Who’s playing? Towards machine-assisted identification of jazz trumpeters by timbre

The goal of our proposed study is to contribute to the growing research in machine-assisted identification of jazz performers. In particular, we seek to identify unknown jazz trumpeters. We plan to take an approach that has not received recent attention; namely, using human observation to compare spectrograms and other data representing musical timbre. We believe that human observation, when combined with machine learning, will improve accuracy of timbre recognition and performer identification. We will collect 100 music samples: five each from 20 trumpeters. We will manually sort spectrograms and other data in order to distinguish the most salient timbre characteristics. Once we choose those features, we will use a computer to filter for them. If our approach is successful, we will develop a larger database of trumpet solos

Defining Classical Tenor Saxophone: performer identity, performance practice and contemporary repertoire

The tenor saxophone has gained prominence as a classical instrument for composers and performers during the last four decades. Interest in the instrument has inspired the creation of innovative works and tenor saxophonists are charged with preparing these works for performance. Performing new repertoire has impacted the way in which the classical tenor saxophonists explore the musical potential of their instrument and their role in a larger sense. The aim of this study is to identify important works in the contemporary classical tenor saxophone repertoire, establish how performers approach these works, and discover their perceptions of the instrument. Twenty-two professional saxophonists from Australia, Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States of America completed a questionnaire in which they identified significant contemporary classical tenor saxophone works and explained why the works were important to the instrument’s modern repertoire. Twelve saxophonists then participated in an interview in which they explored their perceptions of classical tenor saxophone performance, and gave insights into their experiences studying, performing and teaching the most significant repertoire. Three key works written between 1986 and 2011 were identified, all of which utilised the tenor saxophone’s extensive musical and technical capabilities. These works were all written in a contemporary style and featured strong influences from jazz/pop music. Saxophonists regarded the tenor saxophone as a versatile instrument remarkably suited to the classical idiom and unique in the saxophone family. These professionals employed novel technical and musical approaches in their performance of the contemporary tenor saxophone repertoire to create successful and authentic interpretations. They explained their common perceptions of the instrument and shared a collective musical identity as classical tenor saxophonists

Actions towards freedom: Theoretical and practical perspectives on improvisation and composition

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London.This thesis, and the accompanying portfolio of pieces, is concerned with investigating practical and theoretical meeting points between improvisation and composition. Such meeting points are evaluated alongside a consideration of ‘freedom’ in improvised music, for which a frame is drawn from George Lewis’s concepts of the ‘Afrological’ (placing emphasis on expression of the ‘self’) and ‘Eurological’ (in which the ‘self’ is explicitly avoided). It is suggested that a reconciliation of these two extremes might be found in a compositional ‘creative displacement’, which might change an improviser’s environment in unforeseen ways and thus stimulate explorations of expressive novelty. Three different compositional approaches to ‘creative displacement’ are investigated: through fixed notation, through electronic real-time notation, and through leadership in a workshop setting. In each case compositional experiments will be undertaken and documented, detailing the creation and realisation of the pieces included in the accompanying portfolio. A terminology for the theoretical consideration of these approaches will draw on theories of complex systems, the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze, and various socio-musicological models such as those of Steven Feld and Charles Keil. Through an evaluation of the portfolio compositions in rehearsal and performance, this thesis will conclude that a reconciliation of Lewis’s ‘Afro’ and ‘Eurological’ can be found through the external application of limitations to improvisational creativity. Such constraints will be described as ‘creatively displacing’ if they provoke a performer towards an exploration of novel expressive approaches. In order to achieve this in practice, limitations must be carefully judged with regard to their degree of abstraction, the manner of their presentation and the nature of their notation; it will be suggested that the presence of a leader is vital in achieving this. These conclusions will lead to a questioning of conventional ideas of improvisation and leadership, and suggest a re-evaluation of indeterminacy within notation

Adulthood and music participation in a community band: a collective case study of the lived experiences of adult community band members

