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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
81

Sibyl's leaves : understanding musical performance issues in Jani Christou's Anaparastasis III and Epicycle

Minou, Andriana January 2010 (has links)
This thesis deals with performance issues that are raised in the late works of Jani Christou (1926-1970). Christou was a Greek composer whose works demonstrate great interest in terms of their challenging of the conceptual margins of musical performance. His output was widely appreciated while he was still alive, but since his premature death there have been very few performances of his music. Because of a general lack of published sources on Christou, a significant part of my research material comes from the Jani Christou Archive, in which the composer’s unpublished commentaries on his works can be found. The issues that are examined in this thesis mainly revolve around original musical concepts, which were articulated by the composer and characterise his late works. The content of these concepts as well as their function in two of Christou’s late works, Anaparastasis III: The Pianist and Epicycle, are observed on two levels. On the one hand, their relation to postmodern thought, psychology and philosophy is interrogated on a theoretical level, especially through research into the work of Carl Jung and Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose student Christou was. On the other hand, the behaviour of these concepts in practice and the performance issues which are raised through their use are studied through personal reflections on my own realisations of Anaparastasis III: The Pianist and Epicycle. This thesis is one of the few pieces of writing to deal with Christou’s work critically and on both a theoretical and a practical level. Therefore, one of its greatest values lies within the possibility of a new appreciation of Christou’s pioneering contribution to contemporary music, which can function as a creative impetus towards an innovative perspective on the evolution of musical performance. Through this research I aim at identifying the performance issues that stem from the particularity of Christean concerns, such as ‘metapraxis’ and ‘protoperformance’. I investigate the conceptual framework within which these ideas developed, and I attempt to formulate an effective theoretical and performative attitude towards them, in order to reach a deeper theoretical understanding that will lead to successful performances of Christou’s late works.
82

The structural and aesthetic capacity of sonic matter : remarks on sonic dramaturgy

Chrysakis, Thanos January 2010 (has links)
This research study focuses on my compositional practice and its related creative strategies. It describes a series of ideas relevant to the structural and aesthetic capacity of sonic matter and the notion of sonic dramaturgy. Its thread of enquiry is based upon transformational logic and the inner nature of sound. The ontology of sound matter, its intrinsic nature and perceptual and cognitive effects, is of primary relevance. This can be contrasted with a permutational approach – the ars combinatoria – that has prevailed in Western Music after the Renaissance. There are four boundaries in which my conceptual compass operates: 1. The intrinsic logic of the sound-material 2. Form as organisation immanent to sonic matter 3. Form as Sonic Dramaturgy 4. The relevance of listeners’ perceptual and cognitive capacities. It is easily understandable that an empirical and experiential attitude manifests itself from the above. My aim is to examine in practice, that encounter and that creative friction which occurs between sound-matter and the human mind, and as a result a priori schemas have been avoided.
83

Investigating performer uniqueness : the case of Jascha Heifetz

Sarlo, Dario January 2010 (has links)
This thesis is based on the conviction that the greatest musical performers of history can and should be granted the same level of academic scrutiny and study as is so often received by the greatest composers. Composers had the early advantage of producing durable manuscripts, while performers prior to the age of recording were unable to leave more than impressions in the minds of those who heard them. With the recent successes of numerous investigations into performance and recordings, including the CHARM and CMPCP projects, such studies are becoming ever more viable and significant. The thesis focuses on the violinist Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987) and primarily his performances of the Bach solo violin works (BWV 1001-1006). While there have been studies of individual pieces, of particular performers, and of multiple recordings of the same piece, a study focussing on specific repertoire played by a specific performer is something that has been somewhat overlooked in the literature. The thesis draws on numerous methods to distil what is distinctive and unique about Heifetz. This includes an examination of what and how the performer played, why the performer played that way, and how that way of playing compares to other performers. The study concludes with a discussion of Heifetz’s unique performer profile in the context of violin performance history. Focussing on one of the most famous and successful performing musicians of the twentieth century along with some of the most frequently played pieces, this case study will suggest research methods and approaches transferable to related studies. The thesis draws on original interviews with former Heifetz students, friends, and colleagues, and on over thirteen months of archival research in the Jascha Heifetz Collection held by the Library of Congress. This array of previously untapped material aided the analytical and empirical investigations into Heifetz’s uniqueness.
84

