Music moves us, literally. We tend to move the body in synchrony with the beat. Individuals without any professional music training are capable of singing or humming along with an unfamiliar melody or indicating the melodic contour by means of hand gestures. Musicians who play by ear are able to do the …

Conservatoire cultures of musical hierarchies: implications for music in higher education.While studies of conservatoire cultures remain relatively rare, those in existence point to the hierarchical organisation of these institutions, where students compete for performance opportunities and recognition. …

This paper will detail an ethnographic research that has been conducted into the practice of ‘Music for Life’, managed by Wigmore Hall in London. The aim is creating interactive music workshops for people with dementia and there carers as a group in residential care homes. Throughout one eight-week project …

As educational institutions, conservatoires remain largely unresearched and, crucially, relatively unchallenged. In particular, research has paid little attention to in-depth studies of culture, so that not enough is known of the cultural practices that characterise and shape a conservatoire education. …

Rian de Waal (1958-2011) has written a book about the piano, and how the development of piano playing has been very much dependent upon musicians who were able to cross borders. In Metamorphoses, the Art of the Virtuoso Piano Transcription, De Waal takes us on a journey through the capricious history …

This study focuses on the uses and functions of music in the life of individuals in the province of Groningen at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The study is an ethnomusicological study representing the sub-discipline of ethnomusicology-at-home. It uses Andreas Reckwitz’ formulation of practice …

The research has been planned to give support to the interpreter who desires to start a personal research about Sequenza XI, focusing on rhetorical features as means for its interpretation. The thesis is aimed to provide a method for both the performer who approaches the work and he who already knows …

Young musicians at the conservatoire: talent or attainment? The mastery of a music instrument comes after many hours of practice: on the average 10,000. It should therefore be no surprise that most great musicians started their studies at an early age. Moreover, the technical achievement of playing a …

In this fMRI study, it was hypothesized that mirror neurons in the premotor-parietal network would be activated while improvising performers listened to music. Such activations would suggest that perception is engaging the action repertoire of the improvising musician. Recognition and understanding of …

Our conception of the brain is influenced by metaphors like the computer which grant the brain an executive function. This notion ignores the fact that the brain evolved in the context of the natural environment and functions together with it. In addition, we are frequently less aware of the action-perception …