scholarly journals From Necker Cubes to Polyrhythms: Fostering a Phenomenological Attitude in Music Education

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dylan Van der Schyff

Phenomenology is explored as a way of helping students and educators open up to music as a creative and transformative experience. I begin by introducing a simple exercise in experimental phenomenology involving multi-stable visual phenomena that can be explored without the use of complex terminology. Here, I discuss how the “phenomenological attitude” may foster a deeper appreciation of the structure of consciousness, as well as the central role the body plays in how we experience and form understandings of the worlds we inhabit. I then explore how the phenomenological attitude may serve as a starting point for students and teachers as they begin to reflect on their involvement with music as co-investigators. Here I draw on my teaching practice as a percussion and drum kit instructor, with a special focus on multi-stable musical phenomena (e.g., African polyrhythm). To conclude, I briefly consider how the phenomenological approach might be developed beyond the practice room to examine music’s relationship to the experience of culture, imagination and “self.”

2020 ◽  
pp. 113-131
Author(s):  
Rosenilma Branco Rodrigues ◽  
Hergos Ritor Fróes de Couto

The objective of this study was to investigate, from the foundations of Corporeity and Field Education, the meanings that teachers attribute to the body in teaching practice in the rural territories of Santarém, located in the Amazon Paraense. Methodologically, it is a qualitative study with a phenomenological approach, organized in two stages: bibliographical and field research. For the production and analysis of data, we used the Technique of Elaboration and Analysis of Units of Significance, developed by Moreira, Simões and Porto (2005). Theoretical developments impute a dialogue between Corporeity and Field Education, supported by authors who evoke the themes. Field data focused on subjects' discourse, through which it was found that they comprehend the body in its totality, with multiple possibilities of knowledge and social interaction. As well, it has been verified that there are experiences of corporeity in the teaching practice with valorization of the peasant knowledge.


2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-287
Author(s):  
Jamie Barnes

This article explores the relationship between language, experience, and the body. Employing a phenomenological approach that takes the sensory body as its starting point, it focuses on three instances of ‘divine experience’, looking at the ways in which social actors seek to express that experience through metaphorical translation into more familiar, everyday realms. It argues that within this perceptual process – which starts in bodily experience and ends in words – both bodies and worlds are formed: bodies open to (often sensory) aspects of divine experience, and worlds that include the divine, alongside instances of divine agency. Indeed, such bodily conceptual and linguistic work is, social actors claim, the product of divine agency. At the heart of the three instances of divine experience explored here rests the issue of ‘new birth’, itself a metaphorical move employed to express a phenomenon in which the body appears to be transformed into something new, namely a habitation of divine presence. As such presence ‘bubbles up’ from within, it sometimes ‘overflows’ in words. The body speaks. Alongside exploring the metaphorical moves employed to express this type of bodily experience, this article raises the ontological question of what kind of body it is, in such cases, that is speaking, thus providing a phenomenologically inflected response to recent ‘ontological’ debates within anthropology.


Per Musi ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Cecilia Ferm Almqvist ◽  
Linn Hentschel

The starting point for the study presented in this article is constituted by experiences of using Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophy and Iris Marion Young theories aiming to describe and understand the becoming of musical women in Swedish schools. Earlier research conducted outside the area of music shows that Beauvoir’s theories can help to explain – and provide means of change for – situations where there is a risk that traditional gender roles will be conserved. A majority of gender studies in the field of music education are based on the performativity theory of Judith Butler. In comparison, de Beauvoir states that repetitions and habits are stratified in the body as experiences, and that human beings are able to make choices in a situation. The aim of the study is to explore how caring is nurtured among girls in Swedish music educational settings. Material generated through two phenomenological studies conducted within specialist music programs in lower respectively higher secondary education in Sweden, constituted the empirical base for conducting re-analysis. This re-analysis followed a hermeneutical phenomenological analytical model. Examples of how caring seemed to be nurtured among girls in music education appeared at different levels and in different situations. It concerns actions made by the girls aiming to make the social and musical setting function in agreed upon ways, namely in the form of taking initiatives, filling “gaps”, and being flexible. Finally we reflect upon causes and changes in relation to actions that seem to establish and maintain female students as immanent, and non-able to run their own projects.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-219
Author(s):  
Meindert E. Peters

