Artistic Research in Music

Anthology: Musical expressions of improvisation - pedagogical, aesthetic and artistic perspectives is an anthology on improvisation in music and a collaboration between ten authors from different musical, artistic, research and educational contexts.

The overall aim of the publication is to provide a multifaceted picture of improvisation in different musical practices by highlighting:

• improvisation in a variety of musical contexts and practices
• the roles and functions of improvisation in music
• the potential of improvisation as a transformative force from a broad societal perspective

• Project duration: 2023 – 2026
• Contact person: Sara Wilén

The OPERACTIVE project is a practice-led research which addresses critical challenges in audience participation and inclusive engagement within classical music and opera. It confronts the elitist roots and connotations of these art forms while tackling their competition with popular entertainment such as football and TV series in today’s mass culture. 

OPERACTIVE seeks to transition heritage art forms like opera into the digital era by designing gamified, interactive experiences that engage diverse audiences, diversify revenue streams, prototype innovative virtual concert venues, and secure the cultural sustainability of classical arts.

Read more about OPERACTIVE

• Project duration: 2024 – 
• Contact persons: Sara Wilén and Alexandra Huang-Kokina

MUSense is an international collaborative project between music schools, funded by the European Commission's Erasmus+ programme. The aim is to stimulate innovative artistic development in higher education in music, by exploring how digital resources can be used in new forms of musical performance.

The project has the following objectives, among others:

• To develop innovative models, educational content and expertise in cyber and distance performance.
• To offer students and teachers in higher education in music new tools for mixed live and remote performances, where the audience is invited as an active participant.
• To strengthen sustainable future entrepreneurship through digital resources in the field of music.

Within the framework of MUSENSE, Peter Spissky and Sara Wilén from Malmö Academy of Music are conducting a number of small-scale international artistic research and education projects in the field of early music and improvisation. Together with students, teachers and researchers, they are conducting live digital pilot sessions focusing especially on online musical interaction.

Read more about MuSense

• Project duration: 2022 – 2025
• Contact persons: Peter Spissky and Sara Wilén

Malmö Academy of Music is one of the few music institutions in the world that applies music psychological research to music studies. Via our Performance Centre, psychological methods found in performance, music psychology and sports psychology are introduced to the participating students. It should be added though, that the centre does not provide therapeutic treatment.

A central part of the Performance Centre is the course The Performing Human Being, which forms part of the master's programme for musicians. The course aims to provide psychological knowledge about how we function on stage and as performers. The course includes lectures, seminars and group work, and is based on the students' active participation, reflections and input. There is an opportunity for the participants to raise specific problems, situations or other questions about the topic that the group then works on. Students are also encouraged to bring their instruments.

Learn more about the Performance Centre

• Contact person: Francisca Skoogh

The Extra-Normal Voice Research intersects with music composition, performance, pedagogy/voice training with vocology and voice science. Outputs include new compositions with world premieres, published articles, development of training methods and scientific study.

Contact person: Michael Edgerton

This research project deals with ultrasonic singing in humans and is carried out in cooperation with singer Mimmi Rosendahl and scientist Christian Herbst. Colloquially ultrasonic singing is known as hiss due to the appearance of relatively high air noise while producing extremely high and soft, nearly sinusoidal pitches. These tones feature a central F0 which range from approximately 11 to 19 kHz.

The hypothesis presented is that the central tone is not produced by laryngeal tissue oscillation (mucosal wave) due to two reasons: 

• First, we question whether the frequencies are too high for the wave-like mechanical oscillation of tissue in the larynx. For comparison, the highest reported fundamental frequencies by humans have been a little more than 4 kHz, which is only one-third of the lower end of hiss. 
• Second, when standing a meter or so from the singer, the observer has the perception that the sound source generates somewhere near the velo-pharyngeal port.

Contact person: Michael Edgerton

In 2020 professor Michael Edgerton begun a long-term collaboration between Malmö Academy of Music and the European Spallation Source (E.S.S.). The E.S.S. is a multi-disciplinary research facility based on the world’s most powerful neutron source, whose goal is to enable scientific breakthroughs in research related to materials, energy, health and the environment, while addressing some of the most important societal challenges of our time. 

In the first step of this cooperation, Edgerton collaborated with J.G. Weisend II and looked at the issues surrounding Superfluid Turbulence. Specifically focused on a property of cryogenics, known as superfluid helium (He II), they investigated ways to transmit processes used in cooling superconducting magnets used for MRI machines and particle accelerators, to organise sound by loosely modeling phenomena found in He II.

Contact person: Michael Edgerton

Recent focus has been on brass (tuba) and string (cello) instruments.

Contact person: Michael Edgerton

For years Professor Michael Edgerton has been involved with training voices in the continued development of contemporary performance techniques by singers. This work and research continues to this day, currently focused on the decoupling of ventricular fold vibration from vocal fold vibration.

Contact person: Michael Edgerton

• Contact person: Felicita Brusoni

• Contact person: Fernando Garnero

• Contact person: Bertrand Chavarria Aldrete

• Contact person: Francesco Palmieri

Contact person: Yann Coopier