Music Practice Commons^™

Performance Practice In Hungarian Folk Music And Its Relationship To The Style Hongrois, Teresa Vinci

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study investigates style and performance practice within the oral traditions of Hungarian folk music, and explores intersections with the nineteenth-century idiom style hongrois. Interviews, lessons, and workshops were undertaken as part of a practice-based immersive research experience, and comparisons with the style hongrois made via analysis of scores and recordings of Jeno Hubay (1858-1937). The research strives towards an ‘Historically Informed Performance’ specific to these styles, and explores how they can inform each other. Findings are presented through a dissertation and a CD recording “Never Far Away…” comprising the researcher’s violin performance as leader of an Hungarian folk …

Night Music (Compositions, Performance And Improvisations) –And– Developing A Chromatic-Intervallic Approach To Jazz Improvisation Through Reflexive Practice. An Exegesis, Jamie Oehlers

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research examines the processes involved in developing and applying a novel melodic jazz improvisation technique—a chromatic-intervallic approach (CIA). Improvised melodic approaches in jazz music from the 1920s until today have primarily been driven through the development of tension within melody lines by using variations of the scale/chord method and harmonic substitution. The CIA examined through my saxophone and improvisatory practice in this research explores the incorporation of melodies derived from intervallic combinations, and assesses the resulting tension within the melody through the use of the Melodic Tension Rating tool; a tool created through the research period of this study. …

Vital Performance: Culture, Worldview, And Romanticist Performance Practice With Application In Franz Liszt’S Consolations And Années De Pèlerinage Première Année, Andrew John Snedden

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis examines issues of historical performance in the piano music of Franz Liszt, positing cultural exegesis as an overlooked source of evidence. Philosophical biases underlying mainstream C20th performance approaches (and their inhibiting potential) are discussed. A detailed reconstruction of Romanticist style is made with attention to primary sources, including historical recordings. A nomenclature for score annotation and an analytical paradigm for identification and application of Romanticist performance characteristics are proposed. These are experimentally applied, referencing exegetical insights, in Liszt’s Consolations and Années de Pèlerinage: Première Année through annotated scores and studio recordings on an 1860’s Érard grand

A Digital Resource For Navigating Extended Techniques On Bass Clarinet, Philip Everall

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Extended techniques are integral to the creation and interpretation of works for the bass clarinet. Effects such as multiphonics, microtones, or percussive and air sounds, have become commonplace in repertoire from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This PhD dissertation posits that the bass clarinet’s affinity for these sounds can be traced back to the instrument’s earliest uses, and thus extended techniques should be central to the understanding of the bass clarinet. While there is a large knowledge-base of these techniques, the paradigm of print resources with accompanying music media in which it is catalogued is old-fashioned and inefficient. This project …

Practising Jazz Performance: An Investigation Into The Process That Underpins Optimal Instrumental Practice In The Jazz Idiom, Christopher J. Tarr

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Little formal research has been undertaken into the processes associated with jazz improvisation, particularly those associated with practising to become an elite jazz improviser. This study seeks to understand the role of instrumental practice, particularly physical practice strategies and the associated mental states, in the development of jazz improvisers. Interviews were conducted with six improvisers of various ages, instruments and backgrounds. The study identified a number of strategies specific to jazz practice that differed from traditional practice strategies described in Western art literature, particularly in relation to the importance of the ear-to-instrument connection. Accordingly, the study sets out a series …

Towards An Interactive Environment For The Performance Of Dubstep Music, James Herrington

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This Masters by Research project explores the integration of different concepts relating to the presence of the human body in Dubstep music performance. Three intended performance systems propose that the body is the logical site for the interactive control of live Dubstep music. The physicality and gestures of instrumentalists, choreographed dancers, and audience members will be examined in order to develop new and exciting ways to perform this genre in a live setting.

The systems take on a three-tiered hierarchical approach on two levels in regards to the extraction of gestural information from human body movements, as well as in …