Department of Music and Arts Technology Works

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https://hdl.handle.net/1805/3661

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A Perceptual Evaluation of Music Real-Time Communication Applications
(IEEE, 2023-04-28) Goot, Dana Kemack; Chaubey, Harshit; Hsu, Timothy Y.; Deal , William Scott; Music and Arts Technology, School of Engineering and Technology
Music Real-time Communication applications (M-RTC) enable music making (musiking) for musicians simultaneously across geographic distance. When used for musiking, M-RTC such as Zoom and JackTrip, require satisfactorily received acoustical perception of the transmitted music to the end user; however, degradation of audio can be a deterrent to using M-RTC for the musician. Specific to the audio quality of M-RTC, we evaluate the quality of the audio, or the Quality of Experience (QoE), of five network music conferencing applications through quantitative perceptual analysis to determine if the results are commensurate with data analysis. The ITU-R BS.1534-3 MUlti Stimulus test with Hidden Reference and Anchor (MUSHRA) analysis is used to evaluate the perceived audio quality of the transmitted audio files in our study and to detect differences between the transmitted audio files and the hidden reference file. A comparison of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and total harmonic distortion (THD) analysis to the MUSHRA analysis shows that the objective metrics may indicate that SNR and THD are factors in perceptual evaluation and may play a role in perceived audio quality; however, the SNR and THD scores do not directly correspond to the MUSHRA analysis and do not adequately represent the preferences of the individual listener. Since the benefits of improved M-RTC continue to be face-to-face communication, face-to-face musiking, reduction in travel costs, and depletion of travel time, further testing with statistical analysis of a larger sample size can provide the additional statistical power necessary to make conclusions to that end.
Defining the Hourglass Framework of Technical and Musical Concepts in Music Technology Education with Two Case Studies in Course Development
(Association for Technology in Music Instruction, 2022) Hsu, Timothy; Music and Arts Technology, School of Engineering and Technology
As the field of music technology connects music with a vast array of technical fields, a mature music technology program ideally challenges and develops students that incorporate musical contexts of technical ideas and the technical concepts of musical ideas. The educational challenge of music technology programs lies in the balancing of technical and musical material in the curriculum. In structuring this balance, this paper proposes an hourglass framework, where music technology sits at the neck of two sides, where one side is built on the tradition of Western and non-Western music history, theory, and repertoire, and the other side is constructed based on the development of engineering, computer science, design, physics, and other technical fields. This paper defines and discusses this hourglass framework, shows the curricular need, and presents two case studies of an undergraduate and a graduate course that employ balance through the hourglass framework. Through audio circuits, physics of sound, and acoustics synthesized with musical contexts, students discover and learn how technical concepts directly impact musical decisions, and vice versa. This paper discusses not only the methods employed by both classes, but also possible growth areas for continual improvement in exploring the intersection of technical and musical concepts.
Can Online Concerts Be Socially Engaging and Satisfying? Results and Implications from Two Global Virtual Music Events
(Association for Technology in Music Instruction, 2023-09-22) Meng, Chuiyuan
Online and hybrid music events are the future. These new formats offer unprecedented audience reach with substantially reduced financial and labor requirement. Not only are they increasingly feasible with the advancement of affordable personal computing and communication technologies, but also they are ever-more needed because of the increased awareness of carbon footprint and the social distancing due to the global pandemic. But the challenge is also clear: Concertgoing is a highly social activity, and replicating the social experience and satisfaction through computer-mediated communication has been difficult. In 2021, a new virtual conference and concert platform named Deck 10 was designed and developed specifically to address the various social and user experience barriers for web-based music events. A 2022 study was conducted to analyze two Deck 10-powered global online music events (involving 512 users from 38 countries) to evaluate the effectiveness, technology acceptance, online social presence and overall user satisfaction. The results indicate that online music events can deliver a socially engaging and satisfying audience experience. This presentation will go over the case studies, the technical aspects, and discuss key elements that contributed to online social presence and user satisfaction. The session will also discuss implications of the online and hybrid music event formats.
