CMDA Research Expo

I examine deceptive performances, scenarios that use performer-audience dynamics in ways that resemble theatrical performance. Most theatrical performances operate in "good faith," inviting audiences into a shared set of trust conventions with performers. Deceptive performances operate in bad faith, misleading audiences by tricking them into consenting to one level of trust conventions (e.g., a sincere offer of a good investment opportunity) while operating on another (e.g., a scam to cheat people), usually to the detriment of those who get tricked. Bad faith performances aren't necessarily "bad." Police stings can catch criminals; misleading oppressive regimes seems commendable. Neither, though, is deceptive performance neutral. What happens, I ask, when performers shift from viewing people as audiences to viewing them as marks?  I ask how and why do deceptive performances succeed/fail? What accounts for their lure? What ethical considerations might guide us when we act in bad faith?

Presented by: John Fletcher

The secret archives of the Vatican are the repository for all the paperwork of the Catholic Church.  When working in the Renaissance, we depend on archival materials in order to establish a composer's biography, which can be used to create a record of geography and dating.  The Vatican archives are a particular good source for this kind of enquiry, because it was common for composers to petition the pope for a benefice, which is additional income in the form of duties in a church.  We have hundreds of thousands of letters requesting these benefices from people working for churches all over Europe.  If we can find one of these letters, we have biographical information that the composer reveals as qualifications for this benefice. And if the benefice is granted, several more letters are generated that can be traced through several different collections of documents.  A small collection of letters will be available for examination.

Presented by: Alison McFarland

Measurements are helpful to begin the process of pulling, buying, and building costumes. The professional discussion on measuring prior to this point has included how to measure another person, but there has not been much discussion on how to measure oneself simply and accurately. Many of the available resources on measuring still present the binary distinction of taking different measurements of men and of women, while we now know it is not only possible but optimal for measurements to be gender neutral. It is possible to measure yourself, and it is possible to teach others how to measure themselves. Guiding people to measure themselves instead of being measured by someone else can eliminate the discomfort that may come with the physical intimacy of measuring or being measured by another person. This poster will include text and photographs that clearly explain and illustrate, step by step, how to quickly and efficiently take accurate measurements of your own body.

Presented by: Kyla Kazuschyk

Whereas the theory of beat-class sets offers effective tools for describing transformations among rhythmic patterns, the patterns that it considers are typically single-voiced, and rhythmic patterns in various traditional musics are not always single-voiced. We consider transformations among these patterns as elements of a mathematical power group that has an action on the set of beat classes as well as on the set the voices themselves. Defining transformations among multiple-voiced rhythmic patterns is more complex than among single-voiced patterns. We use combinatorial methods to enumerate the available classes of rhythmic patterns. Among these classes, we are particularly interested in those which display maximal evenness. However, the theory of maximal evenness has only recently extended to multiple-voiced contexts. We investigate here examples of classes of maximally even multiple-voiced rhythmic patterns in various world musics.

Presented by: Robert Peck

The purpose of this mixed-methods, phronetic, temporal study was to examine the experiences of a physical theater class relative to mental health, healthy lifestyles, play, and the love of movement among seven college students. Mental health improved with a nearly medium within-subject effect for stress (d = .32, Mdifference = 3.5). These data were strengthened by the three emerging themes of the qualitative analysis. The first theme, positive physical theater experiences, included body confidence in expression, improved mental health, healthier lifestyle choices, and the love of movement. The second theme showcased the playful nature of physical theater (e.g., a non-purposeful, interactive, child-like activity). A few participants mentioned a couple of negative physical theater experiences (third theme), such as injury and darkness in expression. Movement educators in performing arts should emphasize safe, bodily, creative, and playful activities within a supportive environment.

Presented by: Maria Kosma, Nick Erickson, Ashlynn Gremillion

The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological, temporal study was to thoroughly examine the embodied nature of physical theater (body-mind unison) within different aspects of movement, such as performativity, social interactions, and emotional expression. Seven undergraduate students (M age = 20.43) enrolled in a semester-long physical theater class at LSU. Based on the qualitative, phenomenological analysis, three physical theater themes emerged regarding improved embodied sensations over the class period: a) embodied artistic expression (e.g., body-mind unison; sense of flow; physical theater as a form of exercise), b) embodied emotions (e.g., body and mind in emotion, expressing emotions freely), and c) embodied interactions (e.g., body, mind, and emotion in communication with others; use of body language). Viewing movement holistically can bring about senses of fulfillment, body awareness, improved consciousness, and increased value of physical culture and well-being.

