Search Results (416)

In science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM)-based music education, sound serves as a shared object of listening, inquiry, design, representation, and artistic expression. Sound is approached as musical material, a physical phenomenon, a technological object, a design problem, and a mathematical structure. Learners investigate vibration, pitch, loudness, timbre, duration, rhythm, melody, and acoustic experience; use digital tools to record, replay, visualize, arrange, and create sound; and apply design processes to plan, test, revise, and present sound-based products or performances. Musical understanding is developed through singing, movement, instrumental performance, composition, improvisation, and reflection, while mathematical reasoning is supported through beat, duration, sequence, proportion, pattern, and timing. In this approach, music provides an integrated context in which learners connect sensory experience with conceptual understanding. It is relevant across general music education contexts because it supports listening, discrimination, comparison, organization, creation, performance, and reflection, with activities adapted to learners’ ages, prior musical experience, and educational levels. Full article

Widely associated with third- and fourth-wave feminism, Ani DiFranco’s artistic practice creates and curates queer and feminist musical experiences through the tools of songwriting and spoken-word poetry. Since the release of her eponymous debut album in 1990, DiFranco has carved out a distinctive voice within American folk and popular music and has cultivated communities of affiliation across feminist and queer communities. Drawing on Judith Butler’s theory of performativity and David Halperin’s conception of queerness as a form of non-normative identity, this article offers close, textual readings of a selection of DiFranco’s earlier songs and spoken-word poems, including “The Whole Night”, “In or Out”, “Lost Woman Song”, and “Self Evident”. In doing so, the article demonstrates how DiFranco’s performances extend beyond musical expression to function as sites of queer and feminist cultural production, where audiences are invited to participate in broader conversations about identity, community, and social change. Full article

Background/Objectives: Music-based interventions have been used to alleviate chronic pain and psychological distress; however, their effectiveness varies across individuals, particularly in real-world settings. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the need for feasible, therapist-guided but self-directed interventions that can be implemented in daily life. This exploratory pilot study primarily evaluated the feasibility of therapist-guided, self-directed personalized music listening in daily life. Exploratory quantitative and qualitative outcomes were also assessed to inform the design of future controlled studies. Methods: Seven patients with fibromyalgia participated in a 4-week music-listening period and a 4-week non-intervention period. The intervention was conducted in participants’ daily living environments during the COVID-19 pandemic. A music therapist guided music selection and listening strategies, while participants implemented the intervention independently. Pain scores were recorded daily, and psychological measures (GHQ-12, JFIQ) and salivary β-endorphin levels were assessed at predefined times. Results: The therapist-guided, self-directed intervention was feasible in participants’ daily lives. Individual responses varied. Some participants reported psychological experiences, including autobiographical memory recall, increased motivation, and greater engagement in daily activities. No consistent effects on pain intensity or salivary β-endorphin levels were observed. Conclusions: This feasibility pilot study suggests that therapist-guided, self-directed personalized music listening is feasible in daily life. Although consistent quantitative improvements were not observed, some participants reported positive psychological experiences, including autobiographical memory recall, increased motivation, and greater engagement in daily activities. These preliminary findings support the feasibility of this approach and warrant larger, adequately controlled studies incorporating objective adherence monitoring and an appropriate washout period. Full article

Background/Objectives: Psoriasis is a chronic immune-mediated dermatosis with an important psychodermatologic burden, in which psychological stress, perceived disease impact, stigma, and attitudes toward mental health care may influence patient support needs. Although psychological and psychiatric interventions are increasingly discussed in dermatology, patient openness to different forms of supportive care, including music therapy, remains insufficiently characterized. This study aimed to characterize psychodermatologic burden and support-related attitudes among patients with psoriasis, with particular emphasis on openness to psychological counseling, psychiatric care, and music therapy-based support, and to explore the factors associated with these attitudes. Methods: In this single-center cross-sectional study, 102 adults with cutaneous or nail psoriasis completed an original self-administered questionnaire between July 2023 and January 2025. Results: Most participants perceived stress as related to psoriasis onset or worsening (86.3%) and considered dermatologist guidance toward psychological or psychiatric support beneficial (80.4%). Psychological counseling was the most accepted supportive intervention (75.5%), followed by music therapy (54.9%) and psychiatric consultation (48.0%), while previous psychological or psychiatric care was reported by 22.5%. Willingness to seek psychological support was independently associated with perceived psoriasis impact, whereas willingness to seek psychiatric support was associated with perceived stress impact. Awareness of music therapy was associated with higher educational level. Willingness to try music therapy was associated with high perceived stress impact, higher educational level, music listening, and awareness of music therapy. Conclusions: Patients with psoriasis frequently perceive stress as relevant to their disease and show variable openness to supportive care. These findings support an individualized psychodermatologic approach in which dermatologists may help identify patients receptive to psychological, psychiatric, or music therapy-based interventions. Full article

