Linda T Kaastra

Through the systematic analysis of data from music rehearsals, lessons, and performances, this book develops a new conceptual framework for studying cognitive processes in musical activity. Grounding the Analysis of Cognitive Processes in Music Performance draws uniquely on dominant paradigms from the fields of cognitive science, ethnography, anthropology, psychology, and psycholinguistics to develop an ecologically valid framework for the analysis of cognitive processes during musical activity. By presenting close analysis of activities including instrumental performance on the bassoon, lessons on the guitar, and a group rehearsal, chapters provide new insights into the person/instrument system, the musician's use of informational resources, and the organization of perceptual experience during musical performance. Engaging in musical activity is shown to be a highly dynamic and collaborative process invoking tacit knowledge and coordination as musicians identify targets of focal awareness for themselves, their colleagues, and their students. Written by cognitive scientist and classically trained bassoonist, this specialist text builds on two decades of music performance research, and will be of interest to researchers, academics, and postgraduate students in the fields of cognitive psychology and music psychology, as well as musicology, ethnomusicology, music theory, and performance science.

My research has focused primarily on coordination in ensemble performance. Coordination can be studied at different levels, all of which can be shown to influence the activity of making music. Social coordination is what brings musicians into the same space to learn and perform a work. The performers coordinate performance activity based on context, audience expectation, and schools of performance. Coordination over time is the process of rehearsing a work within the ensemble. This includes the study of the role that specific keys for coordination (e.g. annotation, clapping/tapping/singing) play in the rehearsal process. Real-time coordination is the study of how performers “make visible” the aspects of their intentions that are useful for coordinating ensemble. This can include measurements of body motion, facial expression, breath, and expressive sound. Finally, coordination can also be studied within in the person-instrument system. For example, how musical experiences are cultivated, how musical meaning is made, how performers think with and through their instruments, and so on. This talk will focus a recent study that examines the use of annotations as keys for coordination in the preparation and performance of Takemitsu’s Masque for Two Flutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em8nCgh1iX8

Working historically with the development of ideas about representation in the areas of distributed cognition and cognitive ecology, this paper outlines a conceptual framework for studying representation in the cognition of music performance. Charts and drawings from lessons on the guitar are used to illustrate a situated analysis of cognitive processes in musical activity. By identifying the basis for participation, field of operation, informational resources, and musical events we can begin to see how the particulars of musical thinking may be constrained by genre and state of the activity.

This paper presents the outcome of case study research on concept formation and creativity in the development of instrumental skill in music performance. Contents of one masterclass from each instrument of a world class symphony orchestra were analyzed using the following criteria: aspect (of musical activity discussed), modality (of instruction), referential directness (direct, indirect , oblique), method of instruction (what is to be done and how), instrumental particulars (bodily systems engaged). In instrumental performance, musical thought directs attention to the coordination of bodily systems involved in sound activation. Musical thinking is a restructuring of the particulars of this engagement to achieve a focal target. Focal targets may be drawn from a number of domains of coordination at different units and levels of analysis. This work challenges the long-held view that the concepts of musical thought are music-structural: occurring on a materials basis, defined by categories derived from listening to musical sound. Rather, this work demonstrates that movement is the home domain for concept formation in instrumental performance, not sound as previously supposed. Furthermore, this method of understanding cognition in instrumental performance may lead to a greater appreciation for cross-genre and cross-cultural studies of cognition in musical activity.

Astrological knowledge making has suffered many blows in the academy. Nevertheless, this type of knowing is as popular as ever. 1 It is my view that the beatings endured by this discipline are grossly unfair, and partially a result of its operation in what I call the "representational blind spot," that point in the use of a representational system where the representation is mistaken for the thing it represents. First discussed in the area of navigation by Edwin Hutchins in his 1995 book, "Cognition in the Wild" and later in my 2021 book on cognition in musical activity, the representational blind spot can lead to significant deceptions in analytical and interpretive thought. Having already discussed the representational blind spot in my book (pp. 18-21), I will forgo a lengthy discussion of it here and instead offer a solution to the problem by directly addressing the language used in this richly interpretive style of knowledge making. Marc Edmund Jones published many books on astrology. In this paper, I am focusing on his early book, "The Guide to Horoscope Interpretation" because the the book offers a robust analytical framework for interpreting astrological charts. The aim of his book is to help people analyze a horoscope by discovering high level patterns that allow for the organization and ranking of interpretive points with the aim of making astrological knowledge. Questions about the "truth" or scientific value of these ideas notwithstanding.

This paper presents an exploration of the ontological shift from musical materials (i.e. melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, timbre, register) to activities in music performance analysis. A systematic analysis of London Symphony Orchestra masterclasses reveals the basic mechanisms of music making in four main areas: representation, audience, interaction and tacit knowledge. This exploration leads to a broader account of cognition and creativity in music performance, one that bridges inner and outer processes of awareness around domains of coordination in joint activities. In this view, the conceptualizations of musical materials are viewed as targets of focal awareness rather than the basis for cognition in music making. This account, grounded in a rich third-person phenomenological analysis of instructional materials, paves the way for a “meaningful analytics” of orchestral performance.

