VART3510 - AkE Internship Journal Week 5

Working with the current research proposal below, I've been looking at developing the test design.

Observation and recording of brainwave activity changes in response to a range of musical and soundscape compositions in order to examine whether a conventional musical framework is a significant component in the neural response to composed sonic stimuli. Participants will be played pieces of atonal music, noise music, soundscape & stochastic music in contrast to more conventional musical compositions such as pop, rock, jazz & classical. Responses to the stimuli will be measured via EEG.

Test design:

• Participants are seated and given in ear monitors that will not obstruct the electrodes of the EEG device.

• A 30 second baseline EEG response is taken in between audio stimuli.

• EEG response is observed and recorded while participant is played audio stimuli.

• Participant is given a survey at the conclusion of the test where experiential biases and qualitative emotional responses are recorded.

Musical choice considerations:

With such a broad range of stylistic material the challenge has been to make the stimuli feel related in order to control the response.

Temporal, Timbral and Spectral content are real considerations. The "energy" and tempo of the music should be as similar as possible in order to control for brainwave response.

I've outlined some potential candidates for music selection to fulfil the criteria outlined in the research proposal:

Classical: Mozart - Symphony No. 9 in C Major

Energetic and Dynamic.

Atonal: Dane Rudhyar - Granites (1929)

Energetic and unusually dynamic for an atonal piece. Similar length.

           Jazz: Duke Ellington - The Clothed Woman (1947)
Actually considered an atonal piece, this piece could control for the energy level of the previous piece.
Dynamic, movement resembles the classic piece. Moments of energy.

       

          Noise music: Edgard Varese - Ionisation (1929 - 1931)

Composition modelled on noise, closer to timbral quality of previous pieces

 

Stochastic Music: Xenakis - Pithoprakta (1955/1956)

 Matches similar timbre and dynamics of previous pieces. Similar length.

          Musique Concrete: Bernard Parmegiani - Violostries (1969)

          Hard to find a musique concrete piece that matches the timbre and energy -
but this Parmegiani piece feels musical and dynamic.

          Rock: Amon Düül II - Between The Eyes (1972)

Very difficult to select a "rock" track that is within the timbral, spectral and dynamic energetic levels of the rest of the selected pieces,
but I think this piece by Amon Düül II best fits the criteria.

       

          Pop: Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody (1975)

Very difficult to control for bias, tone, length and energy levels. Pop is a very broad and culture bound genre.
Selected this based on its changing dynamics, timbral qualities and similar time period to the rest of the material.