This thesis reports on new music technology research which investigates the use of cellular automata (CA) for the digital synthesis of dynamic sounds. The research addresses the problem of the sound design limitations of synthesis techniques based on CA. These limitations fundamentally stem from the unpredictable and autonomous nature of these computational models. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to develop a sound synthesis technique based on CA capable of allowing a sound design process. A critical analysis of previous research in this area will be presented in order to justify that this problem has not been previously solved. Also, it will be discussed why this problem is worthwhile to solve. In order to achieve such aim, a novel approach is proposed which considers the output of CA as digital signals and uses DSP procedures to analyse them. This approach opens a large variety of possibilities for better understanding the self-organization process of CA with a view to identifying not only mapping possibilities for making the synthesis of sounds possible, but also control possibilities which enable a sound design process. As a result of this approach, this thesis presents a technique called Histogram Mapping Synthesis (HMS), which is based on the statistical analysis of CA evolutions by histogram measurements. HMS will be studied with four different automatons, and a considerable number of control mechanisms will be presented. These will show that HMS enables a reasonable sound design process. With these control mechanisms it is possible to design and produce in a predictable and controllable manner a variety of timbres. Some of these timbres are imitations of sounds produced by acoustic means and others are novel. All the sounds obtained present dynamic features and many of them, including some of those that are novel, retain important characteristics of sounds produced by acoustic means.

Swarm robotics for music is a relatively new way to explore algorithmic composition as well as new modes of human robot interaction. This work outlines a strategy for making music with a robotic swarm constrained by acoustic sound, rhythmic music using sequencers, motion causing changes in the music, and finally human and swarm interaction. Two novel simulation programs are created in this thesis: the first is a multi-agent simulation designed to explore suitable parameters for motion to music mappings as well as parameters for real time interaction. The second is a boid-based robotic swarm simulation that adheres to the constraints established, using derived parameters from the multi-agent simulation: orientation, number of neighbors, and speed. In addition, five interaction modes are created that vary along an axis of direct and indirect forms of human control over the swarm motion. The mappings and interaction modes of the swarm robot simulation are evaluated in a user study involving music technology students. The purpose of the study is to determine the legibility of the motion to musical mappings and evaluate user preferences for the mappings and modes of interaction in problem solving and in open-ended contexts. The findings suggest that typical users of a swarm robot system do not necessarily prefer more inherently legible mappings in open-ended contexts. Users prefer direct and intermediate modes of interaction in problem solving scenarios, but favor intermediate modes of interaction in open-ended ones. The results from this study will be used in the design and development of a new swarm robotic system for music that can be used in both contexts.

Cette thèse questionne l'analyse des musiques d'informatique. Ces musiques sont particulières dans la mesure où elles existent avec un medium tout à fait singulier, un medium numérique, que nous désignons tout au long de nos travaux par artefact. Notre réflexion part du constat que les moyens d’appréhension de ces artefacts sont nouveaux pour la théorie de l’analyse musicale. Nous posons alors en liminaire de nos travaux la question suivante : «  comment analyser ces musiques à partir de leur artefact ? ». Notre thèse est une réponse à cette question en utilisant une pièce pionnière des années 1980, Jupiter, de Philippe Manoury, pour flûte et électronique, composée à l’Ircam avec Miller Puckette. Notre réponse se fait en trois temps. Dans un premier nous éclairons les artefacts en relevant cinq points de singularité qui leur sont propres et nous mettons en évidence un système clé dans l’étude des artefacts, le système Homme-Artefact-Son. Dans un deuxième temps nous apportons des réponses théoriques à la question. Nous montrons que les artefacts sont difficiles à saisir dans la mesure où ils se structurent en différents niveaux d’abstraction. Toute saisie doit alors se faire au sein d’un processus hautement dynamique, où des significations computationnelles, sonores et musicales se recouvrent autant que nécessaire. Un cadre conceptuel est ensuite proposé pour guider la description des artefacts. Enfin le dernier temps de notre thèse est dédié à l’analyse de Jupiter. Nous mettons en pratique les éléments de réponses que nous avons avancés. L’artefact de la pièce est entièrement démantelé et ensuite une analyse est effectuée, section par section, en confrontant l’écoute et la connaissance que nous avons acquise de l’artefact. / This thesis question the musical analysis of computer music works. These works are particular insofar as they exist with a wholly singular medium, a digital medium, which we name artifact. Our reflection starts from the ascertainment that the means needed to understand the artifact are new for the theory of musical analysis. Thereby our work begins with the following question : « how does computer music works can be analyzed with the help of their artifact ? ». Our thesis intends to answer to this question through a pioneer work from the 1980s, Jupiter, composed by Philippe Manoury at Ircam with Miller Puckette. Our answer is built in three parts. At first, we enlighten artifact by defining five points of singularity which characterize them. In the same line we identify a key system in the study of artifact, the Man Artifact Sound system. The second part is dedicated to our answer. One of the main difficulties in studying artifact is that they are structured in different levels of abstraction, and each one has its own structure. Consequently, the understanding of artifact had to be done inside a highly dynamic process, where the computational, sound and musical significations overlap as much as necessary. A conceptual framework is then suggested by which artifacts can be described, taking into account the different levels of abstraction. In the last part we put into practice those last propositions in analyzing Jupiter. His artifact is entirely dismantled and then an analysis is carried out, section by section, in confronting the listening and the knowledge we get from the artifact.