This article explores the relationship between music and religion through a case study of Harmony of the Spheres by the Dutch composer Joep Franssens. Situated within the context of religious change in the Netherlands, where institutional religion has declined while spiritual and sacred repertoires remain culturally significant, this article asks how musical experience can generate, mediate, or articulate forms of religiosity. Combining musicological analysis, theories of sound and religion, and a digital ethnographic reading of YouTube listener responses, this article argues that Franssens’ music opens a space for non-institutional, sonically mediated religion. The composition’s slow harmonic movement, repetition, tonal affirmation, textual unintelligibility, spatial sonority, and evocation of timelessness invite immersive listening and self-transcendence. Listener responses confirm that these musical techniques are frequently interpreted through religious and spiritual language, including references to God, angels, heaven, the sublime, peace, and mystical experience. The article argues that Harmony of the Spheres should not be understood as explicitly confessional music, but as a form of “religion in sound”: an aesthetic and performative practice through which listeners encounter transcendence, community, and an unbound spirituality beyond traditional religious institutions. Full article

The glymphatic system is a brain-wide clearance pathway that facilitates the removal of interstitial solutes, including amyloid-β, and plays a critical role in maintaining brain homeostasis. Impairments in glymphatic transport have been implicated in aging and neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. While glymphatic activity is most pronounced during sleep, emerging evidence suggests that specific patterns of neural activity, including gamma-frequency oscillations entrained by sensory stimulation, can modulate glymphatic transport even during wakefulness. Preclinical studies further indicate that 40 Hz sensory stimulation, delivered via light, sound, or multisensory paradigms, can induce gamma oscillations, reduce pathological protein accumulation, and enhance cognitive performance in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease. Early clinical investigations similarly suggest that gamma-frequency sensory stimulation may improve blood-based biomarkers, neuroimaging measures, and cognitive outcomes in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. To translate gamma-frequency stimulation into broadly applicable preventive or therapeutic strategies, approaches must be both effective and tolerable for long-term use. Conventional auditory gamma stimulation can be perceived as acoustically rough or monotonous, reducing listener comfort and limiting acceptability for prolonged use in broader populations. User-friendly auditory formats, such as “gamma music” and the more recently introduced “immersive gamma music”, have been proposed as potentially useful approaches for delivering gamma-frequency stimulation while improving listening comfort and facilitating sustained use. Collectively, gamma-frequency sensory stimulation represents a promising approach to support healthy brain aging and mitigate neurodegenerative processes, particularly when implemented via user-friendly auditory formats that facilitate repeated and long-term use. While these findings are encouraging, further research is needed to validate these approaches and determine their clinical relevance. Full article

