Capturing differences in perception and aesthetic judgment of live or medially presented music: development of a self-report instrument.

Nowadays there are multiple ways to perceive music, from attending concerts (live) to listening to recorded music through headphones (medial). In between there are many mixed modes, such as playback performances. In empirical music research, this plurality of performance forms has so far found little recognition. Until now no measuring instrument has existed that could adequately capture the differences in perception and aesthetic judgment. The purpose of our empirical investigation was to capture all dimensions relevant to such an assessment. Using 3D-simulations and dynamic binaural synthesis, various live and medial situations were simulated. A qualitative survey was conducted at the Department of Audio Communication of the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin). With the help of the repertory grid technique, a data pool of approximately 400 attribute pairs was created and individual rating data were collected. Our first study served to create a semantic differential. In a second study, this semantic differential was evaluated. The development of the semantic differential was carried out by first using a mixed-method approach to qualitative analysis according to grounded theory. Thereafter, a principal component analysis reduced the attribute pairs to 67 items in four components. The semantic differential consists of items concerning acoustic, visual and audio-visual interaction as well as items with an overarching assessment of the stimuli. The evaluation study, comprising 45 participants (23 male and 22 female, M = 42.56 years, SD = 17.16) who rated 12 stimuli each, reduced the items to 61 and resulted in 18 subscales and nine single items. Because the survey used simulations, the social component may be underrepresented. Nevertheless, the questionnaire we created enables the evaluation of music performances (especially for classical concerts) in a new scope, thus opening many opportunities for further research. For example, in a live concert context, we observed not only that seating position influences the judgment of sound quality but also that visual elements influence immersion and felt affect. In the future, the differential could be reviewed for a larger stimulus pool, extended or used modularly for different research questions.

Modulation of Negative Affect Predicts Acceptance of Music Streaming Services, While Personality Does Not.

Music streaming services (MSS) offer their users numerous ways of choosing and implementing their individual approaches to music listening. Personality, uses of music, and the acceptance of MSS can be conceptualized as interdependent. This study investigates whether negative affect modulation strategies explain differences in the acceptance of MSS and integrates findings from previous research into a structural equation model. As for measurements, the Big Five Inventory 2, the Inventory for the Assessment of Activation and Arousal modulation through Music, and adapted scales from previous research on the Technology Acceptance Model were used. A convenience sample of 825 participants (24.3 years; 74% females and 89% students) successfully completed an online questionnaire. In total, 89 percent of the sample reported using MSS regularly. The results show that the tendency to modulate negative affect through music is positively influenced by openness and neuroticism. In turn, the tendency to modulate negative affect through music is shown to increase the perceived usefulness of MSS. However, this study failed to replicate the previous findings that openness increases the attitude toward using and that neuroticism decreases the perceived usefulness. This implies that uses of music are more effective than personality traits at predicting the individual acceptance of MSS. However, personality can be viewed as a predictor for uses of music. The interwovenness of stable and situational factors of music choices is supported. MSS seem to assist their users in coping with negative affect in everyday life, increasing wellbeing. MSS should expand their personalization features to optimize user experience with respect to individual uses of music.

Why Adolescents Participate in a Music Contest and Why They Practice - The Influence of Incentives, Flow, and Volition on Practice Time.

Music contests are a means of discovering talents and promoting musical abilities. Participation in a contest is usually preceded by many years of practice requiring a high level of motivation and a supportive environment, especially regarding family. Despite the importance participation in music contests may have for musical development, there is a considerable research deficit. The annual music contest "Jugend musiziert" (youth making music) is the most important musical competition for highly gifted young musicians in Germany. There has been comprehensive research on the participants of "Jugend musiziert" by Hans Günther Bastian in the 1980s and 1990s, but since then, only very little research has been published. In 2017, we started a large-scale study on the participants at the national level, covering a broad range of topics, including sociocultural background, development and learning, performance practice, personality traits, motivation, and musical performance anxiety. A standardized paper-pencil questionnaire was administered to approximately 2,260 participants and a total of 1,143 valid questionnaires was returned (age 9-24 years; M = 15; SD = 2.1, female = 62%). Using principal component, variance, correlation, and linear discriminant analyses, interdependencies between practice time and motivational factors were analyzed in this paper. Concerning practice time, major differences between participants of different contest categories became clear, with classical musicians practicing the most. Practice time, as well as parental support and supervision, correlated with age: Older participants spent, on average, more hours practicing and received less support and supervision. Challenge was the most important incentive for all participants, but more decisive for participants in the classical solo contest than in the ensemble category. Female participants were more prone to fear incentives than males. Participants who practiced a lot scored higher on general flow than the participants with a smaller amount of practice and also showed significantly more perseverance. Moreover, participants of the pop solo contest experienced more general flow than all other participants; ensemble players showed more social focus than participants in the classical solo contest. All in all, participants of different contest categories could be discerned by practice time and prototypical motivational aspects.

High-Performing Young Musicians' Playing-Related Pain. Results of a Large-Scale Study.

