Tag: University of Arizona

Songs Stuck on Repeat

September 29, 2015 |

It’s a nearly universal human phenomenon, an experience that can be a blessing or a curse; educational or irritating; crazy-cool or enough to drive someone crazy. It happens to over 90 percent of us and scientists still don’t really know why.

This occurrence is the ubiquitous ear worm – a tune that gets stuck in your head. It spins around ad nauseam, and maybe fades away when more complicated, cerebral tasks come along only to pop up again later when your brain isn’t otherwise occupied. Or perhaps when it is otherwise occupied. It really depends on you. One thing The Arizona Ear Worm Project investigators have found is that the ear worm experience is highly personal.

Last month, in an office at the Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences building on the University of Arizona campus, these researchers discussed their project “Musical Cognition, Emotion and Imagery: Understanding the Brain, One Catchy Song at a Time.” The project was funded through the UA’s Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry Faculty Collaboration Grant program.

What was discovered and what remains to be uncovered surprised the interdisciplinary team. They will present their findings in a presentation called “Can’t Get You Out of My Head!” for Confluencenter’s Show & Tell event on Wednesday, Oct. 7.

“One of the main things that happened – (which was) exciting from a scientist’s perspective – is that we got rid of all the easy answers,” said Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences Associate Professor Andrew Lotto. “All the easy answers are not true: that ‘all ear worms look like this, everyone who has an ear worm looks like this.’ One of the things about scientists that oftentimes people don’t understand (is that) easy answers are not that exciting to a scientist. So, as this has gotten more and more complex, it becomes more and more interesting.”

The Arizona Ear Worm Project includes Dan Kruse, an ethnomusicologist and AZPM radio announcer, UA Associate Professor of Music Theory Don Traut, and Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Professor Andrew Lotto. photo: Jamie Manser/Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry

The Arizona Ear Worm Project includes Dan Kruse, an ethnomusicologist and AZPM radio announcer, UA Associate Professor of Music Theory Don Traut, and Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Professor Andrew Lotto.
photo: Jamie Manser/Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry

Dan Kruse, a radio announcer at Arizona Public Media and an ethnomusicologist, was inspired several years ago to investigate why songs get stuck in people’s heads after hearing a National Public Radio story on music psychologist Victoria Williamson, “who, of all things, was doing research into what starts ear worms,” said Kruse. “And I thought, ‘that’s so interesting, that somebody would actually study such a thing because I’ve experienced this my whole life.’”

Kruse recruited Lotto and Associate Professor of Music Theory Don Traut to join the team. “Don had done some really interesting research about hooks in pop music that lined up so beautifully with this,” Kruse shared.

When Lotto, Kruse and Traut – all music lovers – initially began batting around ideas and hypotheses, they collectively realized that their combined knowledge and perspectives would work together perfectly. Kruse was responsible for the interviews and the human touch, Traut approached it from a music theory perspective, and Lotto from the hearing sciences angle.

Once they started drilling into the meat of the matter, ideas about common harmonic patterns leading to ear worms and common songs recurring among the research subjects were tossed out due to lack of evidence. “Out of 150 to 200 ear worms (we studied), there were less than half a dozen that were repeat songs. It’s not like everybody has the same four to five songs stuck in their head,” Traut said. “It’s really a very personal thing. I thought that was significant. I thought there would be more uniformity.”

While the individuality of the ear worm occurrence was notable, Kruse said there were also cases when the song-stuck-on-repeat became a collective experience among partners, friends or coworkers. “Sometimes unspoken, they just notice they will hum something out loud and notice later that someone has the same thing going on,” Kruse said.

Kruse proposed that future research could “go ethnomusicologically – what are the qualities of music that people listen to? Are there certain things in music that people attach to? Are there music universals?”

“Again, the ear worm itself is a way of getting into the questions that we care about,” said Lotto. “The ear worm is one of these experiences that nearly everyone has related to music and it lets us start getting at why this sound (music) is so important across cultures for every single person, because it is a complex sound – it’s like a speech sound, an animal call – these are all complex structures.

