Asst Prof Kathleen Agres: Introducing YST’s Centre for Music and Health: Recent Findings and Personal Reflections
In this talk, Dr. Kat Agres will share about YST's newly-launched Centre for Music and Health (CMH), including recent research projects and findings, and new initiatives to support health through music listening and participation. Dr. Agres will also discuss her personal journey, and moments of resonance along her path from being a conservatory cello student to acquiring a PhD in Music Cognition, and finally, to founding the Centre for Music and Health.
Dr Khoo Hui Ling: Resonating in Society - Musical Storytelling in Community Outreach
There has been an increased global emphasis on how music can positively impact mental well-being and the health of society. It is also trending in Higher Music Education Institutions (HMEI) to focus not just on teaching students to be excellent performers, but on equipping students with skills to be future-ready and contribute as musicians to society. For musicians to be such makers in society, we need to first be still in order to listen to the needs of those around us. Only then can we be a healing vessel through which music flows, like a river, to the community.
At the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music (YST), these trends have led to the formation of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Centre for Music and Health (CMH), and to the Leading and Guiding class being a compulsory core course for all sophomores. The Leading and Guiding course is a year-long programme whereby students work in groups to initiate, design and realize their own music community outreach project. Musical storytelling, which is the use of music to tell a person's story or to relate to everyday life phenomena, is a popular approach that student groups use to conduct their outreach projects. This pilot study aims to explore musical storytelling as an approach in music outreach, to ascertain its effectiveness, and to evaluate the benefits that it has on YST students' musical growth. The focus of this study is on two YST Leading and Guiding student projects that used musical storytelling to engage with children with learning disabilities, and intergenerational music-making with elderly. We hope that the findings and results uncovered can help music community outreach organizers to develop useful approaches for connecting with audiences through musical storytelling, and to identify effective methods of measuring the impact of their programmes. Our shared perspectives may also help HMEIs further refine the teaching of professional development modules involving music community outreach.
Acknowledgements:
Prof. Kat Agres, Director of CMH
YST Leading and Guiding students: Alicia Diva Chandra, Bernice Ong, Papat Lertchanvit, Panyakorn Lertnimitphan, Edenia Maureen, Huang Yi, Hoi Khai Weing, Sho Yong Shuen, Cheryn Pandora, Natasha Lee, Lee Ann, Chang Chang-Yen
YST Leading and Guiding mentors: Chong Wai Lun, Syafiqah Adha
Elicia Neo: Pain/Relief --- Linking Generative Technology with Accessibility Design
In the midst of an evolving artistic landscape, the role of the contemporary musician and artist is being rapidly redefined. Against this backdrop, Pain/Relief is a collaborative, multisensorial, and interdisciplinary art piece that seeks to answer the question, "What does pain ___ like?"
Through a journey that explores loss, chronic pain, disability, autonomy, and the healing qualities of the natural world, two artists employ intrinsic movement interpreted in a contemporary dance context to explore the theme of moving through pain with dance and movement-reactive audio motifs. The project blends pre-recorded visuals with generative art, employing the responsive nature of reactive technology to communicate these elements. The incorporation of such technology into the performance lends to the accessibility of the show for disabled and abled artists, as well as offer a truly cathartic experience to audiences. Through Pain/Relief, we hope to create a transformative immersive experience that speaks to the complexity of pain and healing, and invites fellow art practitioners to engage with the possibilities of technology in creating a more inclusive and empathetic art form.