Friedrich Nietzsche's influence on Isadora Duncan's work, in particular his idea of the Dionysian, has been widely discussed, especially in regard to her later work. What has been left underdeveloped in critical examinations of her work, however, is his influence on her earlier choreographic work, which she defended in a famous speech held in 1903 called The Dance of the Future. While commentators often describe this speech as ‘Nietzschean’, Duncan's autobiography suggests that she only studied Nietzsche's work after this speech. I take this incongruity as a starting point to explore the connections between her speech and Nietzsche's work, in particular his Thus Spoke Zarathustra. I argue that in subject and language Duncan's speech resembles Nietzsche's in important ways. This article will draw attention to the ways in which Duncan takes her cues from Nietzsche in bringing together seemingly conflicting ideas of religion and an overturning of morality; Nietzsche's notion of eternal recurrence and the teleology present in his idea of the Übermensch; and a renegotiation of the body's relation to the mind. In doing so, this article contributes not only to scholarship on Duncan's early work but also to discussions of Nietzsche's reception in the early twentieth century. Moreover, the importance Duncan ascribes to the body in dance and expression also asks for a new understanding of Nietzsche's own way of expressing his philosophy.


Author(s):  
Marissa Silverman

This chapter asks an important, yet seemingly illusive, question: In what ways does the internet provide (or not) activist—or, for present purposes “artivist”—opportunities and engagements for musicing, music sharing, and music teaching and learning? According to Asante (2008), an “artivist (artist + activist) uses her artistic talents to fight and struggle against injustice and oppression—by any medium necessary. The artivist merges commitment to freedom and justice with the pen, the lens, the brush, the voice, the body, and the imagination. The artivist knows that to make an observation is to have an obligation” (p. 6). Given this view, can (and should) social media be a means to achieve artivism through online musicing and music sharing, and, therefore, music teaching and learning? Taking a feminist perspective, this chapter interrogates the nature of cyber musical artivism as a potential means to a necessary end: positive transformation. In what ways can social media be a conduit (or hindrance) for cyber musical artivism? What might musicing and music sharing gain (or lose) from engaging with online artivist practices? In addition to a philosophical investigation, this chapter will examine select case studies of online artivist music making and music sharing communities with the above concerns in mind, specifically as they relate to music education.


2021 ◽  
pp. 026921552110007
Author(s):  
Hannah Stott ◽  
Mary Cramp ◽  
Stuart McClean ◽  
Ailie Turton

Objective: This study explored stroke survivors’ experiences of altered body perception, whether these perceptions cause discomfort, and the need for clinical interventions to improve comfort. Design: A qualitative phenomenological study. Setting: Participants’ homes. Participants: A purposive sample of 16 stroke survivors were recruited from community support groups. Participants (median: age 59; time post stroke >2 years), were at least six-months post-stroke, experiencing motor or sensory impairments and able to communicate verbally. Interventions: Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were analysed using an interpretive phenomenological approach and presented thematically. Results: Four themes or experiences were identified: Participants described (1) a body that did not exist; (2) a body hindered by strange sensations and distorted perceptions; (3) an uncontrollable body; and (4) a body isolated from social and clinical support. Discomfort was apparent in a physical and psychological sense and body experiences were difficult to comprehend and communicate to healthcare staff. Participants wished for interventions to improve their comfort but were doubtful that such treatments existed. Conclusion: Indications are that altered body perceptions cause multifaceted physical and psychosocial discomfort for stroke survivors. Discussions with patients about their personal perceptions and experiences of the body may facilitate better understanding and management to improve comfort after stroke.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 5843
Author(s):  
Chloé Turpin ◽  
Aurélie Catan ◽  
Olivier Meilhac ◽  
Emmanuel Bourdon ◽  
François Canonne-Hergaux ◽  
...  

