Journal articles on the topic 'Degree Discipline: Music'

Although the fields of music psychology and music therapy share many common interests, research collaboration between the two fields is still somewhat rare. Previous work has identified that disciplinary identities and attitudes towards those in other disciplines are challenges to effective interdisciplinary research. The current study explores such attitudes in music therapy and music psychology. A sample of 123 music therapists and music psychologists answered an online survey regarding their attitudes towards potential interdisciplinary work between the two fields. Analysis of results suggested that participants’ judgements of the attitudes of members of the other discipline were not always accurate. Music therapists indicated a high degree of interest in interdisciplinary research, although in free text answers, both music psychologists and music therapists frequently characterized music therapists as disinterested in science. Music therapists reported seeing significantly greater relevance of music psychology to their own work than did music psychologists of music therapists. Participants’ attitudes were modestly related to their reported personality traits and held values. Results overall indicated interest in, and positive expectations of, interdisciplinary attitudes in both groups, and should be explored in future research.

Disciplined bodies or transgressive subjects. Somatoesthetics of fictional death and black metal bands The performances of metal music gropus kind be described as a spectacles of a high degree of symbolic convention, which is paradoxically intended to cause the effect of constant authenticity among spectators and listeners. However, it is diffucult to find any kind of material that shows behind-the-scenes existance of those gropus, we can find critical reflection on the phenomenon of behind-the-scenes discipline in meta-music texts, such as comics and animations devoted to the biographies of fictional music groups. These texts transgress the problem of the masochistic spectacle of the body fictional authenticity of the musical groups. Examples of such texts are the Japanese animation Detroit Metal City (2008) and the Polish comic Będziesz smażyć się w Piekle by Krzysztof “Prosiak” Owedyk (2016).

Recent efforts to increase workplace readiness in university students have largely centred on undergraduates, with comparatively few strategies or studies focusing on higher research degree candidates. In the discipline of music, a wide diversity of possible career paths combined with rapidly changing career opportunities makes workplace readiness a moving target. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative data from semi-structured interviews, dialogue forums, an online survey and pre-existing literature, this paper explores perceptions of higher degree research (HDR) music students about their work readiness, and critically examines these perceptions against graduate capabilities frameworks. It recommends ways to better prepare HDR music students for life beyond their studies, advocating in particular a more collaborative model of research education than is currently the norm. The findings may help improve the student experience and graduate outcomes among HDR students, both in music and more broadly.

Despite roots in acoustic ecology and soundscape studies, the practice and study of soundscape composition is often grouped with, or has grown out of the acousmatic music tradition. This can be observed in the positioning of soundscape compositions juxtaposed with acousmatic music compositions in concert programmes, CD compilations and university syllabuses. Not only does this positioning inform how soundscape composition is listened to, but also how it is produced, sonically and philosophically. If the making and presenting of representations of environmental sound is of fundamental concern to the soundscape artist, then it must be addressed. As this methodological issue is outside of previous musical concerns, to this degree, we must look to other disciplines that are primarily engaged with the making of representation, and that have thoroughly questioned what it is to make and present representations in the world today. One such discipline is ethnography. After briefly charting the genesis of soundscape composition and its underlying principles and motivations, the rest of the paper will present and develop one perspective, that of considering soundscape composition as ethnography.

AbstractThe automaker Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company Music Department in 1924 with the goal of reviving what he called “old-fashioned dancing and early American music.” Ford's interest in the Anglo-American social dances of his youth quickly grew from dances hosted by the Fords for company executives to a nationwide dance education program. This article traces the history of the Music Department's dance education program and examines the parallels between it and the company's earlier efforts in social engineering—namely the Ford Profit Sharing Plan (better known as the “Five Dollar Day”) and the Ford English School. The Music Department's activities offer an opportunity to explore how industry sought to shape music and dance through Americanization efforts and leisure reform as Detroit rapidly urbanized during the first decades of the twentieth century. Supporters of Ford's revival viewed the restrained musical accompaniment and dance movements as an antidote to jazz music and dances, but more importantly, music and dance served as an object lesson in the physical discipline necessary for assembly line labor. Ford's dance education campaign reveals the degree to which industry was once entwined with leisure reform in southeast Michigan.

This paper presents the conditions of economic and political changes within the 90s in Bulgaria and the necessity of a new way of thinking at managing cultural institutions in the conditions of the market economy. As a response to that problem it was created the first of its kind in Bulgaria master’s degree program „Art management.“For that purpose a brief overview of the formal models of funding the arts worldwide are presented along with the characteristics at regional levels which led to the creation of the new educational programme.The main disciplines studied in the educational module aiming to develop a new set of skills among artists are listed with a brief introduction of their scope. A local survey conducted at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts – Plovdiv, analyzing the interest of the first of its kind in Bulgaria master’s degree program „Art management“ is presented. The initial result of the evolution of the educational programme based on the number of students enrolled per year are the motivation for the start of a lager research project “ÄRT” funded by the SRF, Ministry of Education and Science.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate (a) What specific skills and behaviors are considered most important by public school supervising teachers in the development of effective music student teachers?; and (b) Are there differences between instrumental (band/strings) and choral/elementary music supervising teachers on those skills and behaviors? A survey was constructed, consisting of thirty-five items and representing a variety of teacher skills and behaviors. The respondents, public school music teachers who were experienced in supervising student teachers (N = 112), rated each survey item from 1 (not very important) to 5 (very important) regarding the degree each skill and behavior was considered important in the development of music student teachers. The findings showed the highest rated traits may be considered more social in nature and are frequently associated with an individuals personality or personal belief (e.g., honest and ethical). Traits receiving the lowest ratings did not require direct use of musical skills or knowledge (e.g., playing the piano; provide accompaniment), or instructional techniques (e.g., dealing effectively with student discipline). The findings suggest that music student teachers should be aware of high expectations placed on personal characteristics by supervising teachers during the student teaching experience.

The article considers the problem of choral-conducting training of future music art teachers and its place in the system of professional training in pedagogical institutions of higher education. It is noted that the discipline «Choral Conducting», which is part of the Workshop of choral-conducting training is included in the professional unit of the professional system of training specialists, specialty 014 Secondary Education (Music). It includes knowledge, skills and abilities of conducting and choir organization. The effectiveness of the individual form of conducting training is substantiated, which is due to the specifics of choral conducting as a performing art and contributes to the formation of each student’s professiogram. The author highlights the interdisciplinary links of the course «Choral Conducting» with other disciplines that provide a complex professional training of the student, as well as strengthen his/her professional and pedagogical orientation. The article analyzes the theoretical views and pedagogical principles of representatives of Ukrainian conducting and choral schools, which created unique scientific and pedagogical systems of a conductor’s formation. Based on the main provisions of these systems, the author developed the content of choral-conducting training of future music art teachers in pedagogical institutions of higher education, taking into account the regional component (Zaporizhzhia region, Northern Azov), which is represented by works of relevant composers. The article presents the gradual formation of a music art teacher as a specialist choirmaster. The detailed content of choral-conducting training of bachelor's degree students is given. The basic skills that are complicated and improved in the process of conducting are highlighted. The role of the regional component in the content of educational programs and its assistance in preserving the cultural traditions of the region is determined. Key words: future music art teachers, choral-conducting training, conducting activity, choir.

Informal learning has become a prominent theme in music education literature in recent times. Many writers have called for a new emphasis on informal knowledge and pedagogy as the way forward for music education. The position taken in this paper is that a central issue for music education is the accommodation of a tension between types of knowledge and the ways of knowing strongly associated with popular and classical of music – socially acquired informal knowledge and socially developed but formally acquired disciplinary knowledge. Approaches to curriculum conception and realisation observed in a recent series of case studies in New Zealand secondary schools suggest that a key factor in student engagement is the degree to which teachers can create links between informal and formal knowledge so that students’ understanding and conceptual abilities can be extended across these knowledge boundaries. The teaching approaches of two recent graduates in rock music are discussed to support the social realist argument that a ‘progressive’ approach to curriculum involves creating links between informal and formal knowledge rather than replacing one with the other or dissolving the boundaries between them. Through seeing the two types of knowledge as necessarily interconnected within educational contexts, the epistemic integrity of classroom music is maintained. In this way students are able to recognise themselves and their aspirations while also recognising the potential and power of the foundational knowledge of the discipline.

In practicing the complex discipline of history, scholars habitually and necessarily build on previous knowledge that has frequently crystallized into received images of the past-whether of entire cultures, individual historical figures, particular cultural practices, or discrete seminal works or artifacts. The starting hypothesis for the present study is that the historical images we seek to elaborate are unavoidably preconditioned by the conceptual-epistemological frames and perspectives within which they are located and viewed. Indeed, the search for raw material and its subsequent interpretation both depend on the modeling of the entire historical-analytical project. This essay offers a critique of the often hidden assumptions that underlie and inform our models of cultural history in general and medieval history in particular-assumptions that have to a considerable degree shaped our reception and interpretation of medieval music, whether considered in itself or as an integral part of social activity. The debate is conducted in dialogue with Christopher Page's Discarding Images (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), a provocative study about the place of music in the culture of the later Middle Ages.

In response to the present pandemic environment created by COVID 19, there have been significant modifications in various elements of music instruction. All courses, not only those involving group work or theoretical concepts, will be affected by these shifts in the way they are taught and taken. In this day and age, remote emergency teaching and learning calls for cross-collaboration between the teams responsible for the material, the technology, and the training. In this study, we investigate the students' perspectives on online education, and we also give suggestions for making the format more effective and time-saving. The researchers made the decision to carry out their study with the aim of gathering input from undergraduate and master's degree music students after taking part in a university semester that took place in a lockdown setting. An important result of this research was the impact that perceived utility of e-learning methods had in modulating the correlations between compatibility of online approaches and enjoyment of using e-learning methods. A higher perceived utility, which in turn predicted a higher degree of satisfaction with e-Learning techniques, was influenced by the belief that e-Learning strategies are compatible with online music instruction. In spite of the fact that this time heightened apprehensions about social connection, anxiety connected to the unknown, and intolerance of ambiguity, none of these factors predicted levels of contentment in relation to the utilization of e-learning platforms. In conclusion, more educational efforts that support the use of distance learning strategies in the discipline of music education are required. Due to the lack of comparable study carried out in our nation, we came to the conclusion that more investigation into this subject is required.

<p>Professor Beata Dąbrowska – a conductor, teacher, and organizer of musical life, highly merited for Lublin’s musical culture and Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS) – died on 14^th March 2016. She was born on 5^th January 1960 in Lublin, She attended the Karol Lipiński Music School in Lublin, and then studied at the Frederic Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, from which she graduated in 1982 and received a Master of Music Degree in Choral Conducting. From 1982 until the end of her life she worked at the Institute of Music, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (until 2000 it was the Institute of Arts Education). In 1992 she received the first-grade qualification (today – a PhD equivalent) in the artistic discipline of <em>conducting vocal and vocal-instrumental groups</em>; in 1999 she received her second-grade qualification (now – a postdoctoral degree: Habilitated Doctor). In 2003 she was appointed Associate Professor of UMCS. In 2005 she became Head of the Institute of Music. She held this function till her death, combining it with multiple academic activities. At the same time she pursued her artistic activity. In 1987, together with her husband Dariusz Dąbrowski, she founded the Chamber Choir of the Henryk Wieniawski Music Society of Lublin, whose conductor she was for almost 30 years. She and the Choir gave several dozen vocal-instrumental concerts and over 300 concerts a cappella; they took part in many festivals and competitions in other countries and won awards and honors. Most often she performed in Lublin at religious and official state ceremonies, various jubilees, or anniversaries; many times she took part in Lublin concert series (inter alia Ars Chori, Spotkania Chórów Akademickich [Meetings of Academic Choirs]), she also gave concerts in other towns ( e.g. in Gdańsk, Grudziądz, Olsztyn, Toruń, Wrocław). She was engaged in many initiatives of Lublin’s music culture and, at the same time, she improved her skills (in 1990 she completed Podyplomowe Studium Chórmistrzowskie [Postgraduate Choirmaster Training Program at the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz]). In 1995 she initiated in Lublin Międzynarodowe Dni Muzyki Chóralnej (International Days of Choir Music). She organized concerts in Lublin for many years. She was awarded many times for her dedicated and invaluable work, the formation of Lublin’s cultural image, and for the promotion of Polish culture in Poland and abroad.</p>

Introduction: Physical education is a very important discipline since it helps the development of students’ cognitive abilities and motor skills. Also, physical education may be the best setting for individuals with hearing loss to learn about physical activity and a healthy lifestyle. Purpose: The objective of this study was to analyse differences in students’ feelings in physical education classes and their leisure time preferences at the second grade of elementary schools for the deaf by degree of hearing loss. Material and methods: Participants were 86 students with hearing loss (severe to profound hearing loss, n = 51; 59.3%); an average age of 14.3 ± 1.4 years. Six elementary schools for the deaf participated in the research. The data were described using absolute and relative frequencies, including the mean and standard deviation. The non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test, Kruskal-Wallis test, Fisher exact test, Chi-square test and Bonferroni post hoc tests were used for statistical analyses. For calculation of effect size coefficient abs(r) was used. All tests were performed at a significance level of alpha 0.05. Physical education is more popular among students with a more severe hearing loss (Z = –2.409; p = 0.016; abs(r) = 0.260). Relation to emotional response if a physical education class is cancelled, a small effect size coefficient (abs(r) = 0.175) was found, however statistical significance was not proven. Hearing loss affects the amount of leisure time spent listening to music – students with a less severe hearing loss do this activity considerably more often. By contrast, students who only use the Czech sign language do not listen to music. Conclusion: The degree of hearing loss has no negative effect on students’ feelings in physical education classes and their preferences in leisure time.

