Skip to main content
Open Book Publishers

2. Experimentation as a Learning Method: A Case Study Exploring Affordances of a Musical Instrument

Chapter of: Teaching Music Performance in Higher Education: Exploring the Potential of Artistic Research(pp. 47–86)

Export Metadata

  • ONIX 3.0
    • Thoth
    • Project MUSE
      Cannot generate record: No BIC or BISAC subject code
    • OAPEN
    • JSTOR
      Cannot generate record: No BISAC subject code
    • Google Books
      Cannot generate record: No BIC, BISAC or LCC subject code
    • OverDrive
      Cannot generate record: No priced EPUB or PDF URL
  • ONIX 2.1
  • CSV
  • JSON
  • OCLC KBART
  • BibTeX
  • CrossRef DOI deposit
    Cannot generate record: This work does not have any ISBNs
  • MARC 21 Record
    Cannot generate record: MARC records are not available for chapters
  • MARC 21 Markup
    Cannot generate record: MARC records are not available for chapters
  • MARC 21 XML
    Cannot generate record: MARC records are not available for chapters
Metadata
Title2. Experimentation as a Learning Method
SubtitleA Case Study Exploring Affordances of a Musical Instrument
ContributorFausto Lessa F. Pizzol(author)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0398.03
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0398/chapters/10.11647/obp.0398.03
Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
CopyrightFausto Lessa Pizzol
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Published on2024-05-27
Long abstractOrganologically classified as a melodic instrument, the electric bass has tonal and ergonomic characteristics that enhance its use beyond this designation. In this perspective, an increasing number of bassists seek to use the electric bass as a harmonic instrument. However, the lack of research on this approach hinders its development beyond individual initiatives. Based on an alternative tonal concept to consolidated practice, called LCCTO (Russell, 2001) and guided by a research design structured according to the concept of Affordances (Gibson, 1979) and the Perceptual Learning theory (Gibson & Pick, 2000), this artistic research adopts experimentation as a learning method for performing vertical harmonies on the electric bass. The development of this path involves, (i) the construction of a harmonic vocabulary for the instrument and (ii) the creation of musical works from this vocabulary. The result of this work intends to contribute to the construction of a new paradigm for the performance of the instrument, for the academic discussion about it, and, consequently, bring pedagogical implications concerning the academic program for bassists and the teaching methodology for this harmonic content. Regarding the latter, the proposed research design, as well as the harmonic vocabulary, structured as a book, may point to an initial path for further debate. The results achieved so far point positively to the potential of using experimentation for the development of a, here called, Harmonic Approach to the Electric Bass. The experiments already concluded provided a considerable number of chords playable on the instrument, which has been organized as a dictionary, as well as extensive material resulting from articulations (simultaneous execution) between these chords and the different scales proposed in the LCCTO. Also included in this material resulting from the experiments, are the Creative Applications, organized as musical studies, which reflect, through composition, the use of the contents already obtained.
Page rangepp. 47–86
Print length40 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Contributors

Fausto Lessa F. Pizzol

(author)
Ph.D. candidate in the Doctoral Program in Music at University of Aveiro
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1648-5279

Fausto Lessa F. Pizzol is a Ph.D. candidate in the Doctoral Program in Music at the University of Aveiro, Portugal. He holds a master's degree in Music Performance from the University of Aveiro, a degree in Music Education from Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo – UFES (Brazil), and a sandwich degree in Jazz Performance from East Carolina University – ECU (USA). He is a former professor at Faculdade de Música do Espírito Santo – FAMES (Brazil). His current research, in the field of artistic research, investigates the potentialities of the harmonic use of the electric bass through the development of a proposal for its performance and musical creation. His interests include Artistic Research, Music Performance, and Music Education.

