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The combination of piezoelectric ceramics with silicon nanomembranes can provide a unique combination of electronic and mechanical functionality. For example, an integrated remotely accessible sensor/actuator can serve as a sound transducer to be placed on the tympanic membrane of the human ear. Such an implant would enable direct sound transmission in the kHz range via down‐conversion of a modulated carrier signal at radio frequency. The viability of this concept is demonstrated via a specific design of the nanomembrane bonded over a hole in the piezoelectric chip as well as driving this chip to create a strong nonlinear mechanical response in the nanomembrane. The response in the audible‐frequency range and the result is demonstrated by modulating the piezoelectric chip with a C‐major audible tune—the tone ladder—and retrieving this sound by an optical readout method are centered. Finally, to prove the possibility of remote actuation of the nanomembrane, an antenna on the chip is integrated and the wide‐band transmission from a mobile source is simulated. It is concluded that a remotely actuated invisible hearing aid is possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catchiness and groove are common phenomena when listening to popular music. Catchiness may be a potential factor for experiencing groove but quantitative evidence for such a relationship is missing. To examine whether and how catchiness influences a key component of groove–the pleasurable urge to move to music (PLUMM)–we conducted a listening experiment with 450 participants and 240 short popular music clips of drum patterns, bass lines or keys/guitar parts. We found four main results: (1) catchiness as measured in a recognition task was only weakly associated with participants' perceived catchiness of music. We showed that perceived catchiness is multi-dimensional, subjective, and strongly associated with pleasure. (2) We found a sizeable positive relationship between PLUMM and perceived catchiness. (3) However, the relationship is complex, as further analysis showed that pleasure suppresses perceived catchiness' effect on the urge to move. (4) We compared common factors that promote perceived catchiness and PLUMM and found that listener-related variables contributed similarly, while the effects of musical content diverged. Overall, our data suggests music perceived as catchy is likely to foster groove experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese Folk Drum music is an excellent traditional cultural resource, it has brilliant historical and cultural heritage and excellent traditional cultural connotation. However, the survey found that the social and cultural values, tourism economic values, and national self-confidence embodied in folk drum music, such as Xi'an drum music, are far from being released, and even its own inheritance and development are facing difficulties. The research focuses on the automatic generation of Xi'an drum music, with the aim of further inheriting, developing, and utilizing this exceptional traditional cultural resource. While Artificial Intelligence (AI) music generation has gained popularity in recent years, most platforms primarily focus on modern music rather than Chinese folk music. To address these issues and the unique challenges faced by Xi'an drum music, this paper proposes a Bi-LSTM network-based deep reinforcement learning model. The model incorporates the distinctive characteristics of ancient Chinese music, such as pitch, chord, and mode, and utilizes the Actor-Critic algorithm in reinforcement learning. During the simulation generation stage, an improved method of generating strategies through reward and punishment scores is introduced. Additionally, the model takes into account abstract concept constraints, such as chord progression and music theory rules, which are translated into computer language. By constructing a chord reward mechanism and a music principle reward mechanism, the model achieves harmony constraints and enables the systematic generation of drum music. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model, based on Bi-LSTM deep reinforcement learning, can generate Xi'an drum music with high quality and artistic aesthetics. This research contributes to the preservation, development, and utilization of Xi'an drum music, leveraging advancements in AI music generation technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

YouTube is one of the most important music media in the world today. Musical practice is reflected there in a variety of forms, from sound recordings to music videos to tutorials. The media environment that YouTube creates as a platform inscribes itself - to some degree - in the actions of those who use it. This is also the case with the YouTube drummer phenomenon, which this article examines in more detail in terms of the interplay between persona construction, music-making, media presentation, and transmedia content concatenation. The thesis is pursued that the practice of YouTube drummers creates a singular interference space of conventions, modes of action, and social roles, which in some places has novelty value with regard to music-related persona constructions and their implementation in platform-based audiovisual media, and which transcends media boundaries. The specificity of the persona construction essentially results from the mediating position of the drum-playing actors: they are not only performers who, like social media influencers, push