Background/Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of binaural beats (BB) on the autonomic nervous system (ANS), kinesiophobia of reinjury and fitness biomarkers in professional athletes with chronic musculoskeletal injuries. Methods: A total of 54 athletes aged 18–25 years, engaged in open-skill sports and experiencing chronic lower-limb injuries for over three months, will be recruited. They will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: an intervention group, a placebo group, and a control group. All athletes will undergo a 15 min auditory intervention five times per week for four weeks. The intervention group will listen to BB embedded in music at high beta and gamma frequencies (30–100 Hz) with guided instructions. The placebo group will receive placebo BB within the same music framework, while the control group will listen only to the music background. Assessments will be conducted at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and at a 4-week follow-up. The primary outcomes will be kinesiophobia of reinjury, ANS function, and heart rate variability (HRV), assessed using the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK-17), Sympathetic Skin Response (SSR), and HRV analysis, respectively. Secondary outcomes will include sport-related anxiety and pain beliefs, assessed using the Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT-15) and the Pain Beliefs and Perceptions Inventory (PBPI-16), respectively; handgrip strength, assessed using the Hand Grip Test; and fitness-related biomarkers, including maximal oxygen uptake (VO₂max) and blood lactate concentration. Conclusions: These findings may provide evidence supporting BB as a complementary, non-invasive intervention to enhance psychological and physiological rehabilitation in injured athletes. Ethics and Dissemination: The study has received ethical approval and is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov. Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conferences, and academic presentations. Full article

This article is a follow-up of a previous article where music was defined as matter or substance that flows. It argued for a rheological approach to music listening, conceiving of music as a virtual, motional object that evolves over time. The current article proceeds on similar lines by introducing the concept of phoronomy as the kinematic study of motion. It revolves about the way listeners can perceptually track sound by relying on motor imagery and ideomotor simulation, thus describing listening as an action verb by entailing active engagement with the sonic world. Listening, in that view, is a real-time phenomenon that keeps pace with the unfolding of the music, involving a kind of sound tracking that is characterized by sensory immediacy and perceptual bonding. By elaborating on the root metaphor of drawing an imaginary curve, it explores how listeners can stay as closely to the music as possible through a gestural approach that describes the listening experience as a virtual trajectory through virtual space. An attempt is made to provide both foundational grounding from broader theoretical frameworks and recent empirical findings. Full article

The integration of artificial intelligence into music education represents a structural transformation that transcends the mere incorporation of technological tools to become central to the construction of knowledge. This paradigm shift moves pedagogy away from purely formalistic approaches toward an ecology of learning where technique, perception, and culture are dynamically intertwined. In this scenario, technology acts as a cognitive artifact capable of redistributing the student’s mental load, making abstract concepts such as harmonic structures or rhythmic hierarchies intelligible without the need for prior and exhaustive mastery of musical notation or advanced instrumental technique. By freeing up cognitive resources, it becomes easier for students to focus on higher-order processes such as critical listening, reflective interpretation, and informed aesthetic decision-making. This technological mediation intervenes directly in the continuum that links creation, the sound object, and the attribution of meaning, allowing the learning process to be transparent and decision-making to always be conscious. To this end, it is essential that these systems do not operate as opaque entities but are interpretable and put human agency at the center, ensuring that students maintain control over their own creative trajectory. By observing the decisions and strategies employed during sound experimentation, it is possible to map students’ cognitive development, valuing the learning process over the final result. Ultimately, creativity manifests itself as an essential dimension of understanding, where interaction with intelligent systems allows for the broadening of expressive horizons. However, this integration requires a critical and algorithmic perspective that avoids algorithmic biases and promotes learning that reconciles datacy with expressive sensitivity and the sociocultural context of each individual. Full article

In the Lutheran church music tradition, the placement of pre-existing chorale melodies as cantus firmus in new compositions constitutes a stable compositional practice extending from the sixteenth through the eighteenth century. Musicological literature has generally treated this practice as a formal technique or theological reference; however, neither its authoritative function nor its embedding within the auditory body of the congregation has been systematically examined within a theoretical framework. This study addresses this gap by taking Johann Sebastian Bach’s use of Philipp Nicolai’s 1599 chorale as cantus firmus in the opening chorale fantasia of Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme BWV 140, 1731 (Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying) as a two-layered analytical case. The study adopts Catherine Bell’s concept of ritualization as developed in Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice (1992) as its theoretical framework, operationalizing two specific analytical concepts from within this framework: traditionalization (the strategy of legitimizing the new by binding it to the authority of the old) and ritualized body (the embodied internalization of ritual practice). The first concept is employed to analyze the hierarchical contrast between the fixed cantus firmus position of Nicolai’s chorale and the mobility of the surrounding polyphony; the second is developed as an original analytical proposal examining how the chorale may function as a structural spine within the auditory body of the congregation. The article argues that Bach’s gesture of chorale placement can be understood not only as a musical technique or theological reminder, but as both a traditionalization act that strategically invokes inherited authority and a ritual structuring that may have been collectively experienced within the auditory body of the listening congregation. This reading proposes a new perspective on the cultural-strategic and embodied dimensions of compositional practices in Lutheran liturgical music research, and aims to contribute methodologically to the analytical study of Bach’s chorale cantatas at the intersection of ritual theory and musicology. Full article