The functional characteristics of urban systems vary predictably with Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) population, with certain metrics increasing apace with population (e.g., housing stock), some increasing faster than population (e.g., wealth), and others increasing slower than population (infrastructure elements). Culture has been designated the fourth pillar of sustainability. The population-dependent scaling of operating revenue, work space, and number of employees was investigated for almost 3000 arts organizations in the US, both in aggregate and by arts discipline (music, theater, visual and design arts, dance, and museums). Unlike general measures of creativity, the three measures of economic footprint did not scale supra-linearly with the population of metropolitan areas. Rather, operating revenue scaled linearly (e.g., like amenities), and work space and employee number scaled sub-linearly (e.g., like infrastructure). The cost of living, proxied by housing costs, increased with MSA population, though not as rapidly as did arts organization operating revenue, indicating a degree of uncoupling. The generally higher educational attainment of adults in larger cities, coupled with the growth of the education-dependent arts patronage, suggest a funding focus on less populous (50,000–1,000,000), as well as on under-performing, cities.

This paper is an expanded version of a talk given at a Generic Skills Workshop at the University of Wollongong, and was intended for academic staff from any discipline and general staff with an interest in teaching. The issues considered in the paper include the capacity of all to learn, the distinction between learning as understanding and learning as information, the interaction between the communication and content of ideas, the tension between perception and content in communication between persons, and the human functions of a love of learning. In teaching, the creation of a fear-free environment is emphasised, as is the use of analogy as a means of breaking out of one discipline and making connections with another, with mathematics and history being used as a possible example. Some of the issues raised are explored in more depth in the notes at the end of the paper, to which there are references in the main text. About the author. Rodney Nillsen studied literature, mathematics and science at the University of Tasmania. He proceeded to postgraduate study at The Flinders University of South Australia, studying mathematics under Igor Kluvánek and, through him, coming into contact with the European intellectual tradition. He held academic positions at the Royal University of Malta and the University College of Swansea, Wales. Upon returning to Australia, he took up a lecturing position at the University of Wollongong, where he continues to teach and conduct research in pure mathematics. At the University he is a member of Academic Senate and is the Chair of the Human Research Ethics Committee. He received a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Tasmania in 2000. His interests include literature, classical music and the enjoyment of nature.

Speculation as to the origins of music flourished around 1900, in the climate of the recently institutionalized academic discipline of Musikwissenschaft at German-speaking universities. Even across the methodological divides of the young discipline, virtually all branches of Musikwissenschaft participated in this search, which was fueled by the nineteenth-century "philosophy of origins," a powerful ideology that invested special metaphysical significance in the point of departure. Resonating with such concepts as authenticity, autochthony, stability, and purity, the philosophy of origins encouraged a search particularly for the Germanic origins of music. The article traces how various branches of Musikwissenschaft-psychological, ethnological, theoretical, and historical-contribute to this search by reconstructing these elusive origins of music, and at the same time (to varying degrees) establish a sense of identity. This search for origins was not merely of archaeological interest but became instrumental in defining the meaning of Musik as the object of the wissenschaftlich enterprise in the young discipline-not coincidentally at a time when this object, the tradition of tonal music, was increasingly perceived to be under threat from contemporary composition.

Being popular world-wide, virtual laboratories enter into different fields of education and research and practitioners have to be responsible for choosing the most suitable and then adapt them to particular field. The aim of the present work was to assess the effectivity of the implementation of Praxilab, Labster, and LabXchange virtual laboratories as the powerful digital tool into teaching protocols of “Clinical and laboratory diagnostics” discipline for physical therapists and rehabilitologist. We have carried out the online survey for 45 students enrolled in physical rehabilitation degree program. About 70\% surveyed students reported that implementation of virtual laboratories in “Clinical and laboratory diagnostics” discipline met individual learning needs of students, helped acquired digital skills (25\%), and supported them to stay ahead of the curve. The virtual lab applications, not only assisted harness students fair against lack of practical skills, but also brought about a new dimension to the classes and helped overcome digital alienation and gain their digital skills and abilities. Indeed, a virtual lab can’t completely replace the experimental work and teacher’s explanation, but it might support teaching activities of a modern mentor and learning activities of a modern student. Almost all of surveyed students (82\%) expected that in near future the virtual laboratories would take the dominant place in the education market due to possibility of students’ pre-train the key points of practical activities before real experiments in lab and better understand their theoretical backgrounds. Thus, this study is intended to contribute to utilization of virtual labs by students enrolled in study physical therapy/physical rehabilitation with expected efficiency.

Anabaptist studies in Canada have been marked by an exceptional degree of productive, inter-confessional (or non-confessional) engagement, most notably between Mennonites, Baptists, and Lutherans. The institutions making the greatest contributions have been at the University of Waterloo (including, but not exclusively, Conrad Grebel University College), Queen’s University, and Acadia Divinity College. The geographic expansion of Anabaptist studies beyond the traditional Germanic centres into eastern Europe and Italy, and the re-orientation of analysis away from primarily theological or intellectual history toward a greater focus on socio-political factors and networking, have been particular areas in which Canadian scholars have impacted Anabaptist studies. The relationship of Spiritualism (and later Pietism) to Anabaptist traditions and the nature of Biblicism within Anabaptism, including the greater attention to biblical hermeneutics with the “Marpeck renaissance,” have also been studied extensively by Canadians. International debates concerning “normative” Anabaptism and its genetic origins have also been driven by the past generations of Canadian scholars (monogenesis, polygenesis, post-polygenesis). Les études anabaptistes ont été marquées au Canada par un degré exceptionnel de collaboration productive, interconfessionnelle et non-confessionnelle, en particulier entre les mennonites, les baptistes, et les luthériens. Les institutions qui ont le plus contribué à cette collaboration sont les établissements de Waterloo (y compris, entre autres, le Conrad Grebel University College), la Queen’s University et l’Acadia Divinity College. Les études anabaptistes ont déployé leurs intérêts au-delà des centres germaniques traditionnels vers l’Europe de l’Est et l’Italie. Les chercheurs canadiens en études anabaptistes ont contribué de façon importante aux transformations de leur discipline, qui ont amené cette dernière à s’éloigner de l’histoire théologique et intellectuelle fondamentale pour se concentrer davantage sur les facteurs et les réseaux socio-politiques du mouvement anabaptiste. Les chercheurs canadiens ont aussi approfondi les thèmes de la relation du spiritisme (et plus tard, du piétisme) avec les traditions anabaptistes, et du biblicisme propre à l’anabaptisme, incluant l’intérêt croissant pour l’herméneutique biblique dans le cadre de la Renaissance de Marpeck. Des générations de chercheurs canadiens ont également fait leur marque dans les débats internationaux au sujet de l’anabaptiste « normatif » et de sa généalogie (monogenèse, polygenèse, post-polygenèse).

The music of the twentieth century is characterized by multidimensional concepts, a variety of composing techniques, a complex content context, which makes it difficult to master the studied material in the lessons of theoretical disciplines of music educational institutions. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the specifics of studying the musical art of the twentieth century within the disciplines of the theoretical cycle of the modern multilevel system of music education. The main method of research was a complex, requiring an interdisciplinary approach (art history, musicology, cultural studies, pedagogy, music pedagogy). The scientific novelty of the study consists in identifying optimal approaches to mastering one of the most difficult periods of composer creativity for students to perceive. As a result, a thesis formulation of the categorical and conceptual apparatus of the studied creative trends, trends and compositional styles with an accompanying illustrative series, both auditory and visual, is proposed. The practical significance of the research lies in the fact that the methodological approaches presented in the work in the study of musical art of the twentieth century will be in demand within the framework of theoretical disciplines at different levels of musical education. The materials are addressed primarily to top-level teachers (bachelor's degree, within the framework of studying the disciplines "History of Foreign Music" and "Music of the twentieth century"), however, they may be in demand, including fragmentary, and in college, and with some adaptation in high schools of music and art schools when studying the composition of the twentieth century centuries.

An active transition to distance learning requires a teacher of a modern higher school to develop new methods in organizing and supporting the educational process. The proposed research examines the basic principles of a musician-teacher’s training on the example of generalizing one’s own experience of introducing multimedia technologies in teaching musical and historical disciplines and creating an electronic textbook on “History of music (foreign and domestic)” for a bachelor’s degree in specialty 44.03.01 (Pedagogy. Music).

Our university`s sports program is aimed at maintaining the high mental and physical fitness of the students. It also serves to monitor the overall physical condition and development as well as the psychophysical capacities of the students from the non-specialized higher schools and the relation between the different types of practiced sports and the observed changes in some specific personal qualities: the degree of concentration and stability of attention.[ 7]. The problem related to investigating attention is becoming ever more relevant and the very essence of the attention process is based on such components as concentration and stability. [1,4]. Table tennis is an entertaining, generally accessible sport which can be practiced by people of all ages. Mass aerobics is pastime that involves multiple steps and movements performed continuously in a certain sequence and different intensities , in the rhythm of the music. The tools, employed in classical aerobic gymnastics include general physical exercises, a variety of steps in coordination with hand movements as well as exercises targeted at different body muscle groups and stretching exercises. [6]. Playing table tennis and practicing aerobics has a proven positive impact on the individual`s physical development, speed, agility and endurance of the movements and serves to enhance the functional capabilities of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. In addition, it has a positive effect on the psychological development: stability and mental concentration, quickness of mind and willpower plus the modeling of behavioral patterns of higher morality and the ability to control one`s emotions and self-control.[9] It is for these reasons that at the beginning and the end of the 2017/2018 academic year we have decided to make a comparison between the development of some psychological indicators found in our female students who are actively playing table tennis and mass aerobics as a part of the curriculum in the "Physical Education and Sports" discipline at the University of National and World Economy. On the basis of the results we have found that the methods of table tennis and aerobics training are adequate and contribute to the more effective education of the students in the physical education and sports education process at the University of National and World Economy. Table tennis students are better at both levels of concentration and stability.

RESUMENEl concepto de interdisciplinariedad ha sido ampliamente estudiado desde el punto de vista ontológico y epistemológico. Sin embargo, todavía se puede ahondar en el diseño de estrategias en el ámbito educativo. Por ello, desde el área de Música se realiza una propuesta en el marco de los estudios universitarios de Grado en Magisterio en Educación Primaria que permita crear espacios interdisciplinares de integración curricular con otras disciplinas pertenecientes a los campos de conocimiento de las Ciencias Humanas. De esta forma, se pretende favorecer los procesos de enseñanza/aprendizaje de las materias implicadas así como la formación integral de los futuros maestros.ABSTRACTThe concept of interdisciplinary has been widely studied from the ontological and epistemological points of view. However, we can still deepen the design of strategies in the educational field. Therefore, from the Music area, a proposal in the frame of the University Degree of Primary School Teaching is posited, allowing for creating interdisciplinary curricular integration with disciplines belonging to the knowledge fields of Human. In this way, it is expected that the teaching/learning processes of the subjects involved are fostered, as well as the comprehensive education of the students.

IASPM conferences are always enjoyable. There is plenty of enthusiasm for music, as well as much skilful delineation of its form and cultural context. IASPM conferences also have a pretty flat structure and, although there is never enough, a relatively high degree of interaction between people from different countries, ethnicities, disciplines, sexualities. Certainly, the academic star system is in evidence, but its worst manifestations are suppressed because most people want their conference to be democratic, to represent an alternative kind of academic culture.

