent evidence to suggest that variances in white matter structure in non-musicians may correlate with their ability to learn musical skills, offering an alternative explanation for the structural differences observed between musicians and non-musicians. Considering the inconsistencies in the current literature, possible reasons for conflicting results are offered, along with suggestions for future research in this area.

Organisational simplification and secondary complexity in health services for adults with learning disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Heyman, Bob; Swain, John; Gillman, Maureen

2004-01-01

This paper explores the role of complexity and simplification in the delivery of health care for adults with learning disabilities, drawing upon qualitative data obtained in a study carried out in NE England. It is argued that the requirement to manage complex health needs with limited resources causes service providers to simplify, standardise and routinise care. Simplified service models may work well enough for the majority of clients, but can impede recognition of the needs of those whose characteristics are not congruent with an adopted model. The data were analysed in relation to the core category, identified through thematic analysis, of secondary complexity arising from organisational simplification. Organisational simplification generates secondary complexity when operational routines designed to make health complexity manageable cannot accommodate the needs of non-standard service users. Associated themes, namely the social context of services, power and control, communication skills, expertise and service inclusiveness and evaluation are explored in relation to the core category. The concept of secondary complexity resulting from organisational simplification may partly explain seemingly irrational health service provider behaviour.

Integrating Emotion and Cognition in Successful Service Learning: A Complex System Approach (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Raia, F.

2010-12-01

Service-learning (S-L) has evolved as valuable pedagogic concept during the last two decades, based on the hypothesis that learning can best be accomplished when placed in the context of real-life social settings, e.g. schools, production, research, healthcare etc. What students learn in the academic course/context must be elaborated in the context of the S-L experience. In return for the authentic learning experience, the learner provides the service-provider with a "free" service. This reciprocality makes service-learning an appealing concept. Because of its attractive "win-win" design, the field of service-learning is continuously expanding. At a major public university CCNY with a very diverse student population, we were interested in developing and participating in S-L experience in the field of Earth System Science. We designed an upper level undergraduate course - Environmental Soil Science for Urban Sustainability - specifically targeted to students of Earth Science, Engineering, Economics and, Political Sciences to support environmental entrepreneurship. Specifically, we integrated S-L activities in the exploration of soil studies and urban agriculture. Students worked together in small groups both in class and for their S-L experience (30 hours) with urban garden and agriculture organizations. Students were required to apply the content learned in the academic course providing soil testing and soil evaluation to the partners, generate reports through a series of homework assignments and journal entries connecting three major components: Community Service, Personal Experience and Course Content. Our experience with this course shows the following results: S-L must be considered a complex system characterized by the continually changing interactions among the above mentioned three major components and three social and academic diverse groups of people involved: Students, Service-Providers and Academic Instructors. Because experience alone does not produce

Effect of Error Augmentation on Brain Activation and Motor Learning of a Complex Locomotor Task

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Laura Marchal-Crespo

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Up to date, the functional gains obtained after robot-aided gait rehabilitation training are limited. Error augmenting strategies have a great potential to enhance motor learning of simple motor tasks. However, little is known about the effect of these error modulating strategies on complex tasks, such as relearning to walk after a neurologic accident. Additionally, neuroimaging evaluation of brain regions involved in learning processes could provide valuable information on behavioral outcomes. We investigated the effect of robotic training strategies that augment errors—error amplification and random force disturbance—and training without perturbations on brain activation and motor learning of a complex locomotor task. Thirty-four healthy subjects performed the experiment with a robotic stepper (MARCOS in a 1.5 T MR scanner. The task consisted in tracking a Lissajous figure presented on a display by coordinating the legs in a gait-like movement pattern. Behavioral results showed that training without perturbations enhanced motor learning in initially less skilled subjects, while error amplification benefited better-skilled subjects. Training with error amplification, however, hampered transfer of learning. Randomly disturbing forces induced learning and promoted transfer in all subjects, probably because the unexpected forces increased subjects' attention. Functional MRI revealed main effects of training strategy and skill level during training. A main effect of training strategy was seen in brain regions typically associated with motor control and learning, such as, the basal ganglia, cerebellum, intraparietal sulcus, and angular gyrus. Especially, random disturbance and no perturbation lead to stronger brain activation in similar brain regions than error amplification. Skill-level related effects were observed in the IPS, in parts of the superior parietal lobe (SPL, i.e., precuneus, and temporal cortex. These neuroimaging findings

Nursing students learning the pharmacology of diabetes mellitus with complexity-based computerized models: A quasi-experimental study.

