Yu-Fen Huang

Name: Yu-Fen Huangprofilephoto_yufenhuang

PhD Areas: Musical communicative behaviour, kinematic analysis of movement

Departments: Reid School of Music and Institute for Sport, Physical Education and Health Sciences

Supervisors: Nikki Moran (Reid School of Music), Simon Coleman (Institute for Sport, Physical Education and Health Sciences), Raymond MacDonald (Reid School of Music)

Email: yufen.Huang@ed.ac.uk

 

Biography

Yu-Fen Huang is a Ph.D. candidate at the Music in Human and Social Development Research Group (previously known as Institute for Music in Human and Social Development (IMHSD)), Reid School of Music, and the Institute for Sport, Physical Education and Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh. Collaborating with supervisors in music and in sport science, her current Ph.D. research applies biomechanics to orchestral conducting movement. By combining qualitative analysis of conductors’ interviews and quantitative kinematic analysis their conducting movements using motion capture data in her dissertation, she makes an effort to build the connection between different research methods and disciplines. She has a M.A. in Musicology (National Taiwan University) where her project linked music analysis, aesthetic theory and music psychology, focusing on listeners’ perception of musical structure. She also possesses a B.A. in Music Performance (National Taiwan Normal University), where she minored in Special Education (National Taiwan Normal University).

In her research, Yu-Fen uses interdisciplinary approaches that combine musicology, psychology and biomechanics, thus connecting musical, social and physical sciences. She endeavours to explore different research areas of empirical musicology and currently collaborates with experts in music education, music psychology, motor control, and computer science, including researchers from Neuroscience of Emotion and Affective Dynamics Laboratory (University of Geneva, Switzerland), Department of Radiological Sciences (Charité Medical University, Germany) and Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering (University of Sheffield, UK).

 

Research Interests

Systematic musicology

  • Psychology of music/ embodied music cognition
  • Musical communicative behavior
  • Kinematic analysis of musical movement/ motion capture

 

Publications

Huang, Y.F., Coleman, S., Barnhill, E., MacDonald, R., & Moran, N. (in press) How do orchestral conducting movement kinematics communicate musical structures and interpretational intentions. Psychomusicology.

Huang, Y. F. (2011). Susanne K. Langer’s Theory of Tension and Temporality in Music: Proposal of a Multilayer Analysis (Master’s thesis). National Taiwan University.

 

Invited Lectures & Conference Presentations

“Orchestral Conducting Gestures Reflect Musical Structures and Interpretations.” Paper accepted by Taiwan Musicology Forum, Taipei, Taiwan, 18 November, 2016.

“Connecting Conductor Gesture to Compositional Features and Conductors’ Expressive Intentions: an Exploratory Kinematic Study.” Paper delivered at The 14th International Conference for Music Perception and Cognition, San Francisco, USA, 7 July 2016.

“How Do Conducting Movement’s Kinematics Communicate Musical Structures.” Paper delivered at The 9th International Conference of Systematic Musicology, Jyvaskyla, Finland, 10 June 2016.

“How Do Conducting Movement’s Kinematics Communicate Musical Structures.” Paper delivered at Music PhD Symposium, Edinburgh, UK, 18 May 2016.

“Connecting Conductor Gesture to Compositional Features and Conductors’ Expressive Intentions.” Paper delivered at Human Performance Science Meeting, Edinburgh, UK, 17 May 2016.

“Connecting Orchestral Conducting Movement Kinematics to Musical Structure.” Paper delivered at Expressive Performance Movement Analysis Workshop, Edinburgh, UK, 7 March 2016.

“How Does Music Move Us?” Paper delivered at Taiwan Scientific Symposium in Scotland, Edinburgh, UK, 28 March 2015.

“The Coherent Structure and Competitive Forces in the String Quartet of Bela Bartók.” Paper delivered at the CUHK-NTU Music Forum, Hong Kong, March 2011.

“Emotion and Tension in Music.” Paper delivered at Taiwan Musicology Forum. Tainan, Taiwan, 15 November 2008.

 

Poster Presentations

“Applying Biomechanics to Musical Conducting Movement.” Poster presented at SPEHS (Sport, Physical Education & Health Sciences) Research Cluster Event, Edinburgh, UK, 21 April 2016.

“Emotion and Tension in Music: Susanne K. Langer, Leonard B. Meyer and Kurt Koffka.” Poster presented at The 3rd International Conference of Systematic Musicology, Cambridge, UK, 15 September 2010.

 

Funding Awarded

2016 SEMPRE Travel Awards (for attending ICMPC), Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research.

2016 SEMPRE Travel Awards (for attending SysMus), Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research.

2015 & 2016 Postgraduate Research Expenses, University of Edinburgh.

2013- 2016 Government Fellowship for Studying Abroad, Ministry of Education, Taiwan.

 

Professional Experience

Guest Lecturer, Motor Control 4, Fourth Year Undergraduate, Institute for Sport, Physical Education and Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh. 2016.

Head of Section of Experiment and Research, National Hemei Experimental School, Taiwan. August 2008- July 2010.

  • Conducted national educational research projects supervised by the Ministry of Education of Taiwan
  • Provided professional advice based on collected data to amend educational policies
  • Developed criteria for Taiwan’s teaching evaluation system
  • Conducted action research on new teaching methodology and materials

Teacher, National Hemei Experimental School, Taiwan. August 2008- July 2013.

Research assistant, Ministry of Education, Taiwan. August 2007- July 2008.

Research assistant, Graduate Institute of Musicology, National Taiwan University. August 2006- July 2007.

 

Professional Activity

Editorial Board Member (Early Career Reviewer Board), special Issue of SysMus 16, Psychomusicology.

Organiser, Taiwan Scientific Symposium in Scotland, Edinburgh, UK, 19 March 2016.

Organiser, Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series, Edinburgh Taiwanese Student Society, Edinburgh, UK, September 2015- June 2016.

 

Compositions

“A Journey Called Life.” Composed text to choral series, 2010.

  • Collaboration with Ching-Mei Lin (Associate Professor of Composition, National Taipei University of Arts)
  • Premiered by National Taiwan University EMBA Chorus, Hope of Olive Trees Concert, Taipei, Taiwan, October 2010.
  • Album released by National Taiwan University EMBA Chorus, 2010.

“Four Leaved Clover.” Composed text to choral work, 2002.

  • Collaboration with Ching-Mei Lin (Associate Professor in Composition, National Taipei University of Arts)
  • Premiered by YinQi Chorus, Taipei, Taiwan, September 2002.
  • Album released by YinQi Culture & Music Foundation, 2002.