References
  1. Carello, Claudia and Michael T. Turvey, ‘Physics and Psychology of the Muscle Sense’, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13.1 (2004), 25–28, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.01301007.x
  2. Covarrubias, Pablo, Ángel A. Jiménez, Felipe Cabrera, and Alan Costall, ‘The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems: The Revolutionary Ideas of Gibson’s 1966 Book, 50 Years Later – part 1’, Ecological Psychology, 29.2 (2017), 69–71, https://doi.org/10.1080/10407413.2017.1297680
  3. Fajen, Brett R., Michael A. Riley and Michael T. Turvey, ‘Information, Affordances, and the Control of Action in Sport’, International Journal of Sport Psychology, 40 (2009), 79–107
  4. Gibson, Eleanor Jack and Anne D. Pick, Perceptual Learning and Development: An Ecological Approach (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000)
  5. Gibson, James Jerome, The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979)
  6. Jacobs, David and Claire Michaels, ‘Direct Learning’, Ecological Psychology, 19.4 (2007), 321–49, https://doi.org/10.1080/10407410701432337
  7. Jamone, Lorenzo, Emre Ugur, Angelo Cangelosi, Luciano Fadiga, Alexandre Bernardino, Justus Piater, and José Santos-Victor, ‘Affordances in Psychology, Neuroscience, and Robotics: A Survey’, IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems, 10.1 (2018), 4–25, https://doi.org/10.1109/TCDS.2016.2594134
  8. Khatibi, Mina and Razieh Sheikholeslami, ‘Gibson’s Ecological Theory of Development and Affordances: A Brief Review’, The International Journal of Indian Psychology, 2.4 (2015), 140–44
  9. Lee, David N., ‘General Tau theory: evolution to date’, Perception, 38.6 (2009), 837–50, https://doi.org/10.1068/pmklee
  10. Lobo, Lorena, Manuel Heras-Escribano, and David Travieso, ‘The History and Philosophy of Ecological Psychology’, Frontiers in Psychology, 9.2228 (2018), 1–15, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02228
  11. Marquez-Borbon, Adnan, ‘Perceptual Learning and the Emergence of Performer-Instrument Interactions with Digital Music Systems’, A Body of Knowledge (2018), 2—23, https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5p45g68p
  12. Norman, Donald Arthur, The Design of Everyday Things (New York: Basic Books, 1988)
  13. Richardson, Michael, J., Kevin Shockley, Brett R. Fajen, Michael A. Ryley, and Michael T. Turvey, ‘Ecological Psychology: Six Principles for an Embodied-Embedded Approach to Behavior’, in Handbook of Cognitive Science: An Embodied Approach, ed. by Paco Calvo and Tony Gomila (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2008), 159–87, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-046616-3.00009-8
  14. Russell, George, Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization: Volume 1: The Art and Science of Tonal Gravity, Fourth Edition (Brookline: Concept Publishing, 2001)
  15. Szokolszky, Agnes, Catherine Read, Zsolt Palatinus, Kinga Palatinus, ‘Ecological Approaches to Perceptual Learning: Learning to Perceive and Perceiving as Learning’, Adaptive Behavior, 27.6 (2019), 363–88
  16. Szokolszky, Agnes, ‘Perceiving Metaphors: An Approach from Developmental Ecological Psychology’, Metaphor and Symbol, 34.1 (2019), 17–32, https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2019.1591724
  17. Travieso, David and others, ‘Dynamic Touch as Common Ground for Enactivism and Ecological Psychology’, Frontiers in Psychology, 11.1257 (2020), 1–10, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01257
  18. Turvey, Michael T. and Robert E. Shaw, ‘Ecological Foundations of Cognition: I. Symmetry and Specificity of Animal–Environment Systems’, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 6 (1999), 95–110
  19. Waters, Simon, ‘Performance Ecosystems: Ecological Approaches to Musical Interaction’, Electroacoustic Music Studies Network (2007), 1–20, http://www.ems-network.org/spip.php?article278
  20. Windsor, W. Luke and Christophe de Bézenac, ‘Music and Affordances’, Musicae Scientiae, 16.1 (2012), 102–20, https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864911435734
  21. Withagen, Rob and Margot Van Wermeskerken, ‘Individual Differences in Learning to Perceive Length by Dynamic Touch: Evidence for Variation in Perceptual Learning Capacities’, Attention Perception & Psychophysics, 71.1 (2009), 64–75, https://doi.org/10.3758/APP.71.1.64