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Dubovi, Ilana; Dagan, Efrat; Sader Mazbar, Ola; Nassar, Laila; Levy, Sharona T

2018-02-01

Pharmacology is a crucial component of medications administration in nursing, yet nursing students generally find it difficult and self-rate their pharmacology skills as low. To evaluate nursing students learning pharmacology with the Pharmacology Inter-Leaved Learning-Cells environment, a novel approach to modeling biochemical interactions using a multiscale, computer-based model with a complexity perspective based on a small set of entities and simple rules. This environment represents molecules, organelles and cells to enhance the understanding of cellular processes, and combines these cells at a higher scale to obtain whole-body interactions. Sophomore nursing students who learned the pharmacology of diabetes mellitus with the Pharmacology Inter-Leaved Learning-Cells environment (experimental group; n=94) or via a lecture-based curriculum (comparison group; n=54). A quasi-experimental pre- and post-test design was conducted. The Pharmacology-Diabetes-Mellitus questionnaire and the course's final exam were used to evaluate students' knowledge of the pharmacology of diabetes mellitus. Conceptual learning was significantly higher for the experimental than for the comparison group for the course final exam scores (unpaired t=-3.8, pLearning with complexity-based computerized models is highly effective and enhances the understanding of moving between micro and macro levels of the biochemical phenomena, this is then related to better understanding of medication actions. Moreover, the Pharmacology Inter-Leaved Learning-Cells approach provides a more general reasoning scheme for biochemical processes, which enhances pharmacology learning beyond the specific topic learned. The present study implies that deeper understanding of pharmacology will support nursing students' clinical decisions and empower their proficiency in medications administration. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Comparative Case Study of Learning Strategies and Recommendations of Five Professional Musicians with Dyslexia

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Nelson, Kent Peter; Hourigan, Ryan M.

2016-01-01

Many of the characteristics of dyslexia--such as difficulties with decoding written symbols, phonemic awareness, physical coordination, and readable handwriting--may adversely affect music learning. Despite challenges, individuals with dyslexia can succeed in music. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of five professional…

Learning from simple ebooks, online cases or classroom teaching when acquiring complex knowledge. A randomized controlled trial in respiratory physiology and pulmonology.

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Worm, Bjarne Skjødt

2013-01-01

E-learning is developing fast because of the rapid increased use of smartphones, tablets and portable computers. We might not think of it as e-learning, but today many new e-books are in fact very complex electronic teaching platforms. It is generally accepted that e-learning is as effective as classroom teaching methods, but little is known about its value in relaying contents of different levels of complexity to students. We set out to investigate e-learning effects on simple recall and complex problem-solving compared to classroom teaching. 63 nurses specializing in anesthesiology were evenly randomized into three groups. They were given internet-based knowledge tests before and after attending a teaching module about respiratory physiology and pulmonology. The three groups was either an e-learning group with eBook teaching material, an e-learning group with case-based teaching or a group with face-to-face case-based classroom teaching. After the module the students were required to answer a post-test. Time spent and the number of logged into the system was also measured. For simple recall, all methods were equally effective. For problem-solving, the eCase group achieved a comparable knowledge level to classroom teaching, while textbook learning was inferior to both (p<0.01). The textbook group also spent the least amount of time on acquiring knowledge (33 minutes, p<0.001), while the eCase group spent significantly more time on the subject (53 minutes, p<0.001) and logged into the system significantly more (2.8 vs 1.6, p<0.001). E-learning based cases are an effective tool for teaching complex knowledge and problem-solving ability, but future studies using higher-level e-learning are encouraged.Simple recall skills, however, do not require any particular learning method.

Learning from simple ebooks, online cases or classroom teaching when acquiring complex knowledge. A randomized controlled trial in respiratory physiology and pulmonology.

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Bjarne Skjødt Worm

Full Text Available BACKGROUND AND AIMS: E-learning is developing fast because of the rapid increased use of smartphones, tablets and portable computers. We might not think of it as e-learning, but today many new e-books are in fact very complex electronic teaching platforms. It is generally accepted that e-learning is as effective as classroom teaching methods, but little is known about its value in relaying contents of different levels of complexity to students. We set out to investigate e-learning effects on simple recall and complex problem-solving compared to classroom teaching. METHODS: 63 nurses specializing in anesthesiology were evenly randomized into three groups. They were given internet-based knowledge tests before and after attending a teaching module about respiratory physiology and pulmonology. The three groups was either an e-learning group with eBook teaching material, an e-learning group with case-based teaching or a group with face-to-face case-based classroom teaching. After the module the students were required to answer a post-test. Time spent and the number of logged into the system was also measured. RESULTS: For simple recall, all methods were equally effective. For problem-solving, the eCase group achieved a comparable knowledge level to classroom teaching, while textbook learning was inferior to both (p<0.01. The textbook group also spent the least amount of time on acquiring knowledge (33 minutes, p<0.001, while the eCase group spent significantly more time on the subject (53 minutes, p<0.001 and logged into the system significantly more (2.8 vs 1.6, p<0.001. CONCLUSIONS: E-learning based cases are an effective tool for teaching complex knowledge and problem-solving ability, but future studies using higher-level e-learning are encouraged.Simple recall skills, however, do not require any particular learning method.