Jazz improvisation provides a case context for examining information in music; entropy provides a means for representing music for retrieval. Entropy measures are shown to distinguish between different improvisations on the same theme, thus demonstrating their potential for representing jazz information for analysis and retrieval. The calculated entropy measures are calibrated against human representation by means of a case study of an advanced jazz improvisation course, in which synonyms for "entropy" are frequently used by the instructor. The data sets are examined for insights in music information retrieval, music information behavior, and music representation.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Thesis (DMus)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Music / unrestricted

The purpose of this study was to examine if the implementation of a technology-based music class in public high schools in the northeastern United States had any significant impact on the overall music department enrollment and on enrollment in traditional performance ensemble courses, such as band and chorus, as they are the courses most offered in high schools in the United States. The two phases of the study included identifying eligible schools and collecting data from schools. A six-year history of music department and school enrollment data was collected from participating schools (n = 12). Individual music classes in each school were categorized as Band, Chorus, Orchestra, Technology-based, or Other Music Classes. Results found a statistically significant increase in overall Music Department enrollment and no statistically significant change in enrollment in Band or Chorus after the implementation of a technology-based music class. Reductions in enrollment did occur in Other Music classes. No significant change to the number of teachers in music departments was found. This study suggests that implementing a technology-based music classes may help increase overall music department enrollment without negatively impacting enrollment in traditional performance ensembles and may not necessitate funding for additional faculty.

No description available.

We live in a time when technology is digitalizing the world. Technology is a medium that brings people closer to each other and enables more experiences to take place; at home. The increase of music concert attendance boomed the music industry in 2016 and set record sales already halfway into the year. However, there are still people that cannot attend music concerts or performances due to other factors. It was not only the music industry that boomed in 2016; artists started producing music concerts in Virtual Reality (VR) enabling them to reach out to a wider audience. This study shows how music fans in the age between 20-30 perceive music concerts and performances in virtual worlds. The study conducted qualitative experiments and focus group discussions with a total of nine participants. The conclusion is that music fans perceive virtual reality as a media technology that needs more product development and focus on the possibilities of becoming a more social experience. Virtual reality is a technology that isolates the user; the music fans demanded an experience that enables co-presence. That is, achieving immersion and experiencing being present in a virtual world with another person.