Experimental Design for Flexible Acoustic Transducer for the Violin
(Accademia Musicale Studio Musica (Italy), 2021-03) Racz, Elijah E.; Hsu, Timothy Y.; Music and Arts Technology, School of Engineering and Technology
This paper explores an experimental design for a transducer which is able to conform to surfaces with curves in multiple directions. The purpose of this is to create a flexible transducer which reduces the distortion attributed and created by the lack of uniformity between a rigid flat transducer and a curved surface. Using an array of magnets arranged and a loose weaved coil, it is possible to construct a coil which can conform to such a surface and produce motion, like a classic transducer, creating sound using the surface like a speaker cone. In this musical application, this design was tested using a violin body as the curved surface. The resultant prototype may serve as a viable alternative to rigid transducer technology with further improvement and refinement.
Transient soundscape production: Creative and pedagogical significance for educators and practitioners
(Royal Danish Library, 2021-01) Walzer, Daniel; Music and Arts Technology, School of Engineering and Technology
Over the past decade, there has been a steady increase of scholarly output examining the multidisciplinary, creative, and theoretical aspects of sound and music production in the recording studio and beyond (Zagorski-Thomas & Bourbon, 2020; Bennett & Bates, 2019; Hepworth- Sawyer, Hodgson, & Marrington, 2019; Thompson, 2019; Zagorski-Thomas, 2014; Frith & Zagorski-Thomas, 2012). Accordingly, a broad range of literature examines sound as a widespread cultural phenomenon (Papenburg & Schulze, 2016) and an essential source for pedagogical and ethnographic modeling in music technology education (Bell, 2018). Advances in technology make the “studio,” long viewed as a site of artistic and commercial production, available to a broader group of composers, musicians, and artists. Similarly, portable digital recorders afford sound artists and fi eld recordists an expansive range of choices to conduct soundscape research and creative practice. What emerges is a hybrid “composer- producer” identity and a studio’s function in the artistic process. This growth is the rise of an independent and transient practice in soundscape production among multidisciplinary composers and musicians. This article advocates for an updated notion of soundscape composition that integrates fi eld recordings, studio production, and collaboration from musicians representing a broad range of stylistic infl uences. Positioning the studio as a site of cultural production and creativity has implications for how soundscape production is taught to young composers. The author argues for a more inclusive, process-oriented view on both creativity and the places where musicians, composers, and producers work. The article includes a case study from the author’s recent album project, narrative analysis, concluding with a discussion on the pedagogical implications of independent soundscape production in education.
A design framework for absorption and diffusion panels with sustainable materials
(Institute of Noise Control Engineering, 2021) Dessi-Olive, Jonathan; Hsu, Timothy; Music and Arts Technology, School of Engineering and Technology
Architectural acoustics has not traditionally had unified design methods that specify acoustical performance, visual appearance, and sustainable material selection, leading to underperforming products that contribute to a waste stream of petro-chemical foam and fiberglass materials. The evolution of design, materials, and manufacturing techniques in recent years has created new opportunities to reimagine acoustic diffusers and absorbers. Previous work by the authors have demonstrated a unifying framework for design and collaboration in architectural acoustics. The framework uses visually-driven computational design method inspired by shape grammars that generate a wide range of acoustic phase grating diffuser arrays that display unique visual and performative qualities. Simulation and evaluation metrics to assess the complexity of each design are rated in terms of their diffusion and absorption coefficients and a visual aesthetic coefficient. This paper extends the framework to include digital fabrication protocols and sustainable material specifications - including the use of fungi-based materials. Built prototypes demonstrate an expanded acoustic design space that gives acousticians the potential to create custom diffuser shapes with precise acoustical response. The innovative combination of computational design methods and sustainable fabrication protocols will be discussed, and the acoustic properties of arrays will be evaluated and compared to simulations of corresponding designs.
