Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Research Publications
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ItemComparison of popular music in the United States and the United Kingdom: Computerized analysis of 42,714 pieces(Sage Publications, 2019-01-01)The present research employed computerized analyses of all those pieces to have achieved any degree of commercial success in either the United States (US) or the United Kingdom (UK) in terms of energy, beats per minute, and several emotion scores. Analyses showed differences between these two commercially complete musical cultures in all variables except one of the emotion scores; that the relationship between popularity and each of the remaining variables was similar across the two countries; but that there were differences in the representation of genres. These findings indicate that it is possible to identify quantitative differences between musical cultures, and may have implications for ethnomusicology and the nascent digital music streaming industry.
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ItemFrom Dropping Out to Dropping In: Exploring Why Individuals Cease Participation in Musical Activities and the Support Needed to Reengage Them(American Psychological Association, 2019-06-24)Continued participation in music has been associated with well-being outcomes, yet many either fail to begin or cease musical participation after limited exposure. The current research examined why individuals cease participating, focusing on identifying barriers to participation and the support needed to reengage in musical activities. A sample of 190 Australian residents (Mage = 26.87; 75.80% female) who had ceased previous musical participation completed an online questionnaire in which they rated the degree to which 15 items reflected their reasons for ceasing musical participation and answered an open-ended question regarding their requirements for reengagement. An exploratory factor analysis of the quantitative responses identified 4 components relating to cessation: "access and opportunity," "activity experience," "obligations," and "difficulty with practicing." A grounded theory analysis concerning the support required for reengagement indicated 4 key themes: "personal investment," "requirements of the musical activity," "personal qualities," and "no interest in reengagement." Collectively, these results provide an in-depth understanding of factors external to music itself as influences on continued musical participation. With implications for facilitators and educators, these results suggest a need for collaboration and interaction between music facilitators and participants.
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ItemThe Summer Undergraduate Research Experience as a Work-Integrated Learning Opportunity and Potential Pathway to Publication in Psychology(FRONTIERS MEDIA SA, 2019-03-20)Unlike disciplines which focus on skill development from year one of a bachelor's degree, training in psychology in Australia follows the scientist-practitioner model. According to this model, an undergraduate psychology degree should focus on the scientific principles underpinning the discipline and provide a foundation for the development of professional skills in graduate school. However, most Australian psychology undergraduates do not continue into graduate school, and concerns have been raised about their lack of applied skills and work-readiness. Work-integrated learning (WIL) refers to strategies aimed at providing students with practical experiences (e.g., fieldwork, placements, and internships) directly related to their course of study. The objective of WIL is to increase work-readiness. Accreditation standards coupled with the norms of the discipline have historically prevented the inclusion of typical WIL experiences in Australian undergraduate psychology degrees. However, one particular type of WIL activity-the undergraduate research experience (URE)-is particularly suited to psychology. In a typical URE, students collaborate with faculty to conduct research designed to make an original contribution to their field. The current study is a qualitative investigation of stakeholder perceptions of a competitive summer URE program ran from 2012 to 2016. Six faculty members and seven undergraduate students were engaged in semi-structured interviews about their URE experiences. Constructed themes broadly reflected the benefits and challenges of the program and included work-readiness and additional research experience, networking and teamwork, publication, quality of experience and equity of opportunities. Faculty members and students spoke favorably of their UREs in most cases, although issues of administration and financial concerns were mentioned consistently, as were concerns about the length, timing, and nature of projects. Students reported skill development and networking as two of the key benefits of their participation in the program, and article publication was seen as particularly beneficial to career prospects. Our findings suggest that student co-authored publications resulting from UREs are possible, but careful thought is required to optimize their likelihood. Overall, this research adds to a growing literature suggesting that UREs can confer a range of benefits to Australian psychology schools related to increased research capacity and student satisfaction.
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ItemUsing Self-Determination Theory to Examine Musical Participation and Well-Being(FRONTIERS MEDIA SA, 2019-03-01)A recent surge of research has begun to examine music participation and well-being; however, a particular challenge with this work concerns theorizing around the associated well-being benefits of musical participation. Thus, the current research used Self-Determination Theory to consider the potential associations between basic psychological needs (competence, relatedness, and autonomy), self-determined autonomous motivation, and the perceived benefits to well-being controlling for demographic variables and the musical activity parameters. A sample of 192 Australian residents (17-85, M age = 36.95), who were currently participating in a musical activity at the time, completed an online questionnaire. Results indicated that females were more likely to perceive benefits to their well-being; and that how important an individual considers music in their life was positively related to perceived well-being. Importantly, the analyses also revealed that the basic needs of competency and relatedness were related to overall perceived well-being as well as specifically social, cognitive, and esteem dimensions of well-being. Autonomous motivation demonstrated significant associations with both an overall well-being score as well as four of five specific well-being subscales measured. Collectively, the findings indicate that Self-Determination Theory offers a useful theoretical framework to understanding the relationship between musical participation and well-being. Further, the pattern of findings reiterates the positive associations between musical participation and one's psychosocial well-being, with broad implications for people involved in the facilitation of musical activity.