In this experimental inquiry, I welcome readers into an unfolding undisciplined platform, expanding upon my earlier theorizing of philly soul musicking through insurgent listening to Archie Shepp’s Attica Blues in all of its radical, beautiful, and tragic public memory work of the 1971 Attica Uprising. Philly soul musicking gives regional texture to a transgenerational Black diasporic performance practice that serves to archive the complexity of Black lived experiences and articulate felt collective visions of liberated Black futures. Through these introductory comments, I improvise what I reckon to be essential to the secretive sonic histories of the album, giving shape to a fire music organizing praxis meant to call us into being-with the anticolonial worldmaking project that the men of Attica advanced with their hearts, minds, and bodies on the line. This prelude foreshadows a wider overall project speculating upon how Attica Blues and other related avenues of Black compositional practice attune us to assembling active solidarities with militants/rebels on the frontlines inventing rhythmic zones of autonomy, freedom, and liberation. I ask of the music’s fugitive archive, to draw on the words of James Baldwin, what are the contemporary use(s) of the Attica Blues? Full article

Background: Tinnitus is a prevalent auditory disorder associated with maladaptive cortical plasticity and aberrant neural synchronization across auditory and non-auditory brain networks. Acoustic desynchronization-based sound therapies, such as coordinated reset neuromodulation, aim to counteract pathological oscillatory patterns but commonly require prolonged daily listening sessions and specialized delivery formats, which may limit their accessibility and practicality in routine clinical settings. To address this limitation, a modified desynchronization protocol embedding therapeutic tones within music was developed to improve tolerability and engagement. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical effects of modified Music-Integrated Desynchronization Sound Therapy (mMIDST) on tinnitus severity in patients with chronic tinnitus. Methods: In this prospective, randomized, controlled, single-blind pilot trial conducted at the Otolaryngology Department of Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile (Santiago, Chile) between July 2024 and July 2025, adults aged 18–75 years with chronic non-pulsatile tinnitus were assigned to receive either mMIDST or an active control intervention consisting of low-frequency stimulation (LFS) embedded within identical music tracks. Participants listened to personalized sound files for one hour daily, five days per week. Tinnitus severity was assessed using the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), with audiometric evaluations performed at baseline and after one, two, and three months. Between-group differences were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney U test. Results: Twenty-five participants completed the study (15 mMIDST, 10 LFS). Baseline audiometric thresholds and THI scores were comparable between groups. The mMIDST group showed significantly greater reductions in THI scores than the LFS group at two and three months of treatment (p < 0.05). Conclusions: mMIDST was associated with time-dependent improvements in tinnitus-related distress compared with an active control condition. Embedding desynchronization-based tonal stimulation within music may represent a promising and well-tolerated non-invasive approach for chronic tinnitus management. Full article

Breast cancer is the most prevalent malignancy among women. The disease and its treatments often lead to physical and psychosocial impairments, compromising quality of life. While exercise and music-based interventions have individually demonstrated benefits on these symptoms, the advantages of their combination remain unexplored. This study evaluates whether a concurrent exercise program, including aerobic and strength training performed while listening to music based on individual preferences, is more effective than the same exercise program without music in improving self-esteem, body image, cancer-related fatigue, physical function (upper and lower limb strength and cardiorespiratory endurance), quality of life, sleep quality, and intolerance of uncertainty in female breast cancer survivors. A single-blind, two-arm, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial will be conducted including 42 women who completed primary treatment for stage 0–III breast cancer at least six months before enrollment. Participants will be randomly assigned to a music-listening concurrent exercise training group (MLTG), or a no music exercise training group (NMLTG), both performing the same 8-week exercise program. The primary outcome will be self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale). Secondary outcomes include body image, fatigue, upper and lower limb strength, cardiovascular endurance, quality of life, sleep quality, and intolerance of uncertainty. Measurements will be collected using validated and reliable questionnaires and standardized functional tests at baseline, post-intervention, and at 6 months. Data will be analyzed under the intention-to-treat principle. Music listening, particularly when based on individual preferences and synchronized with movement, may enhance mood and exercise performance while modulating reward-related neural pathways. This trial will provide new evidence on a feasible and low-cost strategy to enhance supportive care and physical and psychosocial outcomes in breast cancer survivors. ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT07045961). Ethics Committee code: 2025-0855. Full article

