Music Research in Singapore Symposium 2023
Music Research in Singapore Symposium (MRSS) 2023 was a success! With 18 speakers and moderators, six musicians, 15 posters and demos presented, it was wonderful to see passionate conversations emerge between policy makers, academics, musicians and music educators, music therapists, students, and representatives from arts organisations and the music industry. The four panels (on 'Music and Health', 'Computational Research in Music', 'Applications of Music Research in Pedagogy and Practice', and 'The Music Research and Funding Landscape in Singapore') were as stimulating as they were diverse.
The symposium opened with a performance by YST Ensemble-in-Residence, Lorong Boys, featuring Joachim Lim on marimba, David Loke on violin/voice, and Eugene Chew on bass. They presented a unique arrangement of Gounod and Bach’s Ave Maria, which includes a beautiful violin improvisation over the intricate lines of the marimba. Their second item was Chick Corea’s most famous tune, “Spain”, which starts off with a rubato interpretation of Adagio from Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo.
Prof Brett Stemple and Prof Kat Agres
Prof Brett Stemple, Vice Dean and Head of Brass & Percussion at YST, gave the welcome address. He highlighted the intensifying interest and pressing need from cultural stakeholders for research in arts and music. The desire for evidence-based research in the arts has never been more sought after or more timely. After the disconnectedness of the pandemic, the human interconnectedness is appreciated globally and more profoundly. The currency of socio-interconnectivity is the arts and experiencing art is fundamental to being human. The international community realised the political role the arts play in society - social cohesion, improving health and well-being or celebrating cultural identity. However, it is not enough to intuitively know something, so research is needed to ask the ‘why’s and the ‘how’s.
Keynote Speaker Lynette Pang, Deputy CEO of National Arts Council
Attendees were treated to an insightful and inspiring keynote from the Deputy CEO of the National Arts Council (NAC), Lynette Pang. She shared that based on the NAC Annual Population Survey and Ministry of Health (MOH) Population Health Survey, people do feel that music contributes to their mental well-being. One of their programmes, Arts for Life, aims to integrate arts into different stages and aspects of life, such as education, entertainment, and therapy. A survey was done at Ministry of Education (MOE) schools, which found that 38% of those who participate in music activities in school said that it helps them to relief stress. When the percussion programme was introduced to Big Heart Student Care, there was a 70% increase in attendance which helped with their low attendance rates. Nanyang Technological University (NTU)’s Arts for Ageing Well research reported that facilitators observed an improvement in mood in the elderly at SilverACE at Lengkok Bahru when they played music. At Dover Park Hospice, patients’ quality of life improved when they leveraged music and the arts to express emotions.
The video shows how Decadence Co and Dementia Singapore harness movement and dance therapy to improve the well-being of seniors with dementia. Alison Lim, who is diagnosed with young-onset dementia, founded Dementia & Co with her daughter in 2021, and has been involved in co-creating programmes with researchers.
NAC also used nuggets of research to develop into film such as “Tune of Slow Life”, showing how the arts is important to everyday life. In this clip, they brought live music to the morning rush crowd to uplift spirits, to which commuters have feedbacked positively.
Prof Kua Ee Heok’s interest in music and mental health started 35 years old when he was in the World Health team for the global study for dementia. He shared a story about how music is able to transport a dementia patient to a particular time and place in memory and allowed the patient to regulate his restlessness while listening to a piece of familiar music. Prof Kua further explained the reason behind this phenomenon with the anatomy of the brain and how it works in tandem.
Several years ago, he and his team conducted a randomised controlled trial (RCT) at Jurong Point Shopping Centre on dementia prevention, dividing participants into four groups, each with a different activity assigned: music, taichi, art, and mindfulness. A month later, they found that depression rates fell for the music group compared to the rest. Music is the non-drug approach to improving subsyndromal depression (i.e. burn-out; people who do not have all the major depression symptoms but may experience social dysfunction).
In another study, they conducted the world’s first RCT on choral singing with brain imaging and found that it helps with cognitive function in ageing. Prof Kua also highlighted that depression is more prevalent than dementia, and that the suicide rates amongst the elderly is very high. He also highlighted the problem of “Ageing in Place”, which refers to ageing in one’s community/home rather than in residential aged care and this requires strong family bonding. Hence, the RCT involves family members bringing the participants for the sessions to cultivate that.