The present study examines the prevalence, localization, frequency, and intensity of playing-related pain (PRP) in a sample of high-performing young musicians. We also address coping behavior and communication about PRP between young musicians, teachers, parents, and other people, such as friends. The aim is to provide information on PRP among high-performing musicians in childhood and adolescence, which can serve as a basis for music education, practice, and prevention in the context of instrumental teaching and musicians' health. The study is part of a large-scale study (N = 1,143) with highly musically gifted participants (age 9-24 years; M = 15.1; SD = 2.14, female = 62%) at the national level of the "Jugend musiziert" (youth making music) contest. For data analyses, we used descriptive statistics, correlations, Chi2-tests, principal component analysis, Kruskal-Wallis H tests, and multivariate regression. About three-quarters (76%) of the surveyed participants stated that they had experienced pain during or after playing their instrument. Female musicians were significantly more frequently affected (79%) than male musicians (71%). With increasing age, the prevalence of PRP rises from 71 percent (9-13 years) to 85 percent (18-24 years). Regarding localization of pain, results are in line with many other studies with musculoskeletal problems the most common. Furthermore, data show a clear relationship between the duration of practice and the prevalence of PRP. Our study found averages of 7:18 h/week, whereas mean values of the duration of practice vary considerably between different instruments. The variance in practice duration is very large within the different instruments. Thus, when researching PRP, it is necessary to consider both the differences between different groups of instruments in the average duration of practice as well as the very large inter-individual variation in the duration of practice within a given instrument group. While just over half of the young musicians (56%) felt they had been taken seriously, 32 percent felt that their complaints were not completely taken seriously, and 12 percent did not feel taken seriously at all. Therefore, it is necessary to improve communication and information about PRP to prevent PRP and counteract existing complaints.

Rhythmic Density Affects Listeners' Emotional Response to Microtiming.

Microtiming has been assumed to be vital for the experience of groove, but past research presented conflicting results: some studies found that microtiming is irrelevant for groove, others reported that microtiming has a detrimental effect on the groove experience, yet others described circumstances under which microtiming has no negative impact on groove. The three studies in this paper aim at explaining some of these discrepancies by clarifying to what extent listeners' emotional responses to microtiming depend on the distribution of microtiming deviations across instrumental parts (voicing) or other moderating factors like tempo or rhythmic density. The studies use data from two listening experiments involving expert bass and drums duo recordings in swing and funk style. - Study A investigates the effect of fixed time displacements within and between the parts played by different musicians. Listeners (n = 160) reacted negatively to irregularities within the drum track, but the mutual displacement of bass vs. drums did not have an effect.- Study B develops three metrics to calculate the average microtiming magnitude in a musical excerpt. The experiment showed that listeners' (n = 160) emotional responses to expert performance microtiming aligned with each other across styles, when microtiming magnitude was adjusted for rhythmic density. This indicates that rhythmic density is a unifying moderator for listeners' emotional response to microtiming in swing and funk.- Study C used the data from both experiments in order to compare the effect of fixed microtiming displacements (from Study A) with scaled versions of the originally performed microtiming patterns (from Study B). It showed that fixed snare drum displacements irritated expert listeners more than the more flexible deviations occurring in the original performances. This provides some evidence that listeners' emotional response to microtiming deviations not only depends on the magnitude of the deviations, but also on the kind and origin of the microtiming patterns (fixed lab displacements vs. flexible performance microtiming).

The Effect of Expert Performance Microtiming on Listeners' Experience of Groove in Swing or Funk Music.

This study tested the influence of expert performance microtiming on listeners' experience of groove. Two professional rhythm section performances (bass/drums) in swing and funk style were recorded, and the performances' original microtemporal deviations from a regular metronomic grid were scaled to several levels of magnitude. Music expert (n = 79) and non-expert (n = 81) listeners rated the groove qualities of stimuli using a newly developed questionnaire that measures three dimensions of the groove experience (Entrainment, Enjoyment, and the absence of Irritation). Findings show that music expert listeners were more sensitive to microtiming manipulations than non-experts. Across both expertise groups and for both styles, groove ratings were high for microtiming magnitudes equal or smaller than those originally performed and decreased for exaggerated microtiming magnitudes. In particular, both the fully quantized music and the music with the originally performed microtiming pattern were rated equally high on groove. This means that neither the claims of PD theory (that microtiming deviations are necessary for groove) nor the opposing exactitude hypothesis (that microtiming deviations are detrimental to groove) were supported by the data.

The Relationship Between Personality Traits, Flow-Experience, and Different Aspects of Practice Behavior of Amateur Vocal Students.

Most of the existing studies on musical practice are concerned with instrumentalists only. Since singers are seldom considered in research, the present study is based on an online-sample of amateur vocal students (N = 120; 92 female, 28 male). The study investigated the correlations between personality traits, flow-experience and several aspects of practice characteristics. Personality was represented by the three personality dimensions extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism, assessed by Eysenck's Personality Profiler as well as the trait form of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. 'Flow-experience,' 'self-congruence' and 'fear of losing control over concentration,' assessed by the Practice Flow Inventory, served as variables for flow-experience. The practice motivation was measured by the Practice Motivation Questionnaire in four categories ('self,' 'group,' 'audience,' 'teacher'). In addition, the Practice Behavior Questionnaire was used to provide an insight into the practice situation and behavior of singing students. The results show significant correlations: participants with high extraversion-scores experience significantly more flow than less extraverted persons, whereas lesser flow-experience seems to be related to high neuroticism-scores. Nevertheless, there is no influence in flow-experience concerning singing style ('classical' or 'popular'). The longer the practicing time, the more likely students are to achieve flow-experience. However, older singers tend to have less flow-experience. Consequently, singers seem to differ in their personality and practice behavior compared to other musicians. Most of the findings show that having control over one's instrument is decisive for achieving a performance of high quality, especially for singers. On the other hand, certainty in handling an instrument is essential to arouse a flow-feeling. However, flow-experience seems to be common mainly with amateur singers. In conclusion, this offers a starting point for new research on the psychology of vocalists in greater depth.