AIRS 1st Annual Meeting Abstracts
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** Drupal: Websites for the rest of us ** Andrew Hankinson (McGill University, Canada) andrew.hankinson@mail.mcgill.ca Abstract: The days of the webmaster, the perennial gatekeeper of an organization's website, are quickly coming to an end. Content Management Systems (CMS) allow a more decentralized approach to website content development, providing easy-to-use tools for creating, publishing and maintaining a website's content. Drupal is a popular CMS, open source, freely available and backed by an active community of developers and users. It is in use by organizations big and small, from NASA to public libraries. This talk will start with a brief introduction to web content management and then move to a more specific discussion of how Drupal can be used in digital libraries and collaborative research environments. SUB-THEME: 1.1 PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF SINGING ** Development of signing: The current state of our knowledge and an outline of critical questions ** Laurel Trainor (McMaster University, Canada) LJT@mcmaster.ca, Rayna H. Friendly (McMaster University), frindr@mcmaster.ca and Steven Brown Abstract: Singing, like speech, is a universal human behavior. Yet, we know little about its development. In this paper, we review literature about singing development and begin to define a direction for future research. The first question we consider is the developmental trajectory of singing in terms of how accuracy and precision improve with age. The second question concerns the factors that influence the development of singing ability, such as sex, musical experience in the home environment, and formal instruction at school. The third question concerns the relationship between perception and production, exploring, for example, whether singing accuracy in children is constrained by perceptual skills, vocal factors, or sensorimotor interactions. The fourth question concerns the relative trajectories of speech and song development, in terms of both the progression of their developmental stages and the ages at which milestones are achieved. The fifth question deals with how best to measure singing ability and generate a classification of singer types among developing singers. Finally, the sixth question concerns the extent to which inaccurate singing can be ameliorated through training, and whether there exists a sensitive period for singing development. SUB-THEME: 1.1 PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF SINGING ** A Japanese infant's vocal features in daily contexts of infant-directed speech and song: A case study ** Mayumi Adachi (Hokkaido University, Japan), adachi@psych.let.hokudai.ac.jp and Taichi Ando Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore whether our notion of musical babblings to be produced more in musical interactions than in other daily contexts would be a physically observable phenomenon or a result of someone's interpretation of the infant's vocal quality. In Experiment 1, we analyzed acoustical features of 50 vocal samples taken from a 19-month-old boy's vocalizations recorded weekly during a period of 3 weeks, and categorically evaluated tonal contents. In Experiment 2, we presented these vocal samples to 22 Japanese mothers and 22 college female students, asking them to rate whether each sample sounded more like speaking or singing. Even though there were no differences between contexts in any of the infant's vocal features, both mothers and college female students clearly differentiated the infant's "song-like" babblings from "speech-like" babblings while the former occurred more in the context of infant-directed speech, and vice versa. Replications of the study (in Japan and elsewhere) are needed to generalize the findings. SUB-THEME: 1.1 PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF SINGING ** The speech-to-song illusion: experimental evidence ** Simone Falk (Ludwid-Maximilians-Universitat, Germany) simone.falk@germanistik.uni-muenchen.de Tamara Rathcke (University of Glasgow, UK) Abstract: We are exploring the boundaries of speech and song in an acoustic-perceptive perspective. We investigate a musical illusion first described by Diana Deutsch (1995, Deutsch et al. 2008). In this "speech-to-song illusion" a phrase read by Diana Deutsch shifts to be heard as sung without changing any acoustic characteristics of the signal. This illusion is achieved by simply repeating the phrase several times in exactly the same way. As far as we know, the effect was found only with this single phrase as piece of evidence. We assume that some acoustic characteristics of this read phrase supported the perceptive shifting from speech to song in a specific way. Our assumption is that the shifting will occur earlier, i.e. after fewer repetitions, when specific acoustic characteristics are present in a sound signal. We have set up a reaction time experiment using the speech-to-song illusion as a method to test several hypotheses about the nature of the acoustic characteristics that will support the perceptive drift. Our hypotheses are as follows: We suggest that the drift will occur earlier if (i) pitch accents occur isochronically (ii) if intervocalic intervals are equalized in duration resembling note durations, (iii) the targets of pitch accents are level-like (as opposed to contour-like targets as in natural speech) and (iv) if scalar tonal relations are suggested by the melody especially at the phrase boundary. In the experiment, we manipulate these factors individually and cumulatively to assess their relative importance for the perceptual shift. This study is still in progress. It will give useful evidence for modeling the acoustic basis of speech and song perception and will reveal shared resources. SUB-THEME: 1.1 PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF SINGING ** Tone deafness disrupts pitch production in music, not speech: A case study ** Simone Dalla Bella (University of Finance and Management, Poland) sdallabella@vizja.pl Magdalena Berkowska (University of Finance and Management, Poland) Abstract: Inaccurate adult singers (i.e., 10-15% of the general population) typically perform out of tune and sometimes they sing out of time. This condition (often referred to as “tone deafness”) has been observed both in presence and in absence of deficient pitch perception. It is still unknown whether this deficit in pitch production is specific to music or rather extends also to speech intonation. This possibility has been tested in AZ, a tone-deaf woman with mild pitch perception deficits. AZ and a group of matched controls read sentences as statements or questions, and in another task imitated short spoken and sung fragments (with lyrics) having the same pitch content. AZ was very inaccurate in producing and imitating pitch in a musical context; however her performance was in the range of controls when pitch was produced in a linguistic context. SUB-THEME: 1.1 PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF SINGING ** Congenital Amusia: An Intervention Study ** Lauren Stewart l.stewart@gold.ac.uk Susan Anderson Karen Wise and Graham Welch (Goldsmiths University of London; Keele University; Institute of Education, University of London, UK) Abstract: Individuals with congenital amusia (CA) lack basic abilities associated with the perception and production of music, despite normal exposure to music during development, normal education levels and IQ, and no known neurological or peripheral auditory impairments. CA individuals have difficulty recognizing tunes that would be familiar to other members of their culture, or telling simple tunes apart (Peretz et al., 2003). They should be distinguished from individuals who believe (rightly or wrongly) they cannot sing in tune, yet have no perceptual deficits (Cuddy et al., 2005; Pfordrescher and Brown, 2008; Wise and Sloboda, 2008). The present study will seek to determine whether pitch perception and/or production can be improved in amusia. A group of CA individuals will receive 10 singing lessons from a professional singing teacher, incorporating the use of visual feedback techniques via ‘Sing and See’ software, as well as 6 technology sessions, where individuals will have the chance to ‘play’ with sound using music educational software. Pre- and post-intervention measures will include testing of pitch perception (Montreal Battery for the Evaluation of Amusia (MBEA), computerized pitch matching task and psychophysical