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YST STUDENT RESEARCH

Students(') Present

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At YST, research is about deepening knowledge and broadening connections through discovery. At the core, this process begins with curiosity and exploration, regardless of age or years of experience. View a selection of student research projects on musical topics of their choice below.

All presentations are developed over the Academic Year as part of regular classes, and provide a glimpse into the creative work that continuously goes on, here in YST.

Our students’ research work can be categorised by the following broad module areas: 

  1. Music and Context
  2. Music and the Community
  3. Music and Psychology
  4. Analysis and Composition
  5. Independent Creative Projects

Hear from some of our student presenters (both Conservatory Music majors and NUS non-Music majors!) about their class and research experience at the Conservatory:

Student Research Presentations (Academic Year 2021/22)

1) Music and Context

Music in a Different Hue
Alicia Diva Chandra (BMus.1, Composition)

In response to Robert Schumann’s “Im Wunderschönen Monat Mai” from the song cycle “Dichterliebe”, I created a series of artworks to explore how the Romantic ideas in Schumann’s work could be carried over from creating music to creating visual art.

Schumann’s song expresses Romantic ideas such as yearning for love, lack of resolution, and referencing nature as a means to fantasise about love. Using watercolour as my medium of expression, I tried to draw parallels between the compositional techniques used in Schumann’s work and the specific watercolour techniques used in my work, to convey these ideas of Romanticism.

As part of MUH1101 Foundations of Musical Discovery (Instructor: Dr Abigail Sin)

Keywords: Robert Schumann, Romanticism, Visual Art, Watercolour

2) Music and Psychology

Keywords: Charles Ives, Communication, Meaning and Emotion

The Unanswered Question
Ng Shi En, Felicia (Year 2, Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)

It is no secret that music has the power to convey meaning and emotion. Composers and performers often use music to communicate messages – a careful listening of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 reveals various themes, including struggle and oppression. Music also has the power to suggest and induce a variety of emotions. While Reich’s Electric Counterpoint can make many of us feel relaxed and calm, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 can overwhelm us with emotion, and even give us goosebumps.

However, is the opposite also true? Can music also convey a feeling of emptiness and aimlessness – a lack of emotion? Using one of Charles Ives’ most well-known works, The Unanswered Question, my final project for Music Cognition (MUA3230) explores how we can use psychology to understand how certain musical features can influence the way listeners perceive and understand music. Specifically, by manipulating pitch and temporal elements, and using expressive techniques during performance, Ives can convey the feeling of nothingness, within which meaning can still be found.

As part of MUA3230 Music Cognition (Instructor: Asst Prof Kat Agres)

Keywords: Panic attacks, music intervention, music therapy, singing  

SingRelief: A music Intervention for Panic Attacks
Koo Ning (Year 3, Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)

I have always been amazed by the potential of music to touch people and to improve well-being. Music is known to have calming and relaxing effects, but how can we actively tap into this potential in our daily lives? While learning about the aspects of music and singing that make it effective as a form of therapy, I wondered how these characteristics could be used to reduce anxiety and panic. In this final presentation for Music Cognition, I explored the possibility of actively singing as a coping mechanism for panic attacks, using a proposed app called SingRelief.

As part of MUA3230 Music Cognition (Instructor: Asst Prof Kat Agres)

3) Analysis and Composition

Reimagination of Gargoyles
Amalyn Leong (BMus.2, AAS)

Gargoyles by Lowell Liebermann is a piano piece commissioned by the Tcherepnin Society for the pianist Eric Himy. Premiering on October 11th 1989, this popular four movement work uses tonal ambiguity and unstable melodic direction to portray the likeness of Gargoyles.

The first movement, Presto, stood out to me as it had wide leaps and quick changes in touch and loudness. In my reimagination, I’ve chosen to accentuate these features, using different synths to represent changes in the soundscape. I split the movement into 6 different components based on what they depicted; the staccato notes that represented the flying gargoyles, the scales that added to the confusion of the flying, the sudden change in volume that I interpreted as the “jumpscares”, the church-like chimes, the eerie lead melody and the drone bass that grounded the whole piece.

My first encounter with Gargoyles occurred in an online game that I used to play, hence I gave the piece a more 8-bit quality to add my own experience. 8-bit music is commonly heard in vintage arcade machines and is associated with gameplay. On top of the original content, I also added some sound effects such as rain and the gargoyles screams.As gargoyles are statues that direct rainwater on churches and other traditional buildings, I imagined a rainy night where they would come alive to protect the building. As the rain pours down through the statue’s mouth, the gurgling sounds of the gargoyle can be heard.

As part of MUT2205 Text and Music (Instructor: Asst Prof Chen Zhangyi)

Keywords: Gargoyles, Piano solo, Contemporary Work

we’re all a little racist anyways

Singapore is probably one of the most racially harmonious countries in the world. Most of us just take this as a fact without question. Pitting this fact against group selection in animal behaviour, it may be that racial harmony is not natural, is not an instinctual urge. In fact, it may be the opposite. “we’re all a little racist anyways” sheds an introductory light onto this subject matter. 