Benjamin Britten's creative relationship with Russia

Pyke, Cameron January 2011 (has links)
This thesis considers Britten’s creative relationship with Russia, in the sense of aspects of Russian culture and politics, across his creative life. It makes particular use of the composer’s collection of scores, the full text of his diaries from 1928 to 1938 and his correspondence in the Britten-Pears Library, Aldeburgh. The author has also conducted over twenty interviews with those with a perspective on this aspect of Britten’s creative sensibility, some of which are included as appendices, and carried out two research visits to Russia and Armenia. Particular attention is given to Britten’s lifelong admiration for Tchaikovsky and to his creative relationship with Shostakovich. The latter is considered both in the 1930s and the 1960s by means of Britten’s diaries, the correspondence between the two composers, Shostakovich’s collection of Britten scores, and a series of articles about Britten published in the Soviet Union in the 1960s. An attempt is made to consider the relationship between Britten’s and Shostakovich’s vocal and instrumental works during this latter period, with particular reference firstly, to the influence of Mstislav Rostropovich and Galina Vishnevskaya and secondly, to the topic of death. Finally, the thesis considers Britten’s creative relationship with Russia as an integrated phenomenon and explores some of the ambiguities inherent in Britten’s response and the wider question of Russian influence on his music.
85

Brian Wilshere : the drummer as composer

Wilshere, Brian January 2007 (has links)
This thesis consists of a portfolio of compositions with the addition of 5 CD's, commentaries on selected compositions and additional written material placing submitted work in context. It is that context which supplies the title of the thesis. It is my contention that a composers' work is affected by the culture surrounding them, and that that culture contains a number of musical and social factors which impinge upon a composers' interaction with the world. In my case, I seek to show how a combination of my formative experiences and somewhat unusual musical background have influenced my work and contributed to its unique qualities. Firstly, I outline the aesthetic principles underpinning my music. My journey through the world of music and music education has given me the ability to forge my own aesthetic and compositional path, and this thesis reflects upon this process in some detail in order to illuminate those aspects of my own musical practice which I believe may serve to contribute to the debates currently surrounding music. In doing this, I attempt to both redefine musical categorizations according to consumer behaviour rather than musicological opinion and argue for definitions which are as culturally neutral as possible. I then describe in detail the compositional procedures utilized in my work, and reflect upon the extent to which these are governed by my formative experiences. Finally, the more large scale submitted pieces have accompanying commentaries, highlighting aspects of musical practice or background which may be relevant. 'Brian Wilshere: The Drummer as Composer' is a summation of several years in the life of a drummer/composer attempting to earn a living, write some music and obtain performances of that music.
86

Voice, body and performance in Tori Amos, Björk and Diamanda Galás : towards a theory of feminine vocal performance

Zaplana Rodríguez, Esther January 2009 (has links)
This thesis explores the vocal and musical performance of several women artists and undertakes a cultural analysis of some of their works from a gendered perspective. The readings examine primarily the meanings of the voice in performances by Tori Amos, Bjork and Diamanda Galas, as well as a few aspects of avant-garde vocal performer Fatima Miranda. The cultural interpretation engages with the artists' musical and visual displays in order to disclose the relationship between the voice and the gaze, and to argue, thereby, that vocality in musical production becomes a means for the woman singer to construct her own (self) representation and affirm her enunciative position as a speaking subject in culture. Within the specific case studies, an element in the discussion focuses on the centrality of the body and the audience figuration of the singing body, given that representations are understood as vehicles for 'hidden' messages about the gendered body. The body-source of the voice is brought into the analysis as a way to enable a set of new meanings associated with the positioning of the female artist vis-a-vis the representation she performs in her artistic display. The study is framed by the individual (albeit, in concrete ways, related) ideas of French feminists Luce Irigaray, Helene Cixous and Julia Kristeva, bearing in mind that Irigaray emerges as the main theorist who informs the research. By engaging with the thinking of these authors, the research contributes an argument for the relevance of their concepts, language, and aesthetics to the analysis of women's vocal performance. In line with their reconsideration of psychoanalytic and linguistic categories, as well as Irigaray's re-conceptualisation of sexual categories, the study develops a theoretical approach from which to examine the cultural dimension of feminine vocal performance. The analysis is thus situated between psychoanalysis and postmodem feminist theories, and links the signification of an auditory culture produced by women to the wider context of a gender politics of (self) representation.
87

Loss, memory and nostalgia in popular song : thematic aspects and theoretical approaches