In the context of increasing attention to the training of future professionals outlines the special urgency of the problem of professional competence of future music teachers, which includes the ability of individuals to acquire knowledge and skills in art education institutions, to form personal qualities and values ​​and value orientations required for professional activity. social requirements. The level of professional competence of a music art teacher reflects the degree of his readiness for music-educational work in a secondary school, is a prerequisite for the effectiveness of pedagogical activities, a kind of link to improve intellectual and practical experience, finding effective ways to improve pedagogical skills. in the conditions of an educational institution of artistic direction the development of professional competence occurs during the study of both general and special (for example, block of disciplines: history of foreign music, history of Ukrainian music, solfeggio, harmony, polyphony, analysis of musical forms, basic musical instrument, choral studies and choral arrangement, choral class and practical work with the choir, choral conducting and reading of choral scores, solo singing) disciplines. The formation of knowledge and skills is a prerequisite for the formation of professional competence of the future teacher and involves mastering a set of special knowledge in theoretical and performing (instrumental, vocal and conducting and choral) disciplines. Thus, the basis of professional competence of the future teacher of music art is special (general pedagogical, conducting, instrumental, vocal, performing, musicological, research), social and personal training. One of the effective and relevant ways to develop the professional competence of a music teacher is interactive technologies. In accordance with the Law of Ukraine «On Education» and the requirements of the competence approach, mastering interactive technologies has become one of the main conditions for teaching art subjects by teachers of secondary schools. A number of authors note that as a result of the use of interactive technologies there is an actualization of intellectual reserves and capabilities of students, replenishment of knowledge of theoretical and generalizing nature, deepening and expanding the individual semantic context in working with educational material. Thus, in the article the author defines the role of the use of interactive technologies in the process of forming the professional competence of the future music teacher. The author argues that interactive technologies are based on the principles of interaction, student activity, reliance on group experience, mandatory feedback, which have a wide range of developmental, educational and reflective functions. The use of interactive technologies in the training of future teachers of music allows to stimulate creative, cognitive activity of the teacher-musician, to focus the teacher on self-development and self-affirmation, thereby developing his professional competence.

Globalization is an explicit threat to intangible cultural heritage. Preservation of the traditional dance and music of a variety of cultures and ethnic groups is a subject of many studies and projects of scholars in different disciplines. In the current project, we focus on the same theme by applying a combination of new technology and creative ideas. Our compound method applies choreographic computer game technologies to the elements of intangible cultural heritage, informed by a careful consideration of intrinsic elements of the culture. Using a tool that transforms body movement to musical sound, spatial dance data can create melodic and rhythmic patterns based on structural elements of Azeri music such as 6/8 meter and two-core phrases. The data was sonified by a combination of rotation data across 360 degrees with pitches and cutoff sounds. Each pitch was assigned a region of a circular protractor according to the range and density of the data captured, and the rotation degree of three body parts was mapped into the nearest pitch. The patterns are generated in real time, and the composed music is audible when the game is run. They have a motivic structure and a set of rules that are applied to compose varied but cohesive music, informed by traditional musical stylistic features. The gamified prototype assists the heritage transmission to descendants via a 3D game environment that challenges the players for good performance, appraises their results, and motivates them in learning a folk dance. It also facilitates the players’ familiarization with the cultural forms by generating patterns in rhythmic coordination with the performance. This approach can be applicable to other cultures using their dance data and cultural elements. It also has the potential to be adapted for various apparatuses for game-based learning and knowledge transmission regarding intangible cultural heritage.

Music theory in Russia and in other countries has substantially elucidated the contemporary academic music culture in its most diverse manifestations. However, educational practice which is focused on academic traditions has been realizing to a greater degree the lack of balance between pedagogy and culture. An evaluation of the situation as a critical one calls forth the ideas of a fundamental renewal of the strategies of musical teaching which are declared to be innovations. The article poses the question about the indispensability of the rectification of this conception, which is endowed with theoretical and practical value, but requires concretization in connection with the placed goals. The author examines the innovational educational principle of work on the advancement of the universal cultural background of students of higher educational institutions and colleges. In correspondence with such a phenomenon as the visualization of audial compositions permeating the network space, this involves a broad implementation of the visual element into the teaching of music theory disciplines. The principles of teaching must transform themselves from the positions of present-day culture and the new mechanisms of its existence.

The Graduate Program in Architectural Acoustics has been constantly advanced from its inception in 1998 with an ambitious mission of educating future experts and leaders in architectural acoustics, due to the rapid pace of change in the fields of architectural-, physical-, and psycho-acoustics, and noise-control engineering. Since years the program’s pedagogy using “STEM” (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) methods has been proven to be effective and productive, including intensive, integrative hands-on experimental components that integrate architectural acoustics theory and practice. The graduate program has recruited graduate students from a variety of disciplines including individuals with B.S., B.Arch., or B.A. degrees in Mathematics, Physics, Engineering, Architecture, Electronic Media, Sound Recording, Music and related fields. Graduate students under this pedagogy and research environment have been succeed in the rapidly changing field. RPI’s Graduate Program in Architectural Acoustics has since graduated more than 120 graduates with both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees. Under the guidance of the faculty members they have also actively contributed to the program’s research in architectural acoustics, communication acoustics, psycho-acoustics, signal processing in acoustics as well as our scientific exploration at the intersection of cutting edge research and traditional architecture/music culture. This paper illuminates the evolution and growth of the Graduate Program.

This paper examines the features of the activities of a teacher of additional education related to the preparation of students for a concert performance and necessity of creating favorable conditions to the successful performance of students. The most common shortcomings in preparing students for performing in front of audience are identified, also the main stages of the musical teaching process are considered. In the course of analyzing the activities of a music teacher, it was revealed that in the structure of the organization of the musical teaching process when working with gifted students, it is important that the teacher has pedagogical giftedness, which includes a number of pedagogical abilities. On the basis of the studied materials and the experience of foreign countries, the author proposes, on the basis of a bachelor's degree, to enter a course of major disciplines such as psychology of musical and pedagogical activity, psychological and pedagogical workshop and the art of teaching stage performance, and for acting teachers on the basis of children's music schools, to introduce an advanced training course of psychological and pedagogical support of students in the conditions of concert activities for teachers of additional education.

One of the urgent problems in professional music education is the lack of a system and mechanisms for the formation of a holistic world picture and systemic personality development of students. The reasons are: inconsistency in the teaching of musical and humanitarian disciplines; training without taking into account the specific personal characteristics of the musicians. This article presents a model of music students’ cognitive activity, built from the standpoint of systemic, personal, activity and contextual approaches. The proposed model of the students-musicians cognitive activity is based on the specific features of the musicians’ cognitive sphere revealed by the method of theoretical analysis. The students-musicians cognitive activity model is presented as a combination of intuitive, logical and transitional modes, in each of which implicit information processing and decision-making are manifested with varying degrees of activity; explicit reproduction of knowledge and decision making, explicit modeling of musical activity. The experience of applying the model in practice has led to the transformation of psychological and pedagogical knowledge in musical activity and the world picture of students.

Background. According semiotics, the text by which the fixation and preservation of information is carried out is the result of sign activity of man. The study of the patterns and nature of the notation and its elements is impossible without consideration of semiosis – the process of functioning of signs. The peculiarity of the musical activity is the fact that the graphic musical text finds a different form – the note signs are read by the interpreter and transform into sound. In other side, it is important to note that in the mind of the composer in the process of recording the work sound images are primary. On this basis, it can be assumed that musical activity combines the functioning of several sign systems. Therefore, it seems appropriate to investigate musical notation – the carrier of musical information – as an abstract written sign system and to illuminate its components using semiotic theory. Since the latter, according to Ch. Morris (2001), creates a “common language” that can be applied to any particular sign system. The object of the research is the traditional music notation as a written sign system. The main goal is the analysis of a special musical sign system and its elements from the standpoint of semiotics. The semiotic research method is used in the aspect of the theory of Charles Morris, one of the founders of semiotics as a scientific discipline about signs. Research results. “The human mind is inseparable from the functioning of signs – perhaps, in general, intelligence should be equated with the functioning of signs,” – this thought by Ch. Morris (2001: 45) immediately removes the question of the legitimacy of seeing in the art a sign system or a kind of language. Unlike the so-called natural language, music is a special language that, for its scientific description, needs to be studied from a semiotic point of view to study its formal structure, to refer to objects that are denoted and to interpreters using the sign system. In the definition of Ch. Morris (2001: 76), language is a set of symbolic means, the use of which is conditioned by syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic rules. The scientist uses the definitions “designatum” and “denotatum” describing the sign correlation in the process of “semiosis”. The “designatum” may be considered as an “image” or “concept” of the “denotatum”, which refers to real-world objects. In the written music notation (text) system, signs are presented in complex form. Given the absence of “denotatum” as a real object in the musical activity, the only physical result of the sign’s functioning is sound itself. However, this physical phenomenon is not within the scope of the sign system under consideration as a denotation or other component. That is, the material sound result is part of another musical process and, accordingly, another sign system – the performing process of a piece of music. Signs can be jointed into different combinations. As Ch. Morris (2001) writes, this does not preclude the existence of an isolated sign. In the case of musical texts, significant situations may occur in which individual graphic elements in combination find new content. For example, the league, along with the emphasis, can demonstrate the motive structure. In this situation, the emphasis indicates the location of the reference tone, and the league – framed the boundaries of the motive. Being a semantic unit, the structure of the motive is due to the logical accent, which has a major impact on the ratio of other tones of the sequence: the notes located before and after the accent have a different degree of gravity, which directly determines the musical pronunciation. The absence of a league in this combination makes it possible to read this motif as having a different length, especially if it bordered on others. In the absence of an accent, the location of the reference tone is not indicated and obeys the metric grid of the tact, namely, the main note of the motif will be placed on a downbeat. The consideration of musical notes in the semiotic aspect also led to the assumption that there are independent signs that, being isolated, carry information (for example, the “note” sign, which indicates the pitch and duration); as well as special signs that add new qualities to other musical notes (for example, alteration symbols), which, taken separately, do not have practical value. For example, the “#” (“sharp”) symbol functions only in combination with another, independent, “note” sign. At the same time, reading the alteration sign together with the pause symbol is not possible due to the lack of appropriate syntactic and semantic rules. These special characters play the role of qualifiers and add their “designates” to other meanings, acting at the syntactic and semantic levels of the semiosis process. The concept of the interaction of signs in the process of semiosis provides for the formation of new complex characters from independent and special characters. New iconic situations form a new value field. During the use of characters in various combinations, the interpreter may take into account other designations, which is further regulated by pragmatic rules. Conclusions. Many studies of musical language as a system related to natural lead to negative results and incline their authors to statements about the metaphorical nature of this concept. However, its study from a semiotic perspective, that is, the study of musical notation as a system of signs or a special language, opens up a different perspective. The identification of conditions and rules for the functioning of signs at different semiotic levels makes it possible to provide a complete description of the sign musical notation system and its elements. The groups of “designatums” and “denotatums” need to be precisely defined, namely, their belonging to a certain sign system, since the same sequence of tones in one system acts as a unit of language, and in another, for example, as a leitmotif. It is noted that the musical system has more “designatums” than actually existing objects of reference (“denotatums”). The analysis of relations arising at the syntactic level made it possible to identify a number of special musical graphic signs that function only in combination with other signs and supplement or change their reference (for example, alteration signs). The process of functioning of signs and the formal structure of the sign system of a musical language require a comprehensive and deeper study, which is the perspective of this study.

Object. The article`s aim is to study formation of the methodological competence of a music teacher`s potential in practical work as well as to determine the effective forms and methods of professional training of the bachelor students during their pedagogical practice at schools. Methods. Conventional pedagogical research methods were applied: theoretical analysis of scientific and pedagogical literature, comparative analysis, empirical and modeling methods. Results. In the course of the research, the essence of methodological competence in the context of solving the issues of a potential music teacher’s professional training was theoretically substantiated. It is determined that the content of the curriculum for higher education 014 Secondary Education (Music) focuses the applicant of the first bachelor’s degree on the formation of «polyphonic» methodological and pedagogical thinking. It is proved that this type of thinking is a priority one for mastering the methodological constructions of the updated subjects «musical art» and «art». It is covered the conceptual core for structuring of the main professionally oriented academic disciplines: «Methods of music education» and «Pedagogical practice». The basis of such a structuring is a didactic matrix of art lessons of poly-artistic direction. It is proposed to use the principle of interdisciplinary integration for the development of students’ methodological skills in three dimensions of musical art mastering: improvement-transformation-modeling. Modeling of professional situations in the process of pedagogical practice by means of creation of individual methodological maps of students is carried out. A special place in the methodological and practical work of students was taken by various forms of individual creative tasks on music pedagogy. This significantly affected the level of professional training, and separately – the practical and creative component of the formation of the students’ methodological base. Among the methods that aroused the greatest interest of students during pedagogical practice it should be point out the holding of master classes, music-pedagogical trainings, discussions the issues of pupils’ teaching by art means. A wide range of practical issues was solved due to introduction of interactive teaching forms, like «music aquarium», «art cafe», «brainstorming», «facilitation discussion» as well as imitating music and game technologies. Conclusions. Summarizing the results of the study, it can be pointed out that the practical training of a modern music teacher should be carried out in the plane of integration processes affected the renewal of a music lesson as a lesson of poly-artistic content. It is proposed to consider the formation of methodological competence from the standpoint of the systematic approach to teaching. It is carried out modeling of professional situations based on the principles of interdisciplinary integration. It was found that the most effective form of students’ work during school practice is the creation of individual methodological maps.

