Submission For Concept Development 31/10/11

Name: Calum Mclean
Student Number:1003309
Module: Concept Development
Module Code: AG1086A
Date of Submission: 31/10/11
Lecturer: Belinda Langlands


For this submission I have added this modules code to the titles of the blogs I believe to be the most relevant to this hand in.  However I feel that my blog as a whole is a much better representation of my development overall and feel that the other post have a lot of merit aswell.

Below is the links to the main blog entries for this module to make it easier to view. 

http://honoursyearprojectchoices.blogspot.com/2011/09/research.html

http://honoursyearprojectchoices.blogspot.com/2011/09/idea-1.html

http://honoursyearprojectchoices.blogspot.com/2011/09/concept-devolpoment.html

http://honoursyearprojectchoices.blogspot.com/2011/09/idea-2.html

http://honoursyearprojectchoices.blogspot.com/2011/09/mind-map-wednesday-28th-of-september.html

http://honoursyearprojectchoices.blogspot.com/2011/10/music-theory-research-tuesday-4th-of.html

http://honoursyearprojectchoices.blogspot.com/2011/10/concentration-music-research.html

http://honoursyearprojectchoices.blogspot.com/2011/10/music-and-psychology-reasearch-monday.html

http://honoursyearprojectchoices.blogspot.com/2011/10/music-and-psychology-reasearch-monday_27.html

http://honoursyearprojectchoices.blogspot.com/2011/10/mozart-effect-research-wednesday-12th.html

http://honoursyearprojectchoices.blogspot.com/2011/10/psychology-of-music-2010-aheadi-107-17.html

http://honoursyearprojectchoices.blogspot.com/2011/10/concentration-music-research-friday.html

http://honoursyearprojectchoices.blogspot.com/2011/10/testing-talk-with-colin-cartwright.html

http://honoursyearprojectchoices.blogspot.com/2011/10/experimental-music.html

http://honoursyearprojectchoices.blogspot.com/2011/10/interview-with-alan-grieve.html

Interview with Alan Grieve

On Friday (28th) I was lucky enough to arrange an interview with Alan Grieve who has had many years experience working in the psychology field.  Alan has a Post Graduate Diploma in psychology and spent a number of years working with local councils and schools as an educational psychologist and has used music before as an aid for learning and behavior.  Alan was kind enough to give me some advice on my own project.

Here is the interview:

AG1086A Experimental Music

Here is a couple tracks just to give an idea of what I'm currently working as ideas and inspiration.  One of the genres I am using for the test is electronic/techno music.  As this is not a style that I am used to composing in I am taking the opportunity to practice now.  Here is a 25 second clip that I have composed to give myself a starting point.  At this stage its only a very rough idea.

Another example I have is for the rock/pop genre.  It is a song that was written and recorded by my band The Vela Pulse.  It's an instrumental track as the vocals were never finished.  I don't plan on using this exact track but I aim to use it as inspiration for composing this style of music for my project.

Testing- Talk with Colin Cartwright

During the week (Wed 26th) I attended one of Colin's drop in sessions as I wanted to discuss some ideas/thoughts on how I should go about testing my project.  I started by telling Colin what I felt the main issues I had when it came to the thought process of planing the tests.  The main concerns I had was the-

• Amount of people to test.
• The amount of Genres used in the tests
• The use of vocals
• Different methods of testing
• Ways to get volunteers

I feel that Colin answered each of my questions really well and was able to give me lots to think about.  I think the main thing was he showed me that I was over complicating parts of my project when there was much simpler ways of achieving the same end result.  He told me that when it comes to the testing I can get away with using 20 people instead of the vast amounts that I have seen on other projects.  This mainly being down to resources and time.  Colin also suggested that when it comes to productive ways of testing that I make sure that I use more practical types of testing.  Colin also brought to my attention that I should be thinking carefully about the difference between attention and learning aspects of concentration and which side I want to focus on the most which at the moment I feel is the learning side.  Overall this meeting really cleared up the parts of the project that I was most worried about now allowing me to move forward with my research.

