The papers in this issue demonstrate some of the ways in which work published in the Journal of New Music Research examines human engagement with music. Broadly these papers can be categorised as those that model human engagement with musical instruments (‘The Stretchy Strap: Supporting Encumbered Interaction with Guitars’ and ‘The Timbre of Sape: Identifying the Sound Quality in Music Instrument Making’) and and those that model human listening (‘Hit Song Science: A Comprehensive Survey and Research Directions’, ‘“A Huge Man is Bursting Out of a Rock”’. Bodies, Motion, and Creativity in Verbal Reports of Musical Connotation’ and ‘Geometries in Sound: An Investigation of Embodied Cognition in Contemporary Art Music’). The first paper on human engagement with musical instruments examines instrument sound quality in instrument building and the second the physicality of playing an instrument. Of the papers on human listening, the first paper surveys computational approaches used to both predict and explain song popularity while the other two papers demonstrate different approaches to embodied cognition, one semantic and one geometric.
The first paper, entitled ‘The Timbre of Sape: Identifying the Sound Quality in Music Instrument Making’, is by Tee Hao Wong, Ahmad Saifizul, Rahizar Ramli, and Ming Foong Soong from the Universiti Malaya and University of Technology Sarawak in Malaysia. This paper combines quantitative and qualitative approaches to study how sound quality is achieved in Sape making. The quantitative aspect involves measurement and analysis of the physical instrument to assess its timbre and is complemented by structured qualitative work with instrument makers. The results of the work can be used by Sape instrument makers, assisting in preserving the heritage of instrument making. They also have broader implications for modelling instrument construction more generally, as well as for understanding the connection between instrument construction and timbre.
In the second paper, ‘The Stretchy Strap: Supporting Encumbered Interaction with Guitars’, Juan Martinez Avila, Adrian Hazzard, Chris Greenhalgh, and Steve Benford from The University of Nottingham in the UK, together with Andrew McPherson from Queen Mary, University of London and Imperial College London in the UK, report on an extended design process aimed at developing a solution to the problem of encumbered interaction that arises when guitarists are required to control computers while simultaneously playing their instruments. A series of design workshops led to the concept of a ‘stretchy strap’ that could act as a controller for digital media. The concept was subsequently implemented in prototypes that were evaluated by guitarists. Three general conclusions relating to instrument augmentation emerged from the study, namely, the importance of postural interaction, the value of applying somaesthetic design, and the potential of augmenting accessories (e.g., straps) that are already familiar within an instrument’s wider ecology.
The third paper is ‘Hit Song Science: A Comprehensive Survey and Research Directions’, by Danilo B. Seufitelli, Gabriel P. Oliveira, Mariana O. Silva, Clarisse Scofield, and Mirella M. Moro from the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil. ‘Hit Song Science’ (HSS) has been an active and somewhat controversial research topic for almost twenty years. In this paper, the authors aim to provide a comprehensive review of this research area, as well as define a workflow for HSS, introducing taxonomies for success measures and categorising the main techniques used. In addition, they aim to identify the main research problems in the field and determine how musical success can be defined in the context of HSS.
The fourth paper, entitled ‘“A Huge Man is Bursting Out of a Rock”’. Bodies, Motion, and Creativity in Verbal Reports of Musical Connotation’ is authored by an international team, consisting of Mihailo Antović from the University of Niš in Serbia, Mats Küssner from Humboldt Universitäte in Germany, Adrian Kempf from the University of Graz in Austria, Diana Omigie from Goldsmiths University of London in the UK, Sarah Hashim from Goldsmiths University of London in the UK and Andrea Schiavio from the University of York in the UK. The paper explores the connection between verbal descriptions of music and bodily movement across a range of Western art music styles. Through a large, international survey of music listeners, the authors found that descriptions related to bodily movement were both more common and more creative than those that did not describe movement. The authors consider the implications of this for our broader conception of embodied cognition.
Our final paper is ‘Geometries in Sound: An Investigation of Embodied Cognition in Contemporary Art Music’ by Riccardo D. Wanke from Nova University in Portugal. This paper also engages with the concept of embodied cognition but with a mathematical rather than a qualitative approach. Specifically, this paper uses listener surveys to model the connection between listening preference, familiarity, and the configuration of sonic material in different styles of Western art music. The author argues that responses to contemporary Western art music reveal a unique type of cognitive engagement due to the organisation of sonic material within this set of genres. This article provides a useful framework for exploring genre-specific differences in the study of cognition.
Taken together, these papers offer a compelling sample of some of the ways the papers we publish in the Journal examine human engagement with music. The integration of quantitative and qualitative methods is often a key aspect of this work, as is the potential for challenging and augmenting established theory through this type of research. We would also like to note that, as with previous issues, this issue presents work from an international diversity of authors from various institutions in Asia, Europe, and South America, that treats a correspondingly diverse range of musical styles. We continue to encourage submissions of manuscripts that examine any world music tradition as well as those that integrate qualitative and quantitative methodologies.