A wind ensemble adaptation and conductor\u27s analysis of selected movements of Darius Milhaud\u27s Saudades do Brazil, with an examination of the influences of Ernesto Nazareth

French composer Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) lived in Rio de Janeiro from early 1917 to late 1918 as an attaché to the French ambassador to Brazil. While there he discovered its popular music, in particular the works of the Brazilian pianist Ernesto Nazareth (1863-1934). Milhaud was fascinated by the Afro-Brazilian syncopated rhythms that constituted Brazilian popular music, which according to Milhaud “helped me better understand the Brazilian soul.” Milhaud’s Brazilian experiences profoundly affected his compositional style and inspired several important works in this idiom. Upon his return to France, Milhaud composed a suite of twelve dances for piano entitled Saudades do Brazil (Longings for Brazil). This suite displays Milhaud’s skillful melodic writing and renowned polytonal technique. The goals of this project were 1) to create of a wind ensemble adaptation of selected movements of Saudades do Brazil, 2) to examine Ernesto Nazareth’s influence upon this work, and 3) to create a conductor’s interpretive guide designed to promote a stylistically authentic and musically satisfying performance of the work. The principal purpose of this project was to enhance the repertoire with a work from a composer of the early decades of the twentieth century, a time when few significant works were composed for wind band. By creating this adaptation, the author hopes to contribute a work of stylistic, historic, and musical significance

The devil’s horn and the music of the brothel approaching adaptation and performance of tango for the classical saxophonist

The purpose of this thesis is to establish a concise and well-considered approach to the performance of tango music by a classical saxophonist. It explores the significance of adaptation to a saxophonist by investigating the integral role it has had on the performance, promotion and education throughout the instrument’s history. To this end, this thesis also traces the tradition of adaptation in Western Classical music. When approaching the adaptation of tango it is important to recognise the differences in the music’s culture. We are ultimately changing the context of the music by arranging it for another instrument. Therefore, a fervent discussion of the issues surrounding the idea of schizophonic mimesis are explored in an effort to maintain due respect for the original composition while bringing something new to it. The impact of schizophonic mimesis on our audience’s expectations, the stylisation of music, and the respect to the tradition of the other culture are discussed, and establish the need for a well informed and stylistic approach. To help address the various issues, this thesis gives a historical account of, what we will refer to as the tango’s ‘tangible’ and ‘intangible’ stylistic traits, and will propose a new approach to saxophone tango performance through a series of established and novel techniques

Building Blocks of a National Style: An Examination of Topics and Gestures in Nineteenth-Century American Music as Exemplified in Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha

Even though America’s musical elite undertook a veritable boycott of American talent during the nineteenth century, efforts to define concert life along Germanic lines did not prevent the development of a distinctly American sound. The groundwork was laid in the first half of the century in folk songs, national airs, and popular tunes from minstrel shows. It came to fruition after the Civil War, and by the 1920s, all of the elements were in place for an easily recognizable “American Style.” The development of musical topics to evoke the idea of “American” was essential in establishing this style. Most topical studies focus on European art music. This study explores the roots of the topics and gestures that underlie the music of the United States — through an examination of popular songs, folk music, social dances, salon music, and orchestral works — that demonstrates how specific gestures were transformed into topics: signifiers of various peoples, regions, or social classes. It also details barriers to the establishment of a uniquely American style, including the nation’s cultural inferiority complex with regard to its European artistic heritage, the systematic dismissal of native-born talent, and the impact of critics, conductors, and patrons on the development of an American school of composition. Racism and classism are also addressed, as they too were factors in the nation’s search for its artistic identity. A “Dictionary of Topics” specific to American music and a topical analysis of Scott Joplin’s 1911 opera Treemonisha demonstrate not only how African-American topoi, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and European art music traditions combine in America’s classical music, but also how this combination led directly to the formation of an authentically American sound. The identification of previously overlooked racial and religious topics in the opera deepen our understanding of Joplin’s life, his beliefs, and ultimately contribute to a more nuanced understanding of Treemonisha

