Music Practice Commons^™

Noise Peddler: An Exploration Of The 21st Century Pedalboard, Danny Bright, Lee Westwood

The 21st Century Guitar

Noise Peddler is a practice-based research project exploring the 21st century guitar pedalboard as composition and performance interface. Recent growth in the guitar pedal industry has seen a notable increase in popularity of the pedal platform, expansion in the number of manufacturers, the scope of effects available, and solidification of the concept of the pedalboard. The widespread adoption of MIDI/CV control, alongside the packaging of increasingly experimental and complex processing into stompbox formats has expanded the pedalboardʼs potential as a flexible canvas for the creation of unconventional guitar sounds. Performers such as Sarah Lipstate, Nels Cline and Ed OʼBrien have …

Guitars With Ambisonic Spatial Performance (Gasp): An Immersive Guitar System, Duncan Werner, Emma Fitzmaurice, Bruce Wiggins, Matthew Hart

The 21st Century Guitar

The GASP project investigates the design and realisation of an Immersive Guitar System. It brings together a range of sound processing and spatialising technologies and applies them to a specific musical instrument ‒ the Electric Guitar. GASP is an ongoing innovative audio project, fusing the musical with the technical, combining the processing of each stringʼs output (which we called timbralisation) with spatial sound. It is also an artistic musical project, where space becomes a performance parameter, providing new experimental immersive sound production techniques for the guitarist and music producer. Several ways of reimagining the electric guitar as an immersive sounding …

When Bonfá Meets Villa: Creative Processes In The Elaboration Of A Guitar Arrangement To Manhã De Carnaval By Luiz Bonfá (1922-2001), José D. T. Dos Santos

The 21st Century Guitar

This paper presents part of an artistic research where the focus is on elaboration of guitar arrangements. In the scope of the study here, my aim was to understand the implications of an ecological approach to music making based on the identification and use of guitar affordances. In particular, the elaboration of an arrangement of the song Manhã de Carnaval, by the Brazilian composer Luiz Bonfá (1922-2001). The process was informed by existing perspectives on arrangement (Sadie & Tirell, 2001), affordances (Gibson, 1977), tacit knowledge (Polanyi, 1966) and embodied meaning (Merleau-Ponty, 1968). Throughout the arrangement, excerpts of the music of …

Proceedings Of The 21st Century Guitar Conference 2019 & 2021

The 21st Century Guitar

This volumeʼs contributions grew from 20 of the 94 scheduled keynotes, lectures and lecture-recitals of the first and second editions of The 21st Guitar Conference. Five items stem from the inaugural edition (2019, 44 contributions) and 15 from the second edition (2021, 50 contributions).1 This conference is unique in that it is centered on contemporary guitar research, performance and pedagogy.2 Previously, guitar research had gained increased visibility thanks to the International Guitar Research Centre, launched in 2014 (Stephen Goss, President), which regularly (co-)organizes conferences on guitar research; and Soundboard Scholar, launched in 2015 (Jonathan Leathwood, Editor) ‒ currently the only …

I Felt Unfettered And Alive: A Musical Narrative Inquiry Into Identity Through Commissioning And Performing New Music For Solo Classical Guitar, Libby Myers

The 21st Century Guitar

This paper discusses how commissioning new music served as a means of musical narrative inquiry into the performance of the authorʼs identity. Traditionally, musicology has centred on the identities of composers; their lives, working practices and philosophies. Meanwhile, the identities of performers have remained inaudible. Challenging this conventional narrative, the commission project foregrounds experiences of identity and subjectivity of the author as performer-researcher. This paper introduces the innovative methodology of musical narrative inquiry used in this project, in which lived narratives of identity are told and re-told in collaboration with the composer to explore what it means to be, or …

Marc Ribot's Exercises In Futility, Francesca Naibo

The 21st Century Guitar

Marc Ribot (*1954), one of the most influential guitarists of the worldwide avant-garde scene, started his musical life taking classical guitar classes with the Haitian teacher Frantz Casseus, turning then to electric guitar. After decades spent mainly on electric instruments, Ribot composed and recorded Exercises in Futility, his own series of etudes for solo guitar. The collection of pieces presents fifteen compositions that are intended to be studies for classical guitarists.Between 2015 and 2020 Ribot and I collaborated to create the scores of this collection of studies, soon to be published. The purpose of this paper is to present the …