into the light of publicity, but at the same time musical experts and instructors, quasi-curatorial music communicators who select, prepare, and present music of the past, and intermediaries of the corporeality of popular music. The analyses presented are based on exploratory investigations of the YouTube drummer field itself and a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jaranan Turangga Yaksa is an original art from Dhongko Village, Trenggalek Regency. Turangga Yaksa is a horse with a giant head and ridden by a knight who can control amarah, syaitonah, lauamah, dan serakah. This art is the result of creations from the Baritan ceremony (bar ngarit tanduran), local people usually hold tayub parties which aim to express gratitude for the harvest they have received. In this research, Jaranan Turangga Yaksa was studied ethnomusicologically by taking several approaches, namely describing the notation, musical aspects and organology found in the musical instrument Jaranan Turangga Yaksa. The research was conducted in Dhongko Village, Trenggalek Regency. The data collection method was carried out by interviewing several sources such as Mbah Mu'an (Creator of the Jaranan Turangga Yaksa music), chairman of the Sanggar Purwo Budaya, singer, dancer, and also pengrawit. Observe the development of musical accompaniment, and also perform FGD (Forum Group Duscussion) to deepen information and data to make it more valid. The description of the musical notation used by the author includes using number notation on balungan instruments and also vocals. The use of the terms plak, dlang, dhe as notation for percussion instruments such as kendang. Writing drum notation using notasi balok, and also using symbols as another term in writing gamelan notation. From the musical aspect, Jaranan Turangga Yaksa music has its own drum beats that differentiate it from other jaranan music such as Jaranan Buto, Jaranan Senterewe, Jaranan Pegon, and Jaranan Dor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to argue that complementation is an operation similarly fundamental to music theory as transposition and inversion. We focus on studying the chromatic complement mapping that translates diatonic seventh chords into 8-note scales which can also be interpreted as rhythmic beat patterns. Such complements of diatonic seventh chords are of particular importance since they correspond to the scales popularized by the Jazz theorist Barry Harris, as well as to rhythms used in African drum music and Steve Reich's Clapping Music. Our approach enables a systematic study of these scales and rhythms using established theories of efficient voice leading and generalized diatonic scales and chords, in particular the theory of second-order maximally even sets. The main contributions of this research are (1) to explicate the correspondence between voice leadings and rhythmic transformations, (2) to systematize the family of Barry Harris scales, and (3) to describe classes of voice leadings between chords of different cardinality that are invariant under complementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a model that unites a broad range of performances of Mande drumming music within a single cohesive and fluid sub-beat metric framework. The framework categorizes musical performance in terms of two metric modes, each of which includes a set of metric cycles featuring non-isochronous pulsations. A novel feature of the proposed model that distinguishes it from previous research is that it frames metric non-isochrony in terms of the ranges for pulsation positions within a pulsation cycle. This approach is shown to be especially useful for analyzing and describing mechanisms of metrical change and transformation and for connecting seemingly distinct phenomena and repertoire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, with the rapid popularization of Internet technology and the development of a large number of smart terminal devices for the Internet of Things, Internet of Things systems and devices have become more and more popular in people's daily lives, and the types and numbers of smart Internet of Things applications are constantly increasing. In VR, more and more input devices and more and more data and information directly affect the depth of embedding. In the era of big data, data storage is overvalued, and a reasonable solution to data storage strategies is needed. When sending video simulation applications, the emergence of VR technology has played a huge role in the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. Through immersive virtual reality or interactive virtual reality, it has injected new blood of the times into excellent traditional culture and has become an intangible help. The list of intangible cultural heritage protection includes many traditional folk music with unique local characteristics. The gong and drum music in a certain place is one of them. This thesis analyzes the problems in depth from the development status of gongs and drums in a certain place and the problems faced in the later period, and explores executable inheritance and protection strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the accessibility and immediacy of drumming. It highlights the connection between stroke and sound. It discusses the author's experiences with drumming facilitation, pedagogical issues, and historical contexts. It reports that the author acknowledges colonialist perspectives and shares personal experiences as an ethnomusicologist and professional drummer.