Examining the Potential of Web-Based Multimedia to Support Complex Fine Motor Skill Learning: An Empirical Study

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Papastergiou, Marina; Pollatou, Elisana; Theofylaktou, Ioannis; Karadimou, Konstantina

2014-01-01

Research on the utilization of the Web for complex fine motor skill learning that involves whole body movements is still scarce. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the introduction of a multimedia web-based learning environment, which was targeted at a rhythmic gymnastics routine consisting of eight fine motor skills, into an…

The emergence of learning-teaching trajectories in education: a complex dynamic systems approach.

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Steenbeek, Henderien; van Geert, Paul

2013-04-01

In this article we shall focus on learning-teaching trajectories ='successful' as well as 'unsuccessful' ones - as emergent and dynamic phenomena resulting from the interactions in the entire educational context, in particular the interaction between students and teachers viewed as processes of intertwining self-, other- and co-regulation. The article provides a review of the educational research literature on action regulation in learning and teaching, and interprets this literature in light of the theory of complex dynamic systems. Based on this reinterpretation of the literature, two dynamic models are proposed, one focusing on the short-term dynamics of learning-teaching interactions as they take place in classrooms, the other focusing on the long-term dynamics of interactions in a network of variables encompassing concerns, evaluations, actions and action effects (such as learning) students and teachers. The aim of presenting these models is to demonstrate, first, the possibility of transforming existing educational theory into dynamic models and, second, to provide some suggestions as to how such models can be used to further educational theory and practice.

Visual artificial grammar learning by rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta): exploring the role of grammar complexity and sequence length.

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Heimbauer, Lisa A; Conway, Christopher M; Christiansen, Morten H; Beran, Michael J; Owren, Michael J

2018-03-01

Humans and nonhuman primates can learn about the organization of stimuli in the environment using implicit sequential pattern learning capabilities. However, most previous artificial grammar learning studies with nonhuman primates have involved relatively simple grammars and short input sequences. The goal in the current experiments was to assess the learning capabilities of monkeys on an artificial grammar-learning task that was more complex than most others previously used with nonhumans. Three experiments were conducted using a joystick-based, symmetrical-response serial reaction time task in which two monkeys were exposed to grammar-generated sequences at sequence lengths of four in Experiment 1, six in Experiment 2, and eight in Experiment 3. Over time, the monkeys came to respond faster to the sequences generated from the artificial grammar compared to random versions. In a subsequent generalization phase, subjects generalized their knowledge to novel sequences, responding significantly faster to novel instances of sequences produced using the familiar grammar compared to those constructed using an unfamiliar grammar. These results reveal that rhesus monkeys can learn and generalize the statistical structure inherent in an artificial grammar that is as complex as some used with humans, for sequences up to eight items long. These findings are discussed in relation to whether or not rhesus macaques and other primate species possess implicit sequence learning abilities that are similar to those that humans draw upon to learn natural language grammar.

Trastornos músculo-esqueléticos en músicos profesionales: revisión bibliográfica Musculoskeletal disorders in professional musicians: a review of literature

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Gemma Almonacid-Canseco

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Introducción: los músicos son susceptibles de muchas patologías que repercuten en su carrera profesional debido a las posturas forzadas, las horas de práctica, los movimientos repetitivos y la carga psicológica. Las principales causas de los trastornos músculo-esqueléticos son la sobrecarga muscular, la compresión nerviosa y la distonía focal ocupacional. Este grupo de patologías en los músicos no está recogido en el cuadro de enfermedades profesionales español. Objetivo: conocer la producción científica sobre los trastornos músculo-esqueléticos en músicos profesionales como consecuencia de su actividad laboral. Material y Métodos: Se realiza una revisión bibliográfica de la literatura científica publicada entre 2006-2012. Se consultaron las bases de datos MEDLINE, OSH UPDATE, IBECS, Biblioteca Cochrane, Scielo, LILACS y CISDOC. Resultados: se seleccionaron 24 artículos; un estudio experimental, dos revisiones sistemáticas, cuatro estudios de casos y controles, 16 estudios transversales y una serie de casos. Se encontró una prevalencia de 25,5%-86% para los trastornos músculo-esqueléticos, sin consenso para los factores de riesgo. Las principales localizaciones fueron cuello, espalda y brazo. Se encontró más afectación en mujeres, excepto para la distonía focal que fue más frecuente en hombres. Conclusiones: los trastornos músculo-esqueléticos son muy frecuentes en músicos profesionales. Es necesario seguir investigando en esta materia e incidir sobre las medidas de prevención desde las etapas iniciales de su formación. Habría que valorar la inclusión de estos trastornos en los músicos dentro del cuadro de enfermedades profesionales español.Introduction: musicians are susceptible to many disorders that affect their professional careers, due to awkward posture, an excess of practice hours, to repetitive movements and psychological stress. The main causes leading to musculoskeletal disorders are those of