Abstract Objective – To test whether routinely-generated library usage data could be linked with information about students to understand patterns of library use among students from different disciplines at the University of Huddersfield. This information is important for librarians seeking to demonstrate the value of the library, and to ensure that they are providing services which meet user needs. The study seeks to join two strands of library user research which until now have been kept rather separate – an interest in disciplinary differences in usage, and a methodology which involves large-scale routinely-generated data. Methods – The study uses anonymized data about individual students derived from two sources: routinely-generated data on various dimensions of physical and electronic library resource usage, and information from the student registry on the course studied by each student. Courses were aggregated at a subject and then disciplinary level. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann Whitney tests were used to identify statistically significant differences between the high-level disciplinary groups, and within each disciplinary group at the subject level. Results – The study identifies a number of statistically significant differences on various dimensions of usage between both high-level disciplinary groupings and lower subject-level groupings. In some cases, differences are not the same as those observed in earlier studies, reflecting distinctive usage patterns and differences in the way that disciplines or subjects are defined and organised. While music students at Huddersfield are heavy library users within the arts subject-level grouping arts students use library resources less than those in social science disciplines, contradicting findings from studies at other institutions, Computing and engineering students were relatively similar, although computing students were more likely to download PDFs, and engineering students were more likely to use the physical library. Conclusion – The technique introduced in this study represents an effective way of understanding distinctive usage patterns at an individual institution. There may be potential to aggregate findings across several institutions to help universities benchmark their own performance and usage; this would require a degree of collaboration and standardisation. This study found that students in certain disciplines at Huddersfield use the library in different ways to students in those same disciplines at other institutions. Further investigation is needed to understand exactly why these differences exist, but some hypotheses are offered.

The desire to make data accessible through the sense of listening has led to ongoing research in the fields of sonification and auditory display since the early 1990s. Coming from the disciplines of computer sciences and human computer interface (HCI), the conceptualisation of sonification has been mostly driven by application areas and methods. On the other hand, the sonic arts, which have always participated in the auditory display community, have a genuine focus on sound. Despite these close interdisciplinary relationships between communities of sound practitioners, a rich and sound- or listening-centred concept of sonification is still missing for design guidelines. Complementary to the useful organisation by fields of application, a proper conceptual framework for sound needs to be abstracted from applications and also to some degree from tasks, as both are not directly related to sound. As an initial approach to recasting the thinking about sonification, we propose a conceptualisation of sonifications along two poles in which sound serves either anormativeor adescriptivepurpose. According to these two poles, design guidelines can be developed proper to display purposes and listening modes.

The professional development of a future teacher-musician involves not only the acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities, but also personal self-improvement. The formation of a new type of teacher is possible only if the higher education approaches to real professional and pedagogical activities. Tasks of training of pedagogical staffs that meet modern requirements actualize the problem of development of vocal and performing skills of the future teachers-musicians during their studies at a higher education institution. To implement this task various forms of collective musical performance, aimed at integrating different areas of artistic life, are created. Among them vocal ensemble is one of the leading varieties of musical creativity. Educational discipline "Methodology of work with folklore ensembles" laid out for the master's students-degrees of musical separation of artistic faculty. Students can learn to manage their own voice, to develop creativity and have prospects for self-expression. Participation in the folk vocal ensemble helps not only to understand the musical material, but also learn to control voice, gestures, facial expressions, plastic body. In the process of activity of folk vocal ensemble developed the logical and creative thinking, musical talent, created some artistic images. Musical and theatrical activity contributes to the disclosure of the individual student identify his individual qualities, raising efficiency and discipline. Work on the culture of sound, breath, a sense of musical phrases possession of the breast and the main cavity, smoothing transitions register, development of natural sounding voice in contrast to imitate him – the basis of vocal and choral singers. This activates the creative process contributes to the education of various technical and performing skills, developing artistry, ability to transform in the performance of music of different genres, styles and character.

Three dimensional visualization of complex, variable resolution data sets is an inherent problem with the increase in data retrieval and processing methods. This problem translates across many disciplines in the sciences and engineering, but also in the arts, new media and social networking. In this paper the authors report on a project to integrate terrestrial and aerial based terrain data with variable degrees of resolution. Future implications of big data set visualization and the development of transdisciplinary approaches that can be used in both the sciences and the arts are discussed.

This paper shows the experience developed in the compulsory subject Expression Laboratory of the 4th year of the Early Childhood Education Teaching Degree at the University of Oviedo within the Innovation Project Art Education and Sensitive Tools for Early Childhood Education (PINN-20-A-056). An optional project that was developed online during the first term of 2020-2021. It was developed in a stressful situation for the students, an educational context of distance learning, in which they felt stress and pandemic fatigue (Covid-19), with the additional disadvantage of not having common physical spaces in which to develop the artistic work of the subject in a context of didactics for Early Childhood Education. The objective was to integrate activities related to sensory stimuli and the well-being of people through the Visual Arts. To this end, a group of N=115 pupils were given the tools of art therapy and other disciplines. With a qualitative methodology, through semi-structured interviews, activities and questionnaires, the results were measured. The results are considered to have been positive, with an increase in motivation towards Art Education subjects. In conclusion, Art Therapy, Music Therapy and Mindfulness generate moments of relaxation and reduce anxiety in students.

Introduction. Apart from classical academic musicology, sociology, social anthropology and related disciplines such as sociolinguistics, philology, and cultural studies contributed to the development of research of music and its role in social, interpersonal relations, and individual experiences. The aim of this research is to investigate musical and singing traditions within the context of social relations, historical challenges, and sub-cultures by sociological and social anthropological approaches. In the last decades these research is of relevance for scholars interested in creativity and creative individuals whose impact effect is ambient in current social and political processes. The main tradition can be approached as a socio-cultural phenomenon emerging in the form of sub-culture.Methodology and sources. Methodological b ackground o f t his r esearch i s o f s tructuralfunctional character. Within this framework art and creativity can be approached by various sets of research techniques. Culture of music can be studies both as an object and as a text; hence, textual and contextual approaches are of significance. In result, we can discover reasons motivating people to influence social relations and preconceptions within certain groups and societies. This approach allows the analysis the connections between individual and collective perceptions of people regarding their identities and place in a society. Finally, not only music shapes the context of sociolultural phenomena, but it is the context itself per se. For this paper I used texts and bibliographic data of singers such as follows: Son House, Robert Johnson, Skip James, William Samuel McTell, Edward W. Clayborn.Results and discussion. The analysis of social history of blues in the end of the nineteenth and in the beginning of the twentieth centuries as well as biographies of bluesmen along with the texts of their songs clearly demonstrates poetic motifs, individual and social reflections of different communities. The images such as love and flirt, manqué love, rest from hard work, roads, railways, trains, abandoned home with simultaneous lack of home, prison, illness, death and cemetery as well as the demonstration of all the listed images by socially oriented creativity in music, represents deep forms of marginality of those who sing it out in front of respected citizens living normal lives.Conclusion. The material scrutinized in this paper clearly shoes that blues as a genre of music along with bluesmen who are representatives of a certain sub-culture, constitute a coherent social system which can be characterized a s a c ounter-culture. This social and cultural phenomenon in a way we encounter it derived from marginal status of its representatives. This marginal status becomes visible in blues as emotion and soulreflection to a large degree contradictory to the idea of respectable citizens and so-called “right way of life”.

The development of the STEAM-approach is one of the main trends in global education. It integrates Sciences (S), Тechnology (T), Engineering (E), Arts (A), and Mathematics (M). Future Specialists need comprehensive training in the exact Sciences, Biology, Engineering, and Design – and this future is being prepared today. STEAM education is introduced in Western schools from an early age. The most important theoretical position of this approach is the statement that a student who knows the artistic beginnings of life (literature, painting, music, art design), achieves more in mathematics, and in engineering, and in Sciences. STEAM-literature curriculum is also based on an interdisciplinary and applied approach. The purpose of a lesson on the analysis of a literary text, as a rule, is associated with the creation of a material object (model) by students, in which their knowledge of all the listed disciplines is comprehensively invested. The main tool for interpreting a literary text in this approach is design. Not just design tasks are solved in the classroom with its help – design is one of the basic forms of modern visual art. The main question, which the author of the article faces, is whether it is possible to implement such the technologies at school without losses for the studied work of art. The analysis of western models leads to the conclusion that the significance of literature, as an independent subject, changes within the STEAM-approach – part of its autonomy is delegated to other disciplines. At the same time, a new, unexpected configuration of subjects appears in the classroom: literature is now integrated with biology, design, and mathematics. Thus, the interdisciplinary basis of STEAM takes the teaching of literature to a new interdisciplinary level. At the same time, it raises some questions about the degree of presence of the literary text itself in this approach, and the laws of its creation and the depth of its interpretation by students.

The author reflects on the specifics of distance musical and pedagogical education, which is perceived by many in a negative connotation – a reduced number of academic disciplines, first of all, individual lessons. And also – the important factor that distance education is often paid and the initial level of students is rather weak. However, there are no clear criteria for the comparative quality of full-time and part-time diplomas. Moreover, in the music profession, where individual training actualizes not only professional knowledge and skills, but also the formation of personal qualities of the future specialist. at the same time, it is necessary to separate two concepts – “correspondence” and “distance” learning. There is practically no research that would deal with the problems of distance musical and pedagogical education. As a rule, those few works that exist on correspondence training of pedagogical specialties do not take into account the specifics of the profession of music teacher, for example, in terms of the creative component of the educational process or the development of performing skills. to date, the most noticeable research gaps are, first of all, the actualization of the contextual approach and the study of the motivational component in distance learning. The author analyzes the data developed by him a detailed questionnaire for part-time students with information about the real and intended place of work of future graduates, their motivation for distance learning, the degree of satisfaction with such training, its advantages and disadvantages, the level of musical training of future teachers, musicians, their specific professional problems, etc. The students’ answers showed that there is a powerful trend in the musical and pedagogical profession associated with the public expression of musical creativity, the actualization of not only education and upbringing, but also the enlightenment component of the educational process. In addition to the performance qualities of a music teacher, those skills that have only recently seemed to be insignificant, such as organizational, directorial, lecturers, and managerial ones, have become extremely popular. According to the author, in the correspondence musical and pedagogical education it is much easier to develop the abilities of teachers in this regard, since, on the one hand, there is a knowledge base, and on the other – a specific professional situation, familiar and close to the correspondence student and teacher in one person. In this contextual paradigm laid a powerful lever of motivation of part-time students to maximize the “whole” of the educational process and, accordingly, the optimal combination and complementarity of study and professional activities.

Background. The article is devoted to the piano work of the outstanding composer, pianist and teacher Mao-Shuen Chen (born 1936), his contribution to the art of music and education in Taiwan. Music education received in Taiwan, and then – in European countries, allowed Mao-Shuen Chen to significantly develop and modernize his native national art. His methodical works, textbooks and collections of exercises for piano became the basis of his own method of teaching, which the musician has long successfully used in public and private music schools in Taiwan. An important role in Mao-Shuen Chen’s unique pedagogical system is also played by his piano works, especially sonatinas. The sonatinas of Mao-Shuen Chen act as a kind of link between school-level compositions and opuses of the highest pianistic complexity. They are collected in three notebooks, each of the next of which represents a higher degree of pianistic complexity. Sonatina makes it possible, in a simpler and more compact-scale presentation, to prepare students for mastering a more complex genre – the sonata. Mastering the sonata form for members of the Taiwanese musical tradition is a particularly difficult task, due to differences in European musical thinking, within which the sonata originated, and the peculiarities of national music, which is usually the focus of composers. However, the genre of sonatina in the works of Mao-Shuen Chen and its role in the development of sonata thinking of Taiwanese students have not been studied to date. Objectives and methodology. The purpose of this research is to reveal the peculiarities of the interpretation of the genre of sonatina in the piano work of Mao-Shuen Chen, its role in the pedagogical system of the Taiwanese musician and its artistic and pedagogical value. In this connection the characteristic of the pianistic level of complexity of the works under consideration is given, their technical and artistic difficulties are revealed. For this, various methods of research were applied: genre-style, intonational analyses, systematization, musical-aesthetic and interpretological approaches. Results. Thanks to a well-organized educational system of methodological works, books, musical anthologies and audio recordings, Mao-Shuen Chen was able to build his own pedagogical approagh and introduce his teaching methods to many young musicians striving to acquire a high professional level as a performer and a teacher. In this system of mastering piano professionalism, thirty-five sonatinas by Mao-Shuen Chen, created from 1980 to 2015, occupy an important place. Sonatinas are very useful in preparing piano students to study more complex compositions written in sonata form. All sonatinas are dominated by the flavor of Taiwanese folk music. So, at the heart of Sonatinas Nos. 1–5, 7, 11, 17, 21 is the pentatonic scale of the mode “shan”, which can be expanded with additional steps. The exceptions are Sonatina No. 6, written using the atonal writing technique, and Sonatina No. 8, which is based on the Western European tonal system. Considering the rhythmic organization as the basis of music, the composer demonstrates in his sonatinas various versions of the musical meter and rhythm – complex and variable metering, syncope, polyrhythm, etc. He arranges these elements in his sonatinas from simple to complex. Mao-Shuen Chen pays great attention to polyrhythmic combinations 3: 2, 4: 3, 4: 6 and, considering them important for mastering the educational didactic. They can be considered the same instructive material as rhythmic exercises or etudes. For example, Sonatinas Nos. 3–6 are based on polyrhythm 3: 2, 2: 3, Sonatinas Nos. 7–8 – on combinations 3: 4 and 4: 3. It is no coincidence, that they also published in the composer’s educational methodological manual – the collection “Piano School and Piano Exercises 3: 4, 4: 3” (1990). The final Sonatinas (Nos. 32–34) by Mao-Shuen Chen require a high degree of pianistic mastership from the performer. They present works that combine complex elements of the Taiwanese national musical language and contemporary Western composer writing. The intonational and dynamic richness, variety of rhythmic patterns, irregular meters, extraordinary line drawing indicate that these works can rightfully be considered one of the brightest examples of the modern repertoire and can be widely represented on the concert stage. Conclusions. Mao-Shuen Chen made significant contributions to Taiwanese musical culture, especially in the areas of composition and music education. Among the many genres of his work, piano music occupies the most significant place. Having devoted many years to teaching in the higher musical institutions of Taiwan, Mao-Shuen Chen has developed a coherent system of teaching materials from the level of musical elementary school to higher education, with a focus on the practice of solfeggio and fundamental professional disciplines. The composer devoted a significant part of his attention to works of the sonata form – sonatinas and sonatas. In this regard, he can be compared with the Western European classic, the “patriarch of the piano” M. Clementi, who created a harmonious system of progressive mastery of pianistic skill. In all of his works, Mao-Shuen Chen represents his aspiration for the model of Western musical education, carefully preserving the Taiwanese national cultural tradition. He creates compositions with a typical Western structure, which should be performed on a Western musical instrument, but they clearly reflect the ChineseTaiwanese national flavor. Since the piano sonatas of Mao-Shuen Chen present high demands on performers due to their large volume, considerable virtuosity and the complexity of the rhythmic organization of texture, their mastering is possible only after passing through the simpler opuses of the Taiwanese composer.