“Why music and why not these other sounds?” Lotto queried. “There’s nothing really special (from a hearing science perspective) about the sound of music, yet our experience of it is very special.”

Find more information on The Arizona Ear Worm Project at AZEarWorm.org. The  presentation “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” is on Wednesday, Oct. 7 for Show & Tell at Playground, 278 E. Congress St. The free event starts at 6 p.m. Visit Confluencenter.org for details or call 621-0599.

George Mumford in Tucson – Wed, April 8

April 1, 2015 |
George Mumford

George Mumford

UA’s Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry is bringing George Mumford – sports psychologist with Phil Jackson and meditation teacher/coach renowned for enhancing individual and team performance though mindfulness meditation – to Tucson to deliver several free public lectures on Wednesday, April 8.

At 3 p.m., Mumford speaks on the theme “Learning to Play, Playing to Learn” at El Pueblo Neighborhood Center, 101 W. Irvington Rd. This free talk, geared toward youth but applicable to all, focuses on simple and powerful methods to achieve your aspirations.

At 7 p.m., Mumford presents “Pursuing Excellence with Grace and Ease” at UA’s Gallagher Theater, 1303 E. University Blvd. The free presentation is centered on how to utilize mindfulness meditation as a key to success.

As an athletic trainer, mentor for at-risk youth and motivational speaker, Mumford urges his diverse clients and audiences to practice meditation as a means of developing concentration, focus and mental toughness. Mumford is best known for working with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers during their championship seasons in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Mumford’s proven techniques can transform the performance of anyone with a goal – be they an athlete, student, academic, executive, musician, hacker or artist. Mumford shares his story and strategies in his Tucson talks, topics being covered in his forthcoming book “The Mindful Athlete: Secrets to Pure Performance,” set for release by Parallax Press this May.

By hosting George Mumford, Confluencenter continues its mission to sponsor engaging and free programming that examines humanity’s grand challenges.

“The eclectic nature of Mumford’s talks, which include elements of cognitive science, sports medicine and Eastern philosophy, represents the innovative and interdisciplinary work in which Confluencenter invests,” explains Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry Director Dr. Javier Duran. “We are excited to bring Mr. Mumford to Tucson to speak to both the UA and broader Tucson communities.”

Mumford’s community presentation at El Pueblo Community Center is possible through in-kind support from Ward I Councilor Regina Romero’s office. Mayor Jonathan Rothschild is also offering his support by being a part of the El Pueblo Community Center talk. Call 621-4587 or visit Confluencenter.arizona.edu for more information.

Shushing the Librarian Stereotype

March 2, 2015 |
University of Arizona Research and Learning Librarians Cindy Elliott (left) and Nicole Pagowsky (right) explore librarian stereotypes at Confluencenter's Show & Tell event on March 11. photo: Jamie Manser

University of Arizona Research and Learning Librarians Cindy Elliott (left) and Nicole Pagowsky (right) explore librarian stereotypes at Confluencenter’s Show & Tell event on March 11.
photo: Jamie Manser/Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry

They are classic scenes in the 1984 film “Ghostbusters.” One is the opener with the grandmotherly librarian who gets the bejeezus scared out of her by the “free-roaming, vaporous, full torso apparition” haunting the New York Public Library. The other scene is with that ghost, who seems to also have been a librarian in her earthly life, shushing the Ghostbusters when they try to ask her questions while she is reading; she then terrorizes and chases them off when they don’t comply with her request to be quiet.

With the comedic team of Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis as the main focus, it is easy to gloss over the ghostly librarian typecast as an elderly white woman who wears her grey hair in a bun, shushes people and then turns monstrous when she’s not obeyed. It’s every little kid’s nightmare. But, let’s stop a minute, pull back for the wide angle perspective and look through a different lens.

If you are a librarian, the depiction probably touches a nerve because “Ghostbusters” certainly isn’t the only movie that perpetuates the stereotype.

“It’s everywhere,” says University of Arizona Research and Learning Librarian Nicole Pagowsky.