Auditory and motor imagery modulate learning in music performance

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Rachel M. Brown

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Skilled performers such as athletes or musicians can improve their performance by imagining the actions or sensory outcomes associated with their skill. Performers vary widely in their auditory and motor imagery abilities, and these individual differences influence sensorimotor learning. It is unknown whether imagery abilities influence both memory encoding and retrieval. We examined how auditory and motor imagery abilities influence musicians’ encoding (during Learning, as they practiced novel melodies, and retrieval (during Recall of those melodies. Pianists learned melodies by listening without performing (auditory learning or performing without sound (motor learning; following Learning, pianists performed the melodies from memory with auditory feedback (Recall. During either Learning (Experiment 1 or Recall (Experiment 2, pianists experienced either auditory interference, motor interference, or no interference. Pitch accuracy (percentage of correct pitches produced and temporal regularity (variability of quarter-note interonset intervals were measured at Recall. Independent tests measured auditory and motor imagery skills. Pianists’ pitch accuracy was higher following auditory learning than following motor learning and lower in motor interference conditions (Experiments 1 and 2. Both auditory and motor imagery skills improved pitch accuracy overall. Auditory imagery skills modulated pitch accuracy encoding (Experiment 1: Higher auditory imagery skill corresponded to higher pitch accuracy following auditory learning with auditory or motor interference, and following motor learning with motor or no interference. These findings suggest that auditory imagery abilities decrease vulnerability to interference and compensate for missing auditory feedback at encoding. Auditory imagery skills also influenced temporal regularity at retrieval (Experiment 2: Higher auditory imagery skill predicted greater temporal regularity during Recall in the

Manipulating Greek musical modes and tempo affects perceived musical emotion in musicians and nonmusicians.

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Ramos, D; Bueno, J L O; Bigand, E

2011-02-01

The combined influence of tempo and mode on emotional responses to music was studied by crossing 7 changes in mode with 3 changes in tempo. Twenty-four musicians aged 19 to 25 years (12 males and 12 females) and 24 nonmusicians aged 17 to 25 years (12 males and 12 females) were required to perform two tasks: 1) listening to different musical excerpts, and 2) associating an emotion to them such as happiness, serenity, fear, anger, or sadness. ANOVA showed that increasing the tempo strongly affected the arousal (F(2,116) = 268.62, mean square error (MSE) = 0.6676, P effects were found between tempo and mode (F (1,58) = 115.6, MSE = 0.6428, P effects. This finding demonstrates that small changes in the pitch structures of modes modulate the emotions associated with the pieces, confirming the cognitive foundation of emotional responses to music.

Managing Complexity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maylath, Bruce; Vandepitte, Sonia; Minacori, Patricia

2013-01-01

and into French. The complexity of the undertaking proved to be a central element in the students' learning, as the collaboration closely resembles the complexity of international documentation workplaces of language service providers. © Association of Teachers of Technical Writing.......This article discusses the largest and most complex international learning-by-doing project to date- a project involving translation from Danish and Dutch into English and editing into American English alongside a project involving writing, usability testing, and translation from English into Dutch...

Environmental Factors Affecting Computer Assisted Language Learning Success: A Complex Dynamic Systems Conceptual Model

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Marek, Michael W.; Wu, Wen-Chi Vivian

2014-01-01

This conceptual, interdisciplinary inquiry explores Complex Dynamic Systems as the concept relates to the internal and external environmental factors affecting computer assisted language learning (CALL). Based on the results obtained by de Rosnay ["World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution", 67(4/5), 304-315 (2011)], who observed…

Using virtual humans and computer animations to learn complex motor skills: a case study in karate

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Spanlang Bernhard

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Learning motor skills is a complex task involving a lot of cognitive issues. One of the main issues consists in retrieving the relevant information from the learning environment. In a traditional learning situation, a teacher gives oral explanations and performs actions to provide the learner with visual examples. Using virtual reality (VR as a tool for learning motor tasks is promising. However, it raises questions about the type of information this kind of environments can offer. In this paper, we propose to analyze the impact of virtual humans on the perception of the learners. As a case study, we propose to apply this research problem to karate gestures. The results of this study show no significant difference on the after training performance of learners confronted to three different learning environments (traditional group, video and VR.

Slowness and sparseness have diverging effects on complex cell learning.

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Jörn-Philipp Lies

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Following earlier studies which showed that a sparse coding principle may explain the receptive field properties of complex cells in primary visual cortex, it has been concluded that the same properties may be equally derived from a slowness principle. In contrast to this claim, we here show that slowness and sparsity drive the representations towards substantially different receptive field properties. To do so, we present complete sets of basis functions learned with slow subspace analysis (SSA in case of natural movies as well as translations, rotations, and scalings of natural images. SSA directly parallels independent subspace analysis (ISA with the only difference that SSA maximizes slowness instead of sparsity. We find a large discrepancy between the filter shapes learned with SSA and ISA. We argue that SSA can be understood as a generalization of the Fourier transform where the power spectrum corresponds to the maximally slow subspace energies in SSA. Finally, we investigate the trade-off between slowness and sparseness when combined in one objective function.

