Categories
Music

The Art & Science of Tuning

Categories
Music

Musical Chills & Pains

How is music able to convey and trigger such range and depth of emotion? Why does it elicit joy, sorrow, consolation and the chills? Employing research and theoretical models from neuroscience, psychology and musicology, we examine the extraordinary ways that primal and conditioned listening combine to such complex emotive effect. Examples from pop, jazz, rock, film, global, traditional and classical forms are presented under the light of nostalgia, visual imagery, emotional contagion, rhythmic entrainment, aesthetics, expectation and the extra-musical.

Contribute to the lecture by telling us about music which moves you; take our Musical Chills Survey>>

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Press & Interviews Research Rhythm TV & Media

Scientific American & Time-feel

Great to be involved in this Scientific American podcast episode unpacking micro-timing expression (‘swing’, ‘time-feel’ etc) with the brilliant Nina Kraus, Theo Geisel and Charles Keil. Thanks to host Joe Polidoro.

What That Jazz Beat Tells Us About Hearing And The Brain

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Data Sonification Music Press & Interviews TV & Media

BBC World Serve -Unexpected Elements

A discussion on sonification and the intersection of science and music on the Unexpected Elements science programme, broadcast July 6 2023 on BBC World Service and BBC Sounds.

Available here as well as on all other platforms. (The Coolest Science section starts at around 29:25 minutes). 

Categories
Learning & Teaching Lectures & Presentations Music

Gresham Professorship

I am excited and honoured to be appointed the 37th Gresham Professor of Music, and the rich opportunity to share music knowledge it affords. This is a post that has been running since 1597 – offering (thanks to the will of Thomas Gresham) free public lectures to all – and to inherit the professorship from the likes of John Bull, Iannis Xenakis and Joanna MacGregor is quite surreal. I’ll be giving six public lectures a year which you can attend live, watch on live-stream or after the event. Details on the 2023-24 Lecture Series – The Nature of Music are here

Categories
Composition

Phibonacci Nova 2023

A remake (with animation and updated music) of the 2011 Phibonacci Nova – A Bossa about the Fibonacci Series featuring Bridget Mermikides on vocals and vocal arranging.

Categories
Composition Learning & Teaching MiltOnNotes

Any Colour You Like

Forget all my moon phases and compasses, this is super useful practical tips to compose with modes. 7 tips to use in your compositions of any style.

Categories
Guitar Writing

Jeff Beck in the Conversation

Some words on Jeff Beck (with John McGrath of the IGRC)for the Conversation

https://theconversation.com/jeff-beck-the-unorthodox-techniques-that-made-him-such-a-unique-guitarist-197840

Categories
Guitar Music Theory Musical Illustrations Publications Research Writing

21st Century Guitar

Release of Perks & McGrath edited collection of contemporary guitar research. A wonderful project to be involved with (contributing a chapter on ‘The Digital Fretboard) and design the cover)

In the 21st Century, the guitar, as both a material object and tool for artistic expression, continues to be reimagined and reinvented. From simple adaptations or modifications made by performers themselves, to custom-made instruments commissioned to fulfil specific functions, to the mass production of new lines of commercially available instruments, the extant and emergent forms of this much-loved musical instrument vary perhaps more than ever before. As guitars sporting multiple necks, a greater number of strings, and additional frets become increasingly common, so too do those with reduced registers, fewer strings, and fretless fingerboards. Furthermore, as we approach the mark of the first quarter-century, the role of technology in relation to the guitar’s protean nature is proving key, from the use of external effects units to synergies with computers and AR headsets. Such wide-ranging evolutions and augmentations of the guitar reflect the advancing creative and expressive needs of the modern guitarist and offer myriad new affordances.

21st Century Guitar examines the diverse physical manifestations of the guitar across the modern performative landscape through a series of essays and interviews. Academics, performers and dual-practitioners provide significant insights into the rich array of guitar-based performance practices emerging and thriving in this century, inviting a reassessment of the guitar’s identity, physicality and sound-creating possibilities.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/21st-century-guitar-9781501373305/

Categories
Data Sonification Lectures & Presentations Music Theory Research

Hidden Music Talk at Oxford University

“Hidden music” is a talk given in the interdisciplinary seminar series on Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing on 24.05.2022 at Linacre College, Oxford University. The talk is in two conceptual halves: The nature of music and the music of nature. For info and to watch the talk click below.

Categories
Composition Learning & Teaching Lectures & Presentations MiltOnNotes Music Theory

Every Chord in the Universe

Every chord in the (12TET) Universe – a gentle introduction to Pitch-class Set Theory.

To download the Mr. PC patches (for Max/MSP standalone and Max for Live click below. Note: 1) they both need the excellent and free Bach package by A. Agostini & D. Ghisi (installable in Max’s Package manager) consider donating (to them). 2) For Apple Silicon computers, Max needs to be running under Rosetta. 3) These are good enough tools for teaching and music adventure – use at your own theoretical risk.

Categories
Events Guitar Music Theory Research

IGRC22

The IGRC are delighted to announce the International Guitar Research Centre Conference 7th to 9th October 2022

REGISTER HERE

For information: http://IGRC.site/IGRC22

Categories
Data Sonification Health & Training Research Science

Careful Impact

‘Taking Care’: supporting and recognising nurses’ caring role 

GSMD article

UK nursing trainees are better prepared to deliver patient-centred care as a result of ‘Taking Care’, a mixed-methods drama research project undertaken by researchers at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Kingston University. This joint project was awarded the highest possible grade in the  2021 Research Excellence Framework.

