The Solo Cello Music of Kamran Ince

The Turkish-Americal composer Kamran Ince (born 1960) has written two works for solo cello, Tracing for cello and piano (1994) and the MKG Variations for cello alone (1998). This document discusses both and attempts to place them in the context of Ince\u27s oeuvre and of the cello literature of the late twentieth century.The research is based in part on interviews with the composer and the cellists who have performed and commissioned the pieces, and in part on analysis of the scores. The analysis of the two works reveals a composer interested in Turkish and western modal structures, in pointillist vertical chords, in the independent use of melody and harmony, in free forms, and in sudden changes of mood and atmosphere. Ince has been well described as a post-minimalist, but those two pieces for cello also show strong influences from well-known cello works by Robert Schumann and J.S. Bach in addition to self-quotations from Ince\u27s own works.The paper also discusses Ince\u27s early background as a serious cellist and its possible influence on the shape and content of his later compositions for the instrument

Criação de música baseada na proporção áurea: abordagem teórica e prática à escala de 34 tons de igual temperamento

The sensory phenomena of music perception are considered to be highly non-linear. The golden ratio plays a key role in nonlinear dynamic systems and has been recognized as an aesthetic element in many places over time. This research develops the 34-note equal tempered scale (34-TET). A microtonal model based on the golden ratio, containing the harmonic musical intervals, and permitting a consistent approach that embraces the different temperaments throughout history, as well as other music cultures. These theoretical properties are practically exposed in two portfolios, including compositional samples of art music with European roots (from the Renaissance to the twentieth century), popular music (bossa nova, tango, swing), maqãm, and Indian music. The second portfolio, created within the scope of this thesis, contains the artistic work “The Asian Garden” combining the equal tempered scales of 34 and 12 notes (12-TET), and provides additional cultural references from China and Japan. The 34-TET scale offers an overall approach to just intonation scale more than twice as good as that of 12-TET, with all consonant intervals well below the differential threshold. If a maximum impurity value was accepted, not appreciably different from that agreed upon when the equal-tempered 12- tone scale was standardized (17.65 cents vs. 15.67 cents), then the 34-TET scale would become, additionally, a useful tool for approaching different cultures.Os fenómenos sensoriais de perceção musical são considerados substancialmente não lineares. A proporção áurea desempenha um papel fundamental em sistemas dinâmicos não lineares e tem sido reconhecida como um elemento estético em vários contextos ao longo do tempo. Esta investigação desenvolve a escala de 34 notas de temperamento igual (34- TET). Trata-se de um modelo microtonal baseado na proporção áurea, contendo os intervalos harmónicos musicais, e permitindo uma abordagem consistente que abrange os distintos temperamentos ao longo da história, assim como outras culturas musicais. Estas propriedades teóricas estão praticamente expostas em dois portefólios, incluindo exemplos de composição erudita com raízes europeias (desde o Renascimento ao século XX), música popular (bossa nova, tango, swing), maqãm e música indiana. O segundo portefólio contém o trabalho artístico “The Asian Garden,” criado no âmbito desta tese, que combina escalas de temperamento igual de 34 e de 12 notas (12-TET), e fornece referências culturais adicionais da China e Japão. A escala 34-TET oferece uma abordagem global à escala de entonação justa que é mais de duas vezes melhor do que a da escala 12-TET, com todos os intervalos consonantes consideravelmente abaixo do limiar diferencial. Se fosse aceite um valor máximo de impureza não muito diferente do valor acordado quando a escala de 12 tons igualmente temperados foi padronizada (17,65 cents em vez de 15,67 cents), a escala 34-TET tornar-se-ia, adicionalmente, uma ferramenta útil para a aproximação de culturas diferentes.Programa Doutoral em Músic

The Effect of Temperament Systems on Emotion Induction and Verbal Identification Performance of Makams in Turkish Makam Music

There are various musical features that are yet to be studied in music with regard to cognitive processing and emotional meaning. This thesis aimed to explore one of these features – the effect of the temperament system on emotion induction and verbal identification performance in Turkish makam music. In particular, employing the assumptions of statistical learning in music and music expectation theories which argue that listeners anticipate most strongly the sound sequences to which they have been most frequently exposed. This exploratory aim was investigated in three different experiments. The first experiment explored whether presenting an unfamiliar tonal context within a culturally and formally familiar and unfamiliar temperament system might cause different reactions in terms of the emotion induction of that unfamiliar tonal context and verbal identification of presented musical structure. Moreover, the first experiment also served as a pilot study that tested the thesis’s preliminary predictions and the proposed method. The second experiment investigated the first experiments’ findings by extending exposure time and using novel stimuli. Furthermore, Experiment 2 also included another experimental paradigm to test whether the surrounding musical/cultural environment might affect the participants’ experience of temperament systems even though they were educated in the Western music tradition. While the previous two experiments indicated a potential effect of veridical expectations while experiencing temperament systems, the third experiment aimed to explore the existence of temperament systems in schematic expectations. Overall, the findings of the thesis indicated that the intensity of emotions differed according to the familiar and unfamiliar temperament systems; familiar temperament systems induced more vitality when compared to unfamiliar temperament systems. Furthermore, the experience of uneasy emotions (e.g. sadness, tension) was congruent between the type of ear training course and type of stimulus temperament. However, the congruency effect was not observed in all conditions and differed according to the ear training course, temperament system and country variables. On the other hand, neither temperament systems nor temperament-based ear training courses influenced the verbal identification performance. Also, the ‘goodness-of-fit’ ratings indicated that temperament systems might be encoded in schematic memory as a consequence of statistical exposure and might be stronger in smaller intervals and when combined with a familiar syntax. While there were no constant findings that temperament systems are in place in all situations, the findings indicated that temperament systems are a musical component that might independently influence emotion induction in music

