齐韶与祭孔乐舞

祭孔乐舞是迄今为止中国仅存的雅乐舞,而《韶乐》又是中国历代王朝所尊崇的雅乐体系的重要组成部分之一。这两者在我国雅乐发展历史中同样担当着举足轻重的作用。根据艺术发展的规律,任何艺术的新生作品都必须或必然是建立在继承文化传统的基础之上,祭孔乐舞的诞生虽然远离《韶乐》流传盛行的西周,但是,《韶乐》的内容和形式却深深影响着中国历代雅乐的制作和发展。作为中国雅乐分支的孔庙乐舞,对《韶乐》的传承也必定有历史的必然和血脉的联系。因此毋庸置疑,现存的祭孔乐舞成为当下我们寻找古《韶乐》历史面貌的主要甚至是唯一的实物资料。而通过研究发现,两者之间不仅有关而且渊源久矣。     

Music ability

Two batteries of music tests were factored by the centroid method. From each battery three oblique factors were extracted and in each case were tentatively identified as tonal sensitivity, retentivity (memory for elements), and memory for form. The correlations of the music tests of one battery with subtests of Cattell's intelligence test and with tests of a literary nature are also reported.Karlin, J. E. A multiple factor analysis of musicality. M. A. thesis, University of Cape Town, 1939.Drake, R. M. A factorial analysis of music tests by the Spearman tetrad-difference technique.J. Musicology, 1939, 1, 1.     

Disliked Music can be Better for Performance than Liked Music

Although liked music is known to improve performance through boosting one's mood and arousal, both liked music and disliked music impair serial recall performance. Given that the key acoustical feature of this impairment is the acoustical variation, it is possible that some music may contain less acoustical variation and so produce less impairment. In this situation, unliked, unfamiliar music could be better for performance than liked, familiar music. This study tested this by asking participants to serially recall eight‐item lists in either quiet, liked or disliked music conditions. Results showed that performance was significantly poorer in both music conditions compared with quiet. More importantly, performance in the liked music condition was significantly poorer than in the disliked music condition. These findings provide further illustration of the irrelevant sound effect and limitations of the impact of liked music on cognition. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Music in dreams

Music in dreams is rarely reported in scientific literature, while the presence of musical themes in dreams of famous musicians is anecdotally reported. We did a systematic investigation to evaluate whether the occurrence of musical dreams could be related to musical competence and practice, and to explore specific features of dreamt pieces. Thirty-five professional musicians and thirty non-musicians filled out a questionnaire about the characteristics of their musical activity and a structured dream log on the awakening for 30 consecutive days. Musicians dream of music more than twice with respect to non-musicians; musical dreams frequency is related to the age of commencement of musical instruction, but not to the daily load of musical activity. Nearly half of the recalled music was non-standard, suggesting that original music can be created in dreams.     

Music and Stress

Myths about the power of music to regulate and change emotional states are found in each culture. Googling the words “music and stress” produces promises for different types of music specially designed to assist managing stress. Music therapists are familiar with using different techniques to reduce stress with different populations. This paper examines both the application of music to stress management and the neurological and physiological mechanisms of stress that can be modulated by music.     

Philosophy and Music

This essay explores some aspects of the relation between philosophy and music. First, how music can inspire philosophy; second, how philosophy can inspire music. Mathematics as a middle term between music and philosophy, the idea of wholeness in a musical composition or a philosophical text, music as a mode of thought displaying traits such as logic, coherence, and sense—these are some ways in which music and philosophy may be seen to be connected. Also, composers sometimes have explicit recourse to philosophical ideas in advancing their music, there being prominent examples of this in the twentieth century. Lastly, given there is such a thing as the philosophy of music, might there also be the music of philosophy?     

Facing the Music

Abstract

This article outlines how group practitioners can harness creative strategies to assist addicted clients in verbalizing and addressing the losses associated with addictive disorders. This article overviews the implementation of an experiential process that includes a warm up activity, a psychodrama, and utilization of empty chair techniques to address addiction related grief and loss. In addition, these models assist clients to discuss change and healing from the interpersonal devastation of addiction. Finally, the appropriate use and timing of these models are discussed and a case study is included to illustrate these principles in action.     

Music for the Seasons: Seasonal Music Preferences in College Students

The present research examined music preferences in relation to the seasons: fall, winter, spring, and summer. Across two studies, male and female college students (N = 232 and 199) were primed to think about the seasons and indicate their music preference from Rentfrow and Gosling’s (2003) music classification scheme. Participants were predicted to prefer reflexive and complex music when primed with fall/winter and energetic and rhythmic and upbeat and conventional music when primed with spring/summer. Study 1 had participants read winter or summer season scenarios and Study 2 had participants write their own fall, winter, spring, or summer seasonal experiences. Overall, results were consistent with predictions for the reflexive and complex and energetic and rhythmic classifications, indicating an environmental influence of musical preferences.     

Music lessons enhance IQ

The idea that music makes you smarter has received considerable attention from scholars and the media. The present report is the first to test this hypothesis directly with random assignment of a large sample of children (N = 144) to two different types of music lessons (keyboard or voice) or to control groups that received drama lessons or no lessons. IQ was measured before and after the lessons. Compared with children in the control groups, children in the music groups exhibited greater increases in full-scale IQ. The effect was relatively small, but it generalized across IQ subtests, index scores, and a standardized measure of academic achievement. Unexpectedly, children in the drama group exhibited substantial pre- to post-test improvements in adaptive social behavior that were not evident in the music groups.