Ed Hughes

Psychological benefits of networking technologies in children’s experience of ensemble music making

Little is currently known about the possible benefits of using networked technology to enhance ensemble performance. This study explored whether the introduction of specially devised technology – networked tablets using traditional music notation – to a primary school orchestra would enhance the experience of ensemble music. Particular emphasis was placed on how the technology could help children to overcome practical problems associated with ensemble playing for early-stage musicians (e.g., keeping in sync with other players), thereby leading to better engagement with the music and ultimately greater enjoyment. Findings from a thematic analysis of responses from a focus group with eight young orchestra players aged 9–11 years and from an interview with the orchestra conductor, together with indications from the statistical analysis of 28 orchestra participants’ questionnaire responses, suggest that the technology did help to reduce the practical problems associated with ensemble playing. This appeared to interrupt the downward spiral of frustration and lack of confidence in playing for some young people, and enhanced the likelihood of feelings of enjoyment and belonging.

Silent film, live music and contemporary composition

Silent film and live music together force you to think differently about both phenomena. And so, although composers frequently engage with external elements such as texts and non-musical subjects, it is my contention that working with silent film as a musician raises especially interesting challenges. In this chapter, I outline my previous composition work with silent moving images, and conclude with a case study of a recent collaborative project, Night Music (2015). One thing my examples have in common is that they were all conceived for live musical performance with silent film screenings — although some projects have since been released commercially on DVD. This latter point speaks to some recent film music studies research which reminds us of the affective loss sustained in the transition from silent to sound film in the late 1920s and early 1930s: silent film music practice rests on a visible distinction between the screen and the source of sound and music, as in opera where the numinous and magical quality of the action is possible precisely because of the separation between stage and audience by the orchestra. I argue that my own live music and screen work fits in with a tradition of seeking to recover this quality through performances featuring live solo musicians and orchestras, and furthermore that the ritual, simultaneous working through of screen and musical ideas that this work displays aligns it more with certain qualities of opera than with conventional film music practices found in sound cinema.