“It is everywhere,” agrees Cindy Elliott, also a Research and Learning Librarian at the UA.

“Especially in the media, the stereotypes are in everything from cartoons up into popular films, and television shows. Music, all kinds of things,” Elliott shares.

The three of us are chatting at the UA Main Library in mid-February, digging into the enduring and erroneous images often associated with librarians. The persistent portrayals and the implications will be shared, “in a fun way,” by Pagowsky and Elliott at Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry’s Show & Tell – a multimedia learning experience – on Wednesday, March 11.

Pagowsky, who is the co-editor of “The Librarian Stereotype: Deconstructing Perceptions and Presentations of Information Work,” imparts that her interest in examining the formulaic librarian representations stems from a curiosity about how these stereotypes affect the diversity of the profession, along with how librarians are perceived.

“The profession is over 85 percent white and over 80 percent women,” Pagowsky says. “A lot of it is because this stereotype is out there that we’re old white women or sexy white women. It’s not even necessarily, ‘Oh, I’m not sexy, I can’t go into it,’ it’s more like, ‘I’m not white’ or ‘I don’t fit into this demographic.’”

“And it’s damaging because if you don’t fit into that, you don’t see yourself in that role,” Elliott adds. “If you don’t see yourself represented there, you may not feel like ‘That’s for me.’ So that’s part of it too, we work really hard to try to recruit people from all types of backgrounds because it adds to our diversity. We need that to reflect what is going on with society.”

“And also with serving a diverse campus,” Pagowsky shares, “to just have a bunch of the same people with the same perspective developing our services, and our instruction and our interfaces and everything…”

“You want to recruit people from various backgrounds,” Elliott elucidates, “because it reflects our academic community and it reflects the community we live in.”

Along with dispelling the white, female dominated stereotype, Pagowsky also works to dismantle the idea of what librarians are supposed to wear through her blog LibrarianWardrobe.com. “Of course being female dominated, (the stereotypes are) focused on how we look. Which is another issue.”

Elliott adds that “it is weird and interesting, how fashion is very tied to the way someone perceives a librarian, so that blog that Nicole has is great. It shows that there’s a wide variety of people.”

In addition to dispelling mythologies surrounding the surface aspects of what librarians look like during the Show & Tell presentation, Pagowsky and Elliott will also share the exciting assortment of work and research librarians do at UA. Some are archivists in Special Collections, dealing with rarities like space dirt and a vaudeville collection; another librarian helps people on campus deal with and understand copyright issues. There are also health sciences librarians who do community outreach and librarians who work in student retention and campus outreach.

Pagowsky sums up the goal of the Show & Tell presentation, her scholarly work and website by saying, “It’s to show that there’s not really one way that we all look. People dress differently, people work at all different types of libraries, there’s all types of people that are librarians.”

The free Show & Tell presentation, “Shushing the Librarian Stereotype,” is on Wednesday, March 11 at Playground Bar & Lounge, 278 E. Congress St., at 6 p.m. More details are available at Confluencenter.arizona.edu or by calling 621-4587.

interview: alexsey’s art

November 22, 2012 |

I came across Alexsey Kashtelyan, a local artist and illustrator, as he was working on a t-shirt design for local band Young Hunter at Café Passé. I was intrigued by the piece he was working on, which combined the graphic impact of hyper-stylized text (a note: Alexsey does some work in Hebrew, and/but, interestingly enough, the style of his “Young Hunter” text reminded me a lot of classic Arabic script) with the nuance of detailed illustration. I took a few photos of him as he worked, then followed up on the meeting by emailing him with a few questions about his work and the sources of his inspiration. Check out the photos and interview below, and take a look at more of his work here.

 (Click image above for detail.)

Zócalo Hannah: What has your art education—formal and informal—consisted of?

Alexsey Kashtelyan: My art education isn’t too different from that of other artists around the world. I started doodling since I could, and didn’t stop! Otherwise, formally, I have a minor in Studio Art from the University of Arizona, with a Marketing Bachelors. I still wish it were the other way, but… Cold feet got me.