Panel 1 - Music and Health, moderated by Prof Kat Agres (YST), Prof Kua Ee Heok (NUH), Dr Mandy Zhang (CGH), Prof Ang Seng Bin (KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital), Dr Tan Xueli (St Luke’s Hospital)
Dr Ang Seng Bin shared about a community drumming programme at Institute of Technical Education (ITE) “Many Beats, One Heart”, which fosters social bonding and confidence, building across socio-economic status and backgrounds. This sparked off a community drumming movement and there was an open session held at East Coast Park which allowed passer-bys to participate. His study of rhythm-centered music making (RMM) found that it increased pain tolerance due to endorphins triggered, and improved pulmonary function and blood pressure. In another study done in Japan, it found that there is an increase in immunity, where immune cells like lymphocytes, memory cells, T4 cells, interleukin (i.e. natural killer cells that prevent illnesses and cancer reduction), improved physical symptoms in Parkinson’s such as tremors, hands, and finger dexterity. The protocol used in the study was “HealthRHYTHMS”, developed by Dr Barry Bittman and Christine Stevens, which led to the creation of the Yamaha Wellness Centre. The study also showed that it lowers anxiety, alters gene expression for stress amelioration, reduces depression and withdrawal in low-income children, and improves self esteem, stress, anger, motivation and mood. There is also high-on-task behaviour, high participation, high attendance for those undergoing psychiatric treatment. In the aspect of social health, there is a reduced sense of isolation, alienation and self-centeredness in the elderly population. There is also improved sense of empowerment, community resonance, enhanced communication, and positive experiences through music-making as a group. In children, there is a reduction in ADHD problems, oppositional defiance problems, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) problems. In the programme “Rhythm Kiosk” sponsored by NAC, that ran over 10 weekly sessions for 54 elderly, there were 37% odds of improvement in EQ5D (a quality of life tool), 53% odds of improvement in geriatric depression, and 124% odds of improvement in sleep. In another quasi-experimental study “Drum Up”, which involves 15 weeks of drumming with 230 secondary school students across 43 secondary schools, there were improvements found in post- and maintenance/neuroplasticity of the brain (the effect after the programme ceases), achievement motivation, and decrease in emotional problems in students.
Another panelist, Dr Mandy Zhang, who is a sports physician at Changi General Hospital and Chair of the Performing Arts Medicine special interest group under Sports Medicine Association Singapore (SMAS), shared about research in the field of performing arts medicine and the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in symphony musicians in Singapore, and adult street latin dancers. Dr Tan Xueli, principal music therapist at St Luke’s Hospital, and President of the Association of Music Therapists Singapore, shared about her research on music preference and pain management which ignited from the dissonance that music can be both a relaxation and distraction.
The highlight of the day was the launch of the Centre for Music and Health, which included a special musical ribbon-cutting ceremony. YST musicians, Bekhzod Oblayorov on piano, Shohei Yoshihara on bass, and Zachary Singson Dominguez on voice, came together with the audience to form a wall of sound, as Prof Kat Agres used the clapper instrument to symbolising scissors to “cut” the sound.
Towards the end of the first half of the day, the YST musicians presented the tune “Fly Me to the Moon” with these lyrics:
Fly me to the place where music soothes and lifts me up
A place where health and harmony unite makes me feel alright
In other words, C-M-H
A Centre for Music and HealthThat is where I’ll be where music and health are meant to be
With a beat of jazz our souls sore so high I’ll reach the sky
With notes that fly and the rhythm that’s tight
I will find my soul’s delight
The second song was taken from the musical Pippin, with lyrics generated by ChatGPT:
In the heart of the city there’s a place that we all know
Where the power of music and health goes together to grow
A sanctuary for the soul, a place to heal and learn
Where the rhythm of the beat is the key to our return[Chorus:]
CMH, centre for musicians
Where the power of music is the key
With every chord, we find our peace, we find our core
In the heart of the city, CMHA place where we gather to find our way back
With every song we sing we don’t ever lose track
Of who we are, who we want to buy. come on down and see
Where the music as a guide, we can finally be free[Chorus]
Music fills the air now together with hope and love
It heals our wounds it lifts us up above the ground
The trials of life we all face, this perpetual race
In every melody we’ll find our grace[Chorus]
Bekhzod Oblayorov (B.Mus4, piano), Shohei Yoshihara (B.Mus4, bass), and Zachary Singson Dominguez (B.Mus3, voice)
The afternoon sessions included the second panel covering ‘Computational Research in Music’. The panel was moderated by Prof Wang Ye, Associate Professor at NUS Computer Science, with panellists that included Dr Taemin Cho, principal engineer of BandLab; Dr Chitra Gupta, Research Fellow at NUS Information Systems; and Prof Dorien Herremans, Assistant Professor at SUTD Information Systems and Director of Game Lab.
The third panel was on the ‘Applications of Music Research in Pedagogy and Practice’, moderated by Prof Kat Agres. Panellists included Prof Eugene Dairianathan, Associate Prof at the Visual and Performing Arts Academic Group at National Institute of Education (NIE) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU); Dr Rebecca Kan, Associate Dean for Degree Studies in the Faculty of Performing Arts at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA); Dr Khoo Hui Ling, lecturer at YST, founder of The Music Studios, Vice President of the Singapore Music Teachers’ Association, and ExCo of the Southeast Asian Directors of Music (SEADOM); and Mr Sascia Pellegrini, Composition and Integrated Arts Teacher at The School of the Arts of Singapore (SOTA), Editor for the Open Space Magazine (NY), and reviewer for SAGE (Psychology of Music, UK).
The fourth and final panel covered ‘The Music Research and Funding Landscape in Singapore’. The panel was moderated by Dr Sharon Chang, Research Director of the Culture Academy at Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY); Chief Research Officer of NAC, Ms Grace Low, Head of Customer and Community Engagement at Esplanade; Mr Kok Tse Wei, Director of Community Impact at the Singapore Symphony Group (SSG); Ms Andrea Khoo, Assistant Director of Sector Development in the Performing Arts department at NAC; and Dr Jean Liu, researcher at National Gallery Singapore, and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Centre for Sleep and Cognition.
Click here to see the full schedule and bio of the moderators and panellists of MRSS.