This article presents a new approach to interactive spatial sonification of multidimensional data as a tool for spatial sound synthesis, for composing temporal–spatial musical materials, and as an auditory display for scientists to analyze multidimensional data sets in time and space. The approach applies parameter-mapping sonification and is currently implemented in an application called Cheddar, which was programmed in Max/MSP. Cheddar sonifies data in real time, where the user can modify a wide variety of temporal, spatial, and sonic parameters during the listening process, and thus more easily uncover patterns and processes in the data than when applying non-real-time, noninteractive techniques. The design draws on existing literature concerning perception and acoustics, and it applies the author's practical experience in acousmatic composition, spectromorphology, and sound semantics, while addressing accuracy, flexibility, and ease of use. Although previous sonification applications have addressed some degree of real-time control and spatialization, this approach integrates space and sound in an interactive framework. Spatial information is sonified in high-order 3-D ambisonics, where the user can interactively move the virtual listening position to reveal details easily missed from fixed or noninteractive spatial views. Sounds used as input to the sonification take advantage of the rich spectra and extramusical attributes of acoustic sources, which, although previously theorized, are investigated here in a practical context thoroughly tested alongside acoustic and psychoacoustic considerations. Furthermore, when using Cheddar, no specialized knowledge of programming, acoustics, or psychoacoustics is required. These approaches position Cheddar at the junction between science and art. With one application serving both disciplines, the patterns and processes of science are more fluently appropriated into music or sound art, and vice versa for scientific research, science public outreach, and education.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: As the issues facing our global society become more complex, university faculty are called upon to address these contemporary problems using interdisciplinary approaches. But do reappointment, promotion, and tenure (RPT) guidelines reflect and reward this fundamental change in the nature of higher education and scholarly inquiry? After collecting all of the RPT guidelines across the university, our research team at the University of Cincinnati (UC) conducted a content analysis of these documents to determine how collaborative work is defined, interpreted, and supported. In addition, we also sought to identify differences in how collaborative work is valued across disciplines and how that value has changed over time. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: An initial database was assembled that included two distinct data samples: historical and current. Both included RPT criteria for over 100 disciplinary units at the university. Working with the initial comprehensive database, the team narrowed content by selecting all language related to collaborative work using several relevant keywords or keyword fragments (team, collaborat[*], disciplin[*], and interprofessional). This process resulted in a subset of data reflecting the area of interest that could then be coded. Three investigators independently coded common portions of the data for categories. The investigators met regularly to compare the results of their coding, and discrepancies between the investigators’ coding schemes were resolved through discussion. The final, common coding scheme will used to code the remainder of the data by each independent investigator. The team meets weekly to discuss significant passages and assign codes, and then reach consensus related to important themes that are identified. Specifically, we will examine the frequency with which collaborative activities are included, the value and emphasis given to them, and the differences across units. Having a historical sample and a current sample also allows us to analyze trends over time and further compare disciplinary differences. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: UC is a diverse institution that includes world-renowned creative schools (the College Conservatory of Music and the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning), as well as traditional colleges of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, engineering, business, arts and sciences, etc. UC also includes two branch campuses that specialize in associate’s degree level education. Given the diversity in educational and research missions across these areas, we anticipate discovering several themes within the RPT guidelines, primarily centered around the traditional foundations of faculty work such as service, research, and teaching. We anticipate strong differences by college and disciplinary focus, with emphasis on collaborative work and engagement increasing as RPT guidelines become more current. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Our experience is that faculty members want to engage in collaborative work when possible and appropriate, but their perception is that independent contributions to their field are more highly valued than interdisciplinary work. As universities rush to endorse and promote interdisciplinary, team-oriented research and teaching, this study will afford a better understanding of the types of activities valued at one large and diverse urban institution, grounded in the actual language of RPT criteria.

The article reveals and interprets the key features of project-based learning based on cloud-based services: social activity; convenient communication in a team during the project implementation and at the resulting stage; open educational space; self-learning and self-improvement; use of interdisciplinary links to combine students of different years of study (1--4 degrees of the first (bachelor's) level and students of the second master's level) to joint research teams to study through research; purposeful motivation of cognitive and research activity of students within the discipline with the use of interdisciplinary connections; formation of digital literacy of students. The advantages and disadvantages of the Yammer cloud service are presented and a comparative analysis of this service with similar cloud services is performed. Examples of using Yammer in professional project activity are given. The stages of using project methods using the small group method are analyzed and detailed: initiation; planning; conducting/implementation; presentation; assessment/defense.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO PHYSICS by Jim Al-Khalili. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2020. 336 pages. Hardcover; $16.95. ISBN: 9780691182308. *The World According to Physics is Jim Al-Khalili's "ode to physics" (p. vii). While Al-Khalili has been publishing popular science for over twenty years, this is his first attempt to provide the layperson a cohesive overview of physics as a whole, linking together relativity, quantum mechanics, and thermodynamics into one unified (or rather, not yet unified) picture of the cosmos. "Ode" is appropriate, for the author's unrelenting adoration of his subject is apparent throughout; this is a child's dream fulfilled, and in many ways is a broader summa of the world according to the mature Al-Khalili, bringing together not only physics, but also his views on truth, society, and our future. *Khalili opens with a discussion of how the human mind craves narrative. Yet science has displaced much of the old myths and religions: "Contrary to what some people might argue, the scientific method is not just another way of looking at the world, nor is it just another cultural ideology or belief system. It is the way we learn about nature through trial and error, through experimentation and observation, through being prepared to replace ideas that turn out to be wrong or incomplete with better ones, and through seeing patterns in nature and beauty in the mathematical equations that describe these patterns. All the while we deepen our understanding and get closer to that "truth"--the way the world really is" (p. 2). *While physics is not just another "story," it does have a cosmic scale that gives it a captivating wonder of its own, providing the basis for chapter 2 ("Scale"). Physics encompasses the infinitely small (e.g., subatomic particles) as well as the infinitely large (e.g., the expansion of spacetime at the farthest reaches of existence). Further, its scope is not merely all of space but all of time as well, getting within decimal points of the first instant after the big bang, while providing prophetic approximations of how the cosmos might end. While Al-Khalili does not play his cards this early, his later chapters (pp. 242-43 in particular) will reveal that this extensive scope establishes physics as the most fundamental discipline, the reigning queen of the sciences. *The deeper project begins in chapter 3 ("Space and Time"). Al-Khalili wishes to display the underlying skeleton that comprise the unification project of physics, charting each merger until the final matchup is made (similar to a playoff line-up, where 16 teams soon become 8, then 4, then 2, then 1). Just as Newton wedded heaven and Earth through gravity, Einstein wedded space and time, explaining a diversity of phenomena with ever-simpler equations. While Al-Khalili's popular explanations of special and general relativity are merely adequate, his grasp of the broader narrative of unification in which these theories stand is incredibly useful, helping the layman see the trajectory of the book and physics as a whole, even when they cannot understand each individual step. *While chapter 3 unified space and time, chapter 4 ("Energy and Matter") unifies the energy and mass which warp said spacetime. Yet the unifications of relativity hit a snag when they come to "The Quantum World" (chapter 5) and to "Thermodynamics and the Arrow of Time" (chapter 6). While Einstein seems to rule over the kingdom of all things great, quantum mechanics rules over all things small, and no one has managed to negotiate a treaty just yet. Things do not work "down there" as they do "up here"; the laws of the macro are not the laws of the micro. Further, thermodynamics suggests that there is a directionality to time--for things move toward greater entropy--yet it is unclear how this can be made consistent with relativistic time or the conceptual reversibility of time in the quantum world. *Al-Khalili then moves in chapter 7 ("Unification") to possible reconciliations of these issues. He does an admirable job of explaining how the electromagnetic and weak nuclear forces were unified into the electroweak force, as well as explaining the ongoing attempt to unify the strong force with the electroweak force in a grand unified theory. This would leave only the holy grail: the attempt to unify gravity with the other three forces. String theory attempted such a unification by appealing to ten dimensions, yet by the 1990s there were five different string theories, which themselves needed to be unified, spawning M Theory (which required an additional eleventh dimension). An opposing contender soon arrived in loop quantum gravity. While string theory posits a quantum particle (the graviton) that exists within spacetime, loop quantum gravity inverts the order, making space more fundamental than a quantized particle within space, and so quantizing spacetime itself. These quanta of space are then "looped" together, determining the shape of spacetime. *Having unveiled the best approximations at a unified theory in physics today, Al-Khalili then ventures in chapter 8 to evaluate the subsequent state of the subject. He expresses frustration that no definitive proof has adjudicated between possible theories of everything, and that such unification seems further away now than it did thirty years ago. Even major discoveries, such as the Higgs boson, have mostly confirmed what we already suspected for decades, rather than genuinely pushing the envelope. Yet while he has given plenty of reason to be sceptical, Al-Khalili then lists recent developments that show that plausible models of quantum gravity continue to come forward, for example, Witten's M-Theory or Maldacena's gauge/gravity duality. Further, physics continues to make substantial technological contributions to daily life. This leads naturally into chapter 9 ("The Usefulness of Physics"). Particular attention is paid to the future possibilities of quantum computing for physics, medicine, AI, and a whole host of other multi-disciplinary simulations and processes that quantum superpositions would allow (for superpositions enable a greater degree of complexity in contrast to binary). *Al-Khalili concludes with a final chapter ("Thinking like a Physicist") about how physics and the scientific method can and should help govern public discourse. In this chapter, the true aim of his project comes to light, suggesting he is not providing a picture of the world according to physics, but the world as it simply is: "One day we may find a new theory of quantum gravity, but it will never predict that my ball will take twice or half as long as Newton's equation of motion predicts. That is an absolute truth about the world. There is no philosophical argument, no amount of meditation, no spiritual awakening or religious experience, or gut instinct or political ideology that could ever have told me that a ball dropped from a height of five metres would take one second to hit the ground. But science can tell me" (p. 276). *While Al-Khalili claimed in the preface that he would try to avoid metaphysical questions (p. xiii), he inevitably (and at times, self-consciously) stumbles back upon them, making ontological claims about the world-in-itself. Indeed, even his quest for unification is arguably based on a philosophical presupposition that unity is more fundamental than diversity, a tradition which came to fruition in Neoplatonism and Christian monotheism. While Al-Khalili acknowledges the need for philosophy and science to communicate (p. xiv), in practice he seems to treat philosophy as a useful tool for science when it hits a roadblock (e.g., for unpacking the implications of quantum mechanics) rather than a discipline in its own right that has the ability to question the underlying epistemic and ontological assumptions of science itself. As such, while his manner is more open and humble than your average humanist/materialist (he was elected president of the British Humanist Association in 2012), his actual beliefs do not seem to have absorbed much at all of the philosophical or theological complexity required for the sorts of claims he is making: "The human condition is bountiful beyond measure. We have invented art and poetry and music; we have created religions and political systems; we have built societies, cultures, and empires so rich and complex that no mere mathematical formula could ever encapsulate them. But, if we want to know where we come from, where the atoms in our bodies were formed--the "why" and "how" of the world and universe we inhabit--then physics is the path to a true understanding of reality. And with this understanding, we can shape our world and our destiny" (p. 281). *Ultimately, if one wants a helpful primer on physics, Al-Khalili provides a passionate and serviceable introduction. While his explanations of some topics were perhaps too much for newcomers, his weaving together of subjects often treated in isolation helps get things back on track, providing a grander narrative for lost readers to latch on to. Yet, if one is looking to see how this narrative fares as an all-encompassing account of the "why" and "how" of our world, then there are superior accounts available on the market. Indeed, thousands of years of writing and prayer have already sought out and encountered the One at the heart of creation. *Reviewed by Jonathan Lyonhart, University of Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, UK CB2 3HU