This study used a qualitative research and interview methodology with the objective of examining the development and analyzing the playing pattern of Huigu of Zhuang nationality in Mashan County, Guangxi. The fieldwork method is mainly used for collecting data, together with the information from the document. The study's result showed that the process of making HuiGu requires the preparation of tools and instruments used to make musical instruments. and the process of preparing wood, cow hide, and Zhumie to be assembled to make HuiGu. On the playing mode of HuiGu, we found that there were the following types of play styles: 1) Single drumming mode; 2) group drumming patterns; 3) group playing mode; 4) parade performance mode. Playstyle Huigu can be found at Drums of Dragon Dances, Wedding Drums, and Harvest Drums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the jembe (djembé) as a symbol of Africanness in contemporary Serbian culture. Players' narratives often underline the universality and spirituality of distant, romanticised Africa linking these supposed features to 'archaic' aspects of Serbian and Balkan traditional music. The trope of universally adaptable rhythm has united different players, from pioneers of cross-cultural sound during late Yugoslav socialism to the proponents of present-day multiculturalism in Serbia. This paper is informed by ethnographic research with the group Đembija, a recent Belgrade-based music project, and by the use and discourse surrounding the jembe and other African instruments by other contemporary Serbian musicians. The jembe's use in world music bands serves as the basis for a diversity of ideological, poetic and musical practices. Simultaneously, the aural learning, small scale and 'slow pace' of musicianship, in contrast to the hectic everyday experience of contemporary capitalist society, acquires nostalgic resonances within Serbia's budding cross-cultural jembe playing practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies in various countries on gender roles in traditional musical practices portray women as people whose music-making potential is dictated by their role and status in their various communities, among other factors. This article examines the gendered roles of Pondo women drummers in the traditional music played among the Pondo people, a sub-tribe of the Xhosa people in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. This article presents a discussion of the Pondo community's gender ideology and how gender-related behaviours affect its musical thought and practice, and how traditional music functions in communities to reflect Pondo women's musical roles in traditional ceremonies. This article outlines the role played by Pondo women in traditional ceremonies and their drumming in those ceremonies. The research method adopted was a secondary data analysis of the study by Nombeko Ndzobongo (2007) titled "Women drumming among the Pondo people of Eastern Cape Province of South Africa: implication for gender music education". Her study outlined several factors that directly and indirectly affect Pondo women's musical activities. As indicated in the study, these reflect society's perception of these women; as women and as female musicians. Their place in the community, their role and their value in making music were also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drumming is an important part of several African communal cultural traditions and is performed during initiation and ritual ceremonies because it is believed that the beat of the drum can evoke the ancestors. This article is based on ongoing ethnographic research into umxhentso traditional dances among the Xhosa people in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape Provinces of South Africa in the context of amagqirha ceremonies. These ceremonies include drumming, singing, and dancing to obtain spiritual, emotional, and physical blessings and healings from the ancestors. The amagqirha ceremonies are the core of the Xhosa traditions and the role of drumming in these ceremonies has not previously received scholarly attention. This study therefore seeks to bring to the fore the cultural implications of drumming during the amagqirha ceremonies and to better understand the deeper meaning of this indigenous cultural practice. Observation, interviews, and analysis of archival video and photographic material are employed to collect ethnographic data. The findings show that amagqirha ceremonies and rituals incorporate drumming, music, and dance not simply for entertainment but also for spiritual and religious purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AR Drum Circle, is an augmented reality (AR) platform we developed to facilitate a collaborative remote drumming experience. We explore the effects of virtual avatars that are rendered in a player’s view to provide the joy and sensation of co-present music creation. AR Drum Circle uses a head mounted AR display, providing players with visual effects to assist drummers in coordinating musical ideas while simultaneously using a latency-optimized remote collaboration service (JackTrip). AR Drum Circle helps overcome barriers in music collaboration introduced when using remote collaboration tools on their own, which typically do not support real-time video, lack spatial information, and volume control between players, all of which are important for in-person drum circles and music collaboration. This paper presents the results of several investigations: (1) analysis of an in-depth, free-form response survey of drumming communication provided by a small group of expert drummers, (2) observations and analysis of 20 videos of live drum circles, (3) a case study using the AR Drum Circle application in pairs of remotely located participants, and (4) a collaborative drumming case study using a popular networked conferencing application (Zoom). Findings suggest that substantial communicative information including facial expressions, hand-tracking, and eyecontact is lost when using AR alone. Findings also indicate that the AR Drum Circle application can make players less self-conscious and more willing to participate while playing drums improvisationally with others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the interdependence between organology and phonology in the Yoruba dùndún and bàtá drums. We analyze how the specific features of these drums, such as corpus shape, size, kind and number of membranes, and playing techniques affect their systems of speech surrogacy. The study relies on field recordings collected by the authors in Lagos, Nigeria, in February 2020, featuring drummed performances of Yoruba sentences previously unknown to the informants. The recorded sentences were transcribed and analyzed comparatively, which allows us to characterize systematic regularities in the speech-to-drum mapping. Observing how the intrinsic characteristics of language sounds (pitch, duration, intensity and spectrum) are addressed by means of the organologic and acoustic properties of the dùndún and the bàtá, we conclude that these drums’ different properties foster distinct speech surrogacy systems. Alongside a consideration of native perspectives on speech surrogacy, we propose an understanding of drum languages as platforms capable of supporting the development of native theories on sound and language.

