Abstract
A musical signature tune is a short, distinctive melodic phrase associated with a particular program or personality: like the NRK Kjenningsignalet. The purpose of the "Play My Name" project is to study whether adoption of and engagement in a personalized signature tune can have a positive effect on one's sense of self. There are previous studies, for example, which separately demonstrate the beneficial use of music therapy or auto-biographical material to increase self-esteem. Combining these, I am interested in exploring the possible therapeutic benefits of identity-centric musical themes on self-esteem, group inclusion, social closeness, and other pro-social behaviors—for all ages, but especially for children.
I regularly teach computer music workshops to children (ages 7-13) that include activities which integrate personal identity and music creation. Anecdotally, many of the children display a great sense of pride in these activities because they feel a strong personal connection to and ownership of the music: they feel like the music is 'them' in a way. To test this formally, I propose comparing two groups: one provided a personalized musical theme that they help create and which is explicitly associated with their identity; the other assigned a similar melody but with no associations made to connect that melody to their identity. An assessment of their self-concept and/or self-esteem is done before and after their engagement with the melody to determine if there is any positive correlation. As part of today's presentation, I will discuss my proposed method for generating the signature tunes and provide examples of some of the activities of musical engagement.
Bio
Dr. David L?berg Code is a Professor of Music Technology and Theory at Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI, USA) where he also has served as Associate Director. He has been a Fulbright Scholar and visiting researcher at the University of Oslo in Norway and the Norwegian Network for Technology, Music and Art (NOTAM); and has taught previously at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and at the University of Maryland. Code's research interests include alternative tuning and metric systems, live interactive performance with computers, musical cryptography, and interdisciplinary topics such as music and feminist pedagogy and world music. He is the founder and director of KLOrk, the Kalamazoo Laptop Orchestra, and developer of the Groven Piano, a 36-tone interactive piano network which received its premieres in Oslo, Norway and the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival (USA).