Presented by: Maria Kosma, Nick Erickson, Ashlynn Gremillion

The purpose of this study was to introduce and validate the Prime Aesthetic theory by exploring if aesthetic dress preferences (ADP) imprinted during emerging adulthood relates to an individual's identity and the relationship between the Prime Aesthetic and an individual's current ADP. This qualitative research used a modified grounded theory approach to examine the theoretical concept of the Prime Aesthetic for dress. A total of thirty female participants born before 1992 were recruited for semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using constant comparison analysis. Data revealed a Prime Aesthetic, or a set of ADP preferences that had origins during the period of emerging adulthood and two conceptual relationships related to the Prime Aesthetic: the relationship between the Prime Aesthetic and an individual's current ADP, and a link between the Prime Aesthetic and the individual's identity. A theoretical model was developed to illustrate the conceptual relationships.

Presented by: Jeremy M. Bernardoni

Sight reading is a skill that, if developed, can help musicians to navigate portfolio careers that include learning large amounts of music for collaborating, performing in ensembles, teaching and coaching. Non-pianist music majors struggle with reading the grand staff and translating the associated motor skills to the keyboard in required undergraduate piano classes. Previous researchers have explored using motor skill drills and helping students use the cognitive strategy of chunking musical patterns to good effect at the piano, although whether students are visually recognizing and chunking notation has been speculative. Several researchers have used eye-tracking software to observe expert readers, but little work has been published regarding novice readers. This exploratory research uses the Aurora 250 eye-tracking camera to evaluate student sight readers at the piano. Preliminary data from heatmaps, fixation points and timed areas of visual interest on the score, when compared with student performances, suggest that more effective student sight readers view notation in chunks, take in larger chunks of music and fixate less on individual notes.

Presented by: Pamela Pike

Performance scholars such as Kim Solga and Jared Strange examine The Wolves staging of athletic prowess (the actors engage in pregame warm-ups throughout almost the entire duration of the play), alternative constructions of girlhood, and themes on the power of collective creation. In this paper I want to expand on their analyses of the latter by viewing both the script and my experience directing the play last spring through the lens of Butler's performative theory of assembly, something Solga also begins to address in her chapter on the play. I propose The Wolves, as a sports play, might offer templates for how we can better assemble across, through, and along difference. In doing so, it highlights not only the often overlooked affinities between theatre and sports, but also how our two fields might train us to "act together" in ways that challenge our culture's individualist ethos.

Presented by: Shannon Walsh

The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between intonation performance and ear-playing skills of high school and college-aged wind instrumentalists. Research questions were: (1) What is the relationship between the ability to play by ear and intonation performance? (2) How does intonation ability differ when the participants sightread notation compared to performing music that was learned by ear? (3) Do differences appear in ear-playing ability based on selected musical experiences? 
Sixteen high school and 18 university wind musicians (N = 34) submitted a background questionnaire, completed a series of musical performance tasks designed to measure ear-playing ability and intonation accuracy. Analyses indicated a moderately direct correlation between ear-playing ability and intonation accuracy for the total sample and for the university group. However, no correlation was found in the high school group.

Presented by: Ben Herrick

Language, like gender, is fluid. Our ideas about voice as it relates to gender may have also changed. For example, in 2019, "Q", the gender-neutral AI voice assistant was introduced. Yet most of the current vocal pedagogy texts that are used in college classes today still refer to male voices and female voices. Are we simply perpetuating this idea for the next generations of voice teachers? I think we can agree that vocal folds do not have genitalia. I think we can also agree that hormones have a profound effect on vocal folds. However, are we limiting all our students by having gender labels and gender expectations in our pedagogy? My presentation will offer some ideas to consider about how we need to move toward a more inclusive, gender-neutral voice pedagogy for all singers. Though most of my writings and presentations have been aimed toward teaching transgender and non-binary singers, I have come to believe that all singers should have teachers who understand the need for creating safe spaces and gender-neutral learning environments. How can we move forward to consider all voices as individuals, whether they belong to cisgender or transgender folx of any age. What vocabulary do we need to adjust to make our teaching truly gender neutral?