Effectively Using The Hoffmeister Concerto To Give Violists Comprehensive Training In Classical Viola Technique, Kaichao Zhao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This dissertation presents a three-stage learning process and curriculum for Franz Anton Hoffmeister's 1793 composition, the Hoffmeister Viola Concerto. The curriculum is meant to help students build a solid foundation and understanding of how to learn, practice, and master the viola. The three stages of the curriculum are (1) "RIB," which emphasizes the rhythmic components of the work; (2) "Musical," which highlights the emotional elements of performance; and (3) "Teaching," which teaches students how to teach themselves. The ultimate goal is for students to learn a comprehensive approach to help pupils quickly establish a learning and practice system. The …

Give The Drummer Some: A Dive Into Drum Breaks And Drum Break Production, Kyle Kaldhusdal

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper traces the history of hip-hop culture through the evolution of the drum break, the original context of drum breaks in funk and soul music, their influence on DJ culture, and the subsequent impact of drum breaks on music and music production. It follows the development of breakbeat compilations in the 1970s and 1980s, parallel to the development of turntablism and sampling techniques. It also examines in detail how copyright litigation in the 1990s shaped the development of sample-based music genres and created a niche market for originally-recorded drum breaks over the subsequent decades.

New Paradigms In Band Performance: An Analysis Of Three Prototypes, Scott Walker-Parker

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

This document seeks to propose new paradigms in band performance through inter-, multi-, and transdisciplinarity. Initial inspirations were drawn from performance innovations shaped by the new music theater which became popular in the 20^th century. Key concepts which were used throughout the creative, planning, logistic, rehearsal, and performance processes are analyzed in three recitals through prototypes of new paradigms in band performance. These concepts include accessibility and community, nonverbal/multimodal performance and instruction versus time, and nonverbal/multimodal communication.

The document has been organized in a manner which highlights successes and breakdowns of each process so future refinement can be made. …

The History And Development Of Solo Tuba Repertoire, Vasilios Tidwell

Honors Theses

The tuba's solo repertoire increased in quantity and quality as a result of developments in the instrument’s design and usage. Following the invention of the tuba in 1835, instrument makers experimented with design concepts to maximize the versatility and potential of the bass brass voice. Composers explored the various uses of the instrument, eventually making the tuba part of the standard orchestral instrumentation by the mid-nineteenth century. Following the instrument's acceptance into bands and orchestras, the first solo works for tuba emerged in the late nineteenth century.

Evolving from novelty pieces accompanied by wind or brass bands, tuba solo music …

Weber's Clarinet Concertino Opus 26, Cadence A. Graves

ATU Research Symposium

As a professional musician, it is important that one does not simply learn the notes and rhythms in a piece of music, but also the history surrounding it and its composer. There is much to learn about a piece of music and how it may be performed from original scores, performance history, and knowledge of the composer and the time period in which it was written. This lecture recital aims to open eyes to the amount of relevant knowledge one can gain from researching a piece of music’s composer, setting, and the importance of doing this research. This presentation will …

Chinese Folk Song Meets Western Compositional Technique—A Case Study Of Zhou Long’S The Partita For The Violin And The Piano, Bo Wu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the field of contemporary Chinese music, a large number of outstanding composers and works have emerged in China. As one of the most prominent Chinese American composers, Zhou Long has created many excellent pieces that combine Chinese national elements with world-class composition techniques. These contributions have helped promote Chinese music on the global stage. Zhou Long possesses profound creative skills, with a deep understanding of both Chinese national modes and Western composition techniques. By applying these skills and techniques to his works, he has developed a unique style that integrates Chinese national features with modern music concepts and techniques, …

An Examination Of Relationships Between Ear-Playing Skills And Intonation Skills Of High School And College-Aged Wind Instrumentalists, Ben Michael Herrick

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Playing by ear and the ability to play in tune are components of musicianship that rely heavily on the ability to successfully discriminate musical pitches. Connections between ear-playing and intonation performance have rarely been addressed. The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between intonation performance and ear-playing skills of high school and college-aged wind instrumentalists. Research questions were: (1) What is the relationship between the ability to play by ear and intonation performance? (2) How does intonation ability differ when the participants sightread notation compared to performing music that was learned by ear? (3) Do differences appear in …

Pedro António Avondano: Il Mondo Della Luna. Naxos 660487-88, 2021., Ralph P. Locke

Music & Musical Performance

The world-premiere recording of Il mondo della luna by Pedro António Avondano consists of a highly skillful and alert performance by Portuguese musicians, including singers well trained in Italian. The recitatives were rehearsed in an unusual way, with the singers first speaking the lines rather than singing them. The experiment will be judged variously by different observers. The reviewer dislikes the frequent clash in pitch between voice and instruments, especially at cadences. But others have hailed the recording unstintingly.