Elliott, Richard January 2008 (has links)
The aim of this thesis is to study the ways loss is reflected in popular music and in the discourse surrounding popular music. The project attempts to create a dialogue between theorists of loss and memory working in various disciplines and those working in and around popular music (musicians, critics, academics). It also recognises the vital role of loss in revolution (and vice versa) and attends to revolutionary moments, or events, not least the `event' of rock 'n' roll. It proceeds from the idea that, while creativity is a crucial aspect of the production and reception (or receptive production) of popular music, creativity often takes the form of a response, or set of responses, to loss. While rooted in popular music studies, the project reflects a desire to look outside the Anglophone tradition and includes case studies of a few music genres - Portuguese fado, Cuban nueva trova, Chilean nueva canciön - that exist in a place between popular music studies and ethnomusicology. It also studies three areas more familiar to Anglophone popular music studies: rock 'n' roll, black protest music in America and punk/post-punk in Britain. Methodologically, the thesis draws on popular music studies, philosophy and cultural theory in an attempt to suggest ways that these disciplines can inform each other.
88

Anyone can do it : traditions of punk and the politics of empowerment

Dale, Peter Robin William January 2011 (has links)
When the word punk is invoked, a majority of people – in the UK, at least – will think of the Sex Pistols, safety pins through the nose and other such bands and signifiers from the late 1970s. The purpose of this research, in large part, is to show that punk has in fact been a persistent and consistent tradition in the decades since. Power and tradition are the two concepts, above all others, which the thesis will assess in the light of the punk case. Four notable micro-scenes from this tradition are explored in case-studies. In each of these micro-scenes, elements of novelty have been apparent and seem to have empowered the participants in the scene precisely by giving them a sense of being subjects with clear differences from the larger tradition. Since this notion of subjectivity is based on a faith in novel difference as qualifier of identity, the thesis will employ philosophical work on difference, novelty and subjectivity in order to critically engage this aspiration. Does bringing something markedly new to the tradition truly empower the punks in their various micro-scenes? Alternatively, could fidelity to tradition perhaps lead to a greater empowerment in which the punk scene could gain greater influence within the macro-scene of popular music as well as, perhaps, encouraging political change in wider macro-social terms?
89

Interrogating the live : a DJ perspective

Bell, Paul January 2010 (has links)
This PhD is driven by practice-led research that interrogates the notion of ‘live’ performance in a mediatised culture. At its core it is concerned with the tension between body and machine. Argued from a DJ perspective the work addresses issues raised by creative tools and platforms currently being developed and distributed. Questions of digitally technologised and mediatised versus analogue creative media inform a position on the challenges posed by ‘remediated’ live uses of technologies, particularly as read against more traditionally held views of liveness. On the one hand, solo practical work directs an investigation into existing and emerging DJ technologies; negotiating a path between an analogue paradigm rooted in Turntablism and the virtual world of digital media. On the other, a series of collaborative projects explore the DJ as a ‘live’ ensemble player, confronting the paradoxical whilst gaining insight into contemporary conditions of musical creativity. The textual commentary provides a self-critical narrative of a personal research process informed by DJ practice and musicology scholarship. Questions relating to liveness are dealt with at the outcome of each stage of the process and critical positions devised. The practical projects are informed by several years’ sustained interest and empirical enquiry into improvisation with audio and visual materials. Included in this submission are a number of CDs and DVDs containing this work. Without wanting to initiate a detailed debate on the relationship between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ my own position is that I consider the written element of this thesis – the references to cultural/media theory and writings by practitioners working in my field – as inextricable from the music making itself. Readings have influenced my thinking which has in turn affected my practice, and I have used practical enquiry to problematise what has been said or written in relation to my discipline. The practice/theory debate has gathered momentum since artists began bringing their research into the academy. However, a simple polarisation of a posteriori and a priori knowledge has a tendency to lead us in circles and, having fallen victim to many heated discussions concerning the relevance of theory to practice and how to resolve the problem, it is my own belief that the two sides cannot be separated. For that reason I have chosen not to engage with the debate in this thesis, as I believe that this would have detracted from the larger research aims of my project. On the topic of collaborative research - such as that carried out with John Ferguson in the Tron Lennon duo, for example - I do not consider my own contribution to be fifty percent of the work, instead I believe that myself and my collaborators have invested one hundred percent respectively, for each has had his own specific research agenda that happened to find its impetus in collaborative music making. Finally, given the critical context of mediatisation to the practical work hereinafter, some readers may be surprised to see photographic slides set to music as part of the documentation. Though it may seem incongruous the format serves to condense history, providing a narrative of the processes that encapsulate the work of the creative practitioner, processes that are often overshadowed by the product such as the sense of occasion leading up to a performance and the technologies or tools that facilitate the creative process.
90

Changes in the transmission of 'traditional' music: the case of Japanese jiuta-sokyoku

Arisawa, Shino January 2009 (has links)
No description available.

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