Making the music dance : dance connotations in Norwegian fiddling

Publisher PD

Compositional Modeling: A Classical Imitative Pedagogy for the Modern Era

Students of composition develop two skills simultaneously: craft and creativity. Since students are more naturally inclined to focus on one of these skills over the other, finding the proper balance is an educational challenge. An effective pedagogical system for composition cultivates both of these necessary skills. Imitation was a preferred pedagogical approach during the Classical period. In his 1848 book School of Practical Composition, Carl Czerny instructs his readers to apply the extensive rules of composition by strictly following a compositional model. Although this methodology lost favor during the nineteenth century, the imitative techniques presented by Czerny are flexible enough for learning to compose in musical styles beyond the Classical period. Through model-centered instruction, students learn to solve compositional problems by discovering how eminent composers overcame comparable difficulties. By engaging in the process of imitation, students create and test theories of composition based on their understanding of the model works they are studying. From developmental writing to establishing thematic unity, compositional modeling provides students with a practical method to engage with the most challenging aspects of composition. This study addresses various approaches towards choosing an appropriate compositional model, including the artistic opportunities available when imitating programmatic music. Another feature of this study involves surveying multiple works that belong to the same compositional lineage and searching for a variety of possible extended family connections. Finally, this dissertation presents a tutorial on incorporating two model works into a composition with a more modern musical style. This demonstration displays compositional modeling’s ability to create a unique blend of disparate models and help the student find a distinctive compositional voice. This dissertation reveals the pedagogical power of compositional modeling by demonstrating its ability to reunite craft and creativity and unlock those mysterious aspects of artistry resistant to being analyzed and distributed in a modern academic setting. Compositional modeling creates a timeless bond between the teacher and the student, and it is this kind of enduring apprenticeship that can pass on the mastery of technique and inspire the creativity needed to lead student composers to reach for the excellence of their models and beyond

Musical Thought And Compositionality

Many philosophers and music theorists have claimed that music is a language, though whether this is meant metaphorically or literally is often unclear. If the claim is meant literally, then it faces serious difficulty—many find it compelling to think that music cannot be a language because it lacks any semantic value. On the other hand, if it is meant metaphorically, then it is not clear what is gained by the metaphor—it is not clear what the metaphor is meant to illuminate. Considering the claim as a metaphor, I take it that what a theorist who speaks in this way is trying to draw our attention to is that there are interesting and illuminating parallels between music and language that might be philosophicallysignificant. Ifthisistheirpoint,thenthequestionis:whatinteresting parallel is it that could be so philosophically significant

Is melodic expectancy influenced by pitch and temporal manipulations?

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of altering the surface structure and organisational framework of both pitch and time on expectancy ratings of melodies. The pitches and durations comprising each melody were presented either in their original order, as a reordered sequence, as a sequence with modified contour, or as a sequence with modified contour randomly reordered. 24 participants, exposed primarily to Western tonal music, provided expectancy ratings of the sequences in two selective attention conditions (attend to pitch only, or time only), and one global (attend to both pitch and time) condition (blocked). All manipulations of pitch and time influenced perceived melodic expectancy, however for both dimensions, manipulating the organisational framework was more effective than changes to the surface structure. Under selective attention conditions, the irrelevant dimension still influenced ratings but its effect size was attenuated in accordance with the instructions. Effects of pitch and time were significant for all instructional conditions. These results emphasise the importance of tonal and metric hierarchies as organisational frameworks for melodic perception, and provided a better insight of the overall contribution of both pitch and temporal dimensions in formation of musical expectancies

VARIATIONS ON A THEME: Using Amino Acid Sequences to Generate Music

In this project, we explore using a musical space to represent the properties of amino acids. We consider previous mappings and explore the limitations of these mappings. In this exploration, we will propose a new method of mapping into musical spaces that extends the properties that can be represented. For this work, we will use amino acid sequences as our example mapping. The amino acid properties we will use include mass, charge, structure, and hydrophobicity. Finally, we will show how the different musical properties can be compared for similarity

Musical architecture in Hindemith's first piano sonata

Paul Hindemith's three piano sonatas, composed in 1936, are considered a significant contribution to the literature of the instrument. From a compositional standpoint, they represent a synthesis of traditional and progressive elements. The First Sonata is the largest and the most important of the three, according to authorities. The purpose of this study is to provide the performer with a comprehensive analysis of the First Sonata that will enhance the interpretive process. The analytical data are evaluated with respect to their integration into a master plan. The scope of the study includes the consideration of Friedrich Hölderlin's poem "Der Main," designated by Hindemith as the inspiration for the composition of the sonata. A step-by-step comparison of the formal aspects of the sonata and the poem is presented throughout the study, revealing a master design common to both works of art. The study suggests that Hindemith was impressed so greatly with the creative logic of Hölderlin's poem that he undertook to translate it into musical terms