Exploring Jam Sessions In New York, Ricardo Pinheiro

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

This paper addresses the relationship between jazz jam sessions in Manhattan, and the concepts of Scene, Ritual and Race. These issues emerged during research that, from an ethnomusicological perspective, focused on the role of jam sessions in Manhattan as a privileged context for the following:

i) learning performative styles of jazz,

ii) developing the creative process,

iii) constructing professional networks,

iv) establishing of the status of musicians.

Studying and analysing the jam sessions at five jazz performance venues in New York, I demonstrate the vital importance of participating in jam sessions by examining their relationship with this performative occasion (Pinheiro …

Restructuring Hierarchy Within And Between Jazz And Classical Orchestras, Emiliano Sampaio

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

From 2017 to 2021, Emiliano Sampaio dedicated his time and energy to the development of a jazz symphonic orchestra artistic research project. To put this complex and intricate journey in words, he wrote this article, which guides the reader through the development of the four-year work. It describes, discusses and reflects on some paths I experienced through the research, and how they contributed and transformed my views on the subject and on his music. The backbone of this article will be the discussion of the practical process conducted with different large ensembles, where hypotheses and ideas were put into practice.

Thirty Years On: Reflections On Haydn’S “Farewell” Symphony By James Webster, L. Poundie Burstein, Elaine Sisman, W. Dean Sutcliffe, James Webster

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

It has been just over thirty years since James Webster published his influential monograph Haydn’s “Farewell” Symphony and the Idea of Classical Style: Through-Composition and Cyclic Integration in His Instrumental Music (Cambridge University Press, 1991). To honor the anniversary of Webster’s groundbreaking book, the Encounters with Eighteenth-Century Music: A Virtual Forum steering committee asked L. Poundie Burstein, Elaine Sisman, and W. Dean Sutcliffe to offer perspectives on the book, and James Webster to respond to their perspectives. The interesting online session occurred on Tuesday, October 18, 2022, and included a lively open discussion following the presentations and Webster’s response. The …

The Research Cataloque, Casper Schipper

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

The Research Catalogue is an online, open-access research platform, developed for documenting artistic research outcomes. Provided by the Society for Artistic Research, it offers more than just the traditional formats such as PDFs. The RC offers researchers in the arts to expose artistic practice as research, by creating online presentations that can include video, audio and other media and building an “exposition” out of these elements. A growing number of academies, conservatories, and universities in Europe require their master students to publish their artistic research in the Research Catalogue.

Five Tips For (Re)Entering The Professional World After The Pandemic, Wojtek Justyna

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

Building and sustaining a career, as a performing jazz artist, has always been a path filled with challenges and roadblocks of many sorts. The current climate has definitely made the hill we have to climb steeper. Nevertheless, understanding the oppositions at hand, adequately preparing for them, combined with careful planning and structured execution will lead to the ability to comfortably navigate this new reality.

Applied Groove Research, Toni Bechtold, Rafael Jerjen, Olivier Senn

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

This paper is the first step to bridge this gap by asking whether groove research can help us teach groove to students, and, if so, how it can best be taught. Simultaneously, the paper serves as an introduction to groove research for those unfamiliar with this academic discourse.

Teaching Jazz History Out Of Order, Josiah Boornazian

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

Abstract: Jazz history unfolded chronologically, but chronology does not necessarily imply teleology or causality. In other words, the fact that certain jazz styles came after others does not unquestionably mean that jazz history followed a fixed course dictated by the perceived inevitability of artistic “progress.” Although it is important for jazz history students to have a foundational understanding of jazz history in a chronological fashion, presenting history on a straightforward, simplistic timeline defined by distinct style periods is not the only way to teach the music of the past. There may be significant merit in reorganizing the way jazz history …

Master And Apprentice: Lessons From Six Jazz Masters, Richie Beirach

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

Jazz pianist and composer Richie Beirach, now a jazz master himself, learned important lessons from the masters he worked with. The lessons learned are of great value for anyone who wants to play jazz professionally.

Improvisation, Consciousness And Cosmos: An Integral View Of Jazz Research, Ed Sarath

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

Ed Sarath on improvisation, consciousness and cosmos, as well on integral theory.