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO PHYSICS by Jim Al-Khalili. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2020. 336 pages. Hardcover; $16.95. ISBN: 9780691182308. *The World According to Physics is Jim Al-Khalili's "ode to physics" (p. vii). While Al-Khalili has been publishing popular science for over twenty years, this is his first attempt to provide the layperson a cohesive overview of physics as a whole, linking together relativity, quantum mechanics, and thermodynamics into one unified (or rather, not yet unified) picture of the cosmos. "Ode" is appropriate, for the author's unrelenting adoration of his subject is apparent throughout; this is a child's dream fulfilled, and in many ways is a broader summa of the world according to the mature Al-Khalili, bringing together not only physics, but also his views on truth, society, and our future. *Khalili opens with a discussion of how the human mind craves narrative. Yet science has displaced much of the old myths and religions: "Contrary to what some people might argue, the scientific method is not just another way of looking at the world, nor is it just another cultural ideology or belief system. It is the way we learn about nature through trial and error, through experimentation and observation, through being prepared to replace ideas that turn out to be wrong or incomplete with better ones, and through seeing patterns in nature and beauty in the mathematical equations that describe these patterns. All the while we deepen our understanding and get closer to that "truth"--the way the world really is" (p. 2). *While physics is not just another "story," it does have a cosmic scale that gives it a captivating wonder of its own, providing the basis for chapter 2 ("Scale"). Physics encompasses the infinitely small (e.g., subatomic particles) as well as the infinitely large (e.g., the expansion of spacetime at the farthest reaches of existence). Further, its scope is not merely all of space but all of time as well, getting within decimal points of the first instant after the big bang, while providing prophetic approximations of how the cosmos might end. While Al-Khalili does not play his cards this early, his later chapters (pp. 242-43 in particular) will reveal that this extensive scope establishes physics as the most fundamental discipline, the reigning queen of the sciences. *The deeper project begins in chapter 3 ("Space and Time"). Al-Khalili wishes to display the underlying skeleton that comprise the unification project of physics, charting each merger until the final matchup is made (similar to a playoff line-up, where 16 teams soon become 8, then 4, then 2, then 1). Just as Newton wedded heaven and Earth through gravity, Einstein wedded space and time, explaining a diversity of phenomena with ever-simpler equations. While Al-Khalili's popular explanations of special and general relativity are merely adequate, his grasp of the broader narrative of unification in which these theories stand is incredibly useful, helping the layman see the trajectory of the book and physics as a whole, even when they cannot understand each individual step. *While chapter 3 unified space and time, chapter 4 ("Energy and Matter") unifies the energy and mass which warp said spacetime. Yet the unifications of relativity hit a snag when they come to "The Quantum World" (chapter 5) and to "Thermodynamics and the Arrow of Time" (chapter 6). While Einstein seems to rule over the kingdom of all things great, quantum mechanics rules over all things small, and no one has managed to negotiate a treaty just yet. Things do not work "down there" as they do "up here"; the laws of the macro are not the laws of the micro. Further, thermodynamics suggests that there is a directionality to time--for things move toward greater entropy--yet it is unclear how this can be made consistent with relativistic time or the conceptual reversibility of time in the quantum world. *Al-Khalili then moves in chapter 7 ("Unification") to possible reconciliations of these issues. He does an admirable job of explaining how the electromagnetic and weak nuclear forces were unified into the electroweak force, as well as explaining the ongoing attempt to unify the strong force with the electroweak force in a grand unified theory. This would leave only the holy grail: the attempt to unify gravity with the other three forces. String theory attempted such a unification by appealing to ten dimensions, yet by the 1990s there were five different string theories, which themselves needed to be unified, spawning M Theory (which required an additional eleventh dimension). An opposing contender soon arrived in loop quantum gravity. While string theory posits a quantum particle (the graviton) that exists within spacetime, loop quantum gravity inverts the order, making space more fundamental than a quantized particle within space, and so quantizing spacetime itself. These quanta of space are then "looped" together, determining the shape of spacetime. *Having unveiled the best approximations at a unified theory in physics today, Al-Khalili then ventures in chapter 8 to evaluate the subsequent state of the subject. He expresses frustration that no definitive proof has adjudicated between possible theories of everything, and that such unification seems further away now than it did thirty years ago. Even major discoveries, such as the Higgs boson, have mostly confirmed what we already suspected for decades, rather than genuinely pushing the envelope. Yet while he has given plenty of reason to be sceptical, Al-Khalili then lists recent developments that show that plausible models of quantum gravity continue to come forward, for example, Witten's M-Theory or Maldacena's gauge/gravity duality. Further, physics continues to make substantial technological contributions to daily life. This leads naturally into chapter 9 ("The Usefulness of Physics"). Particular attention is paid to the future possibilities of quantum computing for physics, medicine, AI, and a whole host of other multi-disciplinary simulations and processes that quantum superpositions would allow (for superpositions enable a greater degree of complexity in contrast to binary). *Al-Khalili concludes with a final chapter ("Thinking like a Physicist") about how physics and the scientific method can and should help govern public discourse. In this chapter, the true aim of his project comes to light, suggesting he is not providing a picture of the world according to physics, but the world as it simply is: "One day we may find a new theory of quantum gravity, but it will never predict that my ball will take twice or half as long as Newton's equation of motion predicts. That is an absolute truth about the world. There is no philosophical argument, no amount of meditation, no spiritual awakening or religious experience, or gut instinct or political ideology that could ever have told me that a ball dropped from a height of five metres would take one second to hit the ground. But science can tell me" (p. 276). *While Al-Khalili claimed in the preface that he would try to avoid metaphysical questions (p. xiii), he inevitably (and at times, self-consciously) stumbles back upon them, making ontological claims about the world-in-itself. Indeed, even his quest for unification is arguably based on a philosophical presupposition that unity is more fundamental than diversity, a tradition which came to fruition in Neoplatonism and Christian monotheism. While Al-Khalili acknowledges the need for philosophy and science to communicate (p. xiv), in practice he seems to treat philosophy as a useful tool for science when it hits a roadblock (e.g., for unpacking the implications of quantum mechanics) rather than a discipline in its own right that has the ability to question the underlying epistemic and ontological assumptions of science itself. As such, while his manner is more open and humble than your average humanist/materialist (he was elected president of the British Humanist Association in 2012), his actual beliefs do not seem to have absorbed much at all of the philosophical or theological complexity required for the sorts of claims he is making: "The human condition is bountiful beyond measure. We have invented art and poetry and music; we have created religions and political systems; we have built societies, cultures, and empires so rich and complex that no mere mathematical formula could ever encapsulate them. But, if we want to know where we come from, where the atoms in our bodies were formed--the "why" and "how" of the world and universe we inhabit--then physics is the path to a true understanding of reality. And with this understanding, we can shape our world and our destiny" (p. 281). *Ultimately, if one wants a helpful primer on physics, Al-Khalili provides a passionate and serviceable introduction. While his explanations of some topics were perhaps too much for newcomers, his weaving together of subjects often treated in isolation helps get things back on track, providing a grander narrative for lost readers to latch on to. Yet, if one is looking to see how this narrative fares as an all-encompassing account of the "why" and "how" of our world, then there are superior accounts available on the market. Indeed, thousands of years of writing and prayer have already sought out and encountered the One at the heart of creation. *Reviewed by Jonathan Lyonhart, University of Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, UK CB2 3HU

The problem of teaching children of primary school age with the peculiarities of psychophysical development, who study in inclusive classes the article deals. The continuous development of pedagogical practice and the growth of the number of children with disabilities leads to the search for new more effective methods of work, new approaches to the organization of the educational process. The study is based on the use of Waldorf methodology – eurythmia, the main purpose of which is to develop a child's holistic perception of the world through the experience of its beauty, harmony, the formation of a positive attitude to themselves and other people, improving communication skills, harmonization of personality through a sense of joy, security and safety. Eurythmy is effectively used to improve the condition of children with different severity degrees of the disease and different levels of intellect. This subject is part of the school curriculum, as it «paves the way» for teaching other disciplines, and this, in turn, will form an integral system of school integration. A feature of the educational process organization in the first grade is that learners are engaged in eurythmia with music. They perform eurythmic special exercises for vowels and consonants with the teacher in the form of an accessible interesting play games. Training takes place on small poems and fairy-tale games, built on rhyme and rhythm. It is necessary to beat the rhythm of poems rhythmically, measuring its size in short and long steps. It was noted that the level of emotional stress in children is reduced. The exercises we use have a positive impact on the health, thinking, will, feelings of the child and contribute to the harmonious development of social skills, which in children with autism spectrum disorders are significantly impaired. The children learned to listen and understand the instruction of the teacher to perform the exercises immediately after the words of the master and without errors, quickly navigate in the concepts of «rightleft», «up and down»; «back and forth», to distinguish the quality of movement «loud-quiet, short-long steps; fastslow»; follow the steps on different surfaces of the foot; to recognize parts of the body to maintain balance while performing exercises on the bench and while driving on the forms to catch and throw the ball to move along defined trajectories independently and in a group. It is necessary to adhere to the systematic training and to form a positive emotional state in children and a steady interest in the lesson to obtain a successful result. It is necessary to combine the creation of an atmosphere of goodwill, assistance and mutual assistance and at the same timerequire clarity and correctness of the movements and exercises.

Abstract In recent years, theories of rhythm have been proposed by a number of different disciplines, including historical poetics, generative metrics, cognitive literary studies, and evolutionary aesthetics. The wide range of fields indicates the transdisciplinary nature of rhythm as a phenomenon, as well as its complexity, highlighting the degree to which many of the central questions surrounding rhythm remain extraordinarily difficult even to state in terms that can traverse the disciplinary boundaries effortlessly transgressed by rhythm as a phenomenon. In particular, any theory of rhythm, whether in music, dance, sociology, or language, must grapple with two quandaries. First, the precise site of rhythm remains opaque: rhythms occur in, affect, and are produced by all of bodies, cultures, and universals (whether metaphysical or species-physiological). What is the relation between species-wide characteristic, individual body, cultural context, and the history of art making in the experience of rhythm? Second, rhythm is simultaneously a phenomenon of fixed, organizing form and one of dynamic, changing flow. How can rhythm encompass both the measurement of regular recurrences across time and the organizing of temporal phenomena as they unfold? In this article, I draw on Emile Benveniste and Henri Meschonnic to elucidate these quandaries or conflicts before turning to Friedrich Nietzsche’s work on rhythm. I argue that Nietzsche’s work with rhythm provides a historically situated model for how we might continue to take the questions and conflicts within rhythm seriously, rather than privileging an abstract and universally applicable theory of rhythm. This model is especially crucial for our own historical moment, when cultural-political emphasis on science and technology at the expense of aesthetics devalues all insights not presented in the form of countable data points or empirically testable facts. Nietzsche is, of course, one of the great critics of positivist-scientistic epistemologies, part of a long tradition questioning the naturalness of natural-scientific paradigms and alerting us to the metaphors at play even in the ›hard sciences‹. I use rhythm as one paradigmatic place to resist the importation of scientistic thought into discussions of language, literature, and culture. I show how Nietzsche’s writings on rhythm prove illuminating for contemporary understandings of rhythm because the tensions in his work are shaped by the quandaries inherent to rhythm that I have used Benveniste and Meschonnic to elaborate, namely the question of rhythm’s site as individual, cultural, or universal, and the conflict between rhythm as form and as flow. The question of the site of rhythm appears in Nietzsche’s discussions of Greek and Latin meters both in his philological works, in his aphorisms, and in his letters: on the one hand, he argues that Greek and Latin metrical and rhythmic resources are irrevocably lost to modern cultures (indicating that rhythm is a product of culture), while on the other, he emphasizes the impact of rhythm on the body and offers advice for replicating Ancient metrical and rhythmic techniques (suggesting that rhythm is based on physiological universals). And the conflict between flow and form appears as Nietzsche praises both the productive constraint created by large-scale, architectonic, or macro-formal rhythms and the freedom from such constraint enabled by small-scale, leitmotiv-based, or micro-formal rhythms. The conflicts in Nietzsche’s work between the loss and recovery of Ancient rhythms and between rhythm as small scale freedom vs. large scale constraint thus represent one particular unfolding of the dilemmas for rhythmical theory worked out by Benveniste and Meschonnic. The various modern disciplines engaged with rhythm will answer different sets of these questions in different ways. Most practitioners of, e. g., evolutionary aesthetics, neuroaesthetics, or cognitive poetics would no doubt contend that they are using the tools of the natural sciences to investigate long-standing humanistic inquiries. Nietzsche, as a critic of his own era’s scientific positivism who allows tensions inherent in these questions to remain open in his own work, is an ideal interlocutor with whom to ask whether even the adoption of these tools ends up placing excessive faith in natural-scientific paradigms and undercutting other—affective, bodily, metaphorical, poetic, etc.—ways of knowing, as I demonstrate briefly in the examples of evolutionary aesthetics and generative metrics. Because Nietzsche leaves open the conflicts over rhythm’s site and its qualities as form or flow, he can use individual bodily experience to make physiological arguments about the effects of rhythm on culture and vice versa: Nietzsche takes his bodily response to be an index of cultural values inherent to rhythmical practices. The particular values that Nietzsche critiques shift across his career—early on he condemns German musical and poetic rhythms for being too rigid, while later he sees them as pathologically heightening affect and emotion. In both cases, detrimental rhythmic practices lead to detrimental bodily practices and to the degeneration of culture, while rhythmic practices work as a bodily and cultural corrective. In his critiques of German forms and praises of Greek forms, and in the moments in which he brings them together, Nietzsche thus asserts the complex interrelation of culture, body, and history.