tests of pitch detection and discrimination tests) and pitch production (singing of familiar tune; measures of pitch range; vocal imitation of single pitches). Comparison of pre-/post-performance in the taught group versus a matched group of CA individuals who do not receive training will reveal the extent to which pitch perception and production deficits are amenable to intervention in this group. SUB-THEME: 1.1 PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF SINGING ** Pitch Matching in Amusia ** Sean Hutchins (University of Montreal, Canada) sean.hutchins@gmail.com Abstract: One interesting place to study the relationship between pitch perception is vocal pitch matching. This is an important basic skill for any type of singing. We assessed pitch matching abilities in congenital amusics to help to understand the relationship between perception and production in music. Congenital amusia is a neurogenetic disorder characterized by the inability to consciously perceive pitch differences. Amusics and controls attempted to match pitches vocally under normal, guided, and masked feedback conditions. We analyzed the fundamental frequency of their vocal productions, and found that amusics were significantly less accurate in matching a target pitch than controls. However, five of the six amusics showed a significant correlation between their produced pitches and the target pitch. Feedback condition had no effect on pitch matching accuracy. These results confirm that amusics are indeed worse at vocal pitch matching than controls, but shows evidence that some of them do adjust their productions in response to changing target in a systematic way. SUB-THEME: 1.1 PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF SINGING ** From song to speech? Infant-directed singing in the first year of life ** Simone Falk (Ludwid-Maximilians-Universitat, Germany) simone.falk@germanistik.uni-muenchen.de Abstract: In this paper, I will demonstrate how rich and variable in form and situational context sung speech to infants (infant-directed singing) is during the first year of life. It will be shown how it is used as a communicative tool between parents and infants in daily child-care activities and how the linguistic side of the song interacts with musical structure. This might be of special interest for those AIRS researchers working on the boundaries of singing and speaking or developmental aspects of singing. Examples will be given from a wide corpus of recordings (600 items) of French, German and Russian parents (50) singing with their children. Regarding the AIRS database, some problems of categorization or parametrization of infant-directed singing will be addressed and discussed with the audience. SUB-THEME: 1.1 PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF SINGING ** Comparison of rhythm in musical scores and performances as measured with the pairwise variability index ** Marju Raju (Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre), Eva Liina Asu (Institute of Estonian and General Linguistics), Jaan Ross (University of Tartu, Estonia) Abstract: This paper tests two hypotheses: (1) that the nPVI values computed on the basis of recorded performances may be higher than the nPVI values computed for the same works as musical scores, and (2) that the musical nPVI values for different composers may vary substantially within one culture even within a short time-span. In Experiment 1, samples from the works of two Estonian composers, Mart Saar (1882-1963) and Eduard Tubin (1905-1982), were used for calculation of nPVI on the basis of both scores and performances. nPVI values for performed music were systematically higher than those for scores but the differences were not statistically significant. In Experiment 2, larger corpora of scores by Saar, Tubin, and Veljo Tormis (born 1930) were analyzed. Solo parts in songs by Tormis had significantly lower nPVI values than those in songs by Saar and Tubin. Our results show that calculation of nPVI values in music may rely either on a score or on a performance, the results being not significantly different from each other. The results also show that there may be significant differences in rhythmic contrast between the works of composers from one culture created only a few decades apart, and that nPVI values may not only increase but also decrease for compositions created later in time. SUB-THEME: 1.2 MULTIMODAL (AUDIO/VISUAL/MOTOR) ASPECTS OF SINGING ** A key issue of theorizing on singing development: analyses of the child's strategies in making a new song (long presentation) ** Stefanie Stadler Elmer (University of Zuerich, Switzerland) stefanie.stadler@access.uzh.ch Abstract: Among previous developmental theories we find the idea that musical behaviour follows an invariable and age-related sequence of mastering more and more intervals or `contour schemes' of the occidental music system. Often, we find a hidden ethnocentricity, since, tacitly, occidental musical rules are considered to be universal. Or, it is assumed that musical development is a matter of biology and innate talent. Alternatively, when trying to find early roots that can be considered to be precursors of musical behaviour, music cannot be viewed as a physical object, but rather as a socio-cultural one. The newly proposed theory, inspired by Piaget’s thinking, shares the idea with J. Huizinga and with E. Cassirer, that music is rooted in play and in human symbolizing. Music is a symbol system created by humans for the sake of emotional functions such as enhancing social belonging, influencing moods, regulating emotions of others and of the own ones. The voice starts to organise at birth, and gradually adapts to the cultural surrounding and its conventions concerning language, music, and social rules. Vocal and musical behaviour are highly
adaptive and constructive, and concern two symbolic systems: music and language. The child develops the voice by playing and imitating. The development proceeds from sensorimotor activities towards more and more conscious actions and thoughts. In order to study children’s singing, computer aided programs were devised to analyse and represent pitch, timing, pitch qualities, and syllables. This method yields complex configurations of these parameters describing children’s song singing. Detailed descriptions allow to reconstruct the strategies children apply to invent or learn new songs. Empirical results from children at various ages demonstrate that the focus on the analysis of the organization of the vocal expression is a promising research strategy. It is not a single sung song or some selected features that indicate a development stage. Rather, the way a child creates or learns a new song reveals his or her understanding of how such a complex event is organized. SUB-THEME: 1.2 MULTIMODAL (AUDIO/VISUAL/MOTOR) ASPECTS OF SINGING ** The use of facial electromyography in singing research ** Frank Russo (Ryerson University, Canada) russo@ryerson.ca Lisa Chan (Ryerson University, Canada) Abstract: A recent pilot study conducted in our lab suggests that facial mimicry may be involved in perception of sung emotion. Participants were asked to observe and then reproduce songs that were emotionally expressive. The songs were presented audio-visually and the onset of reproductions was cued so as to occur one full bar after the coda. Using facial electromyography (f-emg), muscle activity was observed over four epochs: perception (presentation of target), planning (pre-imitation), production (imitation), and post-production (after imitation). Evidence of mimicry was found across all epochs, including perception. The mimicry observed in the perception epoch is somewhat surprising and may be the manifestation of a facial-feedback network that serves emotional communication. The presentation will focus on possibilities for involving f-EMG in future research related to the AIRS project including studies investigating perception of sung and spoken emotion as well as studies of dyadic communication behavior. SUB-THEME: 1.2 MULTIMODAL (AUDIO/VISUAL/MOTOR) ASPECTS OF SINGING ** How to identify the laryngeal mechanism of a singing voice production ** Nathalie Henrich nathalie.henrich@gipsa-lab.inpg.fr Bernard Roubeau, Michele Castellengo, Centre national de la recherché scientifique CNRS (Département des sciences l’homme et de la société), France; Service d’ORL et de Chirurgie Cervico-faciale, Hopital Tenon; LAM-IJLRA, France Abstract: Human phonation is characterized by the use of four distinct laryngeal mechanisms, which are common to male and female speakers and singers. The understanding of a given singing-voice production requires the assessing of its laryngeal nature. The singing-voice register (or middle register) is a good example of a phonation where the laryngeal properties remain misunderstood. We will focus here on the two main laryngeal mechanisms used in singing. These two laryngeal