Using mLearning and MOOCs to Understand Chaos, Emergence, and Complexity in Education

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deWaard, Inge; Abajian, Sean; Gallagher, Michael Sean; Hogue, Rebecca; Keskin, Nilgun; Koutropoulos, Apostolos; Rodriguez, Osvaldo C.

2011-01-01

In this paper, we look at how the massive open online course (MOOC) format developed by connectivist researchers and enthusiasts can help analyze the complexity, emergence, and chaos at work in the field of education today. We do this through the prism of a MobiMOOC, a six-week course focusing on mLearning that ran from April to May 2011. MobiMOOC…

The Azteca Chess experience: learning how to share concepts of ecological complexity with small coffee farmers

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Luís García-Barrios

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Small-scale coffee farmers understand certain complex ecological processes, and successfully navigate some of the challenges emerging from the ecological complexity on their farms. It is generally thought that scientific knowledge is able to complement farmers' knowledge. However, for this collaboration to be fruitful, the gap between the knowledge frameworks of both farmers and scientists will need to be closed. We report on the learning results of 14 workshops held in Chiapas, Mexico during 2015 in which 117 small-scale coffee farmers of all genders (30% women and ages who had little schooling were exposed by researchers to a natural history narrative, a multispecies network representation, a board game, and a series of graphical quizzes, all related to a nine-species complex ecological network with potential for autonomous control of the ongoing and devastating coffee rust epidemic that was affecting them. Farmers' retention and understanding of direct and indirect bilateral interactions among organisms was assessed with different methods to elucidate the effect of adding Azteca Chess gaming sessions to a detailed and very graphical lecture. Evaluation methods that were better adapted to farmers' conditions improved learning scores and showed statistically significant age effect (players older than 40 had lower retention scores and gaming effect (lower retention of interactions included in the lecture but not in the game. The combination of lecture and game sessions helped participants better understand cascades of trait-mediated interactions. Participants' debriefings confirmed qualitatively that they learned that beneficial organisms and interactions occur on their farms, and that gaming was enjoyable, motivating, and critical to grasp complex interactions. Many of the farmers concluded that the outcome of these interactions is not unique and not always in favor of rust control but is context dependent. Many concluded that there are

Complexity explained

CERN Document Server

Erdi, Peter

2008-01-01

This book explains why complex systems research is important in understanding the structure, function and dynamics of complex natural and social phenomena. Readers will learn the basic concepts and methods of complex system research.

A Study of the Effect of Dyad Practice Versus That of Individual Practice on Simulation-Based Complex Skills Learning and of Students’ Perceptions of How and Why Dyad Practice Contributes to Learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Räder, Sune Bernd Emil Werner; Henriksen, Ann-Helen; Butrymovich, Vitalij

2014-01-01

PURPOSE: The aims of this study were (1) to explore the effectiveness of dyad practice compared with individual practice on a simulator for learning a complex clinical skill and (2) to explore medical students' perceptions of how and why dyad practice on a simulator contributes to learning...... a complex skill. METHOD: In 2011, the authors randomly assigned 84 medical students to either the dyad or the individual practice group to learn coronary angiography skills using instruction videos and a simulator. Two weeks later, participants each performed two video-recorded coronary angiographies...... of the two groups (mean±standard deviation, 68%±13% for individual versus 63%±16% for dyad practice; P=.18). Dyad practice participants noted that several key factors contributed to their learning: being equal-level novices, the quality of the cooperation between partners, observational learning and overt...

Using complexity theory to develop a student-directed interprofessional learning activity for 1220 healthcare students.

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Jorm, Christine; Nisbet, Gillian; Roberts, Chris; Gordon, Christopher; Gentilcore, Stacey; Chen, Timothy F

2016-08-08

More and better interprofessional practice is predicated to be necessary to deliver good care to the patients of the future. However, universities struggle to create authentic learning activities that enable students to experience the dynamic interprofessional interactions common in healthcare and that can accommodate large interprofessional student cohorts. We investigated a large-scale mandatory interprofessional learning (IPL) activity for health professional students designed to promote social learning. A mixed methods research approach determined feasibility, acceptability and the extent to which student IPL outcomes were met. We developed an IPL activity founded in complexity theory to prepare students for future practice by engaging them in a self-directed (self-organised) learning activity with a diverse team, whose assessable products would be emergent creations. Complicated but authentic clinical cases (n = 12) were developed to challenge student teams (n = 5 or 6). Assessment consisted of a written management plan (academically marked) and a five-minute video (peer marked) designed to assess creative collaboration as well as provide evidence of integrated collective knowledge; the cohesive patient-centred management plan. All students (including the disciplines of diagnostic radiology, exercise physiology, medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physiotherapy and speech pathology), completed all tasks successfully. Of the 26 % of students who completed the evaluation survey, 70 % agreed or strongly agreed that the IPL activity was worthwhile, and 87 % agreed or strongly agreed that their case study was relevant. Thematic analysis found overarching themes of engagement and collaboration-in-action suggesting that the IPL activity enabled students to achieve the intended learning objectives. Students recognised the contribution of others and described negotiation, collaboration and creation of new collective knowledge after working

Zebrafish and relational memory: Could a simple fish be useful for the analysis of biological mechanisms of complex vertebrate learning?