Tracking Joint Activities in Visual Analyses. LINDA TINA KAASTRA and RICHARD ARIAS-HERNÁNDEZ, University of British Columbia, BRIAN FISHER, Simon Fraser University. — Using a method we call “Pair Analytics,” we have extended the application of Herbert H. Clark’s Joint Activity  eory (JAT) to the study of analytical reasoning in computer- mediated, human-to-human interactions.  e current study examines the coordinated analysis of aircra  safety concerns by a aircra  safety engineer and a graduate student analyst trained in the use of interactive visualization of information for data analysis and decision support. e knowledge needed to accomplish their analysis task is thus divided between them, with the more substantive knowledge about aircra  safety and general analysis process possessed by the safety engineer, and methods for creating and interpreting visualization of data are by the student. We document the process by which they attain common ground and the use of the visual interface as a signalling mechanism to support that process. We claim that coupling JAT and PA is an e ective research strategy to capture and study three socio-cognitive phenomena in collaborative visual analytics: (1) structuring and navigation of joint analysis; (2) management of joint attention; (3) and signaling of cognitively demanding tasks.

This paper presents an exploration of the ontological shift from musical materials (i.e. melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, timbre, register) to the activities of music performance. The “dogmas” extend Herbert H. Clark’s conceptual framework for the study of joint activity in language use to explore music performance in the WAM tradition. A systematic analysis of London Symphony Orchestra master classes examines the basic mechanisms of music making in four main areas: representation, audience, interaction and tacit knowledge. This exploration leads to a broader account of cognition and creativity in music performance, one that bridges inner and outer processes of awareness around domains in coordination of joint activities. In this view, material conceptualizations are viewed as targets of focal awareness rather than the basis for cognition in music making. This account, grounded in a rich third-person phenomenological analysis of instructional materials, paves the way for a “meaningful analytics” of musical practice.

Keywords: joint activity theory; ad hoc conceptualization; instrumental performance; creativity

From the Conclusion:
This paper presents a view of music performance on melodic instruments that attempts to unpack the processes of attention and awareness in expert performance. Clearly, much work remains to be done in the effort to bridge the knowledge cultures of performance and scholarly work on music. For far too long, the scholarly ideas that have dominated our view of music performance have robbed instrumentalists of their right to understand themselves as knowledgeable and creative beings. Sadly, though more and more researchers are beginning to recognize that the traditional ideas about creativity in Western Art Music are wrong (i.e. composer vs performer, orchestral music as “ossified and stilted”), efforts to correct the imbalance fall on deaf ears, and even heavy-handed academic censorship. I offer this working paper as an interim contribution seeking to engage dialog with a wider community of interested scholars. In the future, I hope we will all better understand how deeply we are connected by our ability to attend, experience, and create music together. For the latest version of this work, please see my recently published book, "Grounding the Analysis of Cognitive Processes in Music Performance: Distributed Cognition in Musical Activity" Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2021.

This (now somewhat outdated) annotated bibliography brings together qualitative research methodology and cognitive systems theory. This was written for a unique situation. I had to bring these two topic areas together to leverage the considerable expertise of two of my committee members, and learned a great deal in the process. The committee devised questions based on this document and I had to respond to those questions in a 24 hour written exam (not included). This document should be of interest to students seeking methodological tools for studying cognition in real world situations, like music making.

I am currently working on new methodological material. Stay tuned.

This document was created in preparation for my comprehensive exam on the topic, "music performance analysis" for the Individual Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program at the University of British Columbia. The bibliography presents the major works addressing the interplay between analysis and performance. Based on this document, my committee designed a written exam for me to complete in 24 hours. The written exam is not included here.

This paper examines the role of performance annotations in coordinating Western Art Music (WAM) performance. Annotations are classified by their function in supporting cognitive and meta-cognitive processes of performance in relation to the printed score (visual salience, repair/correction, and anchoring). The classification supports theory in distributed cognition by demonstrating a clear functional relation between the annotated score and both internal and external performance processes.

Cognition in ensemble performance is many-layered and multi-faceted, including processes that have internal and external, individual and group, cognitive and meta-cognitive components. This paper presents an analysis of annotation in Western Art Music (WAM) performance using conceptual tools that aim to bridge these domains. Performance annotations on the rehearsal score from a case study of the preparation and performance of Torû Takemitsu’s Masque for Two Flutes (1959-1960) are classified by their function in supporting cognitive and meta-cognitive processes of performance in relation to the printed score (visual salience, repair/correction, and anchoring). The classification supports and extends theory in distributed cognition by demonstrating a clear functional relation between the annotated score and both internal and external performance processes.

On the path of developing expertise, musicians often engage what we call “performance inquiry.” Performance inquiry goes beyond regular practice to include experimenting with technique, improvising on concepts, feelings, and images, and experimenting with musical ideas. While performance inquiry is a satisfying practice on its own, it can also be augmented by scientific research. This paper will outline some of the considerations that can guide the exchange of knowledge between the science and practice of music.

