
Abstract
This project was about testing how animals behaved or reacted to music. What got me interested in this project idea was I was sitting and playing my major scales on the piano and my cat just decided to sit down next to the piano while I was playing. When I played a minor 2nd (Jaws Theme), my cat went to go sharpen her claws which has happened more than three times in a row. I do believe animals do react or behave a certain way to music. By observing the behavior of all types of animals, I could apply techniques that I learned from this project to my future career in music therapy. I not only want to do this project for my future career in music therapy but I want to help others and that includes all sorts of creatures and humans. For this project, I completed at least 40 hours as the minimum. Not all 40 hours would be documented because of the in between clean-ups. I worked throughout my fall and spring semesters and a little bit over the summer too. Part of my hours was spent observing animal behavior to music from all types of music periods such as the Classical, Pop, Country, and Rap. I couldn't do the other genres I listed in my previous abstract because of the time and availability of the rooms. The other part of my hours were spent interviewing professors and other professionals in the field of biology, psychology, and animal behavior. I also interviewed a person who owned the dog I tested on. Sometimes, the interview was just an exchange of conversation with a professor through an animal about the animal. I used non-domestic and domestic animals for my project. I documented my work with pictures and recorded everything I did for my project. I said I would use Google Drive but I was having problems with Google Drive. Over the summer, I spent converting my videos into mp4's so it can load onto Youtube. I'm still loading onto Youtube but more videos will be uploaded as I find more of the videos. I also followed the rules of the IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee).
Goals
For my EDGE Project, I used a wide range of animals from SUU Animal Ambassadors, the SUU lab with animals, my friends’ pets, and my pets where I will had the animals listened to music to see how they behave which would also helped me apply some of the techniques I could use on animals and to my future clients in my music therapy career.
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One deliverable for this project was videotaping along with taking pictures while doing my experiment with the animals. The second deliverable was videotaping and writing down in a journal of what I observed. For the journal part, I couldn't write in my journal in the moment because of trying to keep the animal out of places it wasn't supposed to go along with trying to keep the camera on them when they moved. I said I would interview professors and professionals that are specialized in their professions of animal behavior, psychology, and biology. It was more of a written, small interview. More details are in the abstract. To make sure that my work did not disappeared, I said I would save it to my Google Drive. Due to complications, they are just youtube links on the website under this website's tab "Project Completion Report."After I completed my project, I was supposed to immediately upload it to Facebook and/or Youtube and provide my professor the link. Also to add, I was supposed to update in my blog about my progress too. It is in the abstract I kept having health problems, but I forgot the password to my other website and that's how I got this website.
Deliverables
Problems to Help Explain the Deliverables and What I've Encountered
I ran into a lot of factors I didn't expect.
I kept getting sick and I had to extend my project more into the spring semester but that also meant I had to cut down my project to four genres instead of just doing the six genres. I wanted to do. I also didn't have much availability time options for when I could do the project and the rooms I could pick. I only could choose between 2 rooms. One was slightly bigger than the other. It was seen in the snake video at the end of the project, but I was crying because I got news that the bearded dragon I was using had died and that the other bearded dragon was euthanized. I had to start over with a new bearded dragon. I also didn't expect the Ball Python to go ahead and get stuck behind the sink pipes. She is okay now but I couldn't use her for the rest of my last session with her. I was halfway done with her and was trying to change CD's and she moved faster than I thought when my back was turned.
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There were other factors I could not control. I couldn't write in my journal in the moment because of trying to keep the animals from going into places they shouldn't be. I didn't expect the air conditioning to start in the small room. I'm sorry it is so hard to hear the music. It is very faint in the background. However, I do remember each animal's reactions. Some of the animals' reactions I remember much better than others. I also couldn't control who came into the room. For example, if the animals needed to be fed some fruit, I couldn't control who came into the room when there was a fridge.