mechanisms differ with respect to the vocalis-muscle participation to the vibrating mass in action. Electroglottography, a non-invasive technique which measures vocal-fold contact area, seems an interesting tool to identify the laryngeal nature of a given singing sound. The technique will be presented and its applicability to the identification of the laryngeal mechanisms will be discussed. It has successfully been applied to the understanding of the laryngeal nature of singing-voice productions in conducted with 5 professional singers of both sexes has demonstrated that, on contrary to the general opinion register is not produced in an intermediate laryngeal mechanism, but in one of the two main laryngeal mechanisms. SUB-THEME: 1.2 MULTIMODAL (AUDIO/VISUAL/MOTOR) ASPECTS OF SINGING ** A computer based method for analysing singing ** Stephanie Stadler Elmer stefanie.stadler@access.uzh.ch Franz-Josef Elmer University of Zuerich & University of Basel, Switzerland Abstract: The analysis of singing has been an intricate and serious obstacle in psychology and ethnomusicology. Singing is a transient and mostly unstable patterning of vocal sounds that is organised by applying more or less linguistic and musical rules. Traditionally, a sung performance has been analysed by mere listening and by using the western musical notation for representing its structure. Since this method neglects any in-between categories with respect to pitch and time, it proves to be culturally biased. However, acoustic measures as used in speech analysis have had limited application and were primarily used to quantify isolated parameters of sung performances. Praat, a computer tool for phonetic analysis by Boersma & Weenink (2009, http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/), is very powerful and provides musically relevant information. In order to have a specific computer program for the analysis of singing, we devised a computer aided method in combination with a new symbolic notation. Our specific focus concerns the analysis and representation of the organisation of pitch in relation to the syllables of the lyrics, and its temporal structure. The computer program provides detailed acoustic measures on pitch and time. We reduce the redundancy of the detailed information by a notation system that shows pitch and time each on a continuous scale, including glissandi, breathing, joint singing, and instructional help. The two programs (pitch analyzer, notation viewer) and detailed instructions are freely available at http://mmatools.sourceforge.net/. By combining acoustic with auditory analyses, this method allows to describe reliably sung performance's structures with respect to the organisation of pitches, together with syllables, and their timing. The resulting configuration of data includes qualitative aspects such as stable and unstable pitches. Such microanalytic descriptions are very useful for studying the nature of sung performances, their structures, and processes of change due to learning and development. SUB-THEME: 1.2 MULTIMODAL (AUDIO/VISUAL/MOTOR) ASPECTS OF SINGING ** Physiological and physical understanding of singing voice practices: the Sardinian Bassu case ** Nathalie Henrich nathalie.henrich@gipsa-lab.inpg.fr, Lucie Bailly Xavier Pelorson & Bernard Lortat-Jacob Centre national de la recherché scientifique CNRS (Département des sciences l’homme et de la société), France Abstract: The scientific approach applied to the understanding of a singing-voice practice will be illustrated in the case of Sardinian traditional singing. From an ethnomusicological point of view, the singing-voice technique used by Bassu singer is puzzling, as this singer produces very low-pitch bass-type sounds. A combined physiological and physical investigation has been conducted, which will be described. The laryngeal vibratory characteristics are analyzed on a professional singer by means of acoustical, electroglottographic signals and synchronized glottal images obtained by high-speed cinematography. In this singing-voice practice, both vocal folds and ventricular folds are vibrating, similarly to the Mongolian throat singing. Using the detected glottal and ventricular areas, the aerodynamic behavior of the laryngeal system is simulated using a simplified aerodynamic modeling previously validated on replica of vocal and ventricular folds. This study points out the impact of a ventricular constriction on the vocal-folds vibrations. SUB-THEME: 1.3 AIRS TEST BATTERY OF SINGING SKILLS ** Neural control of vocal pitch production ** Psyche Loui ploui@bidmc.harvard.edu & Gottfried Schlaug Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, Harvard University, Massachusetts, United States Abstract: Singing is a ubiquitous human behavior, yet how it is accomplished by the human brain is unknown. To produce accurate pitches using the voice, the human brain must learn to plan the accurate target, to execute the selected motor plan, and to perceive auditory feedback from vocal output so as to fine-tune the motor plan online. Using behavioral and neuroimaging studies with normal and tone-deaf subjects, I will show that the neural network controlling this feedforward- feedback system involves bilateral frontotemporal networks. The frontotemporal networks include superior and middle temporal lobes and inferior frontal lobes, classic language areas that are disrupted in communication disorders and can be explored using MR and diffusion tensor imaging. Results shed light on how the human brain may have capacity to listen and to rapidly learn new music, and have implications on educating the developing human brain. SUB-THEME:1.3 AIRS TEST BATTERY OF SINGING SKILLS ** Developing a test battery of singing abilities with lifespan application ** Annabel J. cohen acohen@upei.ca, Marsha Lannan, Jenna D. Coady & Emily Gallant AIRS and Department of Psychology, University of Prince Edward Island, PE, Canada Abstract: A short battery of tests of singing skills was developed for the purpose of conducting longitudinal and lifespan cross-sectional and cross-cultural studies that would provide data that would separate the individual, cultural, and innate influences on the development of singing. In consultation with Simone Dalla Bella and Stefanie Stadler Elmer, a test battery was developed having 11 components. Components 1 and 11 engaged conversation to assess language unobtrusively. The remain components assess (2) pitch range (3) minor third call-back (4) musical interval, triad, and scale (5) singing the familiar melody “Are you sleeping” in segments (6) singing a favorite song (7) improvising the ending to an unknown song (8) composing a song to a picture prompt (9) repeating an unknown song, and (10) singing from memory “Are you sleeping”. Experiment 1 tested 20 participants --two females and two males of ages 3, 5, and 7 years and young adults having no or considerable voice training-- at five monthly intervals resulting in approximately 100 examples of each component. Analysis was directed to memory of “Are you sleeping” (10) and free composition (8). Renditions of “Are you sleeping” were analyzed with Stadler Elmer’s (2001) pitch extraction technique. For free composition, the structure and content of the transcribed prose was analyzed. In Experiment 2, a refined protocol was administered to 4 older adults and 6 persons with probable Alzheimer’s disease. The feasibility of use of the battery with all tested populations was observed and a wealth of information was obtained, some of which was submitted to quantitative and qualitative analysis. The results encourage longitudinal studies over a longer course. The willingness of participants of all ages on successive sessions is encouraging of further refinement of the battery. The battery may assist in defining natural singing skills, help in the teaching of singing and the maintenance of musical creativity, help in defining preserved musical ability in Alzheimers Disease, help define retention of singing skills with normal aging, and may also benefit crosscultural studies and comparisons of music and language skills and interactions.
