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La musique et la parole possèdent toutes deux un degré d’organisation temporelle i.e. de régularité dans le temps. Les stimuli de nature rythmique ont la particularité de pouvoir être anticipés par le cerveau et des études en linguistique et neurosciences ont montré que plus le cerveau est capable d’anticiper les évènements auditifs, meilleure est la qualité du traitement des stimuli. Les enfants sourds, bien que bénéficiant d’un input auditif de plus en plus précis grâce aux implants cochléaires et d’une prise en charge précoce, n’atteignent pas des niveaux de langage homogènes et souffrent de difficultés de perception en milieux bruyants ou lors de conversations. La situation conversationnelle présente un contexte complexe, nécessitant l’activation de la voie audio-motrice pour anticiper et s’adapter aux variations de la parole de son interlocuteur notamment au niveau temporel. Dans ce travail de thèse, nous avons cherché à analyser, grâce à des mesures électrophysiologiques et comportementales, si un entrainement rythmique actif de 30 minutes, pouvait avoir un effet sur les capacités de perception et d’accommodation temporelles de l’enfant sourd dans une tâche de dénomination en alternance avec un partenaire virtuel. Nous avons également testé les capacités rythmiques de ces enfants à différents niveaux de complexités. Les résultats montrent que les enfants sourds souffrent de difficultés à structurer les événements acoustiques selon différent niveaux de hiérarchie mais qu’un entrainement rythmique de 30 minutes versus une stimulation auditive, permet d’améliorer leurs compétences de perception et de production temporelles de la parole dans une situation d’interaction. / Music and speech both possess a certain degree of temporal organization i.e. a certain degree of regularity across time. Studies in linguistics and neuroscience have shown that the brain can extract regularities and use them to anticipate the forthcoming stimuli. It is furthermore established that the better the brain is able to anticipate auditory events, the better the quality of stimulus processing. Deaf children benefit from more and more precise auditory inputs due to advances in cochlear implants development, together with early rehabilitation interventions. However, a great majority of them do not achieve consistent language levels and have strong difficulties in noisy environments or conversations. The conversational situation presents a complex context, requiring the activation of the audio-motor path to anticipate and adapt to the variations of the speech of its interlocutor notably at the temporal level. In this thesis work, we have investigated the temporal perception and accommodation capacities of deaf children in a naming task alternating with a virtual partner, at both behavioral and electrophysiological levels. We have also tested whether an active rhythmic training lasting 30 minutes, could enhance these conversational abilities. Then, we have investigated the rhythmic abilities of these children at different levels complexities. The results show that deaf children suffer from difficulties in structuring acoustic events according to different levels of hierarchy but that a rhythmic training of 30 minutes versus an auditory stimulation, makes it possible to improve their skills of temporal perception and production of speech in a situation of interaction.

Thesis (MMus (Music))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / The evolutionary origins of music, defined as “an intentional action in which complex, learned vocalizations (and/or instrumentally produced sound) are combined with the movement of the body in synchrony to a beat” is investigated through an appraisal of the musilanguage theory and relevant literature. The biological adaptations allowing the production and perception of music are identified and their evolutionary histories investigated. The critical adaptations that made rhythmical body movement possible evolved around 1.6 million years ago. These include habitual bipedalism and changes in the vestibular system. There is almost no fossil evidence to inform on the timing and nature of the complex, learned vocalization. However, that the thoracic vertebrate canal had modern proportions by 600 000 years ago indicates that archaic humans were able to achieve the respiratory control necessary to sing. The size of this canal is a proxy for the number of nerve cells that control respiration via the intercostal and abdominal muscles. Musicality is essential to the human mind. Infants are born with rudimentary musical skills with regard to melody, temporal sequences and vocal and bodily imitation. These capabilities are central to the newborns’ innate ability to elicit care by synchronizing their vocal and bodily actions with that of the caregivers. Musical rhythm is further used to entrain bodily and neural oscillations and this permit the creation of trust and social bonding. It is concluded that protomusic developed between 1.6 million and 600 000 years ago. Protomusic consisted of entrained rhythmical whole body movements initially combined with grunt-like vocalizations. The evidence investigated cannot be used to infer the origins of modern music. KEYWORDS: Music, Evolution, Synchronisation, Melody, Dance, Bipedality, Vestibular system, Thoracic vertebrate canal, Infant-directed communication, Neural entrainment