ZH: There seems to be a macabre element and/or fantastical element to much of your work. Where does that impulse derive from?

AK: You know… I really can’t say! I’ve just always been drawn to the horrific and fantastical  Maybe it’s because my brother forced me to watch horror movies when I was a child, an Frey and Jason somehow burrowed their ways into my psyche. I’m also a fan of metal, especially the doomier side of things, and the art that follows along has always fascinated me. But – ironically, I was terrified of evil, satanism, etc. all throughout my early youth because of irrational fears stemming from an overactive imagination, or something. I once didn’t even let myself listen to a single KISS song because I thought they really were knights of Satan! Anywho…these days, it’s mostly just a side of the imagination that really inspires me. And if nothing else: it looks cool. Skulls will never go out of style.

ZH: A lot of your text is in Hebrew. Also, you’re originally from Russia. What international, multicultural, or religio-cultural influences does your art contain? How does your life as an American but also as a multicultural citizen inform your art?

AK: Well, I suppose I should tell the story about that. So, every Jewish person has default citizenship in the state of Israel should you decide to move there. Along with that, to promote American-Jewish relations, as well as subtly try and boost the Jewish population, there’s the “Birthright” program that allows any Jew from the ages of 18-26 to get a free ten day trip to Israel. I went on that trip as a pilgrimage to the Uganda Bar in Jerusalem, where the band Om performed a five-hour long set released as a double vinyl called, simply enough, “Live In Jerusalem.” Anywho: I get to the bar, an there’s this band setting up called “Lili Franko.” They had a great set, I rocked out, and they invite me for falafel. Sadly, I had to get back on the tour bus to get to our hotel. Some facebooking later, I proposed that I do some art for them, and a few months later… Here we are! Great folks. And writing in Hebrew is a great artistic challenge as well; I’m a huge fan of the style of writing used in Torahs. And then, of course, there’s the old Russian fairy tales and the artwork that goes with them — I’m a huge fan of Bilibin and Repin. Those two are pure magic. But enough ramblin’ — in sum: Being multicultural has had a huge effect on my art, from the way I view it in an international and historical perspective, to the influences that physically manifest themselves in my work.

ZH: Who commissions art from you? What sort of art do you like to do?

AK: Most of my commissions come from bands in Tucson, though as I noted before, I’ve had some commissions from Israel, and from some friends in Portland, including illustrating a short story or two. But mostly: Tucson bands. I’ve always been interested in the psychedelic artwork that came from the 60s/70s San Francisco scene. All the illustrations for the Fillmore are gorgeous. But more importantly, I love the way that the style brought an outward sense of unity and closeness among the city’s culture. My goal is to help catalyze Tucson’s art & music scene in a similar way, if I can. Which is why most of the work I do so far is pro bono. I just want to collaborate and help people grow, and if my art brings the kids in to watch the show, that’s great. One day I hope to be selling prints, shirts, etc. an making a tidy profit… But I’m patient.

ZH: How long have you lived in Tucson? What do you think of the art scene here?

AK: I’ve lived in Tucson for the past 18 or 19 years, since I was five years old or so. I used to hate this town when I was younger because I couldn’t really do much downtown, couldn’t really participate, or simply just didn’t know how. But as of late, I’ve grown to love it. First of all, it’s just simply pleasant to sit around a patio, and always meeting up with someone you know, randomly walking down the street. That same “smallness” is great in that every band seems to knows every other band and plays within every other band, and so on. Just feels good. The “art” scene, however, I’m not too sure of. There’s some unity, but I think just because “art” (as in drawing, painting, etc.) is more of a personal thing, it’s harder to collaborate or even simply meet up over the sake of art. It’s still there, of course. The Art School at the UA really helped me to meet other artists, and get that same sense of community I’m sure musicians here feel. As well as the Art Phag meet up at the Surly Wench, and other art happenings around town. It could also be that the type of art I do primarily deals with musicians, rather than galleries. So… overall… not sure! I still have yet to fully discover it, and that’s amazing.