Topic – How can viewing The Digital Score from the 3 dimensions of Normativity, Presence augmentation, and the “here-and-now” engagement help us understand musicking and the role of the digital score in music education.

This was the second in a series of trans-disciplinary discussions with experts from a range of fields to enhance the theoretical understanding of the digital score. The aim of this series is exploratory and openness so that we expose, rather than close, new insights that help us understand meaning-making in digital score creativity. Dr. Andrea Schiavio’s starting point was a critical evaluation of the role of the digital score from the perspective of 4 E’s: embodied, embedded, extended and inactive.

The critical insights that emerged focused on the following themes

1) Normativity: traditional or ‘normal’ actions are augmented by the digital score

2) Presence: the presence of intelligent agents and non-human actors in the flow of the digital score renegotiate and relocate human creativity

3) ‘here and now’: we can rethink the new structures and responsibilities in the relationships emergent in the flow of digital musicking and these can signal novel ways of conducting music education.

Further information on 4 E’s:

1) An empirical study inspired by 4E cognitive sciences in the context of musical skills acquisition.

Schiavio, A., Stupacher, J., Parncutt, R. & Timmers, R. (2020). Learning music from each other. Synchronization, turn-taking, or imitation? Music Perception, 37(5), 403-422. [HTML]

2) The qualitative study mentioned during the discussion, where music teachers reflect on the differences in “presence” and “responsibility” in individual and group lessons

Schiavio, A., Biasutti, M., van der Schyff, D., & Parncutt, R. (2020). A matter of presence: A qualitative study on teaching individual and collective music classes. Musicae Scientiae, 24(3), 356–376. [HTML]

3) A qualitative study with expert music composers focusing on musical creativity and 4E cognition:

Schiavio, A., Moran, N., van der Schyff, D., Biasutti, M., & Parncutt, R. (2020). Processes and experiences of creative cognition in seven Western classical composers. Musicae Scientiae, online first. [HTML]