Ethnicities of sound

Abstract Ethnicities of Sound is a commentary on a folio of four sets of musical works by Stephen Lalor which comprise the Doctoral submission in Composition. The six movements of the Suite for Solo Mandolin embrace a cross-cultural and pan-historical approach to exploring the unique tonal features of the mandolin, presenting an alternative view on writing for the instrument. The Suite for Solo Plectrum Guitar is a set of six movements specifically written for concert performance on unamplified plectrum guitar (as opposed to ‘classical’ or finger style guitar). It similarly embraces a cross-cultural and pan-historical approach exploiting the use of the plectrum. Quincerto for Mandola and String Quartet is a contribution to the repertoire of the mandola (octave mandolin), which is a rarely heard instrument in a formal concert setting. Quincerto explores the mandola’s timbral qualities, which are deeper and richer (with more of a visceral essence) than those of the mandolin, often employing techniques and gestures drawn from Balkan and middle-Eastern plucked string instrument performance traditions. Troika for Cimbalom, Cello and Plectrum Guitar, a set of three movements, is the first concert piece specifically composed for this combination of instruments, and explores the rich possibilities and challenges inherent in composing for an ensemble of hammered, plectrum and bowed string instruments. The composition of these works has been concerned with creating an innovative body of work for plectrum-played stringed instruments, reviving ancient techniques and exploring new ones drawn from diverse traditions

Time in Music and Culture

From Aristotle to Heidegger, philosophers distinguished two orders of time, before, after and past, present, future, presenting them in a wide range of interpretations. It was only around the turn of the 1970s that two theories of time which deliberately went beyond that tradition, enhancing our notional apparatus, were produced independently of one another. The nature philosopher Julius T. Fraser, founder of the interdisciplinary International Society for the Study of Time, distinguished temporal levels in the evolution of the Cosmos and the structure of the human mind: atemporality,prototemporality,eotemporality,biotemporality andnootemporality. The author of the book distinguishes two ‘dimensions’ in time: the dimension of the sequence of time (syntagmatic) and the dimension of the sizes of duration or frequency (systemic). On the systemic scale, the author distinguishes, in human ways of existing and acting, a visual zone, zone of the psychological present, zone of works and performances, zone of the natural and cultural environment, zone of individual and social life and zone of history, myth and tradition. In this book, the author provides a synthesis of these theories

Engineering systematic musicology : methods and services for computational and empirical music research

One of the main research questions of *systematic musicology* is concerned with how people make sense of their musical environment. It is concerned with signification and meaning-formation and relates musical structures to effects of music. These fundamental aspects can be approached from many different directions. One could take a cultural perspective where music is considered a phenomenon of human expression, firmly embedded in tradition. Another approach would be a cognitive perspective, where music is considered as an acoustical signal of which perception involves categorizations linked to representations and learning. A performance perspective where music is the outcome of human interaction is also an equally valid view. To understand a phenomenon combining multiple perspectives often makes sense. The methods employed within each of these approaches turn questions into concrete musicological research projects. It is safe to say that today many of these methods draw upon digital data and tools. Some of those general methods are feature extraction from audio and movement signals, machine learning, classification and statistics. However, the problem is that, very often, the *empirical and computational methods require technical solutions* beyond the skills of researchers that typically have a humanities background. At that point, these researchers need access to specialized technical knowledge to advance their research. My PhD-work should be seen within the context of that tradition. In many respects I adopt a problem-solving attitude to problems that are posed by research in systematic musicology. This work *explores solutions that are relevant for systematic musicology*. It does this by engineering solutions for measurement problems in empirical research and developing research software which facilitates computational research. These solutions are placed in an engineering-humanities plane. The first axis of the plane contrasts *services* with *methods*. Methods *in* systematic musicology propose ways to generate new insights in music related phenomena or contribute to how research can be done. Services *for* systematic musicology, on the other hand, support or automate research tasks which allow to change the scope of research. A shift in scope allows researchers to cope with larger data sets which offers a broader view on the phenomenon. The second axis indicates how important Music Information Retrieval (MIR) techniques are in a solution. MIR-techniques are contrasted with various techniques to support empirical research. My research resulted in a total of thirteen solutions which are placed in this plane. The description of seven of these are bundled in this dissertation. Three fall into the methods category and four in the services category. For example Tarsos presents a method to compare performance practice with theoretical scales on a large scale. SyncSink is an example of a service

Stringprovisation : A Fingering Strategy for Jazz Violin Improvisation

Second, updated edition only in digital formatIn modern jazz improvisation, violinists frequently employ only a limited part of the fingerboard. This often results in performances in which most of the wider, more expressive violin range remains unemployed. Among the key issues of left-hand violin technique are fingering, shifting, and position playing. These are infrequently discussed in the pedagogical literature for jazz violin. This study presents a fingering strategy that focuses on these technical matters. The strategy is targeted to formulaic modern jazz improvisation and is communicated through applications of idiomatic musical patterns. The strategy excludes the use of open strings and relies instead on schematic fingering. This fingering approach reflects well, for example, the tactile and kinesthetic aspects of violin playing and with it idiomatic patterns can be effectively performed in all keys and violin positions. In support of the strategy, related approaches from the pedagogical literature of classical and jazz violin are examined. Relevant guitar and mandolin methods are discussed in detail as well. In Part I, the research method resembles comparative research, however also essentially including some elements of practice-based research. Part II presents the fingering strategy mostly in terms of practicebased information. This strategy draws from the author’s wide experience in and knowledge of jazz violin performance and pedagogy. The strategy appears to provide a significant alternative fingering approach through which modern jazz can be effectively improvised across the entire violin fingerboard. This study proposes that a particular approach to the application of schematic fingering may be ideal for jazz violin improvisation