Author: Marietta (Page 2 of 2)

Hello dear research friends, interested people and those who would like to become one!

It’s that time again, finally a new blog post! Last weekend I was at the 38th annual conference of the German Society for Music Psychology – affectionately known by everyone as the DGM – on the topic of “The Psychology of Popular Music” and now I would like to tell you about this further adventure.

It was my first conference that I was allowed to attend in presence. I had already been to the DGM conference last year, but unfortunately it was still online, and I can now understand and confirm that even though they are well done and you meet nice people, they are nowhere near the real thing. I was accordingly thrilled and am already looking forward to the next conference! 🙂 It was also very nice that I was not the only representative of the team or the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, besides Sabrina, Valèrie and Olivier also attended the conference. Valèrie was supposed to present a poster for Dawn, as she had to be at the Sempre Society conference in England, while Olivier was supposed to give a talk on his new groove model.

The conference was held at the university in Würzburg. A beautiful city that is certainly worth a visit, and not only because of the excellent Franconian wine, as I was told 😉 but of course mainly because of the Residenz, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In any case, the conference started for me on Thursday in the form of the annual PhD workshop, where we talked about hybrid conference formats, communication with journals and presentation techniques with great speakers like Felix Thiesen and Klaus Frieler. Of course, the social aspect was not to be missed either, which is why we ordered pizza in the evening and had a picnic outside. That was a really nice way to start the conference, because I already met old faces again, but also new people, and I don’t know about you, but it always puts me at ease when I see familiar faces at such large events.

The conference programme opened on Friday afternoon with a welcome from the board and immediately went into full swing with two talks on unloved music and listener usage motives. Very exciting!

The event had a very tight programme, but in between there were always enough coffee breaks, which I learned are ideal for networking. Fortunately, the DGM is very informal and does not organise overlapping lectures, so I actually had the pleasure of enjoying all the panels in full.

After the first day of the conference, there was a nice get-together in a quaint Franconian restaurant, the Alte Mainmühle, which we could use to refresh old acquaintances and make new ones. The ambience of the restaurant was just as pleasant as the company, which is why it was a very successful evening for everyone. The second day of the conference was very intensive with eight lectures on a wide variety of topics and many coffee breaks, which were no less exciting. In addition, the annual general meeting of the DGM took place later in the afternoon, which Olivier and I, as new members, were of course delighted to attend. During this general meeting, the poster prize was also awarded for the best poster by a young scientist who is still studying for a doctorate. And now look who won the prize 🙂 :

You can’t imagine how surprised and thrilled I was, because I hadn’t really expected it. The speech of praise by Claudia Bullerjahn, who had represented the commission for the selection of the poster prize winner, was incredibly beautiful and I was incredibly pleased. And the poster looks really great too, doesn’t it? Of course, this meant that the poster presentation the next day would be well attended 😀

First, however, we attended Olivier’s lecture on his groove model on Sunday morning, which went down very well with the visitors.

And also the second lecture on the topic of Fremdschämen bei deutschen Casting-Shows was great and very entertaining. Especially the sound and video examples!

Our poster presentation was then of course a complete success. Everyone wanted to look at the award-winning poster and learn more about our project. People were really excited, unsurprisingly of course, as it is truly a grandiose project. I also think that our presentation went down very well with the visitors. There were many interested questions and I think we made a professional impression.

Of course, it was also very nice that I already knew a few of our poster visitors from my student days in Hamburg. They were of course very interested to hear what had become of me since I graduated and wanted to express their admiration.

All in all, my first live conference was a complete success, not only for me but also for the project that everyone in the DGM now knows and loves. I enjoyed the presentation and the conference in general so much that I can’t wait to go to my next one. I sincerely hope that this one will not be too long in coming.

Thank you so much for reading this blog and feel very welcome to leave comments. I can’t wait to tell you about all the other exciting things and experiences.

Best wishes and see you next time!

Hello dear research friends, interested people and those who would like to become one!

The time has finally come: we have our laboratory! And doesn’t it just look wonderful?

We can’t wait to get started with the measurements! Now we can rightly call ourselves MoCap Girls 😀

On 29 thand 30th June we had a visit from Erwin, the motion capture expert from Vicon Systems, who installed the lab for us and gave us some training. Many thanks, Erwin!

Especially he and Sabrina seemed to have fun at work:

During the training on the second day, we were even able to convince our dear colleague Olivier to act as guinea pig this time, so that I could concentrate on observing this time. But I think Olivier also had fun watching his movements on the big screen 😉

The technology is incredibly elaborate and it is fascinating to see and learn what all is behind it and what you can do with it. Already during the trainings, we all had many crazy ideas for projects that we could implement after the four years of the Parkinson’s project.  For example, studying the movement patterns of pianists and other musicians, or, as we are all very fond of animals, we had the idea of having dogs or cats run across the aisle mat. The possibilities seem endless and we never tire of thinking of new ones.

Of course, we still have a lot of work ahead of us to get to know the system better and to develop the exact procedure with which we will carry out the motion capture examinations and gait analyses with the Parkinson’s patients, but we are very much looking forward to it and are convinced that we can create something great together! 😀

Thank you so much for reading this blog and feel very welcome to leave comments. I can’t wait to tell you about all the other exciting things and experiences.

Best wishes and see you next time!

Hello dear research friends, interested people and those who would like to become one!

On 21 and 23 June, the last workshops for the time being took place with us at the Lucerne School of Music. Just like the workshops in England and Brissago, they were a very positive and wonderful experience for all participants, I hope, but also had their own individual charm. For me, it was really amazingly fascinating to observe how the different cultural backgrounds not only reflect musical tastes, but also make for a unique atmosphere during the workshops.