Science.gov (United States)

Gerlai, Robert

2017-08-01

Analysis of the zebrafish allows one to combine two distinct scientific approaches, comparative ethology and neurobehavioral genetics. Furthermore, this species arguably represents an optimal compromise between system complexity and practical simplicity. This mini-review focuses on a complex form of learning, relational learning and memory, in zebrafish. It argues that zebrafish are capable of this type of learning, and it attempts to show how this species may be useful in the analysis of the mechanisms and the evolution of this complex brain function. The review is not intended to be comprehensive. It is a short opinion piece that reflects the author's own biases, and it draws some of its examples from the work coming from his own laboratory. Nevertheless, it is written in the hope that it will persuade those who have not utilized zebrafish and who may be interested in opening their research horizon to this relatively novel but powerful vertebrate research tool. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of cerebellar nuclear inactivation on the learning of a complex forelimb movement in cats.

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Wang, J J; Shimansky, Y; Bracha, V; Bloedel, J R

1998-05-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of inactivating concurrently the cerebellar interposed and dentate nuclei on the capacity of cats to acquire and retain a complex, goal-directed forelimb movement. To assess the effects on acquisition, cats were required to learn to move a vertical manipulandum bar through a two-segment template with a shape approximating an inverted "L" after the injection of muscimol (saline for the control group) in the interposed and dentate cerebellar nuclei. During training periods, they were exposed progressively to more difficult templates, which were created by decreasing the angle between the two segments of the template. After determining the most difficult template the injected animals could learn within the specified time and performance constraints, the retraining phase of the experiment was initiated in which the cats were required to execute the same sequence of templates in the absence of any injection. This stage of the experiment assessed retention and determined the extent of any relearning required to execute the task at criterion levels. Next, the animals were overtrained without any injection on the most difficult template they could perform. Finally, to determine the effects of nuclear inactivation on retention after extensive retraining, their capacity to perform the same template was determined after muscimol injection in the interposed and dentate nuclei. The findings show that during the inactivation of the dentate and interposed nuclei the animals could learn to execute the more difficult templates. However, when required to execute the most difficult template learned under muscimol on the day after injections were discontinued, the cats had to "relearn" (reacquire) the movement. Finally, when the cerebellar nuclei were inactivated after the animals learned the task in the absence of any injections during the retraining phase, retention was not blocked. The data indicate that the intermediate and

Keeping brains young with making music.

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Rogenmoser, Lars; Kernbach, Julius; Schlaug, Gottfried; Gaser, Christian

2018-01-01

Music-making is a widespread leisure and professional activity that has garnered interest over the years due to its effect on brain and cognitive development and its potential as a rehabilitative and restorative therapy of brain dysfunctions. We investigated whether music-making has a potential age-protecting effect on the brain. For this, we studied anatomical magnetic resonance images obtained from three matched groups of subjects who differed in their lifetime dose of music-making activities (i.e., professional musicians, amateur musicians, and non-musicians). For each subject, we calculated a so-called BrainAGE score which corresponds to the discrepancy (in years) between chronological age and the "age of the brain", with negative values reflecting an age-decelerating brain and positive values an age-accelerating brain, respectively. The index of "brain age" was estimated using a machine-learning algorithm that was trained in a large independent sample to identify anatomical correlates of brain-aging. Compared to non-musicians, musicians overall had lower BrainAGE scores, with amateur musicians having the lowest scores suggesting that music-making has an age-decelerating effect on the brain. Unlike the amateur musicians, the professional musicians showed a positive correlation between their BrainAGE scores and years of music-making, possibly indicating that engaging more intensely in just one otherwise enriching activity might not be as beneficial than if the activity is one of several that an amateur musician engages in. Intense music-making activities at a professional level could also lead to stress-related interferences and a less enriched environment than that of amateur musicians, possibly somewhat diminishing the otherwise positive effect of music-making.