This article aims to discuss the implementation and validity of the degree course in Rural Education, with specialization in Arts and Music, at the Federal University of Northern Tocantins (UFNT), in the Tocantinópolis campus. The course stands out for being one of the two existing courses in Brazil aimed at the formation of countryside educators to work specifically in the discipline of Art in Elementary and Secondary Education in rural schools. In the developed reflection, a qualitative approach of descriptive and documental character is used, performing an interpretative analysis of the researched data. Existing since 2014, the course has already graduated three classes in a trajectory of constructions and reconstructions, with the purpose of seeking a critical look at the course and adapting to the needs of curricular reconfigurations, in order to provide a public and quality education. Aiming to train educators to work with the Visual Arts, Music and Theater, the course of the UFNT-Tocantinópolis resists seeking to democratize the access to education, by contributing to the construction of a quality education that helps to improve the lives of peasant populations, in the construction of a more egalitarian and solidary society project and in the reduction of social inequalities.

«For a place to leave an impression on us, it must be made of time as well as space – of its past, its history, its culture» (Sciascia, 1987). Architecture is one the many disciplines which, due to their heteronomous nature, aspire to represent the past, present and future of a community. Just as the construction of buildings is not merely a response to a need, but rather an act that incorporates the concrete translation of desires and aspirations, so too do music, philosophy, and the figurative arts reflect contemporary themes in their evolution. The fragmentation of skills, the specialisation of knowledge, the rapid modification of the tools we work with, the digitalisation and hyperdevelopment of communication are all phenomena that have a substantial impact on the evolution of disciplines in a reciprocal interaction with the intangible values of a community – economic, social and cultural – as well as the material assets of the places where it expresses itself. Interpreting heteronomy as a condition in which an action is not guided by an autonomous principle that is intrinsic to the discipline, but rather determined by its interaction with external factors, a theoretical reflection on the evolution of the tools of knowledge and creation has the task of defining possible scenarios capable of tackling the risk of losing an ability to synthesise the relationships between the conditions that define the identity of architecture itself. The challenge of complexity is rooted in social, technological and environmental shifts: a challenge that involves space, a material resource, in its global scale and its human measure; and time, an immaterial resource, nowadays evaluated in terms of speed and flexibility, but also duration and permanence. These elements impact upon the project as a whole, as a combination of multiple forms of knowledge which, given their constant evolution, is subject to continuous comparison. The cultural debate has investigated at length the topic of art being forced to devote itself to heteronomy whilst also retaining a need for aesthetic autonomy. The risk of forgetting its own ontological status, of losing its own identity in the fragmentation and entropy of the contemporary world, finds an answer in the idea of design as a synthesis between an artistic idea and the social and environmental conditions in which it is places, configuring itself as an element capable of reconciling the antithetical drives towards an autonomous vision of the work, on the one hand, and a heteronomous one linked to its geographical, cultural, sociological and psychological characteristics, on the other. In the systemic and concerted working process so intrinsic to disciplines such as filmmaking and music – but also the visual arts or even philosophy – the act of designing is the expression of the relationship with a community of individuals whose actions are based on a role that is as social as it is technical, given that they act based on material and immaterial values of a public nature. If indeed the sciences – as Thomas Kuhn demonstrated in his writings on the scientific revolutions – cannot be understood without their historical dimension, then disciplines such as those addressed in this Dossier represent cultural phenomena that can only truly be understood in their entirety when considered in the context of their era and the many factors that fed into their creation. However, precisely as demonstrated by Kuhn’s theories (Kuhn, 1987), their evolution also consists of “scientific revolutions”: moments of disruption capable of changing the community’s attitude towards the discipline itself and, perhaps more importantly, its paradigms. Music, cinema, art, architecture and philosophy are all expressions of that which makes us human, in all its complexity: divided and confined to their own disciplinary fields, they are not capable of expressing the poetic quality of life and thus «making people feel and become aware of the aesthetic feeling» (Morin, 2019). Emanuele Coccia, an internationally renowned philosopher and associate professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, imagines a world in which everything you see is the product of an intentionality articulated by human, non-human and non-living actors. Design – not only anthropocentric design – is the most universal power in the world. Every living being can, in effect, design the world, but at the same time, every agent of matter can also design, and it is the interplay between these elements that creates a continuous metamorphosis of our environment. In other words, being alive is not a necessary condition for being a designer. The two anthropologists Alfred Gell and Philippe Descola, in their writings on Western society and nature, present contrasting views on the presence of the soul/animism in nature. The result is a sort of architecture of the landscape, in which nature itself is imbued with a sense of design intentionality that exists in a continuum with mankind. Edoardo Tresoldi, a young Italian sculptor, is one of the latest exponents of the heteronomy of architecture, which rejects the limiting confines of individual disciplines so as to imagine a transversal vision of the environment and its construction. Through the interplay of transparencies created with ephemeral metal structures, Tresoldi exalts the geometrical qualities of this raw material, going beyond the simple spatiotemporal dimension to establish a dialogue between place and the artistic representation thereof. Tresoldi recounts this journey of his through five themes: Place, because architecture in itself is markedly conditioned by its context, as is – in his case – art; Design, that is the act of envisaging the work, which is ultimately influenced by everything around us and our imagination; Time, as art is characterised by a potential interweaving, a continuity in the creative processes influenced by the history of the place; Material, or rather, materiality and the duality between the technical and artistic parts; and, finally, “What’s Next”, exploring the idea of what the future holds for us. On this last point, Tresoldi imagines his works further opening up to a diversified range of skills in a way that would also carve out new professional profiles for young people. Cristina Frosini, Director of the Milan Conservatory, with a contribution on music – «the supreme mystery of the sciences of man» (Lévi-Strauss, 2004) – offers reflections on a field with deep affinities with the discipline of architecture, with both sharing a strong relationship between composition and execution. The sheer vastness of musical expression, from the precision of the classical score to the freedom of interpretation exemplified by the conductor or the improvising jazz musician, sees the concepts of overall rhythm and melody, the homogeneity and identity of different instruments, and the circularity of the process as the key themes of music as a public art whose creative process has always been founded upon the relationship between technical factors and cultural factors. The contribution provided by Michele Guerra, an academic and professor of History of Cinema, confirms the words of Edgar Morin. «Nowadays, cinema is widely recognised as an art, and in my opinion, it is a tremendous polyphonic and polymorphous art that is capable of stimulating and integrating into itself the virtues of all the other arts: novel-writing, theatre, music, painting, scenography, photography. [...] it can be said that those who participate in the creation of a film are artisans, artists, who play an important role in the aesthetics of the film» (Morin, 2019). The work of the “cinematographic construction site” is driven by forces which, incorporating the status quo of the technical and material factors, lead to “an idea of imaginary metamorphosis” which reflects the aspirations of a society in its efforts to become contemporary. A concept of a heteronomous approach to “making” is also founded upon recognising the didactic value of the work, as emerges from Luigi Alini’s contribution on the figure of Vittorio Garatti – an intellectual first and architect second – whose pieces are the result of work that is as much immaterial as it is material, with an «experiential rather than mediatic» approach (Frampton, in Borsa and Carboni Maestri, 2018), as true architecture is expected to be. The heteronomy of architecture, much like that of other similar disciplines, is based on engagement on two fronts: an understanding of the relevant international scenarios and the definition of the project charter, with a view to conforming it so that it takes into account any changes, operates in continuity with and with an appreciation for history, and develops in harmony with the universality of the discipline and the teachings of its masters. Stimulating a dialogue between different cultural positions is a means to create the conditions for a degree of adherence to contemporaneity without compromising on a principle of historical continuity. In light of this, the contribution by Ferruccio Resta – the current Rector of the Politecnico di Milano – focuses on the varying cultural and intellectual positions that have animated the culture of the Politecnico over the years, representing a highly valuable heritage for the university. Nowadays, with the presence of certain indispensable premises such as sustainability and connectivity, technology seems to overwhelm the design process, outsourcing it to a sort of management of the engineering and component production aspects. Hence the need to reaffirm a “humanistic and human” dimension of the act of making, starting at the root by orienting the training processes in line with the words of historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari, who says: «Many pedagogical experts argue that schools should switch to teaching “the four Cs” – critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. More broadly, they believe, schools should downplay technical skills and emphasize general-purpose life skills. Most important of all will be the ability to deal with change, learn new things, and preserve your mental balance in unfamiliar situations». This need reopens the theme of the dualism between “art” and “discipline”, surpassing it in favour of a coexistence of terminology in that it is the quality of the design and the piece that define where it belongs. Reflecting on the foundations of the paths and tools employed in different disciplines – in light of the innovations that involve the project charter in terms not only of concepts, but also of instruments – means reflecting on the concept of “project culture”, understood as the ability to work through actions which combine different contributions, tackling complex problems by way of a conscious creative process. The ability to envisage the new – as is implicit in the etymology of the word “project” itself – and, at the same time, to interpret continuity in the sense of a coherent system of methods and values, is shared by the disciplines and skills brought together in the Dossier: dealing with culture, society, the city, the landscape and the environment all at once requires a multifaceted vision, an ability to read problems, but also a certain openmindedness towards opportunities, the management of complexities, control of the risks of drops in quality in service of concepts of efficiency based on numerical parameters and the standardisation of languages. A comparison of the various contributions and perspectives throws up a picture in which the importance of relationships, the search for what Eiffell defined «the secret laws of harmony», the disciplinary specificity of design as the ability to relate in order to «understand, criticise, transform» (Gregotti, 1981), the ability to distinguish that which is different by involving it in the transformation of design, all represent the foundations for the evolution of heteronomous disciplines in how they move beyond the notions of technique and context as passive referents which generate possibilities in line with the Rogersian reflection on pre-existing environmental elements as historical conditions for reference, critically taken on as determinants. Hence the validity of a “polytechnic” cultural approach that is not only capable of deploying tools and skills which can deal with the operating conditions to be found in a heteronomous context, but also of stimulating critical approaches oriented towards innovation and managing change with the perspective of a project as an opportunity – in the words of Franco Albini – for «experimentation and verification in relation to the progression of construction techniques, tools for investigation, knowledge in the various fields and in relation to the shifts in contemporary culture» (Albini, 1968). The need for a sense of humanism is strongly linked to the reintroduction of the concept of “beauty”, in its modern meaning, under which it shifts from a subjective value to a universal one. Hence the importance of the dialogue with disciplines that identify with the polytechnic mould – that is, one which has always been deeply attentive to the relationship between theory and practice, to the design of architecture as an action that is at once intellectual and technical. As such, starting from the assumption that «no theory can be pursued without hitting a wall that only practice can penetrate» (Deleuze and Foucault 1972; Deleuze, 2002; Foucault, 1977; Deleuze, 2007), it is now essential to promote the professional profiles of artists, musicians, philosophers, humanistic architects and so on who are capable of managing design as a synthesis of external factors, but also as an internal dialectic, as well as skills capable of creating culture understood as technical knowledge. Sometimes, faced with the difficulty of discerning an identity for disciplines, we attempt to draw a boundary that allows us to better understand their meaning and content. However, going on the points of view that have emerged in the Dossier, it seems more important than ever to «work on the boundaries of each field of knowledge», drawing upon a concept expressed by Salvatore Veca (Veca, 1979), making communication between fields a central value, interpreting relationships and connections, identifying the relational perspective as a fundamental aspect of the creative act. The position of architecture as an “art at the edge of the arts”1, as so often posited by Renzo Piano, allows for a reflection on its identity by placing it in a position that centralises rather than marginalises it. A concept of “edge” that touches upon the sociological viewpoint that distinguishes the “finite limit” (boundary) from the “area of interaction” (border) (Sennet, 2011; Sennet, 2018), in which the transformational yet constructive contact with the entities necessary for its realisation takes place. The heteronomy of architecture coincides with its “universality”, a concept that Alberto Campo Baeza (Campo Baeza, 2018) believes to represent the identity of architecture itself. Indeed, its dependence upon human life, the development of society, of its cultural growth, derives from a single and inalienable factor: its heteronomy, the necessary condition for a process as artistic as it is technical, tasked with expressing the values of a community over time and representing the “beautiful” rather than the “new”. A design practice based on – to borrow some concepts already expressed years ago by Edgar Morin – “contaminations that are necessary as well as possible”, on the contribution of “knowledge as an open system”, but above all, one aimed at working “against the continuities incapable of grasping the dynamics of change” (Morin, 1974), thus becomes an opportunity to develop a theory on the identity of the discipline itself, striking a balance between the technical and poetic spheres, but necessarily materialising in the finished work, lending substance to the «webs of intricate relationships that seek form» (Italo Calvino).