AG1086A Concentration Music Research

This is quite a useful site to research as it talks about the therapy side of music and the effect that has on us which I believe will be useful to know as it will give my idea room for expansion as time goes on.  I feel that my idea has loose elements of the therapy side as I am aiming to help enhance peoples ability to use music to aid learning.

http://www.emedexpert.com/tips/music.shtml

AG1086A Psychology/Mozart Effect Research

Here is a good pdf file that a class mate pointed me towards.  It will be useful to my research as it

talks about the Mozart Effect and its effect on non-musical and musical people. 

Psychology of Music-2010-Aheadi-107-17.pdf

AG1086A The Mozart Effect Research

 

After speaking to Kenny he suggested that I go away and look at the Mozart Effect.  Studies have suggested that playing Mozart to young children will enhance their learning and concentration abilities for the future and while looking at various videos I came across this one on a talk by Dr. Glenn Wilson who briefly talks about past studies.  The reason I find this useful is that he talks about the possibility of other genres of music and whether they have an effect which is what I am try to achieve with my own research.  From what he says there neither enough proven results or any good ones at all which to me shows that there is a valid cause for my research.

Music and Psychology Research

This is the second part of the music psychology video.  It concentrates more on the musical style and how music psychology works in relation to a player/musician.  As a musician myself I will find parts of this useful when it comes to recording and performing the music I compose for this project.  It also touches on the musical therapy side of things which in a way is kind of what my project is about in the sense that I am trying to find ways to enhance concentration and make it easier for my target audience.

AG1086A Music and Psychology Research

This is the first part of  a very useful tutorial on how music and psychology work together.  It briefly covers the concentration side and it also really helps to give an overview of how the brain processes music and what part of the brain is affected the most.  From this video it also comments on people who have carried out various different studies regarding music psychology so I hope to take a few pointers away and try and relate it to my own project.

AG1086A Concentration Music Research

This isn't really what i'm looking to produce myself but it gives me an idea of what is out there already and how it has been approached.  What i've noticed from this video and videos like this are they get referred to as illusions which isn't really the vibe i'm going for but hopefully there will be aspects that I can intemperate into my own work.

Personal Statement Friday- 7th of October

AG1064A: Professional Practice – Personal Statement

Proposer:	Calum Mclean
Student Number:	1003309
Programme:	Creative Sound
Specialism(s):	Composing music for learning applications.

Personal Statement

Inspiration and Interests

What really inspires me is music, both playing and listening and it’s because of this that I want my honours project to relate to music in a big way.  My idea for my project is to investigate how audio, most specifically music affects the brain and our ability to concentrate while carrying out various tasks.  I want to find out what genres of music have an impact on the way we concentrate and what it is about these specific tracks that make the difference.  In terms of my artefact what I want to develop is a piece(s) of music that are composed around my findings to find out whether or not this method of researching and creating audio is successful.  I want the end of year show to show my skills as a composer and producer as well as my engineering capabilities.

Career and Creative Aims

My main aim for when I leave university is to find work composing music and creating sound effects for games, apps and advertising.  Part of what I want to achieve from this year though is how to use the psychology and music theory side to enhance and develop the skills I need to be successful.  I am also interested in the learning and teaching side audio as well.

Current Skills and Abilities

Music- ·         I can play a few various instruments- Guitar, bass, piano, vocals. ·         I can write music in different styles. ·         I have a reasonable knowledge of music theory. Sound Production- ·         I can record a large variety of Instruments. ·         I have a good knowledge and practice of various microphone techniques. ·         I can operate a range of audio interfaces i.e Cubase, Garageband, Protools etc. ·         I have experience and practice in mixing.

Skill Gaps

One of the skills I want to address in this project is my ability to compose music in a completely different way.  I want to learn how to compose music that can serve some sort of purpose in a teaching/learning field. Another skill I would like to enhance continues on from last year and that is my use of sampling and Midi instruments in my music.

Project Aim and Objectives- Thursday 6th of October

Heres the aims and objectives for my project.

AG1086A Music Theory Research- Tuesday 4th of October

After speaking to Kenny on Friday (September 30th) I have decided that I am now looking at my project from less of a psychological domain and in a more creative compositional domain.  To achieve this I will need to build my musical theory back up a bit from what it was in Higher music.  After speaking to a couple people in my class I have been looking at some sites on the internet and have found a tool that I feel will come in handy when it comes to composing my music later on in the year.

The musical tool that I have been looking at is called the Camelot System.  It is a chart that lets you formulate what chords work together when it comes to harmonic mixing.