Relação entre dor e antecedentes de adoecimento físico ocupacional: um estudo entre músicos instrumentistas Relationship between pain and antecedents of occupational illness: a study among musicians

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Thaís Branquinho Oliveira Fragelli

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Este artigo examina possíveis relações entre os sintomas de dor e os antecedentes físicos (carga física e ambiente físico de trabalho e psicossociais (carga cognitiva, carga psíquica, organização do trabalho de tais sintomas em um grupo de músicos instrumentistas. O trabalho constitui uma pesquisa exploratória envolvendo dados quantitativos e qualitativos e busca compreender aspectos relacionados aos fatores antecedentes do adoecimento muscular segundo a percepção dos músicos. A amostra foi composta por 46 músicos do estado de Goiás e do Distrito Federal, com idades entre 14 e 45 anos, que responderam a um questionário desenvolvido para este estudo. A análise quantitativa realizada por meio do coeficiente de correlação ρ de Spearman indicou uma relação entre a dor e a carga física de trabalho percebida pelo respondente. Os resultados da análise qualitativa confirmaram esta relação entre percepção de dor e carga física. Os resultados são discutidos apontando a necessidade de disseminar a idéia de que o músico deve atentar para sinais de desarmonia do próprio corpo.This paper examines possible relationships between the presence of symptoms of pain and their physical antecedents (physical load and physical environment of work and psychosocial antecedents (cognitive load, psychical load, work organization of these symptoms in musicians. It constitutes an exploratory study involving quantitave and qualitative data that aim to understand aspects related to antecedents factors in the muscular infirmity according to musicians' perceptions. The sample was composed by 46 musicians from the State of Goiás and the Federal District in Brazil, aged 14 through 45, which answered a questionnaire developed for the study. The quantitative analysis, done with Spearman ρ correlation, indicated a relationship between pain and physical work load perceived by the respondents. The qualitative analysis confirmed this relationship

Learning about the Dynamic Sun through Sounds

Science.gov (United States)

Quinn, M.; Peticolas, L. M.; Luhmann, J.; MacCallum, J.

2008-06-01

Can we hear the Sun or its solar wind? Not in the sense that they make sound. But we can take the particle, magnetic field, electric field, and image data and turn it into sound to demonstrate what the data tells us. We present work on turning data from the two-satellite NASA mission called STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) into sounds and music (sonification). STEREO has two satellites orbiting the Sun near Earth's orbit to study the coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the Corona. One sonification project aims to inspire musicians, museum patrons, and the public to learn more about CMEs by downloading STEREO data and using it to make music. We demonstrate the software and discuss the way in which it was developed. A second project aims to produce a museum exhibit using STEREO imagery and sounds from STEREO data. We demonstrate a "walk across the Sun" created for this exhibit so people can hear the features on solar images. We show how pixel intensity translates into pitches from selectable scales with selectable musical scale size and octave locations. We also share our successes and lessons learned.

Influence of musical and psychoacoustical training on pitch discrimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Micheyl, Christophe; Delhommeau, Karine; Perrot, Xavier; Oxenham, Andrew J

2006-09-01

This study compared the influence of musical and psychoacoustical training on auditory pitch discrimination abilities. In a first experiment, pitch discrimination thresholds for pure and complex tones were measured in 30 classical musicians and 30 non-musicians, none of whom had prior psychoacoustical training. The non-musicians' mean thresholds were more than six times larger than those of the classical musicians initially, and still about four times larger after 2h of training using an adaptive two-interval forced-choice procedure; this difference is two to three times larger than suggested by previous studies. The musicians' thresholds were close to those measured in earlier psychoacoustical studies using highly trained listeners, and showed little improvement with training; this suggests that classical musical training can lead to optimal or nearly optimal pitch discrimination performance. A second experiment was performed to determine how much additional training was required for the non-musicians to obtain thresholds as low as those of the classical musicians from experiment 1. Eight new non-musicians with no prior training practiced the frequency discrimination task for a total of 14 h. It took between 4 and 8h of training for their thresholds to become as small as those measured in the classical musicians from experiment 1. These findings supplement and qualify earlier data in the literature regarding the respective influence of musical and psychoacoustical training on pitch discrimination performance.

Simultaneous EEG and EMG biofeedback for peak performance in musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Markovska-Simoska, Silvana; Pop-Jordanova, Nada; Georgiev, Dejan

2008-07-01

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of alpha neurofeedback and EMG biofeedback protocols for improvement of musical performance in violinists. The sample consisted of 12 music students (10 violinists and 2 viola players) from the Faculty of Music, Skopje (3 males, mean age of 20 +/- 0 and 9 females, mean age = 20.89 +/- 2.98). Six of them had a low alpha peak frequency (APF) ( 10 Hz). The sample was randomized in two groups. The students from the experimental group participated in 20 sessions of biofeedback (alpha/EMG), combined with music practice, while the students from the control group did only music practice. Average absolute power, interhemispheric coherence in the alpha band, alpha peak frequency (APF), individual alpha band width (IABW), amount of alpha suppression (AAS) and surface forehead integrated EMG power (IEMG), as well as a score on musical performance and inventories measuring anxiety, were assessed. Alpha-EEG/EMG-biofeedback was associated with a significant increase in average alpha power, APF and IABW in all the participants and with decreases in IEMG only in high-APF musicians. The biofeedback training success was positively correlated with the alpha power, IcoH, APF, IABW and baseline level of APF and IABW. Alpha-EEG/EMG biofeedback is capable of increasing voluntary self-regulation and the quality of musical performance. The efficiency of biofeedback training depends on the baseline EEG alpha activity status, in particular the APF.