As in England, the four workshops took place over two days and a joint lunch was organised, which everyone appreciated for the social exchange. I had provided a 1½ metre long sand dab for this, which I think everyone found very funny. It really looks delicious, doesn’t it?

Besides, this time it was my job to lead the workshops, as I was the only one at all the others and of course it is important for my dis to be in charge for once. At first I was terribly nervous, but after the ice was broken and I could feel the pleasant group dynamic, my nervousness flew away.

As at the other two locations, we and the participants enjoyed the fourth workshop the most. It is always great to observe what a positive effect making music and dancing together can have.

One of the Parkinson’s sufferers who took part even brought his accordion and gave us a little performance.

It was fascinating to see how the others immediately adapted musically to him and followed his example. In the end, some even sang along! It was a wonderful atmosphere and we were able to learn a lot in relation to the planned intervention.

It was also great that we were able to hold the workshops in our lab, which gave us a first impression of what the work there will look like in the coming years.

The workshops are now over for the time being. We have collected some data to develop programming for the intervention over the summer before returning to the three sites for a final workshop. I am very excited about the analysis and development and wonder what the participants will say about the programme for the intervention. I really hope and believe that together with the therapists and people with PD we can develop something that can have a positive impact on the quality of life of people with PD.

So, but now I’ll get to work on the evaluation, wish me luck 😉

Thank you for reading this blog and feel free to leave comments. I can’t wait to tell you about all the other exciting things and experiences.

Best wishes and see you next time!

Ciao cari amici della scienza,  persona interessate e che vorrebbe esserlo!

During the week of 17 May, Dawn, Sabrina and I were in Ticino, in Brissago to be precise, for the next workshops at the Clinica Hildebrand together with Dr Daria Dinacci and Paolo Paolantonio. But before we start, I just have to show you the sunrise from our hotel.

Your envy is quite appropriate at this point 😉 I am really lucky to have such a stunning place to work.

Unlike the workshops in England, these workshops took place over four days and there was no lunch together. As we were in a clinical setting and the patients had a strict daily routine, other organisation was unfortunately not possible. Nevertheless, I had the impression that everyone felt comfortable and enjoyed the workshops despite the few opportunities for personal exchange. In fact, many would have liked more time and even more workshops. This circumstance is mainly due to Paolo and his great presentation and leadership of the workshops. He really succeeded in captivating everyone and making sure that everyone had fun. As Dawn always says, Paolo is a superstar! I am very happy that he is also a part of the project and that we will continue to work together in the future.

Daniele, the participating music therapist, was also great. The group musical exercises he led during the percussion workshop on Friday felt almost magical. Here is a small impression:

It felt indescribably beautiful to be a part of it and to feel the energy that flowed out from the participants.

I am really looking forward to the workshops in Lucerne to find out if and what differences there are between the three locations.

Grazie mille for reading this blog and feel very welcome to leave comments. I can’t wait to tell you about all the other exciting things and experiences.

Ciao and see you next time!

Hello dear research friends, enthusiasts and those who would like to become one!

From 25th of April to 6^th of May, we have been up in Hatfield, England to do the first steps of our project: a motion capture pilot study and holding the English workshops. And I can tell you it has been an amazing time!

It was Sabrina and mine’s first time visiting the University of Hertfordshire, which I am becoming a PhD student of. The picture below shows the P. C. Snow Building aka the department of ‘Psychology, Sport, and Geography’.

As you can see, following the tradition of good researchers the first thing we did was buying some coffee at the local coffee shop. Of course, it had to be a Starbucks 😉

It was great to finally meet my other supervisors Dr Caroline Whyatt and Dr Lucy Annett in person and having the chance to get to know each other better. They are both amazing researchers, and wonderful and supportive supervisors. I am so happy to work with them and having the chance to learn from them. We’ve also met Alex, the tech genius of the UH, and Jon, the handyman of the UH. Both are an incredible help for the project. Alex helped figuring out how to synchronize the motion capture software with the pressure sensitive gait mat, while Jon built the doorframe we would use for our test sequence measuring the functional mobility of the people with Parkinson’s. Doesn’t it look awesome?

Also, you can tell from the pictures below Dawn and I had a lot of fun doing the calibration of the motion capture cameras by waving the wand (it’s actually a calibration stick, but we prefer calling it a wand because you sort of feel like Harry Potter :-D). Furthermore, I had the pleasure to be the control participant for our pilot study. It felt weird being all stuck up with those little shiny markers for the first time, but by now I am used to it. Actually, it is very funny and interesting seeing and analyzing your movements later on.

The workshops have also been a wonderful experience, not only to me but also to the participants, I think. It was my first time working with people with Parkinson’s and seeing their openness and altruism to contribute something for the next generations of diseased has left me deeply impressed. Those are wonderful, incredible people and I am very grateful to be part of this project and get the chance to help them. I think, organizing a lunch between the workshops was an import part because it gave us all the opportunity for mingling and socializing. To me it was very helpful hearing the people talk about their experiences in general as well as regarding their participation in our workshops particularly. Here are a few impressions:

Jane and Alison, two of the participants, were so kind to invite Dawn and me to Alison’s house to have some coffee and cake. On that day, Dawn and I had driven by Jane’s house to pick her up and she showed us her garden first. Look at this, it felt like THE English garden to me. The coffee and cake were very nice, and I think everybody enjoyed themselves. It was great spending some free time together, getting to know each other some more in an opener space. I am really looking forward to seeing them again in September when we will be coming back for the fifth and final workshop.

Thank you for reading this blog, and please feel free to leave some comments. I am very interested in your opinion. I can’t wait to keep you posted with all the exciting things going to happen.

Take care and see you for the next read!