The development and progression of atherosclerosis (ATH) involves lipid accumulation, oxidative stress and both vascular and blood cell dysfunction. Erythrocytes, the main circulating cells in the body, exert determinant roles in the gas transport between tissues. Erythrocytes have long been considered as simple bystanders in cardiovascular diseases, including ATH. This review highlights recent knowledge concerning the role of erythrocytes being more than just passive gas carriers, as potent contributors to atherosclerotic plaque progression. Erythrocyte physiology and ATH pathology is first described. Then, a specific chapter delineates the numerous links between erythrocytes and atherogenesis. In particular, we discuss the impact of extravasated erythrocytes in plaque iron homeostasis with potential pathological consequences. Hyperglycaemia is recognised as a significant aggravating contributor to the development of ATH. Then, a special focus is made on glycoxidative modifications of erythrocytes and their role in ATH. This chapter includes recent data proposing glycoxidised erythrocytes as putative contributors to enhanced atherothrombosis in diabetic patients.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1321103X2097480
Author(s):  
Melissa Bremmer ◽  
Carolien Hermans ◽  
Vincent Lamers

This multiple-case-studies research explored a multimodal approach to teaching music to pupils (from 4 to 18 years old) with severe or multiple disabilities. By combining music with, for example, tactile stimulation, movement, or visuals, meaning-making processes in music of these pupils was stimulated, helping them to understand the internal structures and expressive qualities of music. Three music teachers and a social worker participated in this study. Individual and collective video reflections and microanalysis were applied to gather data about their multimodal teaching practice. The data were analyzed through Schmid’s framework (2015) of “multimodal dimensions of children’s music experiences,” developed for general music education. This framework consists of four dimensions: narrativity, sociality, materiality, and embodiment. Based on the findings, Schmid’s framework could be revised for special education, thus providing music teachers with a tool for designing multimodal music lessons for pupils with severe or multiple disabilities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
T Dahhan ◽  
F van der Veen ◽  
A M E Bos ◽  
M Goddijn ◽  
E A F Dancet

Abstract STUDY QUESTION How do women, who have just been diagnosed with breast cancer, experience oocyte or embryo banking? SUMMARY ANSWER Fertility preservation was a challenging yet welcome way to take action when confronted with breast cancer. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY Fertility preservation for women with breast cancer is a way to safeguard future chances of having children. Women who have just been diagnosed with breast cancer report stress, as do women who have to undergo IVF treatment. How women experience the collision of these two stressfull events, has not yet been studied. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION We performed a multicenter qualitative study with a phenomenological approach including 21 women between March and July 2014. Women were recruited from two university-based fertility clinics. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS Women with breast cancer who banked oocytes or embryos 1–15 months before study participation were eligible. We conducted in-depth, face-to-face interviews with 21 women, which was sufficient to reach data saturation. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE The 21 women interviewed had a mean age of 32 years. Analysis of the 21 interviews revealed three main experiences: the burden of fertility preservation, the new identity of a fertility patient and coping with breast cancer through fertility preservation. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION Interviewing women after, rather than during, fertility preservation might have induced recall bias. Translation of quotes was not carried out by a certified translator. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS The insights gained from this study of the experiences of women undergoing fertility preservation while being newly diagnosed with breast cancer could be used as a starting point for adapting the routine psychosocial care provided by fertility clinic staff. Future studies are necessary to investigate whether adapting routine psychosocial care improves women’s wellbeing. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S) None of the authors in this study declare potential conflicts of interest. The study was funded by the Center of Reproductive Medicine of the Academic Medical Center.


2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-65
Author(s):  
Lis Engel ◽  
Rikke Schou Jeppesen

Abstract This article is about language and lived experiences and analysis of movement of dance within Physical Education studies in Denmark with a special focus on how the language of movement and dance can be related to lived body and movement experience. The issue of the challenges and possibilities of expressing movement experience and analysis in words is discussed at the general level and exemplified in the context of a dance educational event where the movement theory of Rudolf Laban is applied. A central question arising out of this example of working with language and lived experience of movement is: What influence does language have on our way of understanding and communicating a dance experience? The article proposes that a bodily anchored lived language – through an ethic-aesthetic phenomenological approach – may supplement, expand and broaden a given professional terminology in order to articulate, communicate and unfold the experiential dimensions of dance.


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