Discussions of the economic theory of planned obsolescence—the purposeful embedding of redundancy into the functionality or other aspect of a product—in the 1980s and 1990s often focused on the impact of such a design strategy on manufacturers, consumers, the market, and, ultimately, profits (see, for example, Bulow; Lee and Lee; Waldman). More recently, assessments of such shortened product life cycles have included calculations of the environmental and other costs of such waste (Claudio; Kondoh; Unruh). Commonly utilised examples are consumer products such as cars, whitegoods and small appliances, fashion clothing and accessories, and, more recently, new technologies and their constituent components. This discourse has been adopted by those who configure workers as human resources, and who speak both of skills (Janßen and Backes-Gellner) and human capital itself (Chauhan and Chauhan) being made obsolete by market forces in both predictable and unplanned ways. This includes debate over whether formal education can assist in developing the skills that make their possessors less liable to become obsolete in the workforce (Dubin; Holtmann; Borghans and de Grip; Gould, Moav and Weinberg). However, aside from periodic expressions of disciplinary angst (as in questions such as whether the Liberal Arts and other disciplines are becoming obsolete) are rarely found in discussions regarding higher education. Yet, higher education has been subsumed into a culture of commercial service provision as driven by markets and profit as the industries that design and deliver consumer goods. McKelvey and Holmén characterise this as a shift “from social institution to knowledge business” in the subtitle of their 2009 volume on European universities, and the recent decade has seen many higher educational institutions openly striving to be entrepreneurial. Despite some debate over the functioning of market or market-like mechanisms in higher education (see, for instance, Texeira et al), the corporatisation of higher education has led inevitably to market segmentation in the products the sector delivers. Such market segmentation results in what are called over-differentiated products, seemingly endless variations in the same product to attempt to increase consumption and attendant sales. Milk is a commonly cited example, with supermarkets today stocking full cream, semi-skimmed, skimmed, lactose-free, soy, rice, goat, GM-free and ‘smart’ (enriched with various vitamins, minerals and proteins) varieties; and many of these available in fresh, UHT, dehydrated and/or organic versions. In the education market, this practice has resulted in a large number of often minutely differentiated, but differently named, degrees and other programs. Where there were once a small number of undergraduate degrees with discipline variety within them (including the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science awards), students can now graduate with a named qualification in a myriad of discipline and professional areas. The attempt to secure a larger percentage of the potential client pool (who are themselves often seeking to update their own skills and knowledges to avoid workforce obsolescence) has also resulted in a significant increase in the number of postgraduate coursework certificates, diplomas and other qualifications across the sector. The Masters degree has fractured from a research program into a range of coursework, coursework plus research, and research only programs. Such proliferation has also affected one of the foundations of the quality and integrity of the higher education system, and one of the last bastions of conventional practice, the doctoral degree. The PhD as ‘Gold-Standard’ Market Leader? The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is usually understood as a largely independent discipline-based research project that results in a substantial piece of reporting, the thesis, that makes a “substantial original contribution to knowledge in the form of new knowledge or significant and original adaptation, application and interpretation of existing knowledge” (AQF). As the highest level of degree conferred by most universities, the PhD is commonly understood as indicating the height of formal educational attainment, and has, until relatively recently, been above reproach and alteration. Yet, whereas universities internationally once offered a single doctorate named the PhD, many now offer a number of doctoral level degrees. In Australia, for example, candidates can also complete PhDs by Publication and by Project, as well as practice-led doctorates in, and named Doctorates of/in, Creative Arts, Creative Industries, Laws, Performance and other ‘new’ discipline areas. The Professional Doctorate, introduced into Australia in the early 1990s, has achieved such longevity that it now has it’s own “first generation” incarnations in (and about) disciplines such as Education, Business, Psychology and Journalism, as well as a contemporary “second generation” version which features professionally-practice-led Mode 2 knowledge production (Maxwell; also discussed in Lee, Brennan and Green 281). The uniquely Australian PhD by Project in the disciplines of architecture, design, business, engineering and education also includes coursework, and is practice and particularly workplace (or community) focused, but unlike the above, does not have to include a research element—although this is not precluded (Usher). A significant number of Australian universities also currently offer a PhD by Publication, known also as the PhD by Published Papers and PhD by Published Works. Introduced in the 1960s in the UK, the PhD by Publication there is today almost exclusively undertaken by academic staff at their own institutions, and usually consists of published work(s), a critical appraisal of that work within the research context, and an oral examination. The named degree is rare in the USA, although the practice of granting PhDs on the basis of prior publications is not unknown. In Australia, an examination of a number of universities that offer the degree reveals no consistency in terms of the framing policies except for the generic Australian Qualifications Framework accreditation statement (AQF), entry requirements and conditions of candidature, or resulting form and examination guidelines. Some Australian universities, for instance, require all externally peer-refereed publications, while others will count works that are self-published. Some require actual publications or works in press, but others count works that are still at submission stage. The UK PhD by Publication shows similar variation, with no consensus on purpose, length or format of this degree (Draper). Across Australia and the UK, some institutions accept previously published work and require little or no campus participation, while others have a significant minimum enrolment period and count only work generated during candidature (see Brien for more detail). Despite the plethora of named degrees at doctoral level, many academics continue to support the PhD’s claim to rigor and intellectual attainment. Most often, however, these arguments cite tradition rather than any real assessment of quality. The archaic trappings of conferral—the caps, gowns and various other instruments of distinction—emphasise a narrative in which it is often noted that doctorates were first conferred by the University of Paris in the 12th century and then elsewhere in medieval Europe. However, challenges to this account note that today’s largely independently researched thesis is a relatively recent arrival to educational history, being only introduced into Germany in the early nineteenth century (Bourner, Bowden and Laing; Park 4), the USA in a modified form in the mid-nineteenth century and the UK in 1917 (Jolley 227). The Australian PhD is even more recent, with the first only awarded in 1948 and still relatively rare until the 1970s (Nelson 3; Valadkhani and Ville). Additionally, PhDs in the USA, Canada and Denmark today almost always incorporate a significant taught coursework element (Noble). This is unlike the ‘traditional’ PhD in the UK and Australia, although the UK also currently offers a number of what are known there as ‘taught doctorates’. Somewhat confusingly, while these do incorporate coursework, they still include a significant research component (UKCGE). However, the UK is also adopting what has been identified as an American-inflected model which consists mostly, or largely, of coursework, and which is becoming known as the ‘New Route British PhD’ (Jolley 228). It could be posited that, within such a competitive market environment, which appears to be driven by both a drive for novelty and a desire to meet consumer demand, obsolescence therefore, and necessarily, threatens the very existence of the ‘traditional’ PhD. This obsolescence could be seen as especially likely as, alongside the existence of the above mentioned ‘new’ degrees, the ‘traditional’ research-based PhD at some universities in Australia and the UK in particular is, itself, also in the process of becoming ‘professionalised’, with some (still traditionally-framed) programs nevertheless incorporating workplace-oriented frameworks and/or experiences (Jolley 229; Kroll and Brien) to meet professionally-focused objectives that it is acknowledged cannot be met by producing a research thesis alone. While this emphasis can be seen as operating at the expense of specific disciplinary knowledge (Pole 107; Ball; Laing and Brabazon 265), and criticised for that, this workplace focus has arisen, internationally, as an institutional response to requests from both governments and industry for training in generic skills in university programs at all levels (Manathunga and Wissler). At the same time, the acknowledged unpredictability of the future workplace is driving a cognate move from discipline specific knowledge to what have been described as “problem solving and knowledge management approaches” across all disciplines (Gilbert; Valadkhani and Ville 2). While few query a link between university-level learning and the needs of the workplace, or the motivating belief that the overarching role of higher education is the provision of professional training for its client-students (see Laing and Brabazon for an exception), it also should be noted that a lack of relevance is one of the contributors to dysfunction, and thence to obsolescence. The PhD as Dysfunctional Degree? Perhaps, however, it is not competition that threatens the traditional PhD but, rather, its own design flaws. A report in The New York Times in 2007 alerted readers to what many supervisors, candidates, and researchers internationally have recognised for some time: that the PhD may be dysfunctional (Berger). In Australia and elsewhere, attention has focused on the uneven quality of doctoral-level degrees across institutions, especially in relation to their content, rigor, entry and assessment standards, and this has not precluded questions regarding the PhD (AVCC; Carey, Webb, Brien; Neumann; Jolley; McWilliam et al., "Silly"). It should be noted that this important examination of standards has, however, been accompanied by an increase in the awarding of Honorary Doctorates. This practice ranges from the most reputable universities’ recognising individuals’ significant contributions to knowledge, culture and/or society, to wholly disreputable institutions offering such qualifications in return for payment (Starrs). While generally contested in terms of their status, Honorary Doctorates granted to sports, show business and political figures are the most controversial and include an award conferred on puppet Kermit the Frog in 1996 (Jeffries), and some leading institutions including MIT, Cornell University and the London School of Economics and Political Science are distinctive in not awarding Honorary Doctorates. However, while distracting, the Honorary Doctorate itself does not answer all the questions regarding the quality of doctoral programs in general, or the Doctor of Philosophy in particular. The PhD also has high attrition rates: 50 per cent or more across Australia, the USA and Canada (Halse 322; Lovitts and Nelson). For those who remain in the programs, lengthy completion times (known internationally as ‘time-to-degree’) are common in many countries, with averages of 10.5 years to completion in Canada, and from 8.2 to more than 13 years (depending on discipline) in the USA (Berger). The current government performance-based funding model for Australian research higher degrees focuses attention on timely completion, and there is no doubt that, under this system—where universities only receive funding for a minimum period of candidature when those candidates have completed their degrees—more candidates are completing within the required time periods (Cuthbert). Yet, such a focus has distracted from assessment of the quality and outcomes of such programs of study. A detailed survey, based on the theses lodged in Australian libraries, has estimated that at least 51,000 PhD theses were completed in Australia to 2003 (Evans et al. 7). However, little attention has been paid to the consequences of this work, that is, the effects that the generation of these theses has had on either candidates or the nation. There has been no assessment, for instance, of the impact on candidates of undertaking and completing a doctorate on such facets of their lives as their employment opportunities, professional choices and salary levels, nor any effect on their personal happiness or levels of creativity. Nor has there been any real evaluation of the effect of these degrees on GDP, rates of the commercialisation of research, the generation of intellectual property, meeting national agendas in areas such as innovation, productivity or creativity, and/or the quality of the Australian creative and performing arts. Government-funded and other Australian studies have, however, noted for at least a decade both that the high numbers of graduates are mismatched to a lack of market demand for doctoral qualifications outside of academia (Kemp), and that an oversupply of doctorally qualified job seekers is driving wages down in some sectors (Jones 26). Even academia is demanding more than a PhD. Within the USA, doctoral graduates of some disciplines (English is an often-cited example) are undertaking second PhDs in their quest to secure an academic position. In Australia, entry-level academic positions increasingly require a scholarly publishing history alongside a doctoral-level qualification and, in common with other quantitative exercises in the UK and in New Zealand, the current Excellence in Research for Australia research evaluation exercise values scholarly publications more than higher degree qualifications. Concluding Remarks: The PhD as Obsolete or Retro-Chic? Disciplines and fields are reacting to this situation in various ways, but the trend appears to be towards increased market segmentation. Despite these charges of PhD dysfunction, there are also dangers in the over-differentiation of higher degrees as a practice. If universities do not adequately resource the professional development and other support for supervisors and all those involved in the delivery of all these degrees, those institutions may find that they have spread the existing skills, knowledge and other institutional assets too thinly to sustain some or even any of these degrees. This could lead to the diminishing quality (and an attendant diminishing perception of the value) of all the higher degrees available in those institutions as well as the reputation of the hosting country’s entire higher education system. As works in progress, the various ‘new’ doctoral degrees can also promote a sense of working on unstable ground for both candidates and supervisors (McWilliam et al., Research Training), and higher degree examiners will necessarily be unfamiliar with expected standards. Candidates are attempting to discern the advantages and disadvantages of each form in order to choose the degree that they believe is right for them (see, for example, Robins and Kanowski), but such assessment is difficult without the benefit of hindsight. Furthermore, not every form may fit the unpredictable future aspirations of candidates or the volatile future needs of the workplace. The rate with which everything once new descends from stylish popularity through stages of unfashionableness to become outdated and, eventually, discarded is increasing. This escalation may result in the discipline-based research PhD becoming seen as archaic and, eventually, obsolete. Perhaps, alternatively, it will lead to newer and more fashionable forms of doctoral study being discarded instead. 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