SUB-THEME: 2.1- LEARNING TO SING NATURALLY ** The role of media on song acquisition in South African Children ** Andrea Emberly Ethnomusicology Department, University of Washington, Washington, USA Abstract: Lightening Talk Presentation SUB-THEME: 2.2 FORMAL TEACHING OF SINGING ** Observing a chameleon: How to bridge a gap between the voice training and its scientific description ** Jaan Ross jaan.ross@ut.ee & Allan Vurma Estonian Academy of Music and Theater & Institute of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Tartu, Estonia Abstract: An overview of the authors’ research on perception and production of singing voice as well as on the methods of voice training is presented. In the first study, a correlation was found for a group of voice students between the duration of training and the strength of the singer’s formant, while the tone quality estimates were not significantly higher for students with longer practice years. In the second study we investigated possible acoustical correlates of the ’forward’/’backward’ placing of a voice A ’forward’ placed voice may have higher F1, F2 and/or the singer’s formant frequencies as well as a higher level of the singer’s formant. In the third study we investigated the intonation accuracy in a cappella performance. There are considerable interindividual differences between performers as to their adjustment of pitch level. The stability of intonation varies significantly both within a single rendition of the vocal exercise as well as between its consecutive renditions. There is a positive correlation between the deviation of a melodic interval from its equally tempered standard value and the number of out-of tune judgments by the listeners. The dispersion of out-of- tune judgments is considerable, which suggests that listeners might have adopted different criteria for intonation accuracy. SUB-THEME: 2.3 TEACHING THROUGH SINGING ** WORLearning singing skills: Effects on broader skill learning ** Martin Gardiner martin_gardiner@brown.edu, Center for the Study of Human Development, Brown University, Rhode Island, United States Abstract: This talk will discuss our data published in the journal Nature (Gardiner et al, 1996), and also data from more recent studies. We are finding superior performance in math and, in upper elementary grades, also in language arts in elementary grade students who learn singing skills by Kodaly method, as compared to peers without this singing training. We study this win-win evidence that skill training, which opens up the benefits of music can at the same time help the student develop skill learning more broadly as well. These cross-relationships between musical and other skill learning, I propose, can most readily be explained as reflecting impact of the singing and other musical skill training on development of brain capabilities for “mental engagement” (Gardiner, 2008). Mental engagement concerns how the brain is used in support of skill. Such cross- relationships between musical and other skill learning are not only of practical interest to educators, supporting the importance of musical skill training, and in particular singing training, within the school curriculum, but also can help us to better understand brain functions related to musical skill and how brain engagement called upon by music is related to brain engagement supporting skills of other kinds. SUB-THEME: 2.3 TEACHING THROUGH SINGING ** Singing voice as a tool for improving the teaching/learning of a foreign language. The case of Italian speakers learning French. ** Nathalie Henrich nathalie.henrich@gipsa-lab.inpg.fr, Sandra Cornaz & Nathalie Vallee Centre national de la recherché scientifique CNRS (Département des sciences l’homme et de la société), France Abstract: Studies from various research fields have shown that music could have a favorable impact on learning processes. In particular, a recent study has demonstrated that the segmentation of words in a foreign language was facilitated by language learning based on sung sequences as compared to speech sequences. In the present study, we aim at investigating whether exercises in singing could help to improve the learning of French phonemes. The oral vowels of the Italian standard phonologic system were chosen, as they differ from those of French by the lack of two rounded anterior /y/ and /ø/. An experiment was conducted on two groups of Italian-speaking students learning French. The first group was given a common phonetic teaching with a reference method traditionally used for teaching/learning French as a foreign language. Within the same teaching duration, the second group was given a similar phonetic teaching including additional singing- voice exercises. The learned ability to produce the two target phonemes (/y/ et /ø/) was evaluated using either read or repeated carrier sentences. Recordings were made prior, during and after the learning phases. The data were semi-manually processed using Praat software. The results show that the subjects who were taught with additional singing-voice exercises learned to produced the anterior phonemes /y/ et /ø/ in the acoustical regions expected for these vowels in French, and to markedly reduce the confusion (overlap of scattering regions) between them and with close phonemes (in particular /i/ et /u/). SUB-THEME: 2.3 TEACHING THROUGH SINGING ** Learning and Singing: Song Intervention to Enhance Preschool Vocabulary ** Jennifer Sullivan jsulliv@stfx.ca, St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, Canada Abstract: This research will explore the value of singing for teaching non-musical content, specifically, vocabulary. Previous research has found that young school-ages children vary substantially in the number of words they can comprehend (e.g., see Anglin, 1993). Those children with smaller vocabulary comprehension are usually found to have more academic difficulty throughout their school years (Stanovich, 1986). Several researchers have implemented various strategies to enhance vocabulary knowledge in pre-school (Senechal & Cornell, 1993), primarily (Biemiller & Boote, 2006), and older elementary school-aged children (Beck & McKeown, 2007). Very little research has been conducted investigating the use of song to enhance vocabulary comprehension. In this study, preschool children, who are 3- and 4- years old, will participate in a singing intervention program in their daycare setting. The children will learn to sing short nursery songs that contain advanced vocabulary words. This group will be compared to a storybook reading group. General vocabulary measures, as well as measures of target vocabulary comprehension, will be taken both before and after the interventions. We anticipate that this study will help show the value of singing for enlarging vocabulary. SUB-THEME: 3.1 SINGING AND CROSS-CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING ** Networking and Publication Outlets for AIRS ** Lawrence P. O'Farrell ofarel@educ.queesu.ca, Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada Abstract: The UNESCO Chair in Arts and Learning at Queen's University offers AIRS researchers a channel for networking and publication. This presentation will outline the goals and activities of the UNESCO Chair in Arts and Learning, the Canadian Network for Arts and Learning, the World Alliance for Arts Education, the UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education (Seoul, 2010) and the UNESCO Observatory on Multi-Disciplinary Research in the Arts which will publish and on- line journal dedicated to ‘Singing: Interdisciplinary perspectives on a natural human expressive outlet. SUB-THEME: 3.1 SINGING AND CROSS-CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING ** Effects of an Interdisciplinary Chinese Music Program on Children’s Cultural Understanding ** Lily Chen-Hafteck, lhafteck@kean.edu, Kean University, New Jersey, United States Abstract: If music is an expression of culture, then to what extent can learning the songs of an unfamiliar culture enhance understanding of the culture and its people? I have conducted a research study in which introduce 250 children in New York City to a ten-week interdisciplinary program on Chinese music and culture. As a result of this program, the elementary children showed evidence of an increase in cultural and musical knowledge; higher motivation; a more positive attitude toward people from other cultures; and greater self-confidence for students from the minority cultures. As follow-up, I expanded the study to New Jersey, introducing the music and culture of Cuba in addition to those of China. In this talk, I will report on these research projects and discuss their implications on my proposed plan for AIRS project - a new study in the area of ‘Well-being: Crosscultural Understanding’. SUB-THEME: 3.1 SINGING AND CROSS-CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING ** Launching an Island Song Research Network ** Godfrey Baldacchino gbaldacchino@upei.ca, Institute of Island Studies and Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Prince Edward Island, PE, Canada Abstract: AIRS colleagues in the sub-theme of Well-Being (Cross-Cultural Understanding) will develop a template that examines islands as platforms where song and singing are socially constructed 'in place', and the extent to which songs and singing on islands captures more clearly the complex cultural dynamics that pervade the global-local. A broad and globally distributed interdisciplinary group of both researchers and practitioners will investigate how singing is involved as people on islands navigate 'roots' (locality, identity, lineage, genealogy, self-sufficiency, xenophobia, nationalism) and 'routes' (mobility, hybridity, diaspora, cosmopolitanism, transnationalism). SUB-THEME: 3.3 HEALTH BENEFITS OF SINGING ** The Experience of congregational singing: An ethno-phenomenological approach ** Gordon Adnams gadnams@telusplanet.net, University of Alberta, Canada Abstract: Congregational singing in many Canadian evangelical churches has undergone a significant shift. Organs have been replaced by guitars and drums; hymnals are left in the rack in favour of text on a screen; hymns are out and compact pop-style worship songs are in. These changes have been welcomed by some worshippers but have caused consternation in others as local congregations have struggled with musical preferences and worship styles – a process that has often resulted in a "worship war." Some congregations have remained musically traditional; some wholly embrace
the new Praise and Worship songs, while others offer separate services for each musical taste. As well, some churches have opted to use both traditional and contemporary songs in one service. This dissertation asks, "What is the experience of congregational singers as they sing both traditional and contemporary worship songs in a stylistically blended worship service?" Using hermeneutic phenomenology, modes of being-in-song-in-singing are explored, together with a musical ethnography that examines the context of the singing - a Canadian congregation whose blended worship services have choruses accompanied by a guitar-based ensemble and hymns sung with an organ and piano. The phenomenological and ethnographic insights are subsequently discussed, using the paradigm of authenticity as articulated by philosopher Charles Taylor. The dissertation concludes that blended musical worship is a phenomenon that challenges individuals to examine their notions of authenticity in worship. If blended worship is to be sustained, the self - centered authenticity prevalent in popular culture and most clearly seen in the experience of those who prefer the contemporary style of worship singing, needs to shift to a more inclusive authenticity that encompasses what Taylor calls a "horizon of significance" outside the self. When singers accept the challenge to grow beyond expressive individualism, they may be able to value and embrace a diverse church community with its differences in musical preference. SUB-THEME: 3.2 SINGING AND INTERGENERATIONAL UNDERSTANDING ** Enhancing communicative learning opportunities through intergenerational art curricula: A multiphase qualitative study leading to the AIRS research in intergenerational understanding ** Rachel Heydon rheydon@uwo.ca, School of Education, University of Western Ontario, Canada Abstract: Part one of this five year qualitative multiple case study investigated the learning and intergenerational interactional opportunities of co-located intergenerational art program. Using a hybrid theoretical framework drawing on multimodal literacy and Bakhtinian dialogism, the study found that the intergenerational context and the structuring of the curriculum to address the major semiotic decisions (i.e., what is to be signified; what is the apt signifier; how is the sign made most suitable on the occasion of its communication) resulted in numerous communicative learning opportunities. These findings were then used to build an intergenerational art program that was field tested over three years in a co-located facility. The results will become the basis of an attempt to build intergenerational singing curricula that can be implemented cross-culturally. SUB-THEME: 3.3 HEALTH BENEFITS OF SINGING ** Community Singing for Wellbeing and Health: Report on a Progressive Research Programme within the Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health, UK ** Stephen Clift s.clift@btinternet.com, Grenville Hancox, Ann Skingley, Ian Morrison, Hilary Bungay, Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, United Kingdom Abstract: The Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health is halfway through an eight-year research program exploring the potential benefits for health and wellbeing of community singing. To date a systematic mapping and review of published research on singing and health has been completed, together with a cross-national survey of choral singers in England, Germany and Australia. A formative evaluation of the 'Silver Song Clubs' project, an innovative model of community singing groups for elderly people, including many participants affected by dementia, has also been undertaken. These studies have provided the basis for developing a theoretical framework for understanding the potential value of singing, which identifies the principal physical, cognitive, emotional and social benefits of group singing, and the generative mechanisms which link singing with wellbeing and health. Building on this work, the Centre is currently engaged in developing and implementing three new community-based studies on singing and health. The first is a cluster randomized controlled trial of the ‘Silver Song Club’ project in which five new song clubs for elderly people will be established with outcomes for participants in weekly singing groups compared over a three-month period with non-participant controls. The second project involves establishing and evaluating a network of six singing groups for mental health service users, which will meet weekly over a period of six months. The third project involves a randomized controlled trial of weekly community group singing activity, over six months, for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Each of these projects is concerned with exploring the health benefits of singing following a holistic and positive model of health, but with a particular emphasis on aspects of physical, mental or social wellbeing relevant to the participant groups. This presentation will highlight some of the major findings from the studies so far completed, and outline aims, design and methods for the studies currently underway. SUB-THEME: 3.3 HEALTH BENEFITS OF SINGING ** Sing for Your Life ** Stuart Brown makmusse@aol.com, Kent, United Kingdom Abstract: I propose to show a DVD which lasts approximately 10 minutes and which demonstrates how Sing For Your Life delivers programs of participatory singing to older people affected by age related mental health conditions and social isolation in a variety of settings. I will also bring a full power point presentation, which I would be willing to present to those interested in this area of work if there is the opportunity. This would last 45 minutes. Sing For Your Life is intending to start a network of Silver Song Clubs in Canada. Sing For Your Life operates nearly 50 Clubs in Southern England offering 2000 places per month and has been commissioned by the Department of Health to develop a model to allow the network to be extended throughout UK. SUB-THEME: 3.3 HEALTH BENEFITS OF SINGING ** Three Francophone Adolescent Girls’ Stories of Singing: Singing for Identity, Relationship and Wellbeing ** Jennifer Nicol jaj.nicol@usask.ca & Gisele A. Lalonde Department of Education Psychology and Special Education (Counselling Psychology), University of Saskatchewan, Canada Abstract: This study investigated three francophone adolescent girls’ experiences with singing. A qualitative, narrative research approach (Bogdan & Biklen, 2003; Murray, 2003) was used to increase understanding about the benefits of singing, with a particular interest in exploring singing as a potentially positive means for adolescent minority-culture girls to successfully negotiate multiple aspects of identity, that is, adolescence, gender, and culture. Semi-structured interviews provided an opportunity for the participants to share their experiences, and describe what it is like for them to sing. Data were analyzed in terms of The Listening Guide (Gilligan, Spencer, Weinberg, & Bertsch, 2003), a relational analysis responsive to the voices of participants, and used to generate “I” poems and identify descriptive categories. Three ways of singing were identified – private, public informal, public formal – as well as three themes, evoked with the metaphors of: Rhythm (singing and experiences of identity), Harmony (singing and relationships), and Melody (singing, wellbeing and strength). Findings confirm and extend current research literature and have implications for those working.