Some mistakes can occur in applying a theory of cognition from language to musical environments. The first danger is the temptation to conflate talk about music with music itself. Are the processes of understanding music tied to linguistic metaphors, or do such things as “sonic metaphors” exist without linguistic categorization? The second danger is using the theory of cognitive metaphor to advance one particular perspective (music theory or music aesthetics or Western musical conventions) over other possible modes of understanding and engaging music. This error results from dismissing the fundamental embodied nature of the theory. Third, borrowing a theory from cognitive science comes with the responsibility of being clear about how and why the theory should be modified for a particular application, if at all. The safest middle-ground is to use the theory not as a model of mind, but as a “heuristic framework for raising and addressing theoretical and empirical questions.”

Concluding thoughts: My purpose in compiling this list was to seek theory about cognition and interaction that would be suitable for raising questions about music performance. All of these theories provide compelling material for structuring inquiry on musical interaction. However, a few issues must be openly addressed. There is a huge temptation to study musical performance with the aim of judging the quality or assessing the level of creativity of the musicians. If we decide this is a good idea, we need to carefully consider what a creative musical act might be. Is creativity tied to the production of new notes or rhythms? Is it the spontaneous generation of a surprise sound that no one expects? Most researchers would say no to both questions if pressed, and yet very often musical creativity is assessed at that level. The concepts of agency and autopoiesis might provide new ways of viewing musical creativity, as a system of interactions. Indeed, what is the relationship between creativity and self-awareness, personal empowerment? If creative acts are not random, spontaneous outbursts of sound, how are they constrained? Through practice? Through response to the environment? According to the affordances of certain instrumental roles? Finally, a scientist has an obligation to strive toward a non-judgmental stance toward the participants in her study. In qualitative research, this is called reflexivity – an awareness of the researcher’s involvement in shaping the data and analysis according to her own set of priorities and expectations. Judging the creative abilities of the performers does not seem congruous with that responsibility.
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Prizes for the authors:

The most clearly structured and detailed theories:
Clark, Brinner, Walbott

The most interdisciplinary approach:
Sawyer

The largest number of research methodologies in one study:
Berliner

The most obtuse high level theorizing:
Sundin

The most music-analytical:
Monson

The most ambitious attempt to bridge system theory with real world data:
Van Schalkwyk

The greatest use of mathematical symbols:
Nickerson

The greatest discussion of the nature of knowledge:
Nickerson
Salomon, honorable mention

This article outlines the knowledge values of the performer-researcher, or "traveling instrumentalist", in the systematic study of cognition in music performance. The traveling instrumentalist values the cultivation of insight through research, the systematic inclusion of experiential knowledge in research design, and the ability to ground research in real-world performance situations. The traveling instrumentalist also values a broad perspective on cognition, focusing on the activity of making music, and distinguishing the cognitive processes of performance from those of analytical or critical inquiry on music. Furthermore, the traveling instrumentalist values pragmatism, generalism, and experiential realism as guiding principles for research design. Following these values, fundamental concepts such as creativity and virtuosity take on new meaning. Creativity in music performance is not the generation of “new” musical materials, but the ability to draw meaningful connections between musical materials such that the performance communicates something to fellow musicians, to the ongoing narrative of the self, or to the audience. Virtuosity in music performance is the ability to perform with the cognitive skill of reflective awareness, not just technical mastery. The article ends with some reflections on cognitive processes that arose from the instrumental training of the author.

Abstract This poster presents an exploratory field study of a VAST 2007 contest entry. We applied cognitive task analysis (CTA), grounded theory (GT), and activity theory (AT), to analysis of field notes and interviews from participants. Our results are described in the context of activity theory and sensemaking, two theoretical perspectives that we have found to be particularly useful in understanding analytic tasks.

Abstract. From 21.11. to 26.11. 2010, the Dagstuhl Seminar 10471 “Scalable Visual Analytics” was held in Schloss Dagstuhl–Leibniz Center for Informatics. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general.

This is the video to accompany the lecture slides with the same title in my papers list. I gave this lecture to an undergraduate cognitive science class (COGS 102A) at the University of California at San Diego on November 15, 2012. Part One of the talk focuses on musical objects in live performance and Part Two focuses on representations of music for the purpose of performance.

This course is an introduction to Cognitive Science, the study of the mind. We introduce a range of approaches to the study of mind, touching on select topics in philosophy, psychology, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, emotion, social cognition and artificial intelligence. These areas are woven together through an exploration of the basics of scientific inquiry: method & methodology, theories & models, units & levels of analysis, and explanatory boundaries. We draw from a range of specific topics in cognitive science for example, vision and pattern recognition, attention, memory, and problem solving. As we survey a variety of methods of inquiry, theoretical perspectives, and important debates, we develop and exercise the scholarly skills that make us educated consumers of this (often challenging) material. We work on the basics of interdisciplinary scholarship by Exploring the Mind.