Culture of Class

In an innovative cultural history of Argentine movies and radio in the decades before Peronism, Matthew B. Karush demonstrates that competition with jazz and Hollywood cinema shaped Argentina's domestic cultural production in crucial ways, as Argentine producers tried to elevate their offerings to appeal to consumers seduced by North American modernity. At the same time, the transnational marketplace encouraged these producers to compete by marketing "authentic" Argentine culture. Domestic filmmakers, radio and recording entrepreneurs, lyricists, musicians, actors, and screenwriters borrowed heavily from a rich tradition of popular melodrama. Although the resulting mass culture trafficked in conformism and consumerist titillation, it also disseminated versions of national identity that celebrated the virtue and dignity of the poor, while denigrating the wealthy as greedy and mean-spirited

Silêncio que se vai cantar o fado...

Tentarei explicar como acontece a estranha consistência de uma música que todos os portugueses reconhecem como sua, que o mundo inteiro reconhece como portuguesa – enquadramento social do fado, suas características mais marcantes, conteúdos cantados, base musical e instrumentos utilizados, fados tradicionais e improvisação. O silêncio também … Nem musicóloga, nem historiadora, sou uma cantadeira que fala do fado como se de um amigo fosse. Este texto serviu de base para uma comunicação apresentada no seminário “Processos composicionais na música brasileira – a musicalidade no lundum e no fado, na chula e no samba” (5ª Mostra de Música Leão do Norte, Sesc Santo Amaro – Recife, outubro de 2014). Darei alguns exemplos cantados (links propostos ao longo do texto). Neles, em modo "ensaio", juntaram-se gentilmente a mim António Queiroz, Nuno Siqueira (guitarra portuguesa) e Rui Silveira (viola), a quem muito agradeço. Agradeço ainda a Rodrigo Lacerda pelo apoio logístico à gravação dos vídeos.In this article I will try to explain how the strange consistency of a genre that all the Portuguese people recognize as theirs, which the whole world recognizes as Portuguese, is shaped – the social framework of fado, its most striking characteristics, lyrics, musical base and instruments used, traditional fado and improvisation. And the silence too… I am not a musicologist or a historian. I am a singer (cantadeira) who talks about fado as if it were a friend. This text was the basis for a presentation at the seminar “Processos composicionais na música brasileira – a musicalidade no lundum e no fado, na chula e no samba” (5ª Mostra de Música Leão do Norte, Sesc Santo Amaro – Recife, October 2014).I will provide some examples of music throughout the text. I am accompanied by António Queiroz, Nuno Siqueira (Portuguese guitar) and Rui Silveira (guitar) in a “rehearsal mode”. I warmly thank both of them. I also thank Rodrigo Lacerda for his support recording the videos

Automatic classification of latin music : some experiments on musical genre classification

Estágio realizado no INESC PortoTese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

Automatic classification of latin music : some experiments on musical genre classification

Estágio realizado no INESC PortoTese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

An Overview of Third Stream/Confluent Music and the Involvement of Australian Composers

In this essay the author discusses the origins, evolution and impact of Third Stream music, the broader outgrowth of it being Confluent music. Reference is made to relevant compositions and recordings from the USA, England and Europe, up to 2004. Background information about the composers is provided. Compositions including elements from African music are being examined. The author investigates the involvement, up to 2004, of Australian composers and composers resident in Australia. A substantial bibliography and discography is included

Landscapes of architectural education -architecture, knowledge and existential wisdom

The very essence of learning also in any creative field is embedded more in the student’s sense of self and his/her image of the world than in information and facts. The promoters of a professionalist education seem to entirely dismiss this essential mental and existential perspective. This area of learning can appropriately be called personal growth. Education and learning in any creative field has to aim at the student’s individual and unique self, and the content of education is bound to be more existential than factual, related more with experiences and values than information. The essence of learning is the gradual construction of an inner sense of goal, responsibility, ethical stance, and a combined sense of humility and pride. In my view, this polar attitude is most difficult to acquire. Paradoxically, the essence of learning is essentially “un-learning”, or forgetting the learned facts. One must be able to forget them when they are many and one must have the great patience to wait until they come again.Peer Reviewe