In Zimbabwe, the ceremony known as kurova guva is widely held by Shona speakers in order to reintegrate deceased family members within the patrilineage as ancestral spirits, or vadzimu. Conducted a year after burial, kurova guva involves a heterogeneous musical environment that distinguishes it from other ritual events described in the literature on Zimbabwean music. Held by traditionalists and members of several Christian denominations, the ceremony also offers a potent reminder that indigenous ritual remains a vibrant part of the contemporary Zimbabwean experience. I illustrate how music is a central mode of ritual practice at kurova guva, where it is considered ritually efficacious in enabling participants to reclaim the spirit of the deceased as a lineage ancestor. At the same time, I suggest that musical practice also participates in the continual renegotiation, articulation, and social production of the ritual contours of kurova guva. Through the negotiation of music's spatial and temporal dimensions, I illustrate how participants at kurova guva express the structured ambiguity at the heart of ritual process. My analysis suggests that the gap between discursive expectations and actualised musical experience constitutes a productive site for ethnomusicological analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Light shows at contemporary rock concerts generally create an immersive, multisensory experience. In their most sophisticated forms, however, they provide a visual analysis of the music as it unfolds. This paper presents a case study of what I call the analytical light show, by examining how the intricate light shows of extreme metal band Meshuggah contribute an interpretive layer that not only promotes multi-sensory engagement, but also actively guides listeners through songs' formal structures. Meshuggah's light shows, created by lighting designer Edvard Hansson, are exhaustively synchronized to the rhythmic patterns of the guitars and drums. Meticulous use of color, brightness, directionality, placement pattern, and beam movement provide additional information about gesture, articulation, and pitch. These analytical light shows provide a three-dimensional visual score that dramatizes rhythms while guiding listeners through each riff. Through this lighting, spatial and bodily metaphors of musical movement--high and low, moving and holding still--are transmuted into visual representation. By presenting analysis and performance simultaneously and as each other, Meshuggah combines technical virtuosity with rock authenticity, and provides another example of what I have called "coercive synesthesia" (Lucas 2014), as the lighting becomes an inextricable part of the musical experience. Beyond the confines of metal culture, I study the analytical light show as an expression of vernacular musical analysis that combines specific analytical and technical expertise with the intuitive, embodied knowledge that experienced music listeners possess. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human social interactions often involve carefully synchronized behaviours. Musical performance in particular features precise timing and depends on the differentiation and coordination of musical/social roles. Here, we study the influence of musical/social roles, individual musicians and different ensembles on rhythmic synchronization in Malian drum ensemble music, which features synchronization accuracy near the limits of human performance. We analysed 72 recordings of the same piece performed by four trios, in which two drummers in each trio systematically switched roles (lead versus accompaniment). Musical role, rather than individual or group differences, is the main factor influencing synchronization accuracy. Using linear causal modelling, we found a consistent pattern of bi-directional couplings between players, in which the direction and strength of rhythmic adaptation is asymmetrically distributed across musical roles. This differs from notions of musical leadership, which assume that ensemble synchronization relies predominantly on a single dominant personality and/or musical role. We then ran simulations that varied the direction and strength of sensorimotor coupling and found that the coupling pattern used by the Malian musicians affords nearly optimal synchronization. More broadly, our study showcases the importance of ecologically valid and culturally diverse studies of human behaviour. This article is part of the theme issue 'Synchrony and rhythm interaction: from the brain to behavioural ecology'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) is an iconic species that has survived in barely detectable numbers for the past 100 years, during which it has been feared extinct only to be rediscovered several times. The most recent rediscovery was announced in an article that was featured on the cover of Science in 2005. The persistence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker became controversial when ornithologists were unable to obtain a clear photo for documenting this ultra-elusive bird during multi-year searches at sites in Arkansas and Florida, where they had several sightings and were convinced these birds were present. Audio recordings of 'kent' calls and double knocks were obtained at both sites, but such recordings are not regarded as conclusive evidence of persistence. A debate on this issue that took place in Science and Nature focused on relatively weak video evidence obtained in Arkansas but excluded three videos obtained in Louisiana and Florida that show flights, field marks, and other behaviors and characteristics that are consistent with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker but no other species of the region. Kent calls were recorded in the 1930s, when other types of vocalizations were observed but not recorded, including a high-pitched alarm call. On two occasions in Louisiana, high-pitched calls were observed coming from the direction of an alarmed Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and several of them were recorded. The spectrograms of the high-pitched calls and all other known and putative vocalizations of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker consist of simultaneously