SUB-THEME: 3.3 HEALTH BENEFITS OF SINGING ** A Grounded Theory Inquiry of Solitary Music Listening as a Social Process ** Jennifer Nicol jaj.nicol@usask.ca & Gisele A. LalondeDepartment of Education Psychology and Special Education (Counselling Psychology), University of Saskatchewan, Canada Abstract: Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2006) is a research method in the tradition of emergent qualitative design. It focuses on identifying constructs and building theory through repeated cycles of data collection and analysis, and using inductive rather than deductive analysis (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). The “discovered” or “generated” theory is “grounded in data” and emerges through simultaneous data collection, theoretical sampling, and data analysis. The resulting mid-range theory describes plausible relationships amongst concepts and set of concepts. The study presented in this poster illustrates the use of grounded theory to inductively generate a mid-range theory of solitary music listening as a social process for women coping with chronic illness. Grounded theory offers a new approach to investigating the benefits associated with singing, and will be used in the AIRS project to develop an explanatory model of choir membership as a health promoting activity. SUB-THEME: 3.3 HEALTH BENEFITS OF SINGING ** Exploring Alternate Ways to Represent Findings and Disseminate Knowledge ** Jennifer Nicol jaj.nicol@usask.ca, Department of Education Psychology and Special Education (Counselling Psychology), University of Saskatchewan, Canada Abstract: Health researchers are increasingly using new and creative ways to represent findings and disseminate knowledge to broader audiences. Such strategies may be appropriate for the AIRS project. Rationales are presented and illustrated with the following examples: “I” poems (Lalonde & Nicol, 2009); data poems (Wiebe & Nicol, 2007); fiction (Siemens & Nicol, under review), vocative texts/metaphor (Nicol, 2008), and song (Vander Kooj, 2009). SUB-THEME: 3.3 HEALTH BENEFITS OF SINGING ** What do Singers Say About the Effects of Choral Singing on Physical Health? Stephen M. Clift s.clift@binternet.com, Grenville Hancox, Ian Morrison, Barbel Hess, Gunter Kreutz & Don Stewart Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, United Kingdom Abstract: This paper presents evidence on choral singers’ perceptions of the physical health benefits of choral singing. It is based on a thematic analysis of answers given to a single open question included in a questionnaire survey of over 1,000 choral singers in Australia, England and Germany: ‘What effects, if any, does singing in a choir have on your physical health?’ The question was carefully worded to be as open as possible, to allow respondents to say that singing has no effects or to identify both positive and negative effects on health. Four findings stand out from this study. Firstly, many respondents did not answer this question or expressed a belief that singing does not have effects on physical health. Secondly, there was a clear spectrum of confidence in the substantive answers respondents gave when identifying effects – usually benefits. Some answers were given very tentatively, whereas others were given with a great deal of confidence. Thirdly, with respect to the positive benefits identified by choristers, four areas stand out most clearly: effects on breathing and lung function; posture and body control; relaxation and stress relief, and physical activity and energy. And finally, the analysis of choristers’ answers has helped to suggest some of the hypothetical mechanisms at work which link the activity of singing to aspects of physical health. The limitations of this study are considered and recommendations made for future research. |
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Laurel Trainor is a Professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour at McMaster University, a Research Scientist at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Hospital, Toronto, and the Director of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind (MIMM). She is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, and an Innovator of Distinction. She has pioneered the study of musical development, showing that infants acquire the music system of their culture without instruction, just as they acquire language. Her work on rhythm perception shows that listening to a beat activates motor networks in the brain even in the absence of movement, and that this multisensory interaction is reflected in oscillatory networks that can be measured with EEG and MEG. Her studies show further that synchronous movement to a musical beat increases prosocial behavior even in infants. Laurel is also engaged in research using objective measures to study a wide range of auditory perceptual abilities under amplification by different hearing aid algorithms. Laurel is the founding director of the McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind. Laurel also has a Bachelor of Music Performance from the University of Toronto, likes playing chamber music, and is currently principal flute of Symphony Hamilton. |
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Rayna Friendly received her Bachelors in Honors Psychology, with a Minor in Sociology from McMaster University in Ontario, in 2007. During this time, she took on many leadership roles, including acting as an executive member on McMaster’s Psychology and Sociology Societies, as well as President of McMaster’s Vocal Ensemble. Currently, she is a Phd candidate at McMaster in the department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behavior. As a member of the Infant Auditory Lab, Rayna works under the supervision of Dr. Laurel Trainor: a leading researcher in the field of auditory development and music cognition and perception. Rayna has been singing in school choirs and small ensembles for over 10 years and is currently a member of McMaster University’s Vocal Ensemble. In her research, Rayna has extended on her interest of the voice, and of singing, by studying the development of voice discrimination during the first year of infancy, as well as the interaction of vocal production and perception in the development of singing ability during childhood. Rayna loves working in a field that allows her to combine her interests of psychology and music, and looks forward to interacting with the many vocal enthusiasts at this year’s upcoming AIRS meeting. |
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Mayumi Adachi worked as a piano teacher after receiving her B.A. in music education from Niigata University. She studied piano pedagogy at Teachers College at Columbia University, where she completed her M.A. and Ed.M. in music and music education while studying psychology. She received her Ph.D. in psychomusicology at the University of Washington, and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto at Mississauga. Her interdisciplinary background gave her flexibility in her career, teaching music education (Yamanashi University) and psychology (Hokkaido University), as well as conducting quantitative and qualitative research on a variety of phenomena surrounding the development and learning of music. In the past, she used “singing” as a measure for children’s melodic expectancy and their communication of emotion. As an AIRS project, she has been studying how parents and young adults interpret a toddler’s vocalizations as songs cross-culturally. She chaired the 10th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, and has served on the editorial board of Psychomusicology, Psychology of Music, the International Journal of Music Education, and Journal of Music Perception and Cognition. |
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Lauren Stewart is Senior Lecturer and Director of the MSc in Music, Mind and Brain in The Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths College, The University of London. |
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Jaan Ross has obtained PhDs in musicology from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius, and in psychology from the Abo Academy University in Turku, Finland. His research is focused on analysis and perception of music and speech sounds. He has more than 150 publications, including a book The temporal structure of Estonian runic songs (with Ilse Lehiste, Mouton de Gruyter, 2001) and an edited volume Encapsulated voices: Estonian sound recordings from the German prisoner-of-war camps in 1916-1918 (Böhlau, 2012). He is also the author of a textbook on psychology of music, which was published in Estonian (University of Tartu, 2007). In 2003, Jaan Ross was elected a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. Currently he is a member of the European Society for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM) executive council and of editorial boards of a number of scholarly journals. |
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Marju Raju is a doctoral student of musicology in Estonian Academy of Music and Theater. She has a M.Sc. in psychology (2007) from Tallinn University and a master’s degree in musicology (2008) from Estonian Academy of music theatre |
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Stefanie Stadler Elmer is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Zurich and a lecturer at the Teacher Training University at Luzern, Switzerland. She teaches music and language development, and research methods. Since the early 1980s she has been doing research in Developmental and Music Psychology (Switzerland, Germany, USA). Her research has been supported by several grants and fellowships. She published two books (in German), Play and Imitation - Development of musical activities (2000), and Children Sing Songs - Cultivating one's Vocal Expression (2002) and many articles and chapters in German and English. Her main interests concern the development of singing and speaking, music and language in relation to the structured cultural environment. |
