Contextualism and Music Annotation: Exploring the Role of Digital Storytelling about a Composer's Life on Music Perception
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Date
2025
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Eurographics Association
Abstract
Intangible cultural heritage, especially music, is challenging to interpret due to its elusive nature and reliance on context. This study investigates how knowledge of a composer's life and historical background shapes listeners' interpretations of classical music. Based on contextualism theory, which emphasizes the importance of cultural and personal context in meaning-making, the study involved 25 participants with varying levels of familiarity with music theory and the composer Nikos Skalkotas In a two-stage process, participants first annotated four musical pieces based on initial impressions. They then revisited the pieces after having engaged with a collaborative digital narrative and virtual reality (VR) experience based on archival material about the composer, presenting his life and work. The results show that annotations became more reflective and contextually informed after the storytelling experiences, indicating enhanced empathy and historical understanding. These findings suggest that immersive, narrative-driven context can enrich music appreciation and offer valuable tools for cultural heritage education.
Description
CCS Concepts: Human-centered computing → User studies
@inproceedings{10.2312:dh.20253214,
booktitle = {Digital Heritage},
editor = {Campana, Stefano and Ferdani, Daniele and Graf, Holger and Guidi, Gabriele and Hegarty, Zackary and Pescarin, Sofia and Remondino, Fabio},
title = {{Contextualism and Music Annotation: Exploring the Role of Digital Storytelling about a Composer's Life on Music Perception}},
author = {Petousi, Dimitra and Kougioumtzian, Lori and Katifori, Akrivi and Boile, Maria and Servi, Katerina and Ioannidis, Yannis and Kriezi, Vera and Vraka, Valia and Merakos, Stefania and Charkiolakis, Alexandros},
year = {2025},
publisher = {The Eurographics Association},
ISBN = {978-3-03868-277-6},
DOI = {10.2312/dh.20253214}
}