Musical Performance & the Embodied Mind

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Getting ready for the third meet up with my lovely fellows! Cant wait for another few days away getting lost in immersive conversation and endless questions. 

At the next workshop, I will be presenting the trailer to my upcoming research project and working with the fellows to determine my use of software and resources. 

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BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Daniel Levitin ‘This is your brain on music’

‘Daniel Levitin, a former session musician and record producer turned neuroscientist, brings a fluent and readable contribution to the subject. He rightly insists that we are all better equipped to perform and appreciate music than we think, so conditioned are we to believe in music as the preserve of an elite. We are, he says, hard-wired for music’

- Stephen Pritchard, The Guardian 

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BOOK RECOMMENDATION: Embodied Music Cognition & Mediation Technology

Leman argues that the human body is a biologically designed mediator that transfers physical energy to a mental level—engaging experiences, values, and intentions—and, reversing the process, transfers mental representation into material form. 

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(PDF) What Is Embodied Music Cognition?

PDF | Over the past decade, embodied music cognition has become an influential paradigm in music research. The paradigm holds that music cognition is strongly determined by corporeally mediated interactions with music. They determine the way in which music can be conceived in terms...

Embodied music cognition research is currently characterised by two trends; - 

Exploration of embodiment The first trend explores in greater detail the nature of embodiment. Several studies have, indeed, introduced challenging new ideas about bodily articulations and support for expressive gesturing in relation to music. These ideas currently profit from more detailed viewpoints on the sensorimotor principles and direct proof of embodied influences on perception 

Broadening of the concept of embodiment.The second trend is to broaden the perspective of embodied music cognition and to link it to research areas such as musical affect research. This trend suggests that the power of embodiment can be put to work in a broader context, embracing sister-disciplines such as music engineering, music-psychology and music and brain science. 

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Paris’s first digital art museum: all lit up at Atelier des Lumières

In a former foundry in eastern Paris, art – including colourful works by Klimt – gets a huge canvas in a multi-sensory experience from museum foundation Culturespaces

Getting excited to see this wonderful immersive experience in Paris this Christmas eve! 

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This week I have been working with Falmouth University student of the Academy of Music and Theatre Arts and Falmouth Film School. We have been working hard putting a trailer together for my upcoming research project ‘Musical Performance & the Embodied Mind’, taking place Dec 18 -  March 19. 

My research will be presented in the form of a research documentary, to help musicians to consider their musical ability and understanding. It has been fascinating to watch the music students question their practise, perception and connection with music through psychological discussion. 

Saxophone: Sophie Rooke 

Cello: Kristina Zubrickaitė

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Flow, the secret to happiness

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi asks, "What makes a life worth living?" Noting that money cannot make us happy, he looks to those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of "flow."

“...It is when we act freely, for the sake of the action itself rather than for ulterior motives, that we learn to become more than what we were.” ― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

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BOOK RECOMMENDATION: ‘Flow’ - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

‘When in flow, a person becomes totally involved in an activity and experiences a number of positive experiential characteristics, including freedom from self-consciousness and great enjoyment of the process. Flow is an intrinsically enjoyable state and is accompanied by an order in consciousness whereby the person experiences clarity of goals and knowledge of performance, complete concentration, feelings of control, and feelings of being totally in tune with the performance.’

-  Susan A. Jackson 1996 

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“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”

– Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 

Positive psychological flow, is a mental state where the person performing an activity is fully immersed, with a sense of energised focus and concentration for the task. 

Photos: Holly Rollins

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From the perspective of neuroscience, listening to music is one of the most complex things we  can do. The auditory cortex is mainly responsible for assessing the features of sound such as pitch and velocity. It works closely with the cerebellum to break down musical information such as timbre, spacial location and duration - creating a structure for our individual response to music. 

Embodied music cognition recognises the cognitive processing of music as being directly influenced by our bodily movement. When we perform music, these bodily interactions help determine psychological goals, targets, values and rewards, that ultimately shape our musical ability...

Photo: Holly Rollins 

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What a fab afternoon filming for the tailer of my upcoming research project ‘Music Performance & The Embodied Mind’ - in collaboration with students of @falmouthuni! Super lucky to have such a fantastic filming crew and this all round superstar @samuelefford. Shout out to @fal_amata for the beautiful instruments and locations. #southwestcreativetechnologynetwork#research #musiccognition#cognitivepsychology #postgradlife

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Guy Cheron - 2016

‘In contrast to its behavioural counterpart, commonly expressed by the term “stress,” the flow may be viewed as a convergent physiological entity supported by the emergence of a unique brain state. Since flow requires challenges, it must be supported by short-term stress (the good one) that assumes physiological protection to deal with challenges.’

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VR at Pervasive Media Studios - WATERSHED (Bristol) 

Another look at some wonderful VR today. I loved this experience - like being inside of an animation. Beautifully narrative and enjoyable to be a part of. 

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Here is a visual representation of our process over the course of the project. I have been selected to join the project as a New Talent Fellow, along with 7 others. We are then joined by a further 8 Industry Fellows and 8 Academic Fellows. 

The next three months are dedicated to the ‘deep thinking phase’ - allowing us to come up with, edit, question, challenge, research all of our ideas. We will continue to show our progress during this process and deliver our project over January. We are then invited to apply for the second part of the process - the prototype phase - in which we may make suggestions for the development of physical products and/or business ideas curated during the critical phase of deep thinking. 

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Day Two - 12.10.18 

Ocean Studios, Plymouth. 

What a day of opportunity, not only to learn, but to explore and experience. This video is a small clip of the virtual reality software displayed by Triangular Pixels. Based in Bude, Cornwall, this fantastic company develops local multiplayer gaming experiences and offers the network an incredible insight into technology based immersion. 

http://www.triangularpixels.net/cms/

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Mount Edgecombe (11.10.18) 

Day One - Meeting My Fellow Fellows 

Today I met my fellow immersive researchers at Mount Edgecombe in Plymouth. This image is taken from a workshop where we were asked to write down any resources (people, equipment, venues) that we have a connection with in the Southwest. This will enable us to make use of the fantastic network of contacts we have between us, making the best possible use of resources. 

After lunching and mingling we were asked to perform a short ‘show and tell’, demonstrating our passion for our chosen area of study. The array of talent and interests is incredible. For this, I decided to display my research area in the form of videos, audio demonstrations in MAX and neruomusicology research articles. 

Today was about discovering who is in the cohort, their interests and how their subject areas may integrate with our own. Although several people are completing research for immersion and audio, it has been unexpectedly beneficial to extend those conversations with those exploring different media forms such as game design, documentary filmmaking and live visual manipulation. 

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INCREDIBLY thrilled to announce I have accepted a position as a New Talent Fellow for the Southwest Creative Technology Network.

For the coming months I will be conducting research in the field of Neuromusicology, in the aim of providing information of audio perception, that may aid the development of immersive technologies and musical performance.  I will be documenting my research here, giving an insight into the life of a new talent research fellow, alongside a plethora of fantastic videos, podcasts, experiments and experiences.