One of the historic goals expressed by music educators is for all individuals to participate in music making throughout their adult lives. The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of community band members in order to better understand how music making might serve various roles and hold differing meanings for adults across their lifespan. Adult participation in a community band was identified for examination as it is a music making experience that individuals can participate in throughout their adult lives. In order to understand the context of music making in lives of the adult participants, a collective case study was used for this study. Data was gathered through in-depth interviews and analyzed to gain an understanding of the various roles and differing meanings of music in the lives of the seven adult community band member participants. The participants ranged in age from early adults through older adults in retirement. Analysis of the individual cases revealed how each participant expressed their music making experiences in the community band through aspects of their adult lives. For each case, themes were developed that illustrated the various roles and the different meaningful aspects music making held in the lives of the participants. The cross-case analysis identified themes of enjoyment and cognitive functions as common issues articulated in all of the individual cases. While the themes of enjoyment and cognitive functions were apparent in all of the cases, the context for these themes was individualized within the adulthood roles and developmental tasks of each participant. Findings from the study illustrate an individualistic and collective lifespan perspective of the various roles and differing meanings music making had in the lives of these adult community band members

John Mackey: the composer, his compositional style and a conductor\u27s analysis of Redline Tango and Turbine

The purpose of this monograph is to present the first formal analysis of John Mackey and his music. Through substantive firsthand interaction with the composer, this document details Mackey’s unique compositional development through computer-based learning and includes a conductor’s analysis of Redline Tango and Turbine. Mackey’s compositional style includes simplistic forms using melodies and harmonies that do not readily demonstrate the difficulties conductors and performers may find within his well-crafted compositions. Mackey’s work emphasizes the element of rhythm and his orchestration typically utilizes the conventional instrumentation for wind ensemble with prominence placed on percussion. Redline Tango has been awarded two significant band awards and has received international performances. Turbine is unique in comparison to Mackey’s earlier works, relying even less on melodic material and more on rhythmic complexity for its content, establishing it as Mackey’s most rhythmically complicated band work to date. A distinctive characteristic of Turbine is Mackey’s percussion scoring, which includes the use of non-traditional percussion instruments and may cause conductors to consider alternative score preparation and rehearsal techniques. Both Redline Tango and Turbine display balance in form between repetition and contrast, consistency and originality in style, a creative design that exhibits craftsmanship and unique rhythmic vitality. Although technically demanding, conductors and performers should find rehearsals and performances of both pieces to be enjoyable. To be assured, audiences continue to be captivated by Mackey’s distinctive compositional style, unique rhythmic creativity and imaginative percussion scoring

Types of Vibrato in Contemporary Music and the Possibility of Their Use in Flute Pedagogy

This project falls within the area of developing innovative methods in teaching the flute. It focuses on search and application of types of vibrato as contemporary technique of sound production that may contribute to the creative development of classic vibrato and the sonority of the students. The research has been conducted systematically with the aim to deepen the theoretical knowledge and practical skills of the students, learn the types of vibrato and their symbols, and add them to their daily studies. For this purpose, different compositions and excerpts of compositions employing various types of contemporary vibratos have been selected and applied to resolve effectively various problems in sound production and result in a more grounded use of vibrato in the interpretation of contemporary music, as well as music of other historical eras. This objective gains its relevance following the implementation, today unavoidable, of the ancient music movement; this movement decisively transformed the interpretation of baroque and classical music “imposing” on the interpreters, who play on modern instruments, the challenge of finding the sound, wording and expressive resources suitable to the expression and rhetoric of these styles of music. Through auditory analysis and advanced methods of sound analysis was possible to understand and explain the effects of the contemporary vibratos in the modification of the diaphragm support, throat and embouchure, and the respective sound and musical results