This study employed the theoretical framework of Albert Bandura???s social cognitive theory, to investigate how differing levels of self-efficacy impact on both the type and degree of self-regulatory behaviour employed by the students when composing music in a high school music program. The literature review revealed an abundance of related research suggesting a strong relationship between self-efficacy and self-regulated behaviour in the ???core??? academic domains of education. In contrast, there was no specific research found that had examined self-efficacy and self-regulation in the context of students composing music. An independent school in Sydney served as the research site, with sixty-eight students of varied year levels and musical experience participating in the study. Students used stand alone computers, the software ???Cubase??? and MIDI keyboards as they completed a task that involved creating an original piece of music in a genre of their own choice, over a series of four composition sessions. A mixed methodology was employed to determine if the influence of the students??? self-efficacy beliefs upon their self-regulation in a creative activity were consistent with existing research. Data were collected using a mixture of weekly measures and self-report scales, combined with a variety of questionnaires, logs, tally sheets and interviews. Eight variables, including the self-regulatory sub-processes of goal setting-strategic planning, intrinsic motivation, goal orientation, task expectation, time on task, task completion, monitoring were analysed together with an additional variable, defined as creative ability, to determine if evidence could be found of a relationship between self-efficacy and these specific behaviours while composing. The results suggest that the pre-task (Week 1) measure of self-efficacy was closely associated with the students??? use of the eight self-regulatory dimensions as well as their perceived level of creative ability. Weekly self-efficacy measures also suggested that students??? employ self-regulated sub-processes proportionally to their respective levels of self-efficacy. Importantly, the more efficacious students employed a wider and more sophisticated repertoire of self-regulated behaviour when composing in contrast to the less efficacious students. Self-efficacy was also identified as a key factor amongst students who were initially identified as being naive self-regulators, but who through the duration of the task, modified their behaviour to become more skilful self-regulators. Throughout the study, the consistent level of interaction between self-efficacy and the use of self-regulated behaviours were aligned with findings in the core ???academic??? disciplines of education.

Aquesta tesi recull la recerca al voltant de les pràctiques musicals mitjançant xarxes d'ordinadors realitzada al Grup de Tecnologia Musical de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra a Barcelona entre l'any 2001 i el 2005. Parteix del treball dut a terme durant la última dècada dins del camp del Treball Cooperatiu amb Ordinadors (Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW) el qual aporta els mecanismes de col·laboració els quals, des de un punt de vista musical, poden ser estudiats en diversos escenaris: composició, interpretació, improvisació i educació.La primera contribució d'aquest treball és un anàlisi exhaustiu i una classificació sistemàtica del Treball Cooperatiu amb Ordinadors per Aplicacions Musicals. Aquest anàlisi es va centrar en la identificació de propostes innovadores, models i aplicacions, amb un especial èmfasi en la natura compartida de la comunicació mitjançant internet. El concepte d'Entorns Sonors Compartits va ser presentat i implementat en una aplicació prototip anomenada Public Sound Objects (PSOs).La segona gran contribució d'aquesta tesi consisteix en l'estudi del possibles mètodes per reduir les interrupcions degudes als retards inherents en la comunicació musical entre xarxes molt allunyades. A partir de l'experimentació i avaluació al laboratori les tècniques Network Latency Adaptive Tempo i Individual Delayed Feed-Back van ser definides i implementades dins del prototip PSOs.Al llarg del desenvolupament del PSOs es van haver de resoldre altres problemes, com per exemple, el disseny d'interfícies en funció del comportament per a aplicacions amb interfícies desacoblades, la superació dels diversos sistemes de seguretat de les xarxes informàtiques i les possibilitats d'escalabilitat de diverses aplicacions d'àudio per a web.Durant l'elaboració d'aquesta tesi es van discutir diferents perspectives per resoldre problemes relacionats amb la pràctica musical mitjançant ordinadors, aplicant diferents punts de vista provinents de l'estudi psicosocial dels processos de col·laboració musical al món de la informàtica i de la tecnologia musical. / This dissertation derives from research on musical practices mediated by computer networks conducted from 2001 to 2005 in the Music Technology Group of the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain. It departs from work carried out over the last decades in the field of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), which provides us with collaborative communication mechanisms that can be regarded from a music perspective in diverse scenarios: Composition, Performance, Improvisation or Education.The first contribution originated from this research work is an extensive survey and systematic classification of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work for Music Applications. This survey led to the identification of innovative approaches, models and applications, with special emphasis on the shared nature of geographically displaced communication over the Internet. The notion of a Shared Sonic Environments was introduced and implemented in a proof-of-concept application entitled Public Sound Objects (PSOs).A second major contribution of this dissertation concerns methods that reduce the disrupting effect of network latency in musical communication over long distance networks. From laboratorial experimentation and evaluation, the techniques of Network Latency Adaptive Tempo and Individual Delayed Feed-Back were proposed and implemented in the PSOs prototype.Over the course of the PSOs development other relevant and inspirational issues were addressed, such as, behavioral-driven interface design applied to interface decoupled applications, the overcome of network technology security features and system scalability for various applications in audio web services.Throughout this dissertation conceptual perspectives of related issues to computer-mediated musical practices dissertation were widely discussed, conveying different standpoints ranging from a Psycho-Social study of collaborative music processes to the Computer Science and Music Technology point of view.