The Impact of Instrument-Specific Musical Training on Rhythm Perception and Production.

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Matthews, Tomas E; Thibodeau, Joseph N L; Gunther, Brian P; Penhune, Virginia B

2016-01-01

Studies comparing musicians and non-musicians have shown that musical training can improve rhythmic perception and production. These findings tell us that training can result in rhythm processing advantages, but they do not tell us whether practicing a particular instrument could lead to specific effects on rhythm perception or production. The current study used a battery of four rhythm perception and production tasks that were designed to test both higher- and lower-level aspects of rhythm processing. Four groups of musicians (drummers, singers, pianists, string players) and a control group of non-musicians were tested. Within-task differences in performance showed that factors such as meter, metrical complexity, tempo, and beat phase significantly affected the ability to perceive and synchronize taps to a rhythm or beat. Musicians showed better performance on all rhythm tasks compared to non-musicians. Interestingly, our results revealed no significant differences between musician groups for the vast majority of task measures. This was despite the fact that all musicians were selected to have the majority of their training on the target instrument, had on average more than 10 years of experience on their instrument, and were currently practicing. These results suggest that general musical experience is more important than specialized musical experience with regards to perception and production of rhythms.

Testing complex animal cognition: Concept learning, proactive interference, and list memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Anthony A

2018-01-01

This article describes an approach for assessing and comparing complex cognition in rhesus monkeys and pigeons by training them in a sequence of synergistic tasks, each yielding a whole function for enhanced comparisons. These species were trained in similar same/different tasks with expanding training sets (8, 16, 32, 64, 128 … 1024 pictures) followed by novel-stimulus transfer eventually resulting in full abstract-concept learning. Concept-learning functions revealed better rhesus transfer throughout and full concept learning at the 128 set, versus pigeons at the 256 set. They were then tested in delayed same/different tasks for proactive interference by inserting occasional tests within trial-unique sessions where the test stimulus matched a previous sample stimulus (1, 2, 4, 8, 16 trials prior). Proactive-interference functions revealed time-based interference for pigeons (1, 10 s delays), but event-based interference for rhesus (no effect of 1, 10, 20 s delays). They were then tested in list-memory tasks by expanding the sample to four samples in trial-unique sessions (minimizing proactive interference). The four-item, list-memory functions revealed strong recency memory at short delays, gradually changing to strong primacy memory at long delays over 30 s for rhesus, and 10 s for pigeons. Other species comparisons and future directions are discussed. © 2018 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Impact of a Modified Jigsaw Method for Learning an Unfamiliar, Complex Topic

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Denise Kolanczyk

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Objective: The aim of this study was to use the jigsaw method with an unfamiliar, complex topic and to evaluate the effectiveness of the jigsaw teaching method on student learning of assigned material (“jigsaw expert” versus non-assigned material (“jigsaw learner”. Innovation: The innovation was implemented in an advanced cardiology elective. Forty students were assigned a pre-reading and one of four valvular heart disorders, a topic not previously taught in the curriculum. A pre-test and post-test evaluated overall student learning. Student performance on pre/post tests as the “jigsaw expert” and “jigsaw learner” was also compared. Critical Analysis: Overall, the post-test mean score of 85.75% was significantly higher than that of the pre-test score of 56.75% (p<0.05. There was significant improvement in scores regardless of whether the material was assigned (“jigsaw experts” pre=58.8% and post=82.5%; p<0.05 or not assigned (“jigsaw learners” pre= 56.25% and post= 86.56%, p<0.05 for pre-study. Next Steps: The use of the jigsaw method to teach unfamiliar, complex content helps students to become both teachers and active listeners, which are essential to the skills and professionalism of a health care provider. Further studies are needed to evaluate use of the jigsaw method to teach unfamiliar, complex content on long-term retention and to further examine the effects of expert vs. non-expert roles. Conflict of Interest We declare no conflicts of interest or financial interests that the authors or members of their immediate families have in any product or service discussed in the manuscript, including grants (pending or received, employment, gifts, stock holdings or options, honoraria, consultancies, expert testimony, patents and royalties.   Type: Note

Human algorithmic stability and human Rademacher complexity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vahdat, Mehrnoosh; Oneto, L.; Ghio, A; Anguita, D.; Funk, M.; Rauterberg, G.W.M.

2015-01-01

In Machine Learning (ML), the learning process of an algo- rithm given a set of evidences is studied via complexity measures. The way towards using ML complexity measures in the Human Learning (HL) domain has been paved by a previous study, which introduced Human Rademacher Complexity (HRC): in this