Automatic annotation of musical audio for interactive applications

PhDAs machines become more and more portable, and part of our everyday life, it becomes apparent that developing interactive and ubiquitous systems is an important aspect of new music applications created by the research community. We are interested in developing a robust layer for the automatic annotation of audio signals, to be used in various applications, from music search engines to interactive installations, and in various contexts, from embedded devices to audio content servers. We propose adaptations of existing signal processing techniques to a real time context. Amongst these annotation techniques, we concentrate on low and mid-level tasks such as onset detection, pitch tracking, tempo extraction and note modelling. We present a framework to extract these annotations and evaluate the performances of different algorithms. The first task is to detect onsets and offsets in audio streams within short latencies. The segmentation of audio streams into temporal objects enables various manipulation and analysis of metrical structure. Evaluation of different algorithms and their adaptation to real time are described. We then tackle the problem of fundamental frequency estimation, again trying to reduce both the delay and the computational cost. Different algorithms are implemented for real time and experimented on monophonic recordings and complex signals. Spectral analysis can be used to label the temporal segments; the estimation of higher level descriptions is approached. Techniques for modelling of note objects and localisation of beats are implemented and discussed. Applications of our framework include live and interactive music installations, and more generally tools for the composers and sound engineers. Speed optimisations may bring a significant improvement to various automated tasks, such as automatic classification and recommendation systems. We describe the design of our software solution, for our research purposes and in view of its integration within other systems.EU-FP6-IST-507142 project SIMAC (Semantic Interaction with Music Audio Contents); EPSRC grants GR/R54620; GR/S75802/01

Hands-On Research Symposium: from artistic practice to artistic research: book of abstracts

Hands-On Research Symposium aims to stimulate the discussion of ideas, practices, insights, outputs and developments in the field of artistic research. Originally conceptualised as a series of meetings focused on specific instrumental areas bridging the gap between artistic production and academic research, thus creating opportunities to combine artists’ and researchers’ knowledge, Hands-On Research has now expanded to encompass all artistic areas and will feature paper presentations, lecture-performances, round-table discussions and concerts.publishe

Jazz and Recording in the Digital Age: Technology, New Media, and Performance in New York and Online

This dissertation is a study of the uses of recording technologies and new media by jazz musicians in New York. It privileges the perspectives of professional musicians, gleaned through interviews and observation of their discourses and practices in live and recorded performances and in online new media spaces. Contrary to scholarly and critical approaches to jazz that privilege live performance, this dissertation argues that mediatization, through use of recording technologies, digital formats and platforms, and social media, is a vital mode of jazz performance in the digital age. Chapter 1 shows how formative encounters with jazz by musicians coming of age in the 1980s, ‘90s, and 2000s were often with recorded media, instilling in them positive attitudes towards the creative and professional opportunities presented by recording technologies. Chapter 2 presents the professional and artistic reasons why musicians make recordings, how they choose music to record, and how they fund their recording projects amid a traditional recording industry averse to developing jazz musicians. Chapter 3 describes the ways that musicians use the technologies of the recording studio, which increasingly challenge conventional distinctions between stages of recording, aligning instead with integrated practices of “production” central to studio-based genres like hip-hop, electronic music, and pop. Chapter 4 examines how musicians are using new media of distribution and promotion—often despite the exploitative practices of media companies—to release their recordings and cultivate social networks of fans and fellow musicians. Chapter 5 discusses some current trends in the style of recording-oriented jazz under the aesthetic frameworks of songs and beats and considers how these frameworks accommodate the improvised solo, a hallmark of jazz. Chapter 6 interrogates the ontology and phenomenology of jazz recording, using the framework of mediatized performance to argue against the common notion that recording necessarily impoverishes improvised music. In closing, Chapter 7 reveals how mediatized performances have enabled jazz musicians to participate in social movements that themselves are highly mediatized. This dissertation contributes to our knowledge of contemporary jazz, the ways musicians are adapting to and innovating with new technologies and media, and the relationship between recording and performance in the digital age