The words may seem to be neutral but the music sets an uncomfortable undertone. With strange harmonies, the music also draws influences from Chinese and Indonesian scales. This later comes to an acceptance stage which is also reflected in the poem:

“I love my country, there’s so many races here
In every block, in every place that you adhere
I’ve never questioned, “how did we get such a spread?”
It turns out, everything’s planned by the big guys

This spread of races, it’s something unnatural
Here must have Chinese, here must have Malay, here Indian
Is it a good thing? Must we be concerned not?
I don’t know, but it has been this way for years

Where are we now?
Cannot turn back

I think we’ve gone much to far into this place
If you can, please never forget that you’re still
racist”

As part of MUT2205 Text and Music (Instructor: Asst Prof Chen Zhangyi)

Keywords: Recitative, Singapore, Racial Harmony

Student Research Presentations (Academic Year 2020/21)

1) Music and Context

Debussy’s Estampes: Pagodes
Foo Yue Ning (BMus.1, Violin)

As part of MUH1101 Foundations of Musical Discovery (Instructor: Dr Abigail Sin)

Handel’s Brockes-Passion: Masterful Storytelling
Gerard Joseph Lim Zhi Lei (BMus.4, Voice)

As part of MUH4204 Music History for Post-Graduate Placement (Instructor: Dr Frances Lee)

Satie’s Vexations
Ashley Chua Kai Qian (BMus.2, MS/MCP – Piano)

As part of MUH1101 Foundations of Musical Discovery (Instructor: Dr Abigail Sin)

Spaces, Religion, and Ultimacy
Owen Gan (School of Design and Environment)

As part of GET1019 Patrons of the Arts (Instructor: Assoc Prof Greg Petersen)

Relatability: Meaningful Connections through Music
Oh Er Zong Matthias (BMus.2, MS/MCP – AAS)

As part of MUH2201 Classical Styles and Romantic Spirits (Instructor: Assoc Prof Greg Petersen)

Schumann’s Second Piano Sonata
Tay Shu Wen (BMus.3, Piano)

As part of MUH2201 Classical Styles and Romantic Spirits (Instructor: Assoc Prof Greg Petersen)

Empowerment, Religion, and Ultimacy
Saw Hnin Thundray (School of Design and Environment)

As part of GET1019 Patrons of the Arts (Instructor: Assoc Prof Greg Petersen)

Two Roads Diverge
Oh Er Zong Matthias (BMus.2, MS/MCP – AAS)

As part of MUH2201 Classical Styles and Romantic Spirits (Instructor: Assoc Prof Greg Petersen)

2) Music and the Community

Hearing in New Light
Toh Yan Ee (Composition), Jorim Jireh Sim (MS/MCP – Violin), Ng Hui Ying (AAS), Matthias Oh (MS/MCP – AAS), Erwin Tan (Trombone), Lin Jiaxin (Violin)
[all students BMus.2]

As part of MUA2163 Leading and Guiding Through Music (Instructor: Khoo Hui Ling)

Two Roads Diverge
Joan Tan (Composition), Denise Tan (Cello), Calla Lim (AAS), Joachim Navarro (AAS), Zeng Ziyan (Viola)
[all students BMus.2]

As part of MUA2163 Leading and Guiding Through Music (Instructor: Khoo Hui Ling)

3) Music and Psychology

Managing Music Performance Anxiety
Linnet Sim (BMus.2, MS/MCP-French Horn)

As part of MUA2230 The Psychology of Music Performance (Instructor: Asst Prof Kat Agres)

The Effect of Looking Ahead on Sight-Reading Ability
Luke Chong (BMus.3, French Horn)

As part of MUA2230 The Psychology of Music Performance (Instructor: Asst Prof Kat Agres)

Timbre and Instrumentation in Film Music
Tay Ting Yuan (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)

As part of MUA3230 Music Cognition (Instructor: Asst Prof Kat Agres)

Play by Ear
Stephanie Tan Hui Min (BMus.4, Clarinet)

As part of MUA3230 Music Cognition (Instructor: Asst Prof Kat Agres)

4) Analysis and Composition

Rebellion (in the style of Stravinsky)
Samuel Ho Woon Kiat (Faculty of Engineering)

As part of MUT3223 Early Twentieth Century Music (Instructor: Adeline Wong)

The Architecture of a Classical Sonata
Jonah Ryan Kwek Lim Jin (BMus.2, Piano)

As part of MUT2201 Formal Practices (Instructor: Adeline Wong)

Simplicity and Complexity of Minuet Form
Jet Stephen Co Chong (BMus.2, Piano)

As part of MUT2201 Formal Practices (Instructor: Adeline Wong)

Episodes; Perspectives
Seth Tan Xun Yu (BMus.4, Piano)

As part of MUT3215 Composition for Non-Majors (Instructor: Adeline Wong)

Debussy’s La Cathédrale engloutie
Derick Lee (Faculty of Science)

As part of MUA3228 Re-imagining Pianism through Analysis (Instructors: Dr Abigail Sin, Dr Khoo Hui Ling)

5) Independent Creative Projects

HU Plays Debussy
Amalyn Leong (BMus.1, AAS) with Calista Liaw (BMus.1, MS/MCP – Composition)

3D Sound Survey
Lim Wen Liang (BMus.4, Composition)

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