Exploring Brain Dynamics via EEG and Steady-State Activation Map Networks in Music Composition.

In recent years, the integration of brain-computer interface technology and neural networks in the field of music generation has garnered widespread attention. These studies aimed to extract individual-specific emotional and state information from electroencephalogram (EEG) signals to generate unique musical compositions. While existing research has focused primarily on brain regions associated with emotions, this study extends this research to brain regions related to musical composition. To this end, a novel neural network model incorporating attention mechanisms and steady-state activation mapping (SSAM) was proposed. In this model, the self-attention module enhances task-related information in the current state matrix, while the extended attention module captures the importance of state matrices over different time frames. Additionally, a convolutional neural network layer is used to capture spatial information. Finally, the ECA module integrates the frequency information learned by the model in each of the four frequency bands, mapping these by learning their complementary frequency information into the final attention representation. Evaluations conducted on a dataset specifically constructed for this study revealed that the model surpassed representative models in the emotion recognition field, with recognition rate improvements of 1.47% and 3.83% for two different music states. Analysis of the attention matrix indicates that the left frontal lobe and occipital lobe are the most critical brain regions in distinguishing between 'recall and creation' states, while FP1, FPZ, O1, OZ, and O2 are the electrodes most related to this state. In our study of the correlations and significances between these areas and other electrodes, we found that individuals with musical training exhibit more extensive functional connectivity across multiple brain regions. This discovery not only deepens our understanding of how musical training can enhance the brain's ability to work in coordination but also provides crucial guidance for the advancement of brain-computer music generation technologies, particularly in the selection of key brain areas and electrode configurations. We hope our research can guide the work of EEG-based music generation to create better and more personalized music.

Dynamic cluster structure and predictive modelling of music creation style distributions.

We investigate the dynamics of music creation style distributions to understand cultural evolution involving intelligence to create complex artefacts. Previous work suggested that a music creation style can be quantified as statistics describing a generative process of music data, and that the distribution of music creation styles in a society has cluster structure related to the presence of different musical genres. To find patterns in the dynamics of the cluster structure, we analysed statistics of melodies in Japanese popular music data and statistics of audio features in American popular music data. Using statistical modelling methods, we found that intra-cluster dynamics, such as the contraction and the shift of a cluster, as well as inter-cluster dynamics represented by clusters' relative frequencies, often exhibit notable dynamical modes. Additionally, to compare the individual contributions of these different dynamical aspects for predicting future creation style distributions, we constructed a fitness-based evolutionary model and found that the predictions of cluster frequencies and cluster variances often have comparable contributions. Our results highlight the relevance of intra-cluster dynamics in music style evolution, which have often been overlooked in previous studies. The present methodology can be applied to cultural artefacts whose generative process can be characterized by a discrete probability distribution.

Effects of a music-creation programme on the anxiety, self-esteem, and quality of life of people with severe mental illness: A quasi-experimental design.

Many studies have shown that music therapy improves patients' symptoms. However, interventions using music creation as their core await further development for patients with severe mental illness (SMI). The current study investigated the effect of a music-creation programme on the anxiety, self-esteem, and quality of life of patients with SMI. A quasi-experimental design using convenience sampling was adopted to recruit patients with SMI from a psychiatric day care centre. Participants were grouped based on their willingness to undergo an intervention (26 patients in the experimental group and 23 patients in the control group). The control groups participated in conventional mental rehabilitation therapy activities. The experimental group participated in a music-creation session for 90 min every week over a 32-week period. The outcome indicators before and after the intervention were assessed using the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF). Finally, the intervention effect was determined using generalized estimating equations (GEEs). After 32 weeks of intervention activities, the experimental group showed significant improvements in their HAM-A total scores (P < 0.001) and RSES total scores (P = 0.005). Regarding quality of life, the improvements of the experimental group in terms of the psychological (P = 0.016) and social relationship domains (P = 0.033) were superior to those of the control group. Music-creation programmes are recommended for inclusion in the routine rehabilitation activities of patients with SMI.

Libertad vs. límites en la creación de una obra musical / Freedom vs. limits in the creation of a musical work

Resumen Varios han sido los aspectos no tenidos en cuenta en la comprensión del fenómeno de creación de obras musicales en lo que respecta a experiencias vividas por los compositores, tales como la experiencia de libertad y la vivencia de límites o determinismos durante el proceso creativo. En este artículo se analizan estos dos fenómenos humanos (libertad y determinismos) en 3 compositores del Caribe colombiano a través del método fenomenológico, el cual busca comprender realidades cuya naturaleza y estructura dependen de las personas que las viven y experimentan, y que son determinantes para la comprensión de la vida psíquica de cada persona (Martínez, 2009), y se encontró que a pesar de que el compositor necesita confrontar toda una serie de determinismos los cuales inician desde las mismas limitaciones del lenguaje musical, que en su estructura maneja unas reglas propias, puede sin embargo vivenciar un importante grado de libertad, reflejándose este en la manera como ellos se relacionan con dichos límites, y en la capacidad que tienen de saber que son también ellos los determinados. Se concluye que la creatividad surge en ellos a partir de esa tensión entre la propia espontaneidad y las limitaciones.

Abstract Several aspects don't have been studied in understanding the phenomenon of creation of musical works, with respect to experience by composers, such as experience of freedom, and experience of limits or determinism, during the creative process. In this article these two human phenomena (freedom and determinism) in 3 compousers of Colombian caribbean were researched through the phenomenological method, which seeks to understand realities whose nature and structure depend on the people who live and experience, and which are decisive for the understanding of life are analyzed psychic each person (Martinez, 2009), finding that although the composer needs to confront a series of determinisms which start from the same limitations of musical language, which in its structure have their own rules, the composer can still experiencing a significant degree of freedom, reflected it in how they relate to those limits, and the ability to know that are they also determined, concluding that creativity arises in them from the tension between spontaneity itself and limitations.