excited harmonics. A harmonic oscillator model has been used to draw a connection between the drumming that is typical of most woodpeckers and the double knocks of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and other Campephilus woodpeckers. Drumming corresponds to periodic forcing; double knocks correspond to impulsive forcing, and a single thrust of the body is sufficient to produce two impacts of the bill in rapid succession. The audio recordings from Arkansas and Florida were obtained with single microphones. A horizontal array of microphones would make it possible to detect weaker sounds and determine the directions of sources. This approach has the potential to lead to the discovery of a nest, and it might be more effective if the array is placed above the treetops, where sounds might propagate to longer ranges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite his success or perhaps because of it, the renowned Cuban musician pérez prado was the target of criticism from some of his contemporaries. For some jazz musicians prado's compositions lacked substance, were commercial even bordering on corny. Yet he also composed "concerts" which hardly had commercial success as an object. If his mambos are judged as lacking in quality, how to explain the interest classical musicians expressed in them? These questions led me to consider an idea advanced in popular music circles as to whether there was not one but several "pérez prados", i.e. one that composed mambos; another dedicated to marketing light commercial tunes; yet a third focused on "serious" concert music. An analysis of three central elements in all of his work do not reveal several "pérez prados". Rather it demonstrates that prado was a single composer with different facets arising from diverse circumstances and artistic and economic needs, but based on the same musical foundations. prado was a maestro whose variations never abandoned the main themes: rhythm, drums and dancing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychedelics have been recognized as model interventions for studying altered states of consciousness. However, few empirical studies of the shamanic state of consciousness, which is anecdotally similar to the psychedelic state, exist. We investigated the neural correlates of shamanic trance using high-density electroencephalography (EEG) in 24 shamanic practitioners and 24 healthy controls during rest, shamanic drumming, and classical music listening, followed by an assessment of altered states of consciousness. EEG data were used to assess changes in absolute power, connectivity, signal diversity, and criticality, which were correlated with assessment measures. We also compared assessment scores to those of individuals in a previous study under the influence of psychedelics. Shamanic practitioners were significantly different from controls in several domains of altered states of consciousness, with scores comparable to or exceeding that of healthy volunteers under the influence of psychedelics. Practitioners also displayed increased gamma power during drumming that positively correlated with elementary visual alterations. Furthermore, shamanic practitioners had decreased low alpha and increased low beta connectivity during drumming and classical music and decreased neural signal diversity in the gamma band during drumming that inversely correlated with insightfulness. Finally, criticality in practitioners was increased during drumming in the low and high beta and gamma bands, with increases in the low beta band correlating with complex imagery and elementary visual alterations. These findings suggest that psychedelic drug-induced and non-pharmacologic alterations in consciousness have overlapping phenomenal traits but are distinct states of consciousness, as reflected by the unique brain-related changes during shamanic trance compared to previous literature investigating the psychedelic state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates why uṟumi mēḷams are successful in empowering Singaporean Tamil Hindu youths and keeping them away from gangs and crime. Drawing on oral history resources, historical newspaper articles, and ethnographic data from field research conducted in Singapore, Malaysia, and Tamil Nadu (South India), I explore the chain of events and official narratives that associated uṟumi mēḷams with moral panic, before then considering how musicking in an uṟumi mēḷam appeals to Singaporean Tamil Hindu youths. Finally, the article examines approaches adopted by uṟumi mēḷam to engage their young artists so that they feel purposeful and accepted by the group. Building on music and youth empowerment discourse, I argue that uṟumi mēḷam has an enormous potential as an activity to engage and empower at-risk Tamil youths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce and elaborate on the notion of "shared breath" as a way of understanding human and nonhuman copresence and offer descriptions and narratives about three Indigenous groups in Russia and Canada, namely, Veps, Western Woods Cree, and Interior Salish St'át'imc. These data illustrate vividly how the underused metaphor of shared breath sheds light on active participation in life by and respectful relations with nonhuman beings, thus surpassing other overly used spatial, physical, and spiritual metaphors. We move beyond the physical aspects of discrete spaces and materials in extending consideration to pertinent metaphorical and tangible aspects of the verbal, sonorous, and ritual performances undertaken by humans in order to negotiate and reinforce relations with other beings. Relationality is continuously accommodated and regenerated by human and nonhuman agencies through ritual acts that include blowing, chants, breathing, drumming, visualizing, and smoking. The shared breath through which these encounters take place emblematizes turning moments, when new directions may be taken and long-term relations of respect may be established, validated, and reinforced. Shared breath is both a medium and a modality of shamanic and animist relationality, offering a new way of looking at human-nonhuman contact and exchange in animist ritual contexts and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]