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Frank Russo is Assistant Professor of Psychology, Director of Psychological Science Training and Director of the Science of Music, Auditory Research and Technology (SMART) lab at Ryerson University. After earning his Ph.D. from Queen's University at Kingston (2002), he was awarded the Shaw Post-Doctoral Prize in Acoustics (Canadian Acoustical Association) and completed Post- Doctoral Fellowships in Music Cognition and Hearing Science. His research is situated at the intersection of music, mind and technology with current projects investigating multisensory integration, assistive technology, sonification, electrophysiological response, and the role of mimicry in communication of emotion (see lab website for more info, http://www.ryerson.ca/smart). He has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles and has delivered over 100 presentations. Other notable work includes consultation with U.S. and Canadian Departments of Transportation on Locomotive Horn Effectiveness, and co- invention of a sensory substitution technology supporting perception of music by deaf and hard of hearing individuals (Emoti-Chair). Frank currently serves on the editorial board of Psychomusicology: Music, Mind and Brain and the board of directors of the Canadian Acoustical Association and the Society for Music Perception and Cognition. |
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Lisa Chan is a 2nd year M.A. psychology student at Ryerson University, specializing in music cognition and perception. She also holds an A.R.C.T. in both Piano Performance and Piano Teaching. |
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Nathalie Henrich (PhD in Musical Acoustics from the University Paris 6, 2001) is a voice researcher of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS, Department of Human and Social Sciences). She was educated as a researcher and teacher in Fundamental Physics. She specialized on human voice production in speech and singing. Her research projects deal with the physical and physiological characterization of various vocal techniques, such as Western lyrical singing, Sardinian Bassu singing, Bulgarian women's singing,... She is also interested in vocal effort and vocal straining in speech and singing. She has worked on the development and improvement of non-invasive experimental techniques for human voice analysis, on perception and verbalisation of voice quality in singing, and on source-filter interaction in singing. Dr. Nathalie Henrich is a member of the French Acoustical Society (SFA), the European Acoustical Society (EAA), the French Phoniatrics and Communication Disorders Society (SFP&PaCo), the French Ethnomusicology Society (SFE), the COllegium MEdicorum Theatri (COMET). She is Associate Editor for Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology (Taylor & Francis group). |
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Annabel Cohen is the Director of the AIRS MCRI and also leads the AIRS test battery research sub-theme 3.1. She carried out her graduate work in Psychology at Queen’s University, and her undergraduate research at McGill University. She is the Editor of Psychomusicology: Music, Mind & Brain and serves as consulting editor on several other journals. She received her ARCT in voice performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music [ Toronto, and is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association. She is a member of Council of the American Psychological Association. |
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Michele Castellengo http://www.lam.jussieu.fr/Membres/Castellengo/index.html and http://www.med.rug.nl/pas/Conf_contrib/Castellengo/Castellengo_bio_touch... Education and professional experience: Music Teacher (secondary school); High degree in musicology (Sorbonne,1963). Doctor in Acoustics (1976, University Paris VI). Researcher at the CNRS (1982 - 2003). Professor of Musical Acoustics at the National Conservatory of Music in Paris. Head of the « Laboratoire d’ Acoustique Musicale (1983-2003).Presently Emeritus Director of research at the CNRS Research: Flutes and organ acoustics (thesis). Perception of musical sounds; musical cognition. Speech synthesis (1967-1973) and acoustics of singing voice: intelligibility and efficiency of singing voice, perception of short vibrated notes, vocal trill, diplophonic voice; vocal techniques related to laryngeal mechanisms (voix mixte, Iranian tahrir). Musical experience: Harpsichordist and organist Papers 2009 - Roubeau B., Henrich N., Castellengo M., Laryngeal vibratory Mechanisms: the notion of vocal register revisited; Journal of voice, 23 (4) p.425-438 2005 - Castellengo M. - Manuel Garcia jr, a clear-sighted observer of human voice production. Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, 30, p.163-170 2004 - Castellengo M., Chuberre., Henrich N., - Is Voix Mixte, the Vocal Technique Use to Smoothe the Transition across the two Main Laryngeal Mechanism, en Independent Mechanism ?; Proc. of the International Symposium on Musical Acoustics, Nara, Japan. |
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Andrea Emberly completed her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at the University of Washington in 2009 where she focused on the musical cultures of childhood in Venda and Pedi cultures in Limpopo, South Africa. Her dissertation explores the intersections of local, national and global influences on children’s musical cultures including community music making, handclapping games, school music curriculums and television programs. In addition to her work in South Africa, Andrea has conducted research on the use of music in children’s “edutainment”, specifically the program Sesame Street and its South African Version Takalani Sesame. Andrea conducted field research in South Africa from 2005-2007 and recently returned to South Africa in 2009 to collect additional research as a part of the Communicative Human Musicality Project at the University of Western Australia where she is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Music. Andrea’s interests in the AIRS Project stem from continuing collaborative research on children’s musical cultures, education and ethnomusicology with Patricia Campbell at the University of Washington and Caroline van Niekerk at the University of Pretoria as well as others passionate about the study of children’s music. |
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Sandra Cornaz is a PhD student in second year in the Department of Language Sciences of University of Grenoble 3 (France) and in "Ricerca in Studi euro-asiatici: indologia, linguistica, onomastica in Linguistica, linguistica applicata e ingegneria linguistic" of Turin University (Italy). She is supervised by Nathalie Vallée and co-supervised by Nathalie Henrich and Antonio Romano. Since 2003, she is a teacher in French as a second and a foreign language, specialized on phonetics (Professional and Research Masters in French as a second and foreign language from the University of Grenoble 3, 2006 and 2008). Also, she sang many years in a semi- professional children and teenagers choir (Opéra Junior in Montpellier) and later, she studied solo and ensemble music in a music school (Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional in Grenoble). Her research project deals with the role of singing voice tasks in the field of a foreign language phonetic acquisition. Finally, she teaches linguistics, phonology and phonetics at Grenoble 3 University since 2008. She is a member of the Association Francophone de la Communication Parlée and the Association des Professeurs de Langues Vivantes-Langues Modernes. |
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Nathalie Vallee (PhD in Language Sciences "Systèmes Vocaliques: de la typologie aux prédictions" from the University Grenoble 3, 1994) is a researcher of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in the Department n°34, (languages, language, and speech). Her research projects deal with emergence, morphogenesis, organization and functioning of sounds structures in the world languages. She makes typological analysis and phonetic experimentation; she observes universal systems and general tendencies in the way to understand how universal systems are linked with biological characteristics and parameters in speech production and perception. Furthermore, she teaches Phonology, Phonetics, Linguistics in various Universities in Grenoble. |
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Jennifer Sullivan an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. |
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Lawrence O'Farrell is Professor and holder of the UNESCO Chair in Arts and Learning, Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Canada. Larry served two terms as President of the International Drama/Theatre and Education Association (IDEA). He is currently Chair, Board of Directors, Canadian Network for Arts and Learning and a member of the advisory board of the World Alliance for Arts Education (WAAE). As a member of the international advisory committee and General Rapporteur for the 2nd UNESCO World Conference on Arts Education (Seoul, Korea, 2010) he was instrumental in preparing The Seoul Agenda: Goals for the Development of Arts Education. His research includes participation in international studies on creativity in drama/theatre and arts education, singing, and monitoring the Seoul Agenda. Larry is Honorary Professor at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. In 2011 he received the Campton Bell Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. |
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Lily Chen-Hafteck holds a doctorate in music education from University of Reading, U.K. She is currently Associate Professor at Kean University, USA and has held teaching and research positions at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, University of Surrey Roehampton, U.K. and Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong. She has published numerous journal articles and book chapters on the topics of music and language in early childhood, children’s singing and multicultural music education. She has served on the editorial board of the International Journal of Music Education, Asia-Pacific Journal for Arts Education and Music Education Research International, and has held positions of the International Society for Music Education as member of its Board of Directors, chair of its Young Professionals Focus Group and Early Childhood Commission. She frequently presents papers and workshops internationally. In 2008, she was the keynote speaker at the International Conference on Children’s Arts Education, held in Nanjing, China. She is the founder and director of the Educating the Creative Mind project that advocates arts-based education for children. |