Presented by: Loraine Sims

The extended reality project portrays a metaphorical reincarnation process of Phoenix that addresses the destruction and recreation of the ambivalent nature of good and evil. The dancer who acts as the Phoenix undergo an everlasting cycle of birth, death and rebirth. The dancer herself acts as the antagonist and protagonist of the story and expresses the pulling and pushing forces of the dilemma. Guided improvisation of live viola music and dance performance is taken to the next level, by combining it with the exploration of virtual worlds within background narratives, where music and movement interact in real-time with digital and sonic environments. The story of the Phoenix is illustrated by the collaboration between a violist and dancer who navigate the exploration and interaction in a virtual world through timepoint events alongside with tailor-made soundscapes that accentuate the moods and themes.

Credits:

Healthy musicianship is a growing area of research and interest within music teacher preparation, encompassing both university students' mental wellbeing (Kuebel, 2019) and their physical wellness (Stanhope et al., 2014; Steinmetz et al., 2012). Musculoskeletal problems, physical/mental stress, and performance anxiety are common in music education majors (Kuebel, 2019). Preservice music teachers need tools to establish and maintain healthy musicianship habits for themselves and for their future K-12 students. This study of six novice music-teacher participants' experiences with learning healthy musicianship in a music teacher preparation program revealed three main findings. First, participants cited a lack of opportunity to voice struggles with injury and anxiety. Faculty were unaware of multifaceted demands on students. Implications include the need to connect multiple curricular areas in health and wellness initiatives, for a shared mission of health across the school of music.

Presented by: Ann Marie Stanley, Carla Salas Ruiz, Joshua Burgos

The artwork - Resonance - creates a communal performance system in which users are interdependent in human/non-human agencies while retaining the uniqueness of their voices. This collective process enhances human connection and bonding. Interdependencies and uniqueness enhance the users' sensitivity between each other and their environment. Their collaborations consist of networks of signals flowing between individuals in a system that creates relationships, shared expression, decision-making processes, encourages negotiation, and varied implementation. The tactile and tangible interfaces were created using capacitive touch as a sound interface through which users could interact. As part of a broader set of works that facilitate the construction of ecologies as networks of people, electronics, and plants; the artwork explores the concept of collaborative music-making, and music-related human-computer interaction.

Presented by: Ka Hei Cheng, Jesse Allison

We will discuss the development and purpose of the Collaborative Piano Institute at LSU (CPI), and tell our colleagues about all the things we do in the summer!

Presented by: Ana Maria Otamendi, Elena Lacheva

The purpose of this pilot study was to determine if caregiver stress hormones would change after participating in music with movement strategies while interacting with their infant. Participants were from volunteer caregiver/infant dyads. Infant inclusion criteria were ages 6 weeks to 10 months and caregivers were 18 years or older. Participants in the pilot included 13 caregiver/infant dyads, infants' ages ranged from 6 to 40 weeks and caregiver ages were 23 to 50 years. All caregivers were biological parents, 12 female and 1 male and each caregiver had no other children. Caregiver/infant dyads were randomly assigned to a treatment music and movement intervention or control condition (no intervention). Each session lasted 30 minutes and pre-post session caregiver saliva was collected with results show significantly lower salivary cortisol levels and lower salivary cortisol/DHEA ratio values pre-post the treatment condition as compared to control.

Presented by: Kamile Geist

This study examined the status of school orchestra and string programs in the state of Louisiana. Using a modified version of a previous national survey of string teachers (Smith et al., 2018), demographic and program information were obtained through polling members of ASTA who listed "public school" and the Louisiana Music Educators Association who listed "orchestra" or "strings" as a portion or the entirety of their job. Due to the fractured nature of education in the state of Louisiana, data were obtained from public, private, parochial, and charter school teachers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three string teachers in the state who were at different career stages (early, middle, late) to determine the strengths of current string education and reveal opportunities for growth and continued advocacy for string programs. Results of this study were compared to the American String Teachers Association 2018 report: The Status of Strings and Orchestra Programs in U.S. Schools. Implications for orchestra and strings teachers, music teacher preparation, professional development, and future research at the state and national level are discussed.

