news 2020

Scientists in EPFL's Digital and Cognitive Musicology Lab (DCML), led by Martin Rohrmeier, have used data science and statistical techniques to characterize the musical style of choro, a primarily instrumental genre from Brazil, for the very first time. The study , which was recently published in the Journal of New Music Research , identifies key stylistic traits from some 300 pieces of choro music, providing an unprecedented empirical analysis of the harmony and form of the genre, which emerged in 19 th century Brazil and is still popular today.

The EmoDémos project - led by the University of Geneva among children aged 7 to 12 years - has shown that playing an instrument in an orchestra can facilitate the acquisition of cognitive and emotional skills in two years.

Complex learning processes like speaking or singing follow similar patterns. Using the example of zebra finches, researchers at UZH and ETH Zurich have investigated how young birds imitate the courtship songs of their fathers and practice them thousands of times. The study has revealed what aspects of the song are remembered overnight, and that sleep allows the bird to optimally build upon the progress made on the previous day.

Don't ever let a violin go without varnish, researchers advise, on the basis of a new study published in the journal "Scientific Reports". The scientists used neutron imaging to investigate what effects different coatings have on the wood of the instrument. Varnishing does in fact reliably protect against humidity, but it also influences the sound characteristics of the wood.