Automatic Piano Fingering Estimation Using Recurrent Neural Networks
(2021-11) Guan, Hongzhao; Yan, Zhao; Hsu, Timothy; Music and Arts Technology, School of Engineering and Technology
Deciding piano fingerings is an essential skill for all piano players regardless of their expertise. Traditionally, pianists and piano educators first need to analyze musical scores, then they manually label the fingerings on the scores; however, this process is time-consuming and inefficient. This paper proposes a novel automatic piano fingerings estimating method by utilizing Bidirectional Long Short-term Memory (BI-LSTM) networks — a special type of Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs). This is one of the first studies to explore the possibilities of applying deep learning to estimate piano fingerings. Together with the new method, a novel input representation is designed to capture the relations between surrounding notes. Furthermore, in addition to directly comparing the estimations with the ground-truth, this paper proposes a novel evaluation metric to assess the playability of the estimated fingerings. The results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method that generates playable and accurate estimated fingerings.
Fostering Trauma-Informed and Eudaimonic Pedagogy in Music Education
(Frontiers, 2021-04) Walzer, Daniel; Music and Arts Technology, School of Engineering and Technology
The arts and entertainment sectors remain fragile because of the global pandemic. Unemployment, physical and emotional stress, social isolation, a loss of purpose, and a problematic future are just a sample of the ongoing traumas that music educators and practitioners experience under duress. As an inherently social activity, music-making becomes especially difficult when the threat of infection persists, further exacerbating somatic trauma and decreased health and wellness. The sudden loss of daily contact with others, coupled with multiple kinds of crises, complicates matters for educators. How does one flourish when their livelihood, personal connections, and sense of meaning-making disappear? Likewise, how ought the music educator navigate such uncertainty when teaching others? To address these issues, psychologists have often turned to Trauma-Informed Care (TIC), a collaborative model between the practitioner and client that recognizes and validates the impact of painful memories and experiences. This article advocates for a compassionate eudaimonic pedagogy model that prioritizes healing and self-care for teachers and students and cultivating an ethos of critical digital pedagogy—itself a form of eudaimonia. Drawing on Noddings’ (1992, 1995, 2002) Philosophy of Care, the article concludes with suggestions on future connections between eudaimonia and music education.
Towards an understanding of creativity in independent music production
(Taylor & Francis, 2021) Walzer, Daniel; Music and Arts Technology, School of Engineering and Technology
For years, creativity has been a topic of interest for scholars in psychology, human development, and the arts. Research on creativity has produced a growing body of literature in the art and science of music production. Correspondingly, the entertainment sector has undergone what business and entrepreneurship scholars refer to as disintermediation or a reduction of skilled labor affecting the roles and responsibilities of those working in music production. Research on creativity with independent music production (IMP) is less common. Little is known about creativity by those without access to particular domains. As the music and recording industries remain untethered, an increase in autodidactic and incremental learning processes seems likely along with the growth of new models of independent music production. Using a Bourdieusian theoretical framework, the article analyzes two skill areas in IMP, experimentation, and critical listening, and calls for a more equitable and imaginative analysis of creativity.
A Pilot Study for Algorithmic Diction Detection for Use by Singers and Vocal Teachers
(Studio Musica Press, 2021-01) Rathi, Bhawna; Hsu, Timothy Y.; Music and Arts Technology, School of Engineering and Technology
This paper introduces an algorithmic signal processing method to quantify vocal dic-tion using audio files that can potentially assist singers and teachers. Clear diction and pronunciation in singing is important for a variety of reasons and should be ex-ercised alongside the development of voice. In order to convey a clear verbal mes-sage, strong diction is needed. To accomplish this goal of diction detection, the in-terpretation of the consonants is of prime significance. The proposed algorithm works with features such as zero crossing rate, spectral spread, spectral flux and spectral centroid. In this paper, we offer a proposed framework and algorithm of dic-tion detection using modern applicable audio features and extraction techniques. Fu-ture approach for analysis of diction is also defined.

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