Presented by: David Saccardi

The 2013 Japanese role-playing video game Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is one that integrates metal music with intricate boss fights. Using transcriptions, rhythmic analysis, and gameplay analysis, I show that music plays an active role for the player in supporting their movement and strategies in combat gameplay by actively providing information about a boss's attacks and phases to the player through its rhythmic structures. I analyze three rhythmically and game-mechanically contrasting boss fights, Monsoon, Sundowner, and Samuel. For each boss fight, I analyze select riffs and the metrical levels of those riffs that inform the player of the boss's different actions, and trace texture changes that inform the player of their progression through the fight with supporting gameplay footage. This study will bring attention to the ongoing discussion on the informative music that can occur during boss fights, a moment when gameplay is at its most technical and difficult.

Presented by: Morgan Weekes

Piano duets have the ability to advance students’ musical technique, teach them how to work with one another, and allow students to make music together. Pianists, especially at the college level, are expected to be great solo and collaborative performers, but outside of piano ensemble classes, it is rare to see pianists being assigned intermediate or advanced piano duets. Piano is often considered to be a lonely instrument because of the solo practice required to learn music: this research explores how to include duet music in a studio setting, creating opportunities for camaraderie while learning and performing music together.

Presented by: Elaina McBride

Music, understood as an aesthetic-social-political manifestation, has been used throughout history as a tool for denunciation, resistance, and to process trauma and social conflicts derived from violence. In Colombia, various musical expressions have been particularly relevant in understanding and analyzing the context of the armed conflict that has affected the country for more than five decades, as well as the possibilities of sound art technologies in the new post-conflict society. In this sense, experimental music constitutes an innovative form of expression that has been used in various artistic projects to reflect on the complexity of the armed conflict and its consequences in the communities affected by it. We will address the case of the Colombian conflict as an example of the relevance of experimental music in the consolidation of a collective memory that helps to heal the wounds of violence, towards the construction of a more just and equitable society.

Presented by: Carlos Roman

The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of young choral singers in the Livingston Parish Children's Chorus and the impact of their participation on their lives inside and outside the ensemble. Through an intrinsic case study design, I inquired about the perceptions from singers, founding director, and parents who have been involved with that community throughout the years.

Presented by: Yulene Velásquez

The purpose of this ethnographic multiple case study will be to examine the musical lives of teachers, students, community members, and culture bearers within two specific musical regions and cultures of Louisiana. Participants' intrinsic cultural meanings of Louisiana's music and impact on school music programs will be examined through ethnographic interview and observation. The two regions that are the focus of this research are Erath, LA, the heart of Créole and Cajun country where Zydeco music finds its origins, and New Orleans, LA, the birthplace of traditional jazz and brass band music. Research questions include: (1) how do music educators incorporate their region's historic and cultural music into their school music curriculum?, (2) how do music students describe their experiences learning about and performing their region's historic and cultural music?, and (3) how do community members perceive the value in educating students and preserving their region's music?

Presented by: Christopher Song

Interest is a powerful variable that influences students' motivation to learn. This study explored adolescent piano students' motivation to practice using the lens of the Four-Phase Interest Development Model. Methodology included using Boeder et al.'s Interest Development Scale (2021) to identify two [ages 13-16] students in the triggered-situational interest development phase, and two [ages 13-16] students in the maintained-situational phase of interest development. Participants in the triggered-situational phase of interest development (phase one) exhibited unfulfilled psychological needs, procrastination behaviors, and weak written music theory, aural skills, and keyboard skills. Participants in the maintained-situational phase of interest development (phase two) identified the need for independence practice to succeed in piano. Implications and recommendations for piano teachers are discussed in this research poster.

Presented by: Carla Salas Ruiz

The purpose of this pilot study was to test participants' active versus passive motivational orientations on a music performance task. Undergraduate students were given a novel, short musical excerpt to learn over one week. Group A was told to learn the material with the intent to teach it to a partner who would be assigned at the end of the study period, group B was told to learn the material in order to take a test on it, and group C was told to learn the material and report back with no guidance on how, or if, their learning would be assessed. A five item electronic question was administered at the beginning of the follow-up session to measure participant intrinsic motivation and predispositions toward active and passive learning. All participants performed the assigned material and were assessed using a previously validated performance rubric. Results provided opportunities for discussion regarding the shaping of student motivational attitudes during music learning tasks.