Perceptual and automated estimates of infringement in 40 music copyright cases

Music copyright infringement lawsuits implicate millions of dollars in damages and costs of litigation. There are, however, few objective measures by which to evaluate these claims. Recent music information retrieval research has proposed objective algorithms to automatically detect musical similarity, which might reduce subjectivity in music copyright infringement decisions, but there remains minimal relevant perceptual data despite its crucial role in copyright law. We collected perceptual data from 51 participants for 40 adjudicated copyright cases from 1915–2018 in 7 legal jurisdictions (USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, People’s Republic of China, and Taiwan). Each case was represented by three different versions: either full audio, melody only (MIDI), or lyrics only (text). Due to the historical emphasis in legal opinions on melody as the key criterion for deciding infringement, we originally predicted that listening to melody-only versions would result in perceptual judgments that more closely matched actual past legal decisions. However, as in our preliminary study of 17 court decisions (Yuan et al., 2020), our results did not match these predictions. Participants listening to full audio outperformed not only the melody-only condition, but also automated algorithms designed to calculate musical similarity (with maximal accuracy of 83% vs. 75%, respectively). Meanwhile, lyrics-only conditions performed at chance levels. Analysis of outlier cases suggests that music, lyrics, and contextual factors can interact in complex ways difficult to capture using quantitative metrics. We propose directions for further investigation including using larger and more diverse samples of cases, enhanced methods, and adapting our perceptual experiment method to avoid relying on ground truth data only from court decisions (which may be subject to errors and selection bias). Our results contribute data and methods to inform practical debates relevant to music copyright law throughout the world, such as the question of whether, and the extent to which, judges and jurors should be allowed to hear published sound recordings of the disputed works in determining musical similarity. Our results ultimately suggest that while automated algorithms are unlikely to replace human judgments, they may help to supplement them

Spring School on Language, Music, and Cognition: Organizing Events in Time

The interdisciplinary spring school “Language, music, and cognition: Organizing events in time” was held from February 26 to March 2, 2018 at the Institute of Musicology of the University of Cologne. Language, speech, and music as events in time were explored from different perspectives including evolutionary biology, social cognition, developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience of speech, language, and communication, as well as computational and biological approaches to language and music. There were 10 lectures, 4 workshops, and 1 student poster session. Overall, the spring school investigated language and music as neurocognitive systems and focused on a mechanistic approach exploring the neural substrates underlying musical, linguistic, social, and emotional processes and behaviors. In particular, researchers approached questions concerning cognitive processes, computational procedures, and neural mechanisms underlying the temporal organization of language and music, mainly from two perspectives: one was concerned with syntax or structural representations of language and music as neurocognitive systems (i.e., an intrapersonal perspective), while the other emphasized social interaction and emotions in their communicative function (i.e., an interpersonal perspective). The spring school not only acted as a platform for knowledge transfer and exchange but also generated a number of important research questions as challenges for future investigations

Sergei Lyapunov's Preludes for solo piano, Op. 6 : an analysis for performance

"The purpose of this study is to provide a performer's guide and an analysis of Lyapunov's Op. 6 Preludes, thereby contributing to the achievement of a more informed performance, and enabling capable students and their teachers to become familiar with repertoire from the Russian romantic tradition that is brilliant, beautiful, and challenging in its pianistic requirements, yet accessible. Sergei Lyapunov's Seven Preludes Op. 6 offer a wide variety of pianistic and musical challenges that range from brilliant technical display to a brooding, melancholic character. The technical difficulty of these preludes makes them challenging for study and performance; therefore, an analysis of the pertinent musical elements for each prelude provides insight into performance. The preludes maintain a level of accessibility even though the writing is technically advanced. This is due to the logic found in the patterns utilized by Lyapunov, making the Op. 6 Preludes an attractive set. This study provides pianists with a structural view of each prelude in a table form, thereby supplying pianists with an additional means of memorization; it reveals relationships between sections and phrases, similarities and differences, highlights patterns of chord progressions, and provides a means for memorization away from the keyboard, thereby creating additional security in performance. It provides an awareness of increasing and decreasing textures, and examines improvisational treatments of and variations within phrases that include Lyapunov's use of adding fragments of motives through extensions at ends of phrases, his use of sequences, as well as his use of diminution in recurring motives. It provides pianists with information upon which to base their interpretation regarding dynamic shaping within phrases, focal points of phrases, and pacing; it underscores the numerous expressive elements found throughout Lyapunov's Op. 6, sheds light on the pianistic demands required in order to play them, both from technical and interpretational perspectives, and provides interested pianists with a description of these requirements. A discussion of each of the prelude's pianistic demands is included in order to aid in the preparation and/or study of these works with a focus on pertinent aspects of pianism and musicianship. Conclusions regarding performance implications are drawn directly from the analysis. This document presents pianists and other interested individuals with an analysis and performance guide for Sergei Lyapunov's Op. 6 Preludes, and re-introduces works worthy of study and performance. It examines musical elements in order to illuminate musical events. The analysis provides a starting place for pianists to create and convey their interpretation of these musical events during performance, with the added benefit of memory security that is a direct result of viewing and studying the music from multiple angles."--Abstract from author supplied metadata

Computer Aided Statistical Analysis of Motive Use and Compositional Idiom

This thesis discusses the creation of a means of pitch-based data representation which allows automated logging and analysis of melodic motivic material. This system also allows analysis of a number of attributes of a composition which are not readily apparent to human analysis. By using a numerical data format which treats motivically related material as equivalent, groups of tonally equivalent intervals (n-tuples) can be logged and have statistical procedures carried out on them. This thesis looks at four applications of this approach: measuring the most commonly occurring motivic material; creating a transition matrix showing probabilities of movement between intervals; measuring the extent of disjunct or conjunct writing; and measuring concentration of motivic writing (the extent to which motives are reused). Following the discussion of the data representation system, a set of expositions taken from the piano sonatas of Haydn, Mozart, and Clementi are converted to this method of data representation, and results are collected for the above four applications. The implications of the results of this analysis are discussed, and further potential applications of the system are explored