Introduction: The Ingredients of a Masterpiece

I believe that the study of music can justifiably include the study of any aspect of musical behavior, including the study of the teaching of music as well as the study of the teaching about music. With this in mind, some time ago I had the idea that it would be an interesting departure for Current Musicology to examine the teaching of music survey courses, with particular attention paid to "masterpieces" courses-of the type that constitutes the music component of Columbia's undergraduate Core Curriculum. I wanted views from outside Columbia-indeed, from outside the research university setting-as well, so I solicited articles from scholar-administrators at a conservatory and at a liberal arts college. I am therefore pleased to present, in this special section of Current Musicology #65, the viewpoints of Peter Rojcewicz, from The Juilliard School in Manhattan, and of Sean Williams, from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. Annalisa Swig Poirel, an early music scholar here at Columbia, provides a look at the issue from within the research university itself; my own contribution makes mention of some of the unspoken, and too often unexamined, musical "givens" that contribute to the production, dissemination, and consumption of the Masterpieces of Western Music

Gesture as a bridge between visual art and music composition

This commentary of the pieces written during the academic course 2018-2019 explains the basis of my aesthetical orientations focused in a gestural approach. There is a significant influence from visual artists who affected directly to my compositions. From them I extract aesthetical concepts related to gesture, as is the case of fragility, imperfection, interaction, control and spontaneity. The commentary will also examine the composition technics used, explaining the notation used and exemplifying other composers who did similar approaches. As a result of the research five compositions have been done: Enso, Horizon, Coloratura, Papallona project and Bottom-up

Scoring sounds : the visual representation of music in cross-cultural perspective

This thesis argues that a performer’s relationship with a musical score is an interaction largely defined by social and cultural parameters, but also examines whether disparate musical traditions show any common underlying tendencies regarding the perceived relationship between musical sound and visual representation. The research brings a novel, cross-cultural perspective to bear on the topic, combining a systematic, empirical study with qualitative fieldwork. Data were collected at five sites in three countries, involving: classically-trained musicians based in the UK; traditional Japanese musicians both familiar and unfamiliar with western standard notation; literate Eastern Highlanders from Port- Moresby, Papua New Guinea; and members of the BenaBena tribe, a non-literate community in Papua New Guinea. Participants heard short musical stimuli that varied on three musical parameters (pitch, duration and attack rate) and were instructed to represent these visually so that if another community member saw the marks they should be able to connect them with the sounds. Secondly, a forced-choice design required participants to select the best shape to describe a sound from a database. Interviews and fieldwork observations recorded how musicians engaged with the visual representation of music, considering in particular the effects of literacy and cultural parameters such as the social context of music performance traditions. Similarities between certain aspects of the participants’ responses suggest that there are indeed some underlying commonalities among literate participants of any cultural background. Meanwhile, the overall variety of responses suggests that the association between music and its visual representation (when it takes place) is strongly affected by ever-altering socio-cultural parameters

Recursos técnico-expressivos do Bansuri e a flauta transversal moderna

A presente dissertação visa contribuir para a expansão das possibilidades técnicas e expressivas da flauta transversal através da integração de recursos e práticas performativas da flauta de bambu indiana – o bansuri. Partindo da análise dos aspetos essenciais da técnica do bansuri e da sua aplicação e adaptação à flauta transversal moderna, são analisadas e interpretadas no âmbito da investigação, cinco obras, a saber: (1) L’Aube Enchantée, de Ravi Shankar; (2) If Nights Dawn Imposed All – I.N.D.I.A., de Karsten Brustad; (3) ELEGY III, para flauta solo, de Christopher Bochmann; (4) DUPLUM my sweet old etcetera, para flauta transversal e bansuri de Pedro Junqueira Maia; e (5) MAHÂR para flauta solo e eletrónica de Ângela Lopes. ELEGY III, DUPLUM my sweet old etcetera, e MAHÂR foram compostas, gravadas e apresentadas em primeira audição no âmbito da investigação. Os Ragas hindustânicos, o microtonalismo, e a utilização de técnicas de ornamentação da música indiana como as gamakas kan, murki, meend, andolan e murchana, são aí tratados por compositores formados na tradição ocidental. Os mesmos recursos técnicos e expressivos são explorados em L’Aube Enchantée e If Nights Dawn Imposed All – I.N.D.I.A., obras do repertório que recriam de forma abreviada a performance de um Raga, numa adaptação para flauta transversal e guitarra a instrumentação tradicional indiana de bansuri e sitar. No conjunto, pretende-se promover o enriquecimento do repertório do instrumento na sedimentação da integração dos elementos técnicos, ornamentais e expressivos do bansuri pela flauta transversal num contributoThis dissertation aims to contribute to the expansion of the technical and expressive possibilities of the transverse flute through the integration of resources and performance practices of the Indian bamboo flute – the bansuri. Starting from the analysis of the main elements of the bansuri technique and its application and adaptation to the modern transverse flute, five works are analysed and interpreted as part of the research, namely: (1) L'Aube Enchantée, by Ravi Shankar; (2) If Nights Dawn Imposed All - I.N.D.I.A., by Karsten Brustad; (3) Elegy III, for solo flute, by Christopher Bochmann; (4) Duplum: my sweet old etcetera, for transverse flute and bansuri by Pedro Junqueira Maia; and (5) Mahâr, for solo flute and electronics by Ângela Lopes. Elegy III, Duplum: my sweet old etcetera, and Mahâr were expressly composed, recorded and premiered as part of the research. The Hindustani Ragas, microtonalism, and the use of ornamental techniques of Indian music such as gamakas kan, murki, meend, andolan and murchana are treated there by composers trained in the Western tradition. The same technical and expressive resources are explored in L'Aube Enchantée and If Nights Dawn Imposed All - I.N.D.I.A., works from the repertoire that recreate in an abbreviated form the performance of a Raga, adapting for transverse flute and guitar the traditional Indian instrumentation of bansuri and sitar. On the whole, it is intended to promote the enrichment of the repertoire of the instrument though the integration and sedimentation technical, ornamental and expressive elements of bansuri in transverse flute’s repertoire, contributing at the same time to the intercultural dialogue between India and the West.Programa Doutoral em Músic

Hidden archives, hidden practices: debates about music-making

In the last decades, musical research has expressed a particular attention to relational musical practices undertaken by professional and non-professional performers, with the argument that these are essential for the sustainability of groups and communities. This perspective inscribes music in the time and space of its practices, and underlies a paradigm that rejects its alleged timelessness, that is, the presumption that music is an entity that transcends the experiences of composing, performing, or listening. Performance, in this sense, detaches itself from a faithful textual rendition or from specific social and historical contexts, and creates a space where a musician can become an agent of social and cultural creation.publishe

Proceedings of the 19th Sound and Music Computing Conference

Proceedings of the 19th Sound and Music Computing Conference - June 5-12, 2022 - Saint-Étienne (France). https://smc22.grame.f

Sydney Conservatorium of Music Undergraduate Handbook 2010

Dissertação de mestrado em Roads to Democracy(ies), apresentada à Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra, sob a orientação de André Brito Correi