Presented by: Joseph Castleberry, David Saccardi

When exploring how to avoid unintentional promotion of dangerous responses to pressure about body image in the opera world, authentic representations of eating disorders in media prove vital for audience education and awareness. Several mainstream media sources have broached these topics, but a topical work featuring a genuine portrayal of a character with an eating disorder was glaringly absent from opera literature. Ricky Ian Gordon's chamber opera Ellen West portrays a perfectionistic young woman's battle with anorexia nervosa with raw intimacy and honesty. Brief analysis of excerpts from the work reveals nuanced text setting and use of compositional devices that imply thethe composer's own experience with disordered eating may have informed his insightful musical interpretation of Bidart's libretto. Gordon's unprecedented authenticity in dealing with this heavy topic centers Ellen West as a foundational work that begins a long overdue conversation for singers and audiences alike.

Presented by: Meredith Stemen

The goal of this project is to provide a method of computer-enhanced performance to the solo clarinetist with minimal interference to their normal routine. The end goal if for a performer to be able to seamless switch between a traditional performance setting and an augmented one with a press of a button. Towards this goal, the Cyberinet is a hardware replacement for a portion of a clarinet containing a variety of sensors embedded within the unit. These sensors collect various real time data such as gyroscopic data of the performer and air flow within the instrument. This data is then transferred to a computer via Bluetooth connectivity in order to use the data in any number of potential electroacoustic performance settings. In addition to the base unit which is embedded within a 3D printed clarinet barrel, the Cyberinet was also designed to accept various expansion units through USB-C ports on the side of the device.

Presented by: Matthew A. Bardin

While trauma-informed practices represent an emerging area of scholarly interest in education broadly, minimal empirical research has investigated these approaches within music classrooms. The purpose of this case study was to document the implementation of trauma-informed (T-I) approaches in an afterschool music program that serves low socioeconomic students and to investigate staff perceptions of how T-I professional development influenced their work. A consultant led four hours of professional development on T-I approaches. The researchers conducted observations of regularly scheduled programming (30 hours) and interviewed staff (n=16) who participated in the training. Emergent themes include a shift in teacher values, an embracing of T-I approaches, and the recognition of the intrinsic value of T-I approaches in music education. This study provides an initial foray into a line of inquiry that seeks to establish empirical research on the use of T-I approaches in music classrooms.

Presented by: Abby South

It is generally known that musicians show higher memory capacity than non-musicians. However, there have been suggestions that memory abilities differ across musical-genre expertise and evidence can be found in both musician-focused and expertise studies. In the current study, jazz and classical musicians will be recruited to investigate the memory abilities of different musical experts. Participants will be presented with 6 jazz melodies, 6 classical melodies, and 6 Hindustani melodies. Then participants will make judgments on a Likert scale regarding whether they like the melody. Participants will complete the Bucknell Auditory Imagery Scale (BAIS) for exploratory analyses. Lastly, participants will complete an old/new recognition task in which they will hear the previous 18 melodies and 18 novel melodies. A 3x3 mixed ANOVA will be used to analyze recognition memory in the musician and non-musician groups (between = musician type; repeated = melody genre).

Presented by: Matthew Jimenez, David Saccardi

This research presents a new approach to computer automation, termed Reflexive Automation, through the implementation of novel real-time music information retrieval algorithms developed for this project. It also introduces the development of the PnP.Maxtools package, a `plug and play' set of filters, objective and subjective timbral descriptors, audio effects, and other objects in MaxMSP that is designed as a framework for building reflexive musical systems for music composition or improvisation without the use of external controllers or hardware. This package is designed to take incoming audio from a microphone, analyze it, and use the analysis to control an audio effect on the incoming signal in real-time. In this way, the audio content has a real musical and analogous relationship with the resulting musical transformations. This software and conceptual framework for automation is the first defined method for performance and composition practice using MIR algorithms.

Presented by: Austin Franklin

Rhythmic activity occurs at different rates within a piece of music; these differing rates of activity create the foundation for the rhythmic hierarchy. Western modern music notation is largely based on halving or doubling a given rhythmic level-mathematically the powers of 2-suggesting a default of binary groupings. This leads to the question of if rhythmic trees based on the powers of another prime integer are possible. In this paper, I will discuss how Medieval mensural notation and more modern music from the 20th and 21st centuries create new levels of rhythmic complexity, but still fail to construct a metrical hierarchy outside of the binary tree. This leads to an exploration of the relevant perceptual limitations and their imposed restraints on rhythmic content. My current results suggest that a ternary tree is possible but is ultimately still limited in the number of rhythmic levels that lie within the cognitive and perceptual constraints already discussed by other scholars.

Presented by: Brandon LaFleur