Don Knox

Making music after stroke: using musical activities to enhance arm function.

A common long‐term consequence of stroke is impaired arm function, which affects independence and quality of life in a considerable proportion of stroke survivors. There is a growing need for self‐management strategies that enable stroke survivors to continue their recovery after rehabilitation has ceased. Interventions with high‐intensity, repetitive task training and feedback are most likely to improve function. Achieving the required amount of self‐practice is challenging, however. Innovative approaches are required to translate therapies into rewarding activities that can be undertaken independently. This paper describes the key principles and development of a novel intervention that integrates individuals’ preferred music with game technology in upper limb rehabilitation. The “tap tempo” paradigm, which uses rhythmic auditory cueing, provides repetitive upper limb task training, which can be tailored to individual goals and progress (e.g., in terms of movement range and complexity), while providing sensitive quantitative feedback to promote skill acquisition and enhance self‐management.

Why go to pop concerts? The motivations behind live music attendance:

Recent technological innovations have facilitated widespread illegal downloading of recorded music. While this points towards a decreased willingness to pay for music, the increase in the popularity of live music suggests otherwise. This is especially so when taking into account the rising cost of concert tickets, likely the result of reduced recorded music revenues. In the present study, a consideration of the unique motivations of why music fans decide on whether or not to attend live concerts is of interest. Drawing from a sample of 249 participants (55.02% female) with a mean age of 26.49, an open-ended questionnaire was analysed thematically with four key themes defined: Experience, Engagement, Novelty and Practical. The results highlight that participants want to “be there”, to be a part of something unique and special, sharing the experience with likeminded others. Other social dimensions such as the use of live music events as a means to demonstrate fan worship were also found. The unknown, novel aspects of live music were key motivators, such as hearing new material and watching support bands. Notably, price was not a contributing factor when choosing to attend a concert, suggesting that live music offers fans something special that they are more than willing to pay for.

Broadcasting personalities: The relationship between occupation and music preferences in the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs

This research examines the music choices of interviewees on the BBC Radio programme Desert Island Discs over a 72-year period. In the programme, individuals with a public profile related to high achievement in their chosen occupation identify several pieces of their favourite music. Publicly stated music preferences offer insights into how individuals construct and wish to communicate crucial aspects their identities. We propose that, in this context, occupation is related to music preferences. We investigate this relationship within the framework of Holland’s RIASEC model of vocational personality types, previously ignored by research into music preferences. We consider music preferences in terms of the five-dimension MUSIC model of music preferences, and preference for acoustical attributes of chosen music. Results demonstrate several significant associations between RIASEC occupation types and MUSIC preference dimensions, and also a main effect for RIASEC type on acoustical music attributes such as tempo, energy and loudness.

The perceived annoyance of urban soundscapes

Annoyance is one of the main factors that contribute to a negative view of environmental noise, and can lead to stress-related health conditions. Subjective perception of environmental sounds is dependent upon a variety of factors related to the sound, the geographical location, and the listener. Noise maps used to communicate information to the public about environmental noise in a given geographic location are based on simple noise level measurements and do not include any information regarding how perceptually annoying or otherwise the noise might be. This study involved subjective assessment by a large panel of listeners (N = 200) of a corpus of 60 pre-recorded urban soundscapes collected from a variety of locations around Glasgow City Centre. Binaural recordings were taken at three points during each 24 hour period in order to capture urban noise during day, evening, and night. Perceived annoyance was measured using Likert and numerical scales and each soundscape measured in terms of arousal and positive/negative valence. The results shed light on the subjective annoyance of environmental sound in a range of urban locations around Glasgow, and form the basis for development of environmental noise maps, which more fully communicate the effects of environmental noise to the public.

Popular music and the role of vocal melody in perceived emotion

The voice plays a crucial role in expressing emotion in popular music. However, the importance of the voice in this context has not been systematically assessed. This study investigates the emotional effect of vocal features in popular music. In particular, it focuses on nonverbal characteristics, including vocal melody and rhythm. To determine the efficacy of these features, they are used to construct a computational Music Emotion Recognition (MER) system. The system is based on the circumplex model that expresses emotion in terms of arousal and valence. Two independent studies were used to develop the system. The first study established models for predicting arousal and valence based on a range of acoustical and nonverbal vocal features. The second study was used for independent validation of these models. Results show that features describing rhythmic qualities of the vocal line produce emotion models with a high level of generalizability. In particular these models reliably predict emotional valence, a well-known issue in existing Music Emotion Recognition systems.

The Role of Technology in Music Listening For Health and Wellbeing

Music listening has positive effects upon a variety of physiological and psychological parameters important to health and wellbeing and contributes directly to physical health. Music has been found to reduce stress, the effects demonstrated through reduced cortisol levels, and affect immune system strength, as measured by salivary immunoglobulin A.

Cognitive factors in generative music systems

This research aims to inform the development of generative music algorithms with principles drawn from research into music perception and cognition. Research has provided insights into the ways humans mentally organise musical sound and resulted in development of complex theories of musical expectation. Implementing these theories in generative music systems has the potential to produce music which is perceptually more meaningful for the listener. A detailed description of a prototype generative music algorithm is given. The algorithm aims to automatically create music that displays tonal and metric hierarchies in a Western tonal style, grouping structure and encourages the formation of musical expectations. The extent to which the system goals have been achieved is evaluated by objective analysis. Subjective analysis of the system output is suggested as a crucial aspect of further work.

Composing with algorithms: two novel generative composition tools

Most composers may at some point struggle with the creative process. Breaking free from writers block and the composers own limitations can be achieved through the use of algorithmic approaches to music creation. This project is aimed at development of two algorithmic compositional tools, which can be used within the Digital Audio Workstation Ableton with Max for Live software. The first employs 2nd order Markov chains to aid composers in creation of unique midi melodies. The second approach uses Cellular Automata to select loop points in digital audio files, shuffling audio segments in time to create new patterns. Results suggest these systems have the potential to inspire composers, allow them to augment their compositions, and in turn help them overcome creative problems.