Effectiveness of grouping middle school students based on learning modality preferences on vibrato acquisition

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of grouping middle school students by learning modality preferences on vibrato acquisition. Traditional approaches to teaching vibrato synthesize reading and listening to elicit an appropriate tactile response, however, Ornstein (1995) identified this approach as a narrow scope suited to a "hypothetical average student" (p.105). Keefe (1985) proposed learning styles as a reliable lens for understanding the individuality of learning. Music education research has a pronounced lack of pedagogical studies addressing technical development particularly regarding stringed instruments. A majority of vibrato research in particular has been regulated to diagnostic studies of the behavior of its inherent acoustic properties. Of the several tutorial vibrato studies that exist, namely those by Gillespie (1997), and Shepherd (2004), few examined beyond two of the primary sensory (e.g., visual and auditory) learning modes identified by Swassing and Barbe (1979). This study challenged traditional approaches by accommodating individual sensory preferences as the most promising path to learning vibrato. Dominant learning preferences of 60 middle school orchestra students were identified using VARK (Fleming, 2001), an instrument whose name is derived from an acronym for Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, and Kinesthetic. Based on VARK (Fleming, 2001), results, four groups were created corresponding to three learning preferences and a control group. Pretest recordings were made to evaluate existent vibrato abilities and all subjects participated in six weeks of intervention vibrato lessons where teaching was deliberately matched to each group's learning preference. The control group was taught using a traditional class method book. Following the intervention period, posttest recordings were made as an exit assessment. All recordings were evaluated by a panel of qualified string educators using Gillespie's (1993) vibrato evaluation instrument and three data sets were constructed corresponding to means of the pretest, posttest, and a means of difference between the two. Analysis included measures of central tendency, Kruskal-Wallis H test and frequency distributions. Descriptive statistics were computed for grade, gender, and instrument to examine latent peripheral relationships and no significant differences were found between learning preference groups and the control group compelling the researcher to accept the null hypothesis

A practical guide to twentieth-century violin etudes with performance and theoretical analysis

This document is a partial catalog of what is readily available to violinists for studies relating to twentieth-century repertoire. More studies in this area exist throughout the world, so those presented here are intended merely as a starting point. The document also contains factual information about the studies, as well as performance and theoretical analysis and biographical information about the composers. This information is designed to serve a variety of purposes. The factual and biographical information may be used by the violinist to choose appropriate etudes for himself/herself or a student. Later, the in-depth analysis will assist players throughout the process of practicing and perfecting the studies. The theoretical and compositional analysis may be of some use to non-violinists who are interested in the music of these composers, as well. The project presents studies by twenty-two different composers from Germany, Belgium, Italy, America, Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Russia, Switzerland, and Austria. Of the one hundred and sixty-nine etudes included, seventy-six are analyzed individually. The works cover most of the major stylistic trends of the twentieth century and span the years 1926-1993. The information is mostly pragmatic in nature and is easily adopted into the daily teaching and practicing routine of the violinist. More importantly, it intends to open violinists to the notion of preparing for the repertoire of the twentieth century with the same standard of excellence that has been applied to the repertoire of the previous two centuries

Fixed Average Spectra of Orchestral Instrument Tones

The fixed spectrum for an average orchestral instrument tone is presented based on spectral data from the Sandell Harmonic Archive (SHARC). This database contains non-time-variant spectral analyses for 1,338 recorded instrument tones from 23 Western instruments ranging from contrabassoon to piccolo. From these spectral analyses, a grand average was calculated, providing what might be considered an average non-time-variant harmonic spectrum. Each of these tones represents the average of all instruments in the SHARC database capable of producing that pitch. These latter tones better represent common spectral changes with respect to pitch register, and might be regarded as an “average instrument.” Although several caveats apply, an average harmonic tone or instrument may prove useful in analytic and modeling studies. In addition, for perceptual experiments in which non-time-variant stimuli are needed, an average harmonic spectrum may prove to be more ecologically appropriate than common technical waveforms, such as sine tones or pulse trains. Synthesized average tones are available via the web

An Analysis and Performance Guide of Three Works by Brazilian Composers Featuring the Violin

This is a study of a selection of works for violin composed in the twentieth century by Brazilian composers: Sonata for Violin and Piano by José Guerra Vicente (1906-1976); Chôro for Violin and Orchestra by Mozart Camargo Guarnieri (1907-1993), and Trio for Violin, Violoncello and Piano by César Guerra-Peixe (1914 -1993). These pieces contain strong identifiable nationalistic features of Brazilian music allied to twentieth-century compositional elements. The selected works will serve as examples for a study of compositions for violin incorporating the above-mentioned styles. These works have been selected to represent a variety of instrumental genres: a sonata for violin and piano, a concerto for violin and orchestra, and a piano trio. Each composition contains unique characteristics and no scholarly studies have been made of them to date. The first two cited works, Guerra-Vicente’s Sonata and Guarnieri’s Chôro, are in ternary forms, while the trio by Guerra-Peixe has sonata form as a compositional principle. The analytical procedures included, but are not limited to, the methods created by the formal theorists William Caplin,1 James Hepokoski, and Warren Darcy.2 The analytical portions of each chapter focused primarily in the first movements of each work, while the performance guide presented carefully chosen excerpts that contain special challenges. The first chapter provided an overview of the musical history in Brazil with additional information on the repertoire for violin, and each following chapter is dedicated to one of the composers and to his respective work. The chapters are subdivided per each composer’s background, information about the corresponding musical work, analysis, and a performance guide. The analytical portions of each chapter aim to help the performer to better understand the studied repertoire, providing relevant performance practice information for each musical work

