Glauser School Student and Alumnus Present at International Music Cognition Conference

Kent, Ohio — In March of this year, Kent State University Glauser School of Music student Alena Miskins (‘22) and alumnus Andrew Blake (M.A. ‘20) presented at the Future Directions of Music Cognition Conference. The virtual conference, hosted by Ohio State University, was held March 6-7 and had over 1,000 registered attendees from around the world. In addition to the two-day conference, a featured speaker series began in January and will continue through May. Presentation will remain available to view by the public indefinitely, and registration is free and open to the public.

Miskinis, an undergraduate piano major in the Glauser School, presented “Virtual Harmony: Music Interaction with Virtual Reality to Reduce Stress.” The project started in 2019 as a collaboration with Ph.D. students in nursing and computer science. It has continued to evolve and develop since it was presented in Brazil as part of the Mission: Life competition. A previous story, found here, delves into the origins and more specifics of the project.

Blake, an alumnus of the Glauser School’s music theory program and current Ph.D. student at the Eastman School of Music, presented a session called “Tempering the Clavier: Examining the Intervallic Content of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Through the Lens of Historical Temperaments.” He began the work at Kent State with faculty advisor Joshua Albrecht, Ph.D., assistant professor of music theory. 

In addition to helping Blake and Miskinis craft their papers and presentations, Albrecht is also chair of the program committee for the conference and lead editor for its corresponding Proceedings journal. 

“I was thrilled that Alena and Andrew were able to participate as presenters in this year’s conference,” said Albrecht. “For both, it was their first time having their work published in an academic journal. It’s exciting to see how music cognition is being embraced here at Kent State, and I’m looking forward to sharing news on the development of our own music cognition lab at the Glauser School in the coming months.”

Learn more about the growing field of music cognition through Oxford Bibliographies.

POSTED: Monday, April 12, 2021 01:42 PM
Updated: Saturday, December 3, 2022 01:02 AM
WRITTEN BY:
Andrew Paa | musiccommunications@kent.edu