The project was led by former Doctoral Programme Leader, Dr Alex Mermikides, who was inspired by the nurses she met when her brother Milton was treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia – a serious type of blood cancer. Taking Care addresses two challenges facing nurse educators: teaching the sensitive and effective communication of ‘care’ and preparing students for the demanding emotional labour required by their profession. The huge physical and emotional toll nursing can take on staff has been bought into sharp focus over the past two years, but the nursing curriculum hasn’t traditionally taught trainees how to ‘care’ for patients without compromising their own emotional wellbeing.

Mermikides’ ensemble created an interactive drama, Careful, following a collaborative research process with performers and trainee nurses. The process of devising Careful revealed that ‘care’ can be understood as a skilled practice rather than an inherent virtue. The feedback from students on the workshops and performances has been overwhelmingly positive and has led to the materials being rolled out to other nursing schools across the country. As student nurse Michal Kaim reflected in The Guardian, ‘elevating nursing to the level of art gave me another reason to be proud of the choice I have made to become one’. The full performance of Careful can be viewed online.

Categories
Data Sonification Lectures & Presentations Research

Sound Asleep at the World Sleep Congress

Keynote Lecture for the World Sleep Congress in Rome, Italy March 2022, examining the use of sonification to communicate and reveal the inner experience of sleep.

Categories
Guitar Lectures & Presentations Research

Exploring the Pitch Surface of the Guitar

A shamefully/lessly nerdy exploration of the guitar fretboard, its nature, language and futures. Adapted from my keynote lecture at the 2022 Guitar Foundation of America conference.

Categories
Data Sonification Research

Kinship Sonification on RAI 3

A collaboration with Enzo de Sena (Senior Lecturer on the Tonmeister programme, University of Surrey), Deborah Dunn-Walters, Sarah Bailey and Nils Marggraf – sonifying kinship DNA and recognising familial relationships as shared motivic content. A documentary produced in collaboration with University of Surrey was aired on Italy’s Rai 3 flagship science programme Quinta Dimensione (viewership ≈886,000). Segment below.

Categories
Data Sonification Events Lectures & Presentations Research

Hidden Music at Oxford University

May 24th 2022 2pm, a lecture for staff, students and public Oxford University’s wonderful new Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing. Directed by Prof Morten Kringelbach “The Centre undertakes interdisciplinary research into Human Flourishing, Eudaimonia and the Life Well-Lived with a special focus on human brain dynamics through its link with the Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford and Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Denmark.”

Image credit: Morten Kringelback 2021

The talk Hidden Music: Sonic translations of Nature will explore music as a tool for listening, and understanding patterns of the natural world, blurring the boundaries between people and the ‘outside world’, and ‘art’ and science. It will take place in the Pink Seminar Room in Linacre College and streamed online. Details here.

Categories
Composition Film Scores Guitar Jazz & Improvisation Stuff to Buy

Martino Unstrung on Journeyman

Martino Unstrung (2008, Sixteen Films, dir. Ian Knox) – the Pat Martino documentary I had the unique privilege of scoring – is now distributed through Journeyman Pictures and available for rent, purchase on iTunes, GooglePlay, Vimeo as well as screening requests. A rare insight into a rare artist. https://www.journeyman.tv/film/6605
http://martinounstrungfilm.com

Pat Martino & Milton Mermikides (2007) during filming of Martino Unstrung (2008)

Categories
Guitar Jazz & Improvisation

MYMA Release

A quick, easy and fun collaboration with school friend, composer, keyboardist and drummer Stefan Melzak led to a release of Sixties Jazz Grooves with the great French label MYMA

Categories
Audio Production & Engineering Learning & Teaching Live Electronics

4 Looping Strategies in Ableton Live

Categories
Data Sonification Music

Blue & Yellow

Colours of the Ukraine Flag making their own music.

Categories
Data Sonification Music Research

Sound Asleep in World Sleep Congress, Rome

The Sound Asleep project was presented with Professor Debra Skene in the World Sleep Congress on March 11 2022, Rome, Italy,

World Sleep 2022 is a global scientific congress bringing the best of sleep medicine and research to Rome, Italy, March 11–16, 2022. The World Sleep congress, now in its 16th iteration, consistently gathers the best minds in sleep medicine and research for multiple days of scientific sessions and networking.

Sound Asleep has now been presented at British Sleep Society, European Sleep Research Conference and World Sleep Congress engaging with hundreds of members of the International Sleep Community.

Categories
Guitar Guitar Lessons Music

Bendology in Total Guitar

It was fun putting together this article with Chris Bird for Total Guitar (Feb 2022), and using the whole BoomerBendGate as an opportunity for some bendological research. In so doing discovered some ridiculously killer zoomer players in Tim Henson, Mateus Asato, Wes Hauch, Ichiko Nito, Plini and all.

And is now published online in Guitar World

Archetypal WT1.5.3 Bend & Shake
Categories
Guitar Jazz & Improvisation Music

Pat Martino GT Tribute

It was a painful privilege to write this tribute to Pat Martino (1944-2021) who passed away on November 1 2021. Published in Guitar Techniques Magazine Issue 330

Categories
Audio Production & Engineering CVs Electronic Works Live Electronics Music Music Technology

Ableton Certified Trainer

Super happy to be made an Ableton Certified Trainer, and join a wonderful international community of artist-educator-technologists from 56 countries. Just 8 of us from the UK were selected since 2013, so it’s a real privilege. I am of course a technophile (=nerd), but I have a particular love for Ableton Live (and Push) which – now with Max for Live – is incredibly open, flexible, and linked to diverse forms of historical and contemporary music making in composition, performance, production, and programming. I genuinely love Live and Ableton and relate to their musical ethos deeply.

Milton Mermikides | Certified Training | Ableton
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