[ Feeling Sound Musiclab
| Feeling sound? Volunteers wanted for new online music experiment A unique, mass-participation online music laboratory is testing a series of new techniques, to explore the way that people listen to music. Feeling Sound Musiclab (www.feelingsound.net) is looking for volunteers to take part in a series of online tests, including the opportunity to vote for their favourite chord. |
Researchers will use will use the results to commission a new piece of music, and develop new ways to increase people's enjoyment of listening to and performing music. Anyone can take part - they don't have to play a musical instrument and it doesn't matter what kind of music they like listening to. | Feeling Sound Musiclab builds on research developed by music psychologists and tested with small groups of people at the Royal Northern College of Music and Keele University. The research is exploring the idea that we have unconsciously developed a series of filters to keep out an increasingly noisy world, and that these filters can prevent us from engaging fully with music. Initial results from the research suggest that choosing to use Feeling Sound techniques to listen to music can enhance listening and performing skills. |
| "We are looking for as many people as possible to take part in Musiclab, so that we can look for ways of adjusting our noise filters, and give people new routes in to the world of sound," says conductor and researcher Christopher Gayford, who has set up the experiment. "All you need is a spare 15 minutes on a computer with internet access and a pair of headphones." | "I can't give away too many details about the tests, or I'll wreck the experiment, so you need to go to www.feelingsound.net to find out more. But I can tell you that you'll be contributing to the UK's largest mass composition, and you'll be helping us develop new ways for everyone to enjoy music, whether you go out to hear live music or just like listening at home. The practical skills of professional musicians can be hard to pick up without a lot of time and practice, but everyone can enjoy listening to music - Feeling Sound techniques could help us all get more out of different types of music." | This new experiment will enable researchers to test the techniques with more people, to establish whether effects found in small samples also exist at the level of the general population. "Understanding more about how people listen to music will help listeners and performers," says psychologist Jane Ginsborg, Research Fellow at the Royal Northern College of Music, who will be analysing the results. "We are keen to find out more about how people experience sounds at different pitches, and how they respond to new listening techniques." |
| The experiment will run from now until the middle of August, and the results will be announced in September. | ||
| For more information, go to www.feelingsound.net or contact Christopher Gayford on 07838 112 764 or e-mail press@feelingsound.net. | ||