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ItemCollaboration, cognitive effort, and self- reference in United Kingdom top 5 pop music lyrics 1960-2015(American Psychological Association, 2019)This research investigated associations between the lyrics of every song to have reached the weekly United Kingdom top 5 singles chart from 1960-2015 and the number of people responsible for recording each song. Following computerised content analysis of the lyrics of the 4,534 unique songs, the results showed that the number of musicians involved was related negatively to use of cognitive terms, consistent with previous research on social loafing; and was also related negatively to instances of self-reference and use of language concerning social interaction, arguably in reflection of the inherent constraints on such that arise from collaborating with others.
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ItemParenting style as a predictor of music preference.(SAGE Publications, 2018)While previous research has established relationships between perceived parenting styles and children’s deviant behaviours, and links between these behaviours and liking for intense and rebellious music, no research has explored the associations between perceived parenting styles and children’s liking for different music styles. Whereas previous research has considered musical taste by looking at a small number of individual difference variables in isolation from one another, the present research used a cross-sectional correlational design to investigate whether parenting styles, the big five personality traits, sensation-seeking, age, and gender were associated with liking for different music styles. Three hundred and thirty-six Australians completed an online, self-report questionnaire. Analyses demonstrated that there were relationships between five of the six parenting style variables and five of the music styles considered. This indicates that various parenting styles were associated with musical taste, and that the nature of these associations extends well beyond those concerning rebellious music and neglectful parenting that have been identified by previous research.
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ItemMusic-related activities on Facebook.(SAGE Publications, 2018)Despite the current prevalence of users performing musical activities on social media, and on Facebook in particular, little research has examined these behaviors from the perspective of consumer psychology. A cross-sectional, convenience sample of 400 participants (Mage = 22.56, SDage = 7.79) completed an online questionnaire. The findings illustrated that the constructs of opinion leadership, innovativeness, and self-efficacy within the consumer psychology literature were associated with performing music-related activities on Facebook, including the active creation/consumption of music content and use of music listening applications. Thus, music activities performed on Facebook have an overt consumer psychological component. These findings indicate that to understand music-related activities on social media, further research should consider psychological variables in explaining this common and economically-important activity.
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ItemThe social and applied psychology of engagement in music piracy(Routledge, 2018)This chapter aims to draw together relevant theory and recent research findings in order to provide a detailed, psychological overview of why people engage in music piracy, by first taking into account research into why people listen to music. It discusses the implications of how people access and select music to listen to, given the volume of options available. The chapter considers music piracy within a broader social psychological context, contextualising its outcomes, including those that are not commercial. It describes the shortcomings of other disciplines that have focused solely on the negative consequences of music piracy. The chapter identifies some of the far-reaching outcomes of widespread engagement in music piracy, including the impact on the live music sector, typically absent from any critical evaluation of music piracy, focusing solely on the recorded music sector.
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ItemDriving with music: Cognitive-behavioural implications(SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC, 2017-01)
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ItemPop Music Lyrics Are Related to the Proportion of Female Recording Artists: Analysis of the United Kingdom Weekly Top Five Song Lyrics, 1960-2015(AMER PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOC, 2019-07)Previous content analyses of pop music have considered the prevalence of misogynistic portrayals of interpersonal relationships, but have employed relatively small samples of music, and often neglected musician gender. Since cultural depictions create individuals’ musical identity, we expect the musical norms identified by previous content analyses to be reflected by lyrics produced by males and females. The lyrics of all 4,534 songs to have reached the United Kingdom’s top 5 singles sales chart between March 1960 and December 2015 were computer-analysed to consider the association between 40 aspects of each and both the proportion of females who recorded each song and the gender of the vocalist. There were few associations between lyrical content and vocalist gender. However, the proportion of all musicians who recorded each song who were female was associated positively with the lyrics containing words indicative of inspiration and variety; and negatively with the lyrics containing different words, and words indicative of aggression, passivity, cooperation, diversity, insistence, embellishment, and activity. Songs recorded by a high proportion of female musicians described a wide range of subject matters in the context of abstract virtues, whereas songs recorded by a high proportion of male musicians were more likely to address stereotyped concepts of adolescent masculinity that were positively- and negatively-valenced.