Dr Anthony Chmiel
 | Research Fellow How can music improve the wellbeing of our minds and bodies?Dr Chmiel is a cognitive psychologist whose work is advancing our understanding of the benefits of engagement with music throughout life.
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Overview
Almost all people around the world regularly engage with music and say it’s an important part of their lives. Yet we don’t fully understand the benefits we can receive from music, particularly in later life, and how we can get the most out of everything that music has to offer our health and wellbeing.
Dr Chmiel researches how and why we engage with music, and this improves our daily lives.
For example, do some specific music education tasks lead to more benefits than others? And how quickly can we expect these benefits to occur, and for how long?
He also investigates questions such as why we are attracted to certain songs and artists, and why this can change dramatically over time and from person to person.
Music is a universal aspect of life but we still don't entirely understand why we are attracted to specific examples of it, and how we can optimise the benefits it can provide.
Dr Chmiel’s primary research interests are the links between music and both mental and physical wellness, as well as empirical studies that test new theories and compare the efficacy of various music-related components, such as competing education strategies or specific instruments.
His most recent work focuses on music and wellbeing. This includes a large-scale longitudinal study on older adult music education classes over an 18-month period (one of the longest studies of its kind in the world).
He is also assisting with the creation of a music-based website to enhance quality of life for people living with dementia, and a smartphone app aimed to help young people self-manage their mood through music listening.
Another element of his work is developing digital music training apps and tools that could be of use to students and teachers, aiming to enhance perceptual abilities.
Why It Matters
By better understanding the links between music, wellbeing and physical and cognitive functioning, Dr Chmiel hopes to contribute to the prevention and management of cognitive decline as well as issues relating to mental health and suicide.
In future, music engagement may be integrated more deeply within various aspects of younger and older life – such as in aged care facilities, or community groups for young and old - and those leading these groups have a clearer understanding of the benefits music classes can provide to different people.
Our research shows that music can be for everyone. It doesn't matter if you have two minutes or two decades of experience, almost everyone can get some sort of benefit. Our next questions are how to maximise that benefit.
Impact
This work aims to improve wellbeing and daily life through music. For example, it might indicate how music classes or music recommendation systems can be enhanced, or lead to new apps that help people through music when they are feeling low.
Much of his research at the MARCS Institute has the potential to change how music education is approached, particularly for older adult classes, such as placing an additional focus on improvisational methods for beginners.
He has shown that even older adults who did not feel comfortable with technology are able to successfully take part in online music education programs. Most participants reported feeling much more confident in and competent with technology only a few months into the program.
Other work he is involved in has led to the creation of free music-based websites and smartphone apps aimed to enhance the quality of life of users.
Career
Dr Anthony Chmiel holds a Bachelor of Music (Hons 1) and completed his PhD in Music Psychology at UNSW Sydney. His research achievements as a PhD student earned recognition in separate Dean's Awards for an Outstanding PhD Thesis; Best Higher Degree Research Publication; and the Leadership Award for Global Impact.
Following his PhD, he took up a Research Fellowship at the Sound and Music Computing Lab (Department of Information Engineering) at the University of Padova, Italy. He still regularly collaborates with this team to explore digital correction methods for historic analogue tape documents, and sensory experiences relating to music listening.
Dr Chmiel joined the MARCS Institute in 2019, where he has helped lead the ARC Discovery Project ‘Maintaining active minds and bodies through older adult music education’. Following social distancing related to COVID-19, this longitudinal project paved the way for many other projects to continue functioning in solely online methods. Dr Chmiel had a leading role in this transition to online learning and data collection, and produced a number of documents, guides, and a video-series aimed to help students and researchers collect data during COVID-19. For this, he was awarded a Citation for Meritorious Service to the University, in Exceptional research response to crises and recovery.
Dr Chmiel regularly collaborates with researchers at UNSW Sydney and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music on projects relating to music preference, music and emotions, and wellbeing during COVID-19.
He also collaborates with Sandra Garrido on the MoodyTunes app, aiming to help young people self-manage their mood through music, and the Music for Dementia website, aimed to improve quality of life for people living with dementia.
Collaboration
Collaboration is essential in this area due to the inherently broad and subjective nature of responses to music. Dr Chmiel aims to investigate real-world problems relating to music and daily life by going to the source and talking to those on the ground. This might be venue operators, music educators, aged care staff, or alternatively the end-users of his research.
He always aims to take a multidisciplinary approach, and, where possible, to incorporate into his research professionals who work in the area on a day-to-day basis, and end-users or participants for a co-design approach.
For example, by working with music teachers, he has been able to develop approaches for including education content that is often not covered, such as teaching improvisation and instrument switching for music beginners.
Connect
| a.chmiel@westernsydney.edu.au | |
| Phone | +61 2 9772 6761 |
| Location | Western Sydney University Westmead Campus |
| Room | U.6.27 |