Objective: This pilot study aimed to explore how a receptive music intervention, based on musical genres reflecting maternal listening preferences during pregnancy, affects distress levels in Italian preterm infants. Specifically, it investigated the effects of soft pop/rock music, compared with classical music, on infants’ LF/HF ratio (derived from heart rate variability [HRV]) and peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO₂), which were used as physiological markers of distress. Method: This retrospective observational pilot study analyzed clinical data routinely collected between May 2014 and January 2015 from 27 preterm infants (gestational age 23–32 weeks; birth weight < 1500 g) who received receptive music therapy as part of standard family-centered care in the NICU. Maternal listening preferences during pregnancy were assessed in 30 mothers via an ad hoc questionnaire; a content analysis identified, at the group level, the three most frequently reported artists (i.e., Jovanotti, Vasco Rossi, and W. A. Mozart), which were used to create three standardized playlists. According to the internal clinical procedure, each infant underwent four sessions on consecutive days: a no-music condition on Day 1, followed by the three music conditions on Days 2–4 in randomized order. The LF/HF ratio and SpO₂ were measured at five time points per session (one pre-test, three intra-session time points, and one post-test). Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare conditions and time points, with effect sizes and a Benjamini–Hochberg (FDR) correction for multiple comparisons. Results: The LF/HF ratio did not differ significantly across music conditions or relative to the no-music condition. SpO₂ was higher during the Mozart condition than during the no-music condition at three of the five time points; this association remained significant after FDR correction, with medium-to-large effect sizes. No effect was observed for the soft pop/rock conditions on physiological indexes. Conclusions: Receptive music therapy based on maternal listening during pregnancy was not associated with changes in the LF/HF ratio. The Mozart condition was associated with higher SpO₂ than the no-music condition. Given the small sample, the single-center setting, and the retrospective observational design, these findings are preliminary and require confirmation in larger, adequately powered prospective trials. Future studies should also examine the specific musical features (e.g., tempo, harmonic structure, voice timbre) that may drive these physiological responses. Full article

Background/Objectives: Hearing loss is frequently misunderstood by communication partners and healthcare providers of patients with hearing loss alike, leading to gaps in counseling, medical adherence, and empathy. Hearing loss simulation is a technique that can clarify patient experience by illustrating how hearing loss affects daily listening and speech discrimination. The current research explores the influences of a web-based hearing loss simulator on how hearing loss is understood by communication partners, audiologists, and medical providers/students. Methods: Using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, 72 participants (communication partners, audiologists, and medical providers/residents) completed a guided trial with the hearing simulator, either one-on-one or in group settings, and subsequently completed a questionnaire regarding their experiences. The simulation trial included demonstrations of hearing loss and amplification across four listening environments: speech in quiet, in noise, at a distance, as well as listening to instrumental music. Results: Communication partners reported that they gained a better understanding of their partner’s hearing loss, with all expressing increased feelings of empathy towards their partner and individuals with hearing loss. When compared to audiologists, communication partners were significantly more surprised by the impact of hearing loss on speech understanding. Medical providers and students emphasized the value of the simulator as a counseling tool and highly recommended that other providers use the simulator with their patients. Conclusions: Simulating hearing loss can be beneficial for counseling purposes and medical training. These findings suggest that hearing loss simulation can enhance empathy and communication across clinical and educational contexts. Full article