Traditional Irish Music: A Path to New Music

Prior to commencing the research for this dissertation I had composed a number of concert works which were largely inspired by traditional Irish music. The most significant of these include String Quartet No. 2 – The Cranning (2004-2005) and Music for the Departed (2006) for fiddle, violin and guitar. The main goal of my research for this dissertation was to enable me to continue to refine my approach of creating original compositions that are inspired by aspects of traditional Irish music, contemporary classical music and other styles. It is important to emphasise the fact that my engagement with traditional music is a natural one derived from my role as a performer of traditional music. I use elements from traditional music purely because I have a great love of traditional music. It would be very dishonest of me to exclude this influence from my concert works. So I have chosen to embrace it as fully as possible by deeply immersing myself in the study of traditional music. The research period for this dissertation has been the most intensive in this regard

Automatic transcription of traditional Turkish art music recordings: A computational ethnomusicology appraoach

Thesis (Doctoral)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Electronics and Communication Engineering, Izmir, 2012Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 96-109)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxi, 131 leavesMusic Information Retrieval (MIR) is a recent research field, as an outcome of the revolutionary change in the distribution of, and access to the music recordings. Although MIR research already covers a wide range of applications, MIR methods are primarily developed for western music. Since the most important dimensions of music are fundamentally different in western and non-western musics, developing MIR methods for non-western musics is a challenging task. On the other hand, the discipline of ethnomusicology supplies some useful insights for the computational studies on nonwestern musics. Therefore, this thesis overcomes this challenging task within the framework of computational ethnomusicology, a new emerging interdisciplinary research domain. As a result, the main contribution of this study is the development of an automatic transcription system for traditional Turkish art music (Turkish music) for the first time in the literature. In order to develop such system for Turkish music, several subjects are also studied for the first time in the literature which constitute other contributions of the thesis: Automatic music transcription problem is considered from the perspective of ethnomusicology, an automatic makam recognition system is developed and the scale theory of Turkish music is evaluated computationally for nine makamlar in order to understand whether it can be used for makam detection. Furthermore, there is a wide geographical region such as Middle-East, North Africa and Asia sharing similarities with Turkish music. Therefore our study would also provide more relevant techniques and methods than the MIR literature for the study of these non-western musics

Style and tradition in string quartet performance: a study of 32 recordings of Beethoven's op. 131 quartet.

Thirty-two recordings of the Op. 131 string quartet by Beethoven, dating from 1924 to 1995, are compared to examine questions concerning changes and differnces in the performance style of string quartets. The background and historical context of the ensembles involved are explored and discussed, and the recordings are analysed using a number of objective measurement techniques. Aspects of performance style including choice of tempo, tempo flexibility, portamento and vibrato are measured and subjected to statistical analysis in order to determine the existence of trends over time or other stylistic groupings. Current theories and assumptions concerning historical change and national styles of performance are tested in the light of this evidence. It is concluded that the aspects of performance style studied offer no support for theories of national style or the influence of teaching, and that historic trends can only be partially substantiated in the case of portamento and vibrato. The evidence as a whole suggests a wide diversity of performance style at all periods, and contrasts with the conclusions of previous studies in other musical genres including solo instrumental and orchestral. Consideration of this evidence against the background of performance philosophy and some sociological studies of string quartets leads to the conclusion that the string quartet ensemble is uniquely constituted to encourage a searching, co-operative and innovative approach to the development of a performance-oriented interpretation and to discourage the thoughtless ossification of a handed-down performance template

The Turkish clarinet: its history, an exemplification of its practice by Serkan Çagri, and a single case study

The document provides a glimpse into the world of Turkish performance for a Western audience, including a history of the Turkish clarinet, a description of the instrument as exemplified by Serkan Çagri's career, and a single case study of the author's lessons with Çagri. Audio and video supplemental materials are include

The sonata for violin and piano in A Major, Op. 14 by Leopoldo Miguéz (1850–1902): analysis, influences, and its role in the violin literature

The sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, Op.14 by Leopoldo Américo Miguéz is the first Romantic-period sonata composed in the Brazilian violin-piano literature, and arguably one of the most important sonatas in the genre. The sonata was composed in 1885, one year after Miguéz’s return from a short period of study in Europe. This period saw a prolific output of the most essential pieces of this repertory in the late 19th century—the Brahms, Franck, Strauss, and Fauré sonatas. The Miguéz sonata demonstrates a decidedly European taste, completely lacking the sense of nationalism that Villa-Lobos would later pursue. Miguéz’s compositional style may be best understood being associated with the Wagnerian aesthetic. One of his most significant pieces, the symphonic poem Parisina, Op. 15, (1888), most clearly exemplifies this statement. When specifically examining the sonata, however, we can perceive that this particular work lies outside of the Wagnerian sphere, sharing many similarities with Fauré, Franck, Saint-Saëns, Schumann, Schubert, and Mendelssohn. The sonata also displays thematic transformation and the concept of “developing variations,” especially showing the influence of Brahms. In addition to being a composer, Miguéz was also a violinist. He studied with Nicolau Ribas who was a student of Charles de Beriot, the great icon of the Franco-Belgian violin school, whose influence is notable throughout the sonata. There are currently four recordings of the work, with two editions now available. The purpose of this dissertation is to establish a scholarly approach to the analysis and contextualization of such a significant piece from the Brazilian violin repertory. Additionally, this research aims to further place this piece inside the larger context of violin artistry