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Godfrey Baldacchino PhD (Warwick) is professor of sociology and a member of the multi-cultural choir at UPEI and is a co-leader of Sub-theme 3.1 Singing and Cross-Cultural Understanding. For 10 years, he was Canada Research Chair in Island Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island, during which time he established Island Studies Journal and authored or edited various books, including Island Studies: A Global Repertoire ( 2011, The Scarecrow Press, in association with AIRS). |
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Rachel Heydon Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Western Ontario, is a former special education/literacy teacher. She coordinates the pre-service elementary language arts program and teaches graduate courses in curriculum theory and literacy. Her interests include language and literacy teaching, learning, and policy (particularly in regard to young children and other persons who are minoritized), intergenerational learning, disability studies, the development of curricula and educational and social policies that can lead to the improvement of children’s lives, and the development of curricula to support critically reflective teacher development. These interests are all firmly rooted in critical theory with its goal of emancipation. She has published two books, Early Childhood Curricula and the De-Pathologizing of Children (with Luigi Iannacci) and Constructing Meaning: Balancing the Elementary Language Arts (with Joyce Bainbridge and Grace Malicky), and published in a number of international journals including the Journal of Curriculum Studies, the Journal of Early Childhood Research, and Teaching and Teacher Education. |
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Stephen Clift is a Professor in the department of Health, Wellbeing and the Family at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK as well as Research Director of the Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health. |
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Ann Skingley Qualifications: BA (Hons), MSc, PhD, RGN, DipN, DNCert, CertEd Nursing experience in care of older people and district nursing; previously lecturer (King’s College, London and Canterbury Christ Church University); currently Senior Researcher, Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health, Canterbury Christ Church University. |
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Jennifer Nicol is a faculty member at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada as well as an Accredited Music Therapist and Registered Doctoral Psychologist. |
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Andrew Hankinson Master of Library and Information Studies Bachelor of Music PhD , Music Technology, McGill University. Website: http://ddmal.music.mcgill.ca/ |
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Steven Brown- Research Interest: Neuroscience of the Arts. Primary Website: http://neuroarts.org/ |
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Simone Falk- Professional background; Current position: Post-doc assistant researcher and lecturer in Linguistics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. In the next 3 to 5 years I am working on my "Habilitation", the German qualification to become a professor. My research interests are language acquisition, phonology and syntax and the relationship between music and language in song. In 2008 I finished my PhD-thesis about "Prosodic features in infant-directed singing." This is an interdisciplinary work, where I studied how language-specific prosodic structure is shaped in songs sung to German, Russian and French learning infants in their first year of life. Between 2005 and 2007 I contributed to a broad study for the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education about early language acquisition in German. From 1998 to 2003 I studied German, French and Clinical Linguistics as well as journalism at the University of Bamberg, Germany and passed a semester at the Université Marc Block in Strasbourg, France. My musical background: I'm a trained singer (from the age of 12 onwards) and learned to play the piano (5 years experience). Research interest: Music, singing and language acquisition; Auditive processing of music and language sound signals; Typology of speech prosodies of the world languages. Research interests relevant to AIRS: All the aspects of the development group (theme 1), especially perception and production.Potential contribution to AIRSI would like to contribute to the digital library with 600 sound samples of infant-directed singing in German, French, Russian which I recorded for my PhD thesis. In the next years I am going to continue the research about the perception and production of infant-directed singing and its contribution to language acquisition in different languages as well on the general music-language interface. I hope to share and discuss the results in the AIRS network, to find partners for projects and to contribute to AIRS workshops and conferences. Additionally I'm interested in exchange programs for students working on singing with partners of the AIRS Network. Expected benefit from the AIRS collaboration: The AIRS project is an extraordinary chance to promote singing research in all areas and disciplines. This will bring large benefits especially to students learning to research in an interdisciplinary environment, but also to practitioners of music and language education and to health institutions that may integrate new findings and techniques in teaching and treatment. Personally I wish to find partners for interdisciplinary and international projects and cooperations in the AIRS network, exchange information, ideas and material, to bring my research results to a wider audience, and to meet with researchers and practitioners interested in the boundaries of language and music. Primary Website: http://www.kognitive-sprachforschung.uni-muenchen.de/mitglieder/weitere_... |
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Simone Dalla Bella- Affiliation: Dept. of Psychology, Univ. of Finance and Management in Warsaw, Poland. Research interest: Singing proficiency in the general population, tone-deafness (poor singing), acoustical analysis of sung performance (pitch and time accuracy) Primary Website: http://www.mpblab.vizja.pl/simonedallabella.html |
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Sean Hutchins- Affiliation: Universite de Montreal Research interest: Cognitive Psychology, Music Perception, Production and Performance, Singing Performance (untrained) |
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Martin Gardiner- Affiliation: Brown University Professional background: Columbia University (physics), Stanford University (electrical engineering), and the University of California, Los Angeles (brain research). His musical training includes work at these universities as well as at the Kodály Institute in Keskemedt, Hungary. Published in the international science journal Nature, showing the impact of musical and visual arts training on broader learning. Research interest: Development of capability at singing, with emphasis on development of skills at sight reading with musicality, in children and adults.Impact of development of singing skill on academic, cognitive, social and personal development in children and adults.Primary Website:http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Human_Development_Center/who/gardiner.html |
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Psyche Loui- Affiliation: BIDMC Harvard Medical School Professional background: PhD in Psychology, University of California at Berkeley. BS in Psychology and Music, Duke University. Research interest: Neuroscience of auditory perception and music cognition. Research interests relevant to AIRS: I am interested in how the human brain interacts with the world of sound. In particular, I am motivated to understand the neural control of pitch perception and production, a topic that is directly in line with AIRS.Primary Website:https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/ProfileDetails.aspx?Perso... |
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Gordon Adnams- Affiliation: Guelph Male Choir Professional background: Mus Bac University of Toronto Mus M University of Toronto PhD Univeristy of Alberta Former Assoc Professor and co-chair Music Dept Taylor University College, Edmonton Moved to Ontario 2008 for wife to pursue PhD Currently networking to focus my research and teaching see full CV on my website www.worshipsinging.ca Research interest: intergenerational singing. Research interests relevant to AIRS: Faith groups meet regularly to sing (unrehearsed) every week. These comprise a substantial percentage of Canadian population. There is unrest over style and content of "contemporary" pop style songs that are supplementing and replacing traditional hymnody and often doing so with loud "pop band" accompaniment. There is a real possiblilty that this kind of communal singing is being lost for a variety of reasons. This is a major part of my research interest. (see www.worshipsinging.ca).Primary Website:www.worshipsinging.ca |
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Stuart Brown- Affiliation: Sing For Your Lifec Ltd & Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts & Health Professional background: Founder and Director of Sing For Your Life Ltd, a registered charity, which delivers programmes of participatory singing to older people with age related mental health problems Research interest: Benefits of participatory singing for older people with age related mental health conditions Research interests relevant to AIRS: Benefits of participatory singing for older peoplePrimary Website:www.singforyourlife.org.uk |
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