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Hannah Gibbs

Hannah Gibbs earned her bachelor's degree in Music in 2018 from Cardiff University, originally starting her degree as a pianist with a love for Russian music. Her dissertation was about narrative effect and interpretation of genre from the perspective of the listener with regards to Chopin's Ballade no. 1. During her undergraduate, she spent the first summer teaching music in Kenya, a semester in her second year studying Music Perception and Cognition, Music Therapy, and Ethnomusicology at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, and the final few weeks of her third year in Java, Indonesia with the University's Gamelan ensemble.

These global opportunities led Hannah to pursue research into music and wellbeing outside of Western parameters. Her MA was largely centred around Gamelan playing and its positive effects on the wellbeing of performers. Due to the COVID-19 social distancing measures and lockdown restrictions, her final thesis was focused on nostalgic music listening in response to the pandemic, and how individuals turn to nostalgia during times of uncertainty as a coping strategy. This was later published in Frontiers in Psychology.

Her PhD is funded through the AHRC White Rose College of Arts and Humanities, and supervised by Dr Hauke Egermann. It is focused on quantitative and mixed methods research into Gamelan playing, through use of physiological measures. She is particularly interested in the effects of synchrony between members of the ensemble, and the experience of group flow state, contributing to social cohesion and positive emotions.

This year Hannah is working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant on the MA Music: Music Psychology pathway. She is also a research advisor with the nationwide organisation Good Vibrations, who take Gamelan workshops in prisons and secure hospitals, and hold community groups for individuals with complex needs.

Publication(s)

Gibbs, H., & Egermann, H. (2021). Music-Evoked Nostalgia and Wellbeing During the United Kingdom COVID-19 Pandemic: Content, Subjective Effects, and Function. Frontiers in Psychology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647891