Cologne University of Music

Abstract This contribution explores City Horses , a site-adaptive performance by the Scandinavian duo Byström Källblad, as a soft performative intervention in public space. Performed in various cities, female-read performers embody “wild” horses to engage with equestrian monuments that symbolize male power and military authority. Through gestures such as neighing, trotting, and lying down, the performers inscribe a movement-text into the cityscape that subtly challenges dominating narratives. Drawing on feminist theory and theories of public space and performativity, we analyse how choreographic acts create temporary spaces of resistance for marginalized bodies. Following Chantal Mouffe’s concept of artistico-activist dissensus, we understand the performance as a soft form of protest that shifts spatial meaning without direct confrontation or occupation. From a dance-theoretical feminist perspective, we argue that movement can become a resistant practice that contributes to shaping a feminist city – through care, presence, and disruption.

The painful experiences with the Nazi regime, which reached deep into Stockhausen’s family, led him to seek a radical new beginning for his music: he associated with the “zero hour” postulate of 1945 the demand for the elimination of the human. The play on words around the concept of the “inhuman” led to a controversy with fellow composer Nono that had a defining impact on many events at the Darmstadt Summer Courses. While Eimert took Stockhausen’s side, Schibler’s and Adorno’s music-critical contributions staunchly advocated the opposing standpoint. A new aspect was added to the controversy with discussions of Cage’s music in Darmstadt beginning in 1956, when the allegation of the “negation of history” moved to the center of the dispute.

Music conveys expressive meaning, and it elicits affective and associative responses in listeners. Historical documents from the 19th century contain reflections about the perceived expression of and affective responses to music in a wide range of works, including symphonies and operas. Therefore, we asked what verbal descriptors found in contemporary writings from the 19th century provide information about the perceived expressive qualities. Additionally, we examined whether the sources hint at situational / contextual factors. To this end, we investigated the descriptors used to describe the perception of a specific type of music, defined through a set of 16 features. We called this type of music “Glorifying Hymnic.” We searched a large amount of 19th-century symphonic music to identify as many excerpts displaying these features. Then, we investigated the description of the listening experience of the excerpts mainly using the RIPM (Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals) database. We found 47 compositions with 48 excerpts that matched our rather strict criteria and 102 textual sources that provided sufficiently concrete information regarding how several of the excerpts have been perceived. We found a very high degree of consistency in the description of the music: It has been described as glorious, powerful, triumphant and victorious, grand, joyous and happy, solemn, exciting, noble, tranquil and sometimes proud. It also elicited associations with singing, especially choral singing, and with religion. Only very few connections between music perception and situational factors were detected relating to religious associations and associations of the music with choral singing. They might refer to special circumstances in France and Germany respectively. We discuss our findings in the context of both historical perspectives and musicpsychological models.

The idea for this special issue of Popular Music and Society was born out of a joint fieldwork project between the University of Cologne, Germany, and the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts in ...

To assess the diagnostic performance of body mass index (BMI) cut-off values according to recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Obesity Federation (WOF), and the German Society for Adiposity (DAG) to identify excess body fat in children with cerebral palsy (CP). The present study was a monocentric retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data among children and adolescents with CP participating in a rehabilitation programme. Excess body fat was defined as a body fat percentage above the 85th centile assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. In total, 329 children (181 males, 148 females) with CP were eligible for analysis. The mean age was 12years 4months (standard deviation 2y 9mo). The BMI cut-off values for 'overweight' according to the WHO, WOF, and DAG showed the following sensitivities and specificities for the prediction of excess body fat in our population: WHO: sensitivity 0.768 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.636-0.870), specificity 0.894 (95% CI 0.851-0.928); WOF: sensitivity 0.696 (95% CI 0.559-0.812), specificity 0.934 (95% CI 0.898-0.960); DAG: sensitivity 0.411 (95% CI 0.281-0.550), specificity 0.993 (95% CI 0.974-0.999). Body mass index showed high specificity, but low sensitivity in children with CP. Thus, 'normal-weight obese' children with CP were overlooked, when assessing excess body fat only using BMI. Excess body fat in children with cerebral palsy (CP) is less common than previously reported. Body mass index (BMI) had high specificity but low sensitivity in detecting excess body fat in children with CP. BMI evaluation criteria of the German Society for Adiposity could be improved in children with CP.