This document offers performers, scholars, and enthusiasts of Olivier Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’enfant-Jésus a summary of recent research on both the composer and the composition, while probing new directions for future Messiaen and Vingt Regards research. After an opening chapter which contains a brief biography of the composer, Chapter two draws from Messiaen’s two theoretical treatises, the Technique de mon Langage Musicale and the Traité de Rythme, de Couleur, et d’Ornithologie to consider analytical issues surrounding the work. These two documents reveal a wealth of rhythmic and harmonic innovations, as well as a unique connection between sound and color. A particularly significant contribution here is the discussion of Traité in the context of the Vingt Regards. In addition to relevant context from before and after the Vingt Regards, Chapter three discusses religious considerations surrounding the work, including Biblical references, cyclical themes, other formal and symbolic considerations, and the influence of Dom Columba Marmion’s Christ dans ses mystères. The cogent summary of the Marmion is this chapter’s most notable contribution. Chapter four discusses literary considerations relating to the Vingt Regards, including the influences of Messiaen’s family, his personal readings and writings, and Maurice Toesca’s Les Douze Regards, cited in the preface to the music. The chapter also examines the important connection between the Vingt Regards and L’Âme en bourgeon (The Soul in Bud), a set of poems Messiaen’s mother wrote while pregnant with him. The links between the Vingt Regards and L’Âme en bourgeon, deeply analyzed for what is believed to be the first time, are not only thematic, with their similar subjects of birth and infancy, but also include ties to Messiaen’s musical forms, a somewhat overlooked and perhaps somewhat criticized element of his musical language. References to “le ‘Cas’ Messiaen” are part of the document’s efforts to show how the analytical, religious, and literary considerations are all deeply interwoven in both the life of the composer and in this monumental work written at such a challenging historical hour. / text

Syftet med studien är att definiera musikaliska redskap och plattformar för studenter i ämnet improvisation på eftergymnasial nivå. Mitt intresse för ämnet ligger i de positiva möjligheter improvisationen erbjuder vår undervisning och är utgångspunkten för detta arbete. Jag upplever att forskning som inriktar sig på improvisationsundervisningens didaktik för ensemble på högre nivå med fördel kan utökas från vad vi idag har att tillgå, därav utgår studien från ett didaktiskt perspektiv på undervisning.   För att söka svar på mina frågor har jag använt mig av den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun i mötet med mina informanter. De fyra utvalda musiklärarna har alla undervisat improvisation i ensembleformat, de flesta med inriktning mot rytmisk och improviserad musik.   I resultatet presenteras bland annat en syn hos de intervjuade musiklärarna som visar på vikten av ett personligt och ärligt musikutövande där den instrumentaltekniska färdigheten först får liv och mening då studenten har en konstnärlig åsikt att förmedla. Sedan diskuteras bland annat lärarnas kompetens som improvisationspedagoger i relation till Hanken och Johansens (1998) musikdidaktiska utgångspunkter, samt ämnets möjliga utveckling och framtida undervisningsstruktur. / The study aims to define musical tools and platforms for students in the subject of improvisation at the collegiate level. My interest in the subject, and starting point for this work, lies in the positive benefits of working with improvisation. I feel that research today, focused on teaching improvisation for ensemble at a higher level can be extended from what is currently available. I have therefore chosen didactics as my theoretical basis.   In search of answers to my questions, I am using the qualitative research interview method with my informants. The four selected informants have all been teaching improvisation in ensemble, most with a focus on rhythmic and improvised music.   The results are presented including a view of the interviewed music teachers on the importance of a personal and candid music performance in which instrumental technique emerges when the student has an artistic opinion to impart. Thereafter, the study will discuss the teachers' pedagogical skills as improvisation teachers in relation to Hanken and Johansen's (1998) music didactic viewpoints, and possible development and future educational structure for the subject of improvisation.

Hugo Wolf drew the strands of form, rhythm, and other elements together to form tightly woven songs, each element of which can be traced to the text as its original inspiration. Truly this was a genius of romantic expression, who took the tools developed by his predecessors in song, tempered them with his own sensitive personality, and used them to the fullest in setting the meaning and the mood, as well as the words, of the poems he had chosen.

Overactive bladder (OAB), involuntary contractions during bladder filling, is a common condition affecting 17% of the adult population worldwide, and in the U.S. ranks ahead of diabetes in a list of the 10 most common chronic disorders (Mullins 2009). Mechanical mechanisms contributing to OAB are not completely understood and because of the unique function and broad volume range of the bladder, there may be mechanical characteristics that distinguish detrusor smooth muscle (DSM) in bladder from other smooth muscles. Recent studies have shown that the length-passive tension curve in DSM exhibits adjustable passive stiffness (APS) characterized by a passive curve that can be shifted along the length axis as a function of strain history and activation history; however, the mechanical mechanisms responsible for APS remain to be determined. Also, whether DSM exhibits a dynamic length-active tension relationship, as has been identified in airway and vascular smooth muscles, has not been investigated. This dissertation focused on both the passive and active length-tension relationships in DSM and the mechanical mechanisms responsible for these relationships. The first objective was to study the impact of APS on the length-total tension relationship and identify the mechanical mechanisms responsible for generating APS. The second objective was to determine whether the length-active tension relationship is adaptive and identify specific mechanical mechanisms contributing to any adaptive behavior. The results showed that a shift in the length-passive tension curve due to APS corresponded with a shift in the length-total tension curve in DSM, and that APS was 27.0±8.4% of active tension at the optimum length for active tension generation. Most importantly, low-grade rhythmic contraction (RC), which can occur spontaneously in rabbit and human bladders, regenerated APS. Results also showed that the length-active tension curve shifted due to stretch to and then activation at long lengths, as well as either multiple KCl-induced maximal contractions or RC. Thus, DSM exhibits length adaptation, and RC may contribute to both APS and length adaptation. Because increased RC has been correlated with OAB, understanding RC, APS and length-adaptation in bladder may enable the identification of specific targets for new treatments for OAB.