Introduction To The Iasj Journal Of Applied Jazz Research, Wouter Turkenburg, Kurt Ellenberger

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

Jazz research started as a duplicate of classical music research. As became clear during the Ongoing Dialogues during the annual IASJ Jazz Meetings that started in 1990, jazz research needs a dimension and a dynamic of its own. This has become 'applied jazz research', the kind of research that is directly linked to jazz performance and jazz education. The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz research offers the platform.

The Percussionist's Guide To Music Theory Fundamentals, Mckenna M. Lee

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

The research priorities that I have established as a theorist, percussionist, and an instructor of both, have led me to a master's thesis project combining music theory practices within the study and performance of percussion repertoire. As the graduate assistant of the percussion department at West Virginia University, I have been teaching applied orchestral percussion lessons and leading percussion ensembles. In my experience, a number of first-year percussionists in the studio at WVU have had a limited background with reading definite pitches on the staff, and struggle with sight-reading and pitch identification, therefore making their Written I and Aural I …

’90s “It Girls”: Britpop At The Postfeminist Intermezzo, Benjamin Halligan

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

In considering the Britpop genre of music and its moment of popularity in the mid/late-1990s, the few female-fronted Britpop groups created space for more compelling articulations of existential matters than were to be found in standard Britpop fare. This article argues these articulations are most appropriately read as arising from a moment of feminist thought in transition: a premature “victory,” under the sign of postfeminism, in which the struggles of Second Wave feminists could be seen to have delivered equality. This moment results in an encroaching and contested sense of entry into maturity, and a loss of youth. The groups …

A Contextual History And Modern Edition Of J. Hyde’S 1799 English Trumpet Treatise: A New And Compleat Preceptor For The Trumpet & Bugle Horn: With The Whole Of Cavalry Duty As Approved Of And Ordered By His Royal Highness The Duke Of York … To Which Is Added A Selection Of Airs, Marches & Quick Steps For Three Trumpets, A Scale Of The Chromatic Trumpet With Airs Adapted For It, And A Collection Of Bugle Horn Duets, Clinton Gregory Linkmeyer

Theses and Dissertations--Music

For much of the trumpet’s long and varied history, it was considered a practical tool used for signaling more so than a music-making instrument. In 1614, Cesare Bendinelli wrote his Tutta L’arte Della Trombetta, which is often recognized as the first musical treatise written for trumpet. Scholars also recognize two other texts as being significant treatises: Girolamo Fantini’s Modo per imparare a sonare di tromba (1638), and Johann Ernst Altenburg’s Trumpeters’ and Kettledrummers’ Art (1795). The compilation and composition of A New and Complete Preceptor for the Trumpet and Bugle Horn by John Hyde in 1799 places it not only …

Musical Portraiture In Acht Korte Karakterschetsen Voor Piano Vierhandig By Hans Osieck, Yuri Kim

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Hans Osieck (1910-2000) was a Dutch composer, pianist, and teacher. His musical portraits, Acht Korte Karakterschetsen voor piano vierhandig (Eight Short Character Sketches for Four Hands), are a valuable addition to the piano duo repertoires for intermediate and advanced students. In Eight Sketches, Osieck musically portrays eight of his students using simple compositional techniques, much like the brushstrokes and color palette of an artistic portrait. As a result of their programmatic nature and relatable subjects, Osieck’s Eight Sketches can be particularly useful for students developing their imaginations and learning to perform expressively. As a piano duo, Eight Sketches also serves …

A Conductor’S Analysis Of Selected A Cappella Works By Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, William Bernard Chandler Iii

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Despite experiencing a great deal of recognition in his lifetime, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s music is seldom performed today. His more famous pieces were his choral cantatas, but they require resources that most choirs cannot access. To encourage performance of his music, this monograph focuses on four of his part songs, which are much more accessible.

While many choirs will have the voicings to perform these pieces, they are very chromatic. Coleridge-Taylor is a product of late Romanticism and he employs many chromatic techniques to embellish his music. Inexperienced choirs will struggle to maintain a sense of tonal center if they are …

The Three E’S Of Horn Repertoire: From Excerpts To Etudes To Employment, Briana Pepilascov-Childers

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This project explores effective solutions for practicing orchestral excerpts, a challenge often faced by young musicians preparing for auditions. It introduces a method of adapting practice ideas and composition to facilitate a more profound understanding of fifteen orchestral excerpts. While primarily directed at horn players, the concepts and techniques explored in this study are applicable to musicians of all instruments, offering specific ideas, practice tips, and original etudes tailored to each excerpt. These etudes serve a dual purpose by addressing technical aspects of both the horn and the